Where The Road Turns Dirt

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Before and After - Photo Editing

I was going to post up a picture that I had taken recently but thought that in the process I would also show you how awesome and fun photo editing is!

I find it so exciting to take a good picture and then transform it into a great one... So here goes!

I will start by showing you the original (straight out of the camera) and then my final result after.

I took this picture this past Sunday of a grandfather and his grandaughter at Huck Finn day.

Such a sweet pic eh? Ü

But I am freakish with two things when it comes my pictures and one of them is spots and the other is backgounds. I am rather obsessive when it comes to anything that distracts the eye when veiwing my photos.

I slapped my forehead when I saw this as I realized that I neglected to change the aperature (from the f/9 I had it at) to a lower f-stop which would have made the subject more the focal point and the background more blurry (blurrier?).

The other thing that stuck in my craw was something I really had no control over and that was the obnoxious red stroller behind the table.

But alas... all was not lost!

I imported the picture into photoshop CS5 and cropped it in close to an 8x10 and got to work on that background!

First, I rubberstamped the offensive stroller out of the picture... (Whew, I'm feeling better already!)

Then I selected the part of the picture I wanted blurry using the Lasso Tool and then used the Lens Blur tool under the Filters tab and... Viola' instant blurry background!

Of course then I cleaned up the spots, like the food on the girls face and the pencil stuck behind granpa's ear (what was up with that?)

Also I took the buttons off his shirt... why? because they bugged me, and I could, so I did! hehehehe

I'm feeling soooo much better now!

*Sigh*

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Oh Holy Cow!

Guess what we have in town?

It's Holy Cow Ice Cream!!

There is this quaint little shop down the street and around the corner from where we live that many, many moons ago used to be a General Store, but just recently has been transformed into the sweetest little ice cream shop!

And on the sign above the door it says it is 'a heavenly experience' and I believe it has to be true because aren't these chairs just devine?

I wanted to sit in one of them but I wasn't feeling celestial enough... sweaty actually as I had been working outside all day which made coming here all that much more blessed. Nothing like a cold ice cream after a hard days work! Yes Siree! I was ready for it.

This is only a partial list of the scrumptiousness that awaited me inside...

There were several sizes and varieties of deliecious cones to choose from.

I opted for the maple walnut in a waffle cone and I highly recommend it too, it was yummy!

The Farmer of the DELL's ordered this tantalizing brownie sundae.

And Webster had vanilla with M&M's

He said he really liked it!

Oh Holy Cow... hallowed be your ice cream! And bless all those little angels who partake of it!

So, hurry on over and have some for yourself... really, you need to because I don't want to be the only one imbibing in these devinely raptuous delectable deserts!

C'mon, Look! They are waiting to take your order right now!

I told them to be expecting you. And if you tell them that Bountiful Blessings Farm sent you... you might just get an extra cherry on top... or something... but then again... maybe not!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Garden Market Fair 2011

Sunday, May 22nd from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. was the date and time for the annual celebration of spring, gardens, and gardeners in Wilcox Park in the center of Westerly. (And thank you God that it didn't rain!)

Wilcox Park in downtown Westerly overflowed with an abundance of greenery on Sunday, May 22 as the annual Garden Market Fair took place. (It overflowed with an abundance of people too!)

There were vendors from Rhode Island and Connecticut there selling annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, vegetables- including organically grown ones, herbs, and garden accessories. There were also a large selection of hanging plant arrangements, and visitors were even able to find unusual plants at reasonable prices. (Reasonable prices? heh heh heh That's the politically correct way of saying Cheap! And tack on Variety and those are two of the many reasons I Love to go!)

Wilcox Park volunteers (Park Pals) were at the bandstand helping to sell plants from the park's collections. (That was the Kids Corner at the gazebo... I didn't get to do a craft this year... they told me I was too old. heh heh heh... okay so I really didn't even try to do a craft, I was to busy frolicking.)

Also present this year were vendors offering jewelry, fudge and candy. (There was Fudge there??)

And a local massage therapist was on hand to help alleviate those garden-related aches and pains. (Really? I didn't see that either? Now if only I wasn't so busy hunting I could have had a massage... right there in the park... as thousands of people walked by... okay maybe not...)

This annual celebration of spring; gardens; and gardeners was organized and run by a group of volunteers and the Wilcox Park grounds crew. (And Thank you all very much for doing it! It is something I always look forward to doing every spring! Ü)

At 1:00 the Westerly Town Band also gave an afternoon concert behind the library. (It was a lovely concert too. I could hear it in the distance as I cavorted about.)

I adapted the tense of te above story which was taken from the Westerly Sun
to reflect that it was a 'past' event and not 'future'.
Also everything in the (.) is my comments... in case you couldn't tell!

And if you wished you could have been there, you're in luck... here is pictures from the days events -

Okay I have set this to play in high definition on youtube but it seems the settings are individually controlled and it automatically plays iat a low quality. So to see it 'not blurry' you may have to change it yourself?... stupid! Why did they even bother asking me if I wanted it to play in high definition if it doesn't automatically do it?