A Squirrel in the Crabapple Tree

Sean and I visted Mom for Mother's Day today. A squirrel visited us while we were relaxing under the shade of the crabapple tree that refuses to die. 

Sean found a better position at just the right time to capture a much better shot. 

Splash of Colour

It may be a cheap gimmick, but I've always liked film and photos that draw attention to a subject by desaturating everything around it. Mom or Dad took this photo of a flower near Pisew Falls, Manitoba, sometime in the last decade or so. Even in the full-colour version, this little gem stands out. So rather than leave nature be, I decided to test my Photoshop skills.

Turning a colour photo black and white with image manipulation software is easy; it's just a matter of choosing the "desaturate" command. But leaving part of the image in colour requires you to select, pixel by pixel, the image you wish to highlight. Five years ago this process would probably have taken me hours, but I've honed my selection skills enough to bring the job down to a more manageable twenty minutes. The job is especially tedious when the foreground and background colours match closely, as they often did in this image. 

I also cropped Mom or Dad's original shot in an attempt to follow the rule of thirds.The final result isn't especially groundbreaking, but I'm pleased with it anyway.

All of this playing about with graphic design and photo manipulation does make me wonder why I've been developing these skills, though. I'm not pursuing a career in layout or photography, after all.

It brings me pleasure and helps me see the world in a new way. Perhaps that's enough.

Sunflowers and Corn, 1974

This photograph from Mom and Dad's collection of old slides might be more compelling had it been shot from a different angle, but I tried to spruce it up by playing with Photoshop's HDR settings.

Bird of Paradise

Though we've had a blissfully mild winter in Canada, I still yearn for green grass, blooming plants and warm sunshine. Photos help remind me that warmer days will return eventually, particularly this shot of a bird of paradise, photographed in 2008 while I visited Pearl Harbor.