Winter it up

I had said I was going to try to winter up the Christmas tree pictures, and I have.

I'm on the fence about this method. Maybe it's me, because I know they aren't originally winter scenes. But this is also my first attempt at it and I'm sure there are a few things I could do to make it a touch better. I'll have to play with them in the future, but this is the first try.

I've provided the original photo below the winter version so you can see what I started with.

Scroll to the end as I've listed how I created the winter feel to the photos.

So how did I make wintery? 

1) Open the original image in Photoshop.

2) Click the Hue/Saturation button on the Adjustments tab above Layers.

 -- Click the pointing finger and select the color I want to turn white from the image.

 -- You'll see the selection bar between the bottom two color scales. Make sure to include the colors you want. If there's green and yellows, like in my first image, I moved the center scales to include those colors. 

 -- Then, slide the Lightness marker to the level of "white" to appear.

3) If you need to bring skin colors back: click to make a new mask (while in this layer) which is the box icon with circle in it. Make sure your foreground/background colors are black/white. Then Using brush in size to your face(s) go over the people to bring them back out.

**If you have colors that still bleed through that you want whiter, create a new Adjustment for Hue/Saturation as needed.

Add Snow: (I downloaded different brushes so I have them in my brushes.)

1) Add new layer (the icon that looks like a piece of paper with bottom left corner folded up).

2) Click Brush and selected brush type and size. Then clicked on image. (Don't worry if cover people, you can remove that!)

3) To touch up faces and where snow is falling -- Click 'Add Vector Mask' then click brush and use regular brush. Brush over where snow not to be.

I downloaded brushes from different sites. The site with many links I found is Creative Bloq. This snow brush is from Brusheezy.

Oh Christmas Tree...We Found You!

I know Christmas is over and we are well into the new year. Readying for Valentine's day actually. But I didn't get to share my Christmas photos with being tied up with all the holiday racing around and preparing. So, I'm going to start with our tree.

We go to a local tree farm cut our tree down each year. It's become a tradition for us. And something fun for us to do together. It's about an hour drive to get there, so we make a day out of it. We pick on each other as we drive and laugh. Even on the way home, we talk about how big the tree is this year compared to previous ones and how it won't fit in the house. Even the fun of cutting or carrying it.

This year the tree was quick and easy to cut down.

These photos were taken with my new camera, I'm still getting use to it. Nikon D7200.

This is my son under the tree with my husband instructing. lol. My son brought along the girl he was seeing at the time. Yep, we share our goofy with everyone. But they have fun with us.

ISO 200 21mm f/8.0 1/40sec

This is one of my favorite images! The view under the tree as my son saws away. (Yes, I've always said it's more natural to saw than to use a chain saw. It makes it more personal! You have to work for that tree.)

ISO 500 18mm f/8.0 1/40sec

ISO 200 18mm f/8.0 1/40sec

I try to get a shot of the rings of the tree each year. When my son was younger we counted them to see how old the tree was. How many rings do you count?

ISO 125 40mm f/8.0 1/40sec

This was the view from the field we were at. It is so open and the air is fresh. I feel as though I could breath better here.

ISO 100 55mm f/8.0 1/40sec

How many does it take to carry the tree? It's heavier than it looks! LOL!

ISO 100 34mm f/8.0 1/40sec

I couldn't pass up this shot. They were having so much fun.

ISO 100 34mm f/8.0 1/40sec

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and took all the photos you could along the way.

Sunset through the Window

This image was an experiment for me. It's hard to catch what you want to see in the lens sometimes.

I have a metal dream catcher with wolves on a landscape that hangs at my window. I love the view through it, especially at sunset. I worked to darken out most of everything in the picture on purpose. I didn't want to see other colors other than the setting sun through the dream catcher. So no flash was used.

To me the setting sun and the array around it remind me of sands. But most, I love that the wolf in the background (it's smaller) is howling at the moon. The setting sun seems to fit the mood for me.

It's not the best art and I still have to practice to get better at this, but I still love the feel and look. Maybe one day I'll catch a setting sun with more vibrant colors in this dream catcher.

Lavender Sunset

I always enjoy the different colors that pop on sunsets. They can be so beautiful yet so different every night. These images are from one evening where pinks and purples are present. I did play with them to bring out the colors a bit more, something new to try with Lightroom. They become more dramatic in appearance, and I love it!

First up is Lavender Sunset. It's simple and the colors are enhanced to enjoy the colors present.

This is one of my favorites when I saw it on the screen. I didn't do much to the colors, honest. I loved the aged apple still on the branch (yes, it really was. This tree is in my back yard.) I always think of the Evil Queen from Disney going and picking an apple off this tree. This tree has a rough bark and the apples always age and stay on the tree longer. The hues of the sky behind the sharp detail of the tree and apple gave me a foreboding feeling. It made me think trouble is brewing. Maybe the queen is nearing to pick the apple to spell and give to snow white...

This is the full view of the sunset and apple. It doesn't have the dramatic feel to it when you see the sun. This image feels more relaxing, like I'm sitting in the woods, relaxing as the sun sets. It's a picture I enjoy, with all the colors present. Night is nearing and the queen may arrive...

Sunsets are fun to play with. There is so much color and ways to highlight them. Hope you enjoy the colors as well. Do you get a feel from these pictures like I did?

Local Art Museum

I visited our local art museum over the summer: The Westmoreland Museum of American Art. They have a free admission day on the first Sunday of each month. So, since I'd never been there (hard to believe as lived her for like ever) I decided to go, and took a few others with me.

This photo is from the inside of the museum out to the front. You can see a part of the museum there on the left that runs out toward the parking lot. But their front garden and walkway is beautiful.

There is a nice sitting area outside the museum where you can relax and enjoy the view.

(below is one of my favorite pictures of the outside with table)

I was having fun taking pictures up the walkways and the front of the museum. It gave a different feel depending on the direction you looked.

(below is my favorite image of the outside of the museum.)

Now, lets get inside! There were some beautiful artworks to be found here.

Aah. I enjoyed this one. The kids with their heads tilted the same admiring The Thomas Lynch Tiffany Window. For some reason this image brings a smile to my lips.

The walls of different paintings. They really are amazing. These are walls you could stare at for hours.

I found this piece of furniture attracting. This is a Federal Pianoforte c. 1830

These pieces of furniture looked inviting to me with the art work around them.

The museum has drawers of these documents. I was intrigued by the calligraphy and art on them.

Then we got to the fun interaction rooms for the kids. This was fun watching them.

That was our visit to our local museum. It's a small museum, but we enjoyed what we saw. Have you visited your nearest museum?

Putting Christmas Away

Are you done with the Christmas photos? I think I am. So today is a few photos of putting Christmas away. I use to walk around the tree with the box to fill in hand. I don't do that anymore. It's easier to pile the bulbs on the table and put them away at one time. They are all there in one spot and I don't have to play the guessing game of where the bulbs are hiding.

These pictures are all similar, I know. But I liked the different views and focal points. Hope you like them as well. Which is your favorite view and focus? Let me know in the comments and I'll tell you mine. :)

Next week we'll move on to new things.

Christmas Fun

A dear friend and I try to go to a local Christmas light view each year. This year we made it. We went to Overly's. Overly's is at a local fairgrounds where the money earned benefits charity. It's a great time together for us. There are horse carriage rides and a little store open to shop in. They also have a food booth open that sells hot chocolate (coffee and food too). We always get the hot chocolate and go sit by the bonfire. Though I didn't get pictures by the fire because it was surrounded rather tightly by people and you couldn't see it. There's a small trailer that has Santa Claus for the kids and a small path to walk by a few goats, mule, and a few other animals.

I think it's more the time together for us than the sights. But I have a few images for you.

They had a metal snowman project on display.

The boys rode on the small train for the young kids. And they had fun! Look at those smiles.

 Pictures at the boards, pretending to be train engineers and train.

When they were both the engineer they were much happier!

And being snowmen (and snow-woman).

Another view of the metal snowmen.