Adventures in Photoshop

You would think that sitting here at my kitchen table, typing away on my laptop, would be an inexpensive venture. But, the blogosphere has set off some rather pricey cravings. I am going to need to rob a bank win the lottery so that I can travel the world, buy more lenses for my camera, get Teaching Company dvds, and buy Photoshop. Oh wait...I've already indulged in photoshop. But I have absolutely no idea as to how to use it. I am in desperate need of a class. Or a pool boy to hold my hand and tell me which buttons to push. Did I just say a pool boy? Yep...thought so.

A few weeks ago, over at Pioneer Woman's website, I downloaded "actions" (which were free...Free is my husband's favorite word. Right up there with "I have a coupon.") for Photoshop. Actions are...well...I really don't know. I think they are basically a group of things that you find yourself doing over and over again to your photos...so you can group them and do them all at once with the click of a button. I really needed that Pool boy (maybe we should call him photoshop boy) to explain how to get them into photoshop once I downloaded them. That was an afternoon adventure all on its own.

Over the weekend, I was playing with the actions - and thought you might want to see what they can do. And maybe I will inspire someone to go out and buy photoshop. And then you can explain to me how it works.

Here is a picture from the strawberry patch. And using the words of Pioneer woman - this is the straight out of the camera shot (SOOC):

The first action I tried is called "fresh and colorful." I really like this one with people. It's pretty nice with strawberries, too:

The action really does what it's called - makes those berries look quite devine.

The next one I tried is called "lovely and etheral." This one doesn't really give it that pop. But it's still an improvement over the SOOC shot: Next up: "soft and faded." I like this one. It would be really cool if I could figure out how to just make the berries redder - but keep the background like this. But I don't know how. Go take a class and then get back to me. Please.
Then I tried "define and sharpen." This is a simple action with some quick results. I really like this one...but not quite as much as the "fresh and colorful."
Then I did one last tweak...and gave the defined and sharpened image a quick edge burn:What do you think? What's your favorite?

Strawberry Fields Forever

• Strawberries are the only fruit with the seeds on the outside.
  
• The average strawberry has 200 seeds.


• Strawberries are a member of the Rose family.


• There is a strawberry museum in Belgium.


• Strawberries are the first fruit to ripen in the Spring.


• The average Amercian consumes 3.4 pounds of fresh strawberries each year.

I am quite above average. Strawberries are my favorite. They are a great snack. Side dish. Dessert. Food to eat all the time. For me anyway. Love 'em. So...when our local strawberry fields open for picking...I'm there. We usually pick two buckets of berries...and can easily polish them off in a week...and then be back at the fields for another picking session.

On Friday, I took Katie and her friend Diana to Washington Farms to pick berries.

You have to be careful when picking the berries - and be sure to not bother the flowers. They will eventually ripen into more berries. You can see the berry forming in the center of the white flower - and the berries forming in other buds in these photos.

After a little time, sun, and water...we find succulent red berries on the vine.

Folklore states that if you split a double strawberry in half, and share with a member of the opposite sex, you will soon fall in love. We found TONS of berries on the vine...and very quickly filled our buckets. It's a good thing that they didn't weigh us before and after we started picking.