Jimmy the Fat Cat

Yes, I know.... more of Mr. Jimmy!  But he is just so darn cute, I can't help myself.  Well, that and, like I said, he's too lazy to run away when I start snapping.  

I just love the close-ups of his eyes - he just reminds me of a lynx or something....something more terrifying than he is.  ;)

Jimmy and the New Curtains

It's no secret that I love my cat...but I have to confess how much I love my new curtains! I don't buy curtains often because they are just too darn expensive...and we live out in the country, so who needs 'em?

So, I just love it when I get a good deal on curtains that I really love! They are super funky and they were a bargain at $4.98 a panel. Loving that! They are now hung in our front room where I usually snap my pictures, so they naturally got incorporated into this snuggly Jimmy shoot.

Love you, Jimmy! Love you, New Curtains!

Adding Texture

Texture can take an otherwise good photo and raise it to an extraordinary level. It can also rescue a boring one. Picking the right texture to add is an art form...one I can easily tell you that I am no where near mastering. ;)

I can be found lately, in my spare time, snapping close-up pictures of my driveway, tree bark, the barn siding, even Cody's fur and the treadmill track. There are so many interesting textures all around us, a bevy of canvases to work with. I am starting to become a woman obsessed and it's scary just how much of my scarce free time is taken up learning how to be one with adding texture.

Here are my first attempts... I have mixed a few, added a vignette or two and went crazy. Photoshop is a tough beast to tame - it's knocking the crap outta me! So much to learn, so little time... Anyway, here are my first results of the lesson:

OOPS! I yanked most of these photos to rework them again. Learning a very good lesson here, photos in Photoshop appear more subtle than they appear online. So, I am going back to have another go, this time a little less obvious and heavy.

Jimmy


Cody and Jimmy with the treadmill track:


Then Cody's fur added:


Then the side of firewood and a vignette added:


And then Alex, a fav pic with the side of firewood:


Then Cody's fur added:


I have more, but I want to work them a little before I share. Tell me what you think!

Favorites of the Week

I went through the last week and wanted to post a few of my favorites. They are all over the place, except that they are all animals this time! Well, no monkeys anyway... ;) My kids have been moving too fast to take any pics lately!

Next 2 posts are my lessons in movement and light. Exciting stuff! I'm really enjoying learning the camera's functions and then pushing my limits to make it do some creative stuff. The Internet is grrrreat! I have learned from some great photographers, the ones cool enough to post how they did this or that. Next post!



Feet





Cody




A little sneak peek of "The Light" shots:


Jimmy

Jimmy, Cody and Jinx

A shout out to my Cousin and Brother-in-Law for supporting me in the form of cool logo creation while I play with my own terrible photoshop skills! Thanks, guys for taking the time out of your busy lives... Here they are uploaded without the help of photoshop, so I'm not doing your stuff justice without the background layer snipped out. Give me time! SO much to learn...

Jinx joins us this time, our beauty with the little black beauty mark. So pretty, but camera shy! Also, more of Jimmy and Cody.

From Christine

From Matthew

I think I have about 4 or 5 more to share... next post! Then on to the kiddos...

Light fixes everything...

Who would have thought that a torn-up couch, an ancient, very worn wood floor and a dirty window would make such a nice environment for pictures?

Certainly not me. I had a free moment in the late afternoon, the kids were napping later than usual and I spied an opportunity.

Fantastic light from my north-facing glass doors settled a nice, warm tone on the scene. Cody looked gorgeous, his color was incredible. But this time I mostly focused on Jimmy, our uber-fat and lazy cat with the clear, green eyes. Jinx joined in at the end, seeing how much fun we were having, but she didn't stick around for long.

This was the perfect cure-all for my recent "black and white only" fetish...the colors were so gorgeous, I couldn't get rid of them all! The brown floor, as torn up as it is, was a great texture for the background. And the couch became cool and funky. It all worked together nicely... I was pleasantly surprised. Plus, I had fun practicing with effects again. Let me know what you think.

I had so many, I might post them in stages. And, I had a little practice shoot with Miss A and Mr. C this morning while Mr. B was sleeping off his ear infection... :( Give me some time to work them...coming soon!

Next time, I play with textures...so exciting!

























Ok, that's enough for today! I will post more soon... Don't think of it as a teaser, I'm only trying not to cut into your Grey's Anatomy time...