Wonderful Weekend

exciting house

wonderful weekendHi, I am having a wonderful weekend. It is with great pleasure to say I am another year older! Some may not be excited to say they were a year older, however- a few years back I prayed to live beyond my 39th year. With the Good Lord’s blessing, I am here and enjoying life!

Friday evening my husband took me to a local diner for a birthday dinner- Seafood special; lobster tail, crab legs and shrimp. It was delicious. I was stuffed!

Saturday morning Kevin and I went to town for groceries and picked up a load of mulch. During the afternoon Kevin spread mulch on the West of the pool and I pulled weeds from the South side of the pool. It’s beginning to look awesome.

Sunday morning I will be working with a 2017 high school senior. Looking forward to this session. And for the afternoon, I will be spending it with my daughter and her family. I will for sure take pictures of the mulch work and of the family to post here.

The best birthday gift I have received- too many to say just one. Many of my unanswered prayers have been answered these last few years. My heart is full.

Wishing you the best.

Take care.

Best Wishes,
debra

Matthew 7:7 Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Visiting Phoenix

phoenix landscape

Visiting Phoenix

Hi, I had the time of my life while visiting family in Arizona. This trip was much needed. My Auntie P invited me to come stay with her. She asked me how long I wanted to stay. Hmm…..I was thinking, how long could I stay before my welcome wore out?! 🙂 Hesitantly I requested three full days. My Aunt said okay and the trip was a total of 5 days- day 1 travel, three days in AZ and the fifth day travel home. Her home is best described as a resort- no kidding!

phoenix resort

This is the beautiful room where I spent four nights resting peacefully!

phoenix resort guest room

And the pool/hot tub was gorgeous.

phoenix resort pool

Phyllis and Jeff kept me busy the whole time. Several times they asked what I wanted to do or see. Just being there, away from my everyday normal life was entertaining. The main souvenir I wanted from this adventure was a sweatshirt and a silver ring. Of course all the many images I took would be a treasure as well.

When I think of this trip, I will remember the quality time I shared with my Aunt Phyllis and Jeff in Phoenix and all the cactus. So many everywhere. I had no idea. I truly had the time of my life- thank you Aunt P!

Many more images here.

Best Wishes,
debra

Typical Basic Edits

basic edits pic

editing image

Hi, have you ever wondered why the pictures you take are not as vivid or bright as other photographer’s images? Simple basic edits can make a tremendous difference.

Typical Basic Edits

Many people when starting photography get very lost when it comes to editing. When looking at a picture you just took on a nice camera, it’s really easy to look at it and think “wow, that looks great! what is there to fix?” Or maybe “I’ve got a nice camera that I figured out how to use, but I can NOT get my pictures to look like everybody else’s!” Well don’t stress it, because we’ve got some good ways to help you get started with some basic edits.

The 2 main things that photographers look at with each image is the tone and the exposure. Many cameras shoot pictures where the skin tone ends up looking too orange, too red or even too blue. Fixing the image so that the skin tones look natural and like the color of the actual skin can make a dramatic difference. The other major fix is the exposure. Is the picture too light? Is the picture too dark? Even with professional cameras, pictures can come out with the exposure off. The best way to judge if the exposure is correct is to look at the skin again. It’s very important to adjust the image until the exposure is correct. Even if it means making the sky extra bright, it’s more important to have the skin be the correct amount of exposure over everything else in the image.

The two software programs I use to make these basic edits is Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop. If you have used other programs to make such adjustments, please share in the comments section below.

For more information about image editing click here.

Best Wishes,
debra