A FEW MORE PICASA TIPS & DON’T FORGET TO ‘SAVE’ THOSE CHANGES

FIERY AUTUMN WINDOW REFLECTIONS…BEN MILLER, ONTARIO

 

EXAMPLES OF COMPOSITION & LOOKING FOR A PHOTO WITHIN A PHOTO

Had us a cloudy overcast day with cold winds. One of those days I prefer to stay inside where it's warm & toasty. Also a good kind of morning to be inside having coffee with one of my two best friends. Met Jim at a Tim Horton's coffee shop in Clinton this morning for a four & quarter hour coffee. Now that is a long time to sit on a hard plastic seat without getting up. Of course we once again solved every one of life's little problems…..with no problem at all. This was my second coffee blow out this week. Wednesday night saw my other best friend, Richard & I spending nearly 4 hours once again discussing all the infinite details of life. Should mention that 'coffee blow-out' is an old term. Jim doesn't drink coffee at all anymore, I only have one de-calf & Richard might have two coffee's at most. I generally see my way clear to gobble myself down a carrot muffin at these events as well. The term 'coffee blow-out' comes from the old days when Jim & I would spend hours together in coffee shops hashing things out over multiple cups of coffee & endless packs of cigarettes. Both Jim & I gave up cigarettes many, many, years ago as did Richard:))

  

ORIGINAL ON LEFT… ‘STRAIGHTEN, HIGHLIGHT, FILL LIGHT, SHARPEN’ & ADDED A HEALTHY DOSE OF YELLOW ‘COLOR TEMPERATURE’ TO GIVE THOSE PINE NEEDLES THEIR TRUE COLOR

Couple important things to remember if you use any of the Picasa tools to edit your photos. You have to remember to 'SAVE' those changes. If you do not ‘SAVE’ the changes the photo will revert back to it's original state when you close the program. To ‘SAVE’ changes to an individual photo just right click on the photo with your mouse & click ‘SAVE’. To ‘SAVE’ changes to a bunch of photos all at once just go up to Edit & click. From the drop down menu chose Select All, right click on any one of the highlighted photos & click SAVE from the drop down menu. Remember, if you don't SAVE your changes, you will not be a happy camper. Also know that you can easily undo any of your changes & don't worry about screwing up your pictures. You can easily un-change any changes you have made to your photo.
  
ORIGINAL PHOTO ON LEFT IS 300mm FROM INSIDE OUR SUNROOM…USED, ‘STRAIGHTEN, AUTO CONTRAST, CROP, FILL LIGHT’ & ‘SHARPEN’ TO OBTAIN THE PHOTO ON RIGHT

Donna C from CAVE DWELLINGS in her comment wondered....."When you enter photos into a contest, can they tell if you have edited it with enhancing the colors, etc...We have a photo contest at our county fair..I am always afraid to edit any photo for a contest"………………………. Not being a photo contest person I don't really have an answer for this question except to say that each contest probably has it's own set of 'rules.' I do however, have an opinion about why photo editing is a realistic & integral part of photography.

  

NORTHERN FLICKER WOODPECKER…’STRAIGHTEN, CROP, HIGHLIGHT, SHARPENING, & A TOUCH OF SATURATION’  ALSO USED ‘RETOUCH’ TO TONE DOWN SOME HIGHLIGHTS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE WOODPECKER…PHOTO IS A BIT GRAINY BECAUSE I HAD TO BUMP UP THE ISO UP TO 1600 IN THE AFTERNOON’S FAILING LIGHT

First, the myth.....A camera records your subject exactly how the human eye sees it. Not so. No matter what make, model, or technology is packed into your camera, it does not compare to the human eye. The human eye can instantly take in scenery around you with great detail in the clouds as well as details in shadow areas right in front of you....a camera can't do that with the perfection the human eye can. At least not yet. If you include two thirds bright sky in your photo the camera's meter will adjust for that & give you detail & correct exposure in your sky. If two thirds (rough estimates) of your photo includes darker ground subjects, camera will adjust for that & give you the correct exposure for your ground subject, but.....your sky is likely to be washed out. On days with the exact right mix of of lighting, you can get the proper exposure in both scenarios. These perfect lighting days are rare & unless you are in a studio with perfect lighting, you are probably going to have to do some work on your photo to return it as close as possible to what you actually saw.

 

SOME MAY REMEMBER THIS PHOTO I TOOK A MONTH AGO ON ONE OF MY COUNTRY DRIVES

AGAIN, USING PICASA’S TOOLS I TURNED IT INTO THIS OLD PHOTO… ‘STRAIGHTENED’ &’ CROPPED’ THE ORIGINAL TO IT’S PRESENT STATE THEN INSTEAD OF USING ‘SEPIA’ I CHOSE ANOTHER PICASA TOOL CALLED ‘CROSS PROCESS’ TO GIVE THE PHOTO AN EVEN OLDER LOOK THAN SEPIA WOULD HAVE GIVEN IT… DIDN’T ADD ANY CONTRAST TO THIS PHOTO BECAUSE I WANTED IT TO HAVE A SOFTER FADED LOOK…ALSO ADDED A WHITE PICASA BORDER. 

We all oogle over those great National Geographic type perfect photos & for sure those photographers are just about the best there are. But, they also have the best equipment money can buy & they also have the best photo editing programs money can buy as well. Many, if not all of those great magazine shots do not come straight out of a camera & onto a magazine cover or professional website without first going through a photo editing program to correct for the cameras shortcomings. In my opinion & for me personally, the trick is to edit a photo with the idea in mind of making it look as close to natural as possible.   Just the way my eye saw it & not overdo the editing process & end up with artificial looking colors. Be very, very, careful with those so called...'enhancements'. Now, having said that, may I be quick to add......this is not a hard & fast rule when it comes to creativity. And, photography is all about creativity.

  

WITHOUT & WITH FILL IN CAMERA FLASH…BUT NOTICE THE FLASH REFLECTION IN THE GLASS TOP LEFT OF CENTER

 

USING PICASA’S ‘RETOUCH TOOL’ I TOOK THE REFLECTION OUT OF THE GLASS

Many of we RV’ers have a habit of taking photos through our windshields as we motor our way through the scenic countryside.  That’s fine unless you have a bug splattered windshield.  Nice scenic mountains ahead…..with bug splatters.  Easy fix here when you get onto using your ‘Retouch’ tool.  Just a couple clicks on each bug splatter & it’s gone.  If anyone needs an explanation as to how to use some of these Picasa tools just let me know & I’ll do my best to help ya out…………….:)) 

TAKEN THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD OF THE JEEP

 

TOOK ME ABOUT 10 SECONDS TO REMOVE THOSE SPLATTERS SO IT JUST SHOWS YOU HOW EASILY YOU CAN DO THE SAME

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A 54 year old woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While on the operating table she had a near death experience.. Seeing God she asked "Is my time up?" God said, "No, you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to live." Upon recovery, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a face-lift, liposuction, breast implants and a tummy tuck. She even had someone come in and change her hair color and brighten her teeth! Since she had so much more time to live, she figured she might as well make the most of it. After her last operation, she was released from the hospital. While crossing the street on her way home, she was killed by an ambulance. Arriving in front of God, she demanded, "I thought you said I had another 43 years? Why didn't you pull me from out of the path of the ambulance?" God replied: " I didn't recognize you."

---------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS - .https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

SOME PHOTO EXAMPLES OF WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR FREE & EASY TO USE PICASA PHOTO EDITING PROGRAM

‘STRAIGHTENED’ THE HORIZON‘ PLUS CROPPED’ BOTH BOTTOM & TOP OF THIS PHOTO, ADDED SOME ‘FILL LIGHT’ TO LIGHTEN THE FOREGROUND & THEN SOME ‘GRADUATED TINT’ TO DARKEN THE WASHED OUT SKY, PLUS I ‘SHARPENED’ THE PHOTO TO BRING OUT  SOME DETAIL

Tonight’s photos were all taken today & I am going to use some of them in this post to explain a few of the tool buttons used in the PICASA PHOTO EDITING program I & many fellow RV Bloggers use.  Each word under the photos has ‘these’ marks around them refers to a specific Picasa button, or tool.  Tomorrow night I will pick a couple tools & explain how to use them.  Tonight, it’s just photo examples.

 

COUPLE EXAMPLES OF USING ‘FILL IN FLASH’ PLUS I ADDED SOME ‘FILL LIGHT’ & ‘CROPPED’ THE SKY A BIT ON THE JEEP PHOTO…ADDED SOME ‘GRADUATED TINT’ TO THE SKY TO DARKEN IT DOWN A TAD AS WELL

The little Peachy Princess & I headed off to Goderich this morning on a few errands. Split a Turkey salad sandwich & headed down to the beach & harbor area for a short walk. Our weather has turned much cooler & there was a stiff chilling wind coming in off the lake.  As I type this tonight it is pouring rain.
 

I CORRECTED THE ORIGINAL TOP PHOTO BY FIRST ‘STRAIGHTENING’ THE HORIZON, ‘CROPPED’ BOTH BOTTOM & TOP, ADDED SOME ‘HIGHLIGHT’ & ‘SHARPENED’ THE PHOTO… THEN WENT TO WORK WITH MY ‘RETOUCH’ TOOL TO GET ALL THE DUST SPOTS OUT OF THE PHOTO.  LEFT ONE SPOT IN UNDER THE LAST GOOSE AT EXTREME RIGHT…ALSO USED THE ‘RETOUCH’ TOOL TO COMPLETELY TAKE OUT THE FOURTH & FIFTH GEESE WHO WERE BUNDLED TOGETHER
We are at a point in our 'loading of the Motorhome ' now where decisions have to be made. Available space is filling up fast, so looking at the 'stuff for Arizona' pile in the carport I knew today that everything we had hoped to take with us is not going to go. No way I was going to get my electric roto-tiller in anywhere. Dropped my 'south-west brochures to Congress' idea. Too much weight & space involved. Deciding whether to take some gardening tools like a shovel & rakes, or just buy new ones when we get there. And, certainly no room to fit my trusty wheelbarrow in anywhere. Decisions, decisions, but I'm sure we will get it all worked out just fine.
 

PHOTO ON TOP IS ORIGINAL & UNEDITED…WITH SAME PHOTO I ‘STRAIGHTENED’ THE HORIZON, ADDED ‘AUTO CONTRAST’ & ‘CROPPED’ A BUNCH OF UNNECESSARY SKY OUT.  ALSO ‘SHARPENED’ THE PHOTO A BIT

Kelly dug up some additional info on that house & property I had in Thursday's post. She found out there is an air of mystery & intrigue about it's recent past, and an explanation of why it has been sitting empty since August of 2009. First, this police report........

 
I DON’T USE MY ‘SATURATION’ BUTTON A LOT BUT I DID ON THIS PHOTO TO POP THE COLOR OUT OF THE GRAY BACKGROUND

$5.5 Million Drug Raid - BELGRAVE Date: 2009-08-31 09:10:59
By: OPP (Ontario Provincial Police)
(Belgrave, Ontario.) - On August 26, 2009 members of the Ontario Provincial Police Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau - Drug Enforcement Unit, Western Region Emergency Response Team, Western Region Canine Unit and Huron OPP Crime Unit were conducting a joint forces drug eradication program in the Huron County area.
As a result, an address located at 85043 Marnoch Line in the Municipality of North Huron was identified to have a large outdoor marihuana grow present. A search warrant was sought and executed on August 27, 2009. Police located cannabis marihuana plants worth an estimated street value of 5.5 million dollars. Police also seized items related to the production of cannabis marihuana from the residence.
Duc Hieu PHAM (43yrs) of North Huron, Cong Duc PHAM (76yrs) of North York and Tuong NGUYEN (33yrs) of Scarborough are charged with Production of Cannabis Marihuana and Possession of Cannabis Marihuana for the Purpose of Trafficking.
All three persons were held in police custody pending bail hearings on August 31, 2009 in the Ontario Court of Justice - Goderich, Ontario.

 

NO NEED TO HAVE ALL THAT SKY IN THE PHOTO SO ‘CROPPED’ MOST OF IT OUT… ADDED SOME ‘HIGHLIGHT’ TO GIVE THE CLOUDS & WHITECAPS A WHITER LOOK & ‘SHARPENED’ THE PHOTO …ALSO ADDED A TOUCH OF ‘FILL LIGHT’ TO ADD SOME DETAIL TO THE FOREGROUND

Kelly also found out by calling the nearby town of Wingham's District Clerk's Office today that the property is at this moment in the process of changing ownership. Clerk said she did not know if the house has been sold or is being defaulted back to a bank. When Kelly talked to the Realtor Thursday he seemed to be unaware of any sale & said he had been having trouble with the Toronto drug dealer who owned the property. It all seems to be in limbo right now..........

 

‘CROPPED’ A LOT OF SKY OUT OF THIS PHOTO & ADDED A BIT OF ‘SATURATION’ TO BRING THE COLOR OUT IN THE LEAVES

Angers me to no end to think low life drug peddlers in Toronto would come all the way out here into the peaceful countryside & buy up a beautiful 70 acre farm property to use for no other purpose than to grow, make, & peddle drugs. That explains the trash lying around & the obvious neglect to that property. If it was up to me I would have absolutely no mercy for those scum bag drug dealing #!!%(#:*#}*!! No doubt my photo of that cleared 10 acres in the post Thursday is where they were growing their marihuana .

 

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF ‘CROPPING’… I ALSO ADDED SOME ‘AUTO CONTRAST’ & ‘SHARPENED’ THE PHOTO…HAD THERE BEEN SOME NICE BIG WHITE PUFFY CLOUDS AGAINST A BLUE SKY I MIGHT NOT HAVE CROPPED IT SO MUCH

Over the next few posts I am going to include more photo examples of what you can do with Picasa’s free photo editing program.  I know one can do far more with the Photoshop programs but if your looking for a photo program that’s easy to use & doesn’t cost anything, I whole heartedly recommend Picasa.

 

AN EXAMPLE OF PICASA’S ‘FOCAL B&W’…ONLY THE KAYAKER IS IN COLOR WHILE THE REST OF THE PHOTO IS BLACK & WHITE

 

COME ON DAD, GET OUT OF THAT CHAIR & LET’S GO JEEPIN………………….

GROANER'S CORNER:)) Osama Bin Laden was living with 3 wives in one compound and never left the house for 5 years. It is now believed that he called the US Navy Seals himself.

---------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS - .https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

CAN’T AFFORD IT…BUT WE WENT TO LOOK ANYWAY

TONIGHT’S PHOTOS ARE FROM A HOUSE & PROPERTY THAT CAUGHT OUR EYE, BUT NOT OUR POCKETBOOK…HOUSE & GROUNDS ARE IN NEED OF SOME TLC BUT ‘WOW’ WHAT A GREAT ENJOYABLE PROJECT FOR THE RIGHT PERSON

There are many nice days each year & then there are a lot of even nicer days. And then, a few times a year, there are those truly phenomenal good feeling days. Today, with warmer temperatures & a gentle breezes blowing banks of bilious clouds around, & our forests ablaze with Autumn colors, we had ourselves just a great drive through the countryside on the way to & back from visiting Uncle Harry in Mitchell, Ontario.

IMAGINE HAVING ALL THIS AS JUST A VERY SMALL PART OF ONE’S OWN VERY BIG BACK YARD….BEYOND THOSE TREES ALONG THE PROPERTY EDGE LIES THE MAITLAND RIVER…AND, YOU COULD EVEN GET AN RV EASILY BACK HERE:))

 

Kelly had done some sleuthing on a 70 acre piece of property we looked at a few days ago & found out nobody was living there. The property is financially waaaaaay beyond us but we swung around to have a closer look at it anyway on our way home. We love poking around & exploring new places. Also a good opportunity for us to get out & stretch our legs & let Pheebe excitedly race around checking out every nook, cranny, & Ground Hog hole. For us, the property was totally our cup of tea & the old sadly neglected house had a beckoning charm all it's own. It just needs a warm beating heart.  We walked all around oogling & awgling for about 40 minutes before getting our heads back on straight & realistically understanding, this place could not be ours:((  But awwww, the things dreams are made of……………….:))

ONE OF TWO PONDS NEAR THE HOUSE WITH CRYSTAL CLEAR SPRING FED WATER

 

JANNA had a Picasa question about the 'Graduated Tint’ button in Picasa. Glad she asked about that one because this is the button to use for your sky photos. If your photo has sky in it that looks a bit on the light side, one click of this button will darken & put a bit of detail into your clouds. Hit the button again & the sky darkens down again adding more detail to the clouds. You can darken down a pale blue sky to a deeper blue this way. This only affects the top third of your photo & does not darken the the whole photo. I use this button to give my skies a richer look because your camera does not always return you the color & light density you saw with your naked eye. A photo editing program enables a person to correct the cameras failure & restore a photo to the way your eye saw it in the first place.

PART OF THIS HOUSE IS AN ORIGINAL OLD LOG CABIN

 
While on the topic of Picasa & skies, here is another mainstay tool that will greatly improve some of your sky photos by simply 'eliminating' too much unnecessary sky. The 'Crop' button is one of the top 3 tools I use. Unless you have some spectacular cloud photos, I would suggest cropping all that blue out of your photo & draw the attention to your subject, not the big blue boring sky.  In the next few days I will pull together a few photos to better explain ‘Graduated Tint’ & the ‘Crop’ button.

NICE BARN/GARAGE/DRIVING SHED WITH A HARD TO SEE LARGE HIGH DOOR IN THE SHADOWS ON THE LEFT TO DRIVE A MOTORHOME IN

 

LOOKS LIKE THE FAR BUILDING HOUSED CHICKENS AT ONE TIME

 

HOUSE ALSO HAS A DRIVE-IN GARAGE/WORKSHOP AT THE BACK & LOOK AT THAT SUN ROOM….WOW:))

And, we welcome another new Blog Follower today.  MNSAILORGAL will be aboard when we roll out of Bayfield soon.  Thanks for dropping by Mnsailorgal:))

FOR US,  THIS IS THE TYPE OF PROPERTY DREAMS ARE MADE OF

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A man was telling his neighbor, "I just bought a new hearing aid. It cost me four thousand dollars, but it's state of the art. It's perfect." "Really," answered the neighbor. "What kind is it?" "Twelve thirty."

---------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS - .https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/
stargeezerguy@gmail.com