This will be a more technical post, so please bear with me if I bore you.  I’ll try to be humorous to balance out the nerdiness.

The title is “faux sunflare” because the sunflare I was going for just didn’t happen like I envisioned.  It could have  been because I’m not technically skilled enough to do this yet, or because my child won’t stay still long enough for me to practice, or simply just because I can’t stare into the sun for that long.  However, there were a few things in Photoshop that helped me out.

When I shoot towards the sun like this my subject tends to be “soft” or not a crisp as normal.  So, I took this photo (on a gloriously wonderfully sunny warm day, BTW) & did the following (all in Photoshop CS4):

1.  Slice Like a Ninja (Sharpen) from Totally Rad Actions

2.  Warm from Pioneer Woman

3.  Boutwell Magic Glasses from TRA, again

4.  Sunshine from Pioneer Woman again.

Then, I had stumbled upon a filter in Photoshop under Filter > Render > Lensflare.  Ohhh…what’s this little gem?  It seems to add the sunny spot & the flare for you.  For this particular photo I positioned my “faux” sun in the upper left corner (where the real one was) and chose 100% brightness & a 35mm Prime lens.  I don’t really have any idea what all that means, but the above photo is what I came up with.

Now, for the story behind the photo:  Since it was so amazingly gorgeous out today, I made myself take the kiddos out & ride scooters.  They, on their own, decided to get their sand shovels out & shovel the remaining snow & fling it all around the ground.  I got hit a few times.  This photo is of Emma, my oldest, all decked out.  If you check out my scooter video on Facebook you can see the entirety of her ensemble – glasses, 2 bracelets, necklace, fur trimmed gloves, etc.  She loooooooves dressing up.  She once told me that the more jewelry you have on, the more beautiful you are!

Photos I’ve been looking at:  Joey L.  Apparently this talented dude is almost 10 years younger than me, shoots famous people & travels the world.  I really love looking at his photos of foreign lands that are virtually untouched by civilization.  In particular, his time in Ethiopia.  They are amazing.  (*there is some nudity, so viewer be ware)

The End.

So when I married my wonderful husband Josh, I had didn’t realize I was marrying into such a creative, talented family.  It’s a lot of competition, I must say!  My husband, Josh, is really skilled at all things Mac, programming, and the techincal side of music.  His dad is a great CPA, and his mom, Bonnie, has been creating and crafting ever since I’ve known her.  Recently, (in the last 7 years) she has made quite a following for herself on eBay selling all kinds of things.  She started painting sweet, shabby chic flowers on vintage and antique items, and has recently moved on to creating Shrink Plastic & resin earrings.  Occasionally, when I have time, she asks me to snap some photos of her stuff.  I usually try to do this during my littlest girl’s nap time because my girls just go “ga-ga” over “Gigi’s” jewelry.  So, in the interest of trying to blog more faithfully, and sharing my life with you all, I had to share with you some super cute stuff that my mother in law is making these days.  Here are some items from her shop, Fun Jewelry: