Playing on the computer 09-25-14

 

Playing on the computer is like playing with any creative object.  I use Picasa and can do all sorts of things with the editing options.   Along with the original images these are the pictures that were on my "Wordless Wednesday" post yesterday.  The pictures were "pixelated", but they could have been posterized or inverted colors or shown Duo-toned or using a Heat Map.  Doing this playing makes one see things in a different way, sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes unsuccessful and sometimes spectacular.  Just try different images because they don't all lend themselves to this process.  I imagine it is even more fun in Photoshop, but I still have not learned that program. 

 

Be sure to make a copy(ies) of the original and play with the copy(ies). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pixelated

 

Heat Map

Neon



 

#   #   #

 

Wordless Wednesday 07-31-13

 

Original designs from my computer 07-24-12

Sometimes my computer presents me with her original version of a picture. Some of these are interesting enough that I snap a picture and occasionally I play around with the Picasa collage feature. The three below are possibilities, I can imagine them as quilts.



 
I am usually not able to go back and access the unmessed up photo, so I have no idea what this might have been originally. 

 
Same with this one - although I can imagine it as a lovely garden.  It is a cropped version of the image below.

Changes 04-15-10

One of the things I find so difficult to deal with on my computer is changes! Yeah, I know, "life is change". The last time I played with the 'collage' feature on Picasa I could pivot the images after I moved them to the collage page - now I cannot. If that feature is still there it is buried.

"Camera Tossing #5" 04-15-10

"Camera Tossing #4" 04-15-10

I was trying to work with these four almost identical squares, but since I can't flip and pivot this is the best I can currently do. I may have to break down and learn Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Some advise to just try Elements first, but other say if I am going to do it just go whole hog and learn Photoshop to begin with. Any ideas?

I always read a lot and when I am doing the "rest in bed, drink plenty of fluids, etc." business, I read more than a lot. Fortunately my friends Carol and Dick Bednar are willing to trade books, so I usually have at least two or three new ones waiting on my nightstand. Last month the Book Group read "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford, but I was busy traveling. I just read it this week and I think it is a great read. It is about a small group of people living in Seattle at the beginning of the USA involvement in WWII. The story is told by a twelve year old Chinese American boy and deals with the internment of his Japanese friend. It is sad and shameful and heart wrenching and happy. There are many reader reviews at:

http://www.amazon.com/Hotel-Corner-Bitter-Sweet-Jamie/product-reviews/0345505344/ref=lmf_1_russss0_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

And I agree about the anachronisms and about the level of maturity in the voices of Henry as child and Henry as adult. However, things were very different in 1942 - even just the cultural differences may be partially to blame. ("Life is change"!) But the story itself is gripping and I enjoyed the book very much.

Experiments 07-10-09

I don't seem to find any time lately to experiment with fabric and thread. But I tried a little experimenting on my computer. Very preliminary. I'm using Picasa 3.