Enjoying Photoshop

I really should apologize for not posting as often as I should. If you follow my other blog, Growing in Him, you've probably realized that I've been very busy over the past few weeks. With it being hot and humid most of the day, photography has taken a seat on the back burner. Don't worry though! I took a lot of photos this spring and early summer --probably enough to keep this blog going for year! Last weekend, I downloaded a trial version of Photoshop Elements 8. It's been so much fun learning how to use the program so I've added it to my list of things to save for. :-) Here are a few photos that I tweaked with PSE. 

In this photo, I enhanced the blue skies...
I left the water and sand untouched.

This little bird is a longtail chick. Longtails nest and raise their
babies in little rock crevices...we found this one while exploring
the beach. It was difficult to photograph him/her because
he was so far into the rock but the picture's not too bad
once edited a bit with Photoshop!

An adult longtail swoops in to check out a hole in the rocks.
I tweaked the greenery on the rocks a bit to enhance their color. 

For this beach shot, I enhanced both the greenery
and sky color. But I left the beach and water
in it's original color.

Do you use Photoshop? What are your favorite effects? Share your tips below!

Photo Editing Fun

Usually, the photos that I share here have only had minimal editing done (e.g. cropping, brightness/contrasting, and sometimes temperature/saturation). As a rule, I use Picnik to do my photo editing and it's the perfect website for a amateur photographer like me. :-)
Today I was in the mood for some fun editing so I chose a few photos from my ever-growing collection of photos on my computer...unique photos that look interesting when more dramatic editing is added to them. I'll show you before and after editing each photo as well as the name of the Picnik feature I used to get that look.

{Photo #1}

Before: Bouquet of flowers on grand piano

After: I used Picnik's "Orton-ish" feature on this photo. I love
the antique look that it gave this picture.

{Photo #2}

Before: A cheerful Day Lily

After: I used focal Black & White to add an interesting touch
to this photo.

{Photo #3}

Before: A little inlet near Bermuda's capital city, Hamilton

After: For this photo, I used "Sepia" to imitate the look
of an older picture.

{Photo #4}

Before: Willowbank Hotel's entrance sign

After: In this picture, I used Picnik's "Lomo-ish" tool to create
an unique look for this photo

Which photo editing feature do you like best on Picnik? If you haven't tried them before, head over to Picnik's cool website and have some fun yourself as you try out their exciting features!

A Few Miscellaneous Shots

I was just looking through my photos this morning and selected a few pictures to share with you all --no particular theme to this post, just some of my favorites.

A garden full of marigolds!

Pink snapdragon with marigolds in background

The beach at low tide!

Another garden view with our home in the background

This is our cottage! I took this photo earlier this year just as the
amaryllis was beginning to bloom!

Our local flower shop!

This is the grand piano in one of Willowbank Hotel's lounges and I enjoy playing it! :-) If you look
closely in this picture you can see me in the mirror taking the picture. 

I'm hoping to start the weekly Scripture Caption feature again so look out for that post early next week! Have a blessed day!