Edit Wow

My membership to Kim Klassen's The Studio Online entitled me to her Studio Collection of presets - about 80 of them.  Her presets are so artistic, it would take me forever to make my own.  And....let's face it, I'm lazy. 

I discovered I can get a beautiful edit without doing anything other than adding her preset.  Below the original...

It's a so-so photo.  But with one click of her preset in Lightroom and cropping to square I got this.  

I used "Rumpled" preset.  I just love the effect here.  I'm going to try several more presets, but this one really wowed me.

If you are into photography and still lifes, and you have not yet joined The Studio Online, hurry over there and sign up.  It's a huge value for the money and there are so many talented people you can learn from.  If you do love still life photography, Hans Blomquist has a beautiful book called "In Detail" which you can purchase from Amazon.  I'm ordering that for myself.

Wonder of wonders, we actually had a sprinkle of rain this afternoon.  I guess we're getting the monsoon moisture coming up from Mexico.  It wasn't really rain like we need but it was so exciting to see the sky get dark, and listen to thunder.

Plus, the rain smelled wonderful!!

~ Give ~

And Then There Was Canva and a New Computer....

Have you seen Canva?  I found out about it through Kim Klassen.  It's a fantastic site with probably hundreds of templates, stock images (or use your own), graphics and on and on to help you make any kind of layout you wish.  You can do a header/banner for your blog, a Facebook cover photo, business card, ad, presentation page...sky is the limit.  

I did this is about two minutes.  Yes, you can do it in Lightroom or Photoshop, but this is sooooo quick.  I typically do my layouts in the print module of Lightroom and then take them into PS to add text.  With this, it's a bit quicker.  It's free unless you choose to use their illustrations or stock images.  Those are $1 each.  Most of us have a million images, so there's no real need to use theirs.

I've been missing on my blog because I bought a new Mac desktop and have been getting it set up.  It's such a pleasure to use....fast and effortless.  My 2009 iMac was very tired and slow and I had the max amount of memory on it I could get.  It was time.  Apple had my computer for a couple days to do the data/file transfer from the old to the new.  I must say everything seems to be as advertised.  

Go try Canva and have some fun.  I think you will like it.

~ Give ~

Signs of Summer

It's beautiful summer weather here in Southern California.  On the coast we have our usual "June gloom" but the sun comes out in the late morning or early afternoon.  We are so enjoying the balmy temps in the mid 70's during the day and mid 60's at night.  Melons are coming into season and I dearly love watermelon.  

I've been wanting to take macro shots and didn't want to pay the hefty price for a Canon lens.  So…..I did the next best thing….I purchased an Olloclip macro lens for my iPhone.   I had a go at it in the back yard.  These are tiny blooms or what's left of them on my Heucheras.

 And here's a shot of lavender

Finally after many tries I got one decent shot of this little leaf bug. He wanted to cruise around the lip of this paper cup, and I asked my friend to move the cup to keep him in somewhat the same spot so I could get the pic.  I was really overjoyed to get this.  

Linking to Texture Tuesday, The Studio Online and Be Still

Happy summer!!

~ Give ~