Scottsdale Train Park

These are photos I took today at our visit to Scottsdale Train Park. What a beautiful park! But it would have been a more pleasant trip if the weather wasn't so hot. The price you pay for living in the desert, I guess. :)

• PP for top photo: texture layer, curves layer, sepia photo filter, sharpened
• PP for middle photo: monochrome channel mixer, sharpened, vignette
• PP for last photo: sharpened, vignette

Summer Rain

What a nice surprise to our scorching hot Arizona weather -- a summer rain! It showerd for a brief time this afternoon, wind and all. The best part? The after effect.... cool, breezy weather. Ahhhh!

I decided to take pictures of the rain on our front walkway. I added a texture layer and adjusted the sharpness/contrast. Btw, if you can't figure it out (my DH couldn't!), the red thingy is a small fallen flower. :D

CPF Assignment: Motion

I almost missed entering this week's CPF (Christian Photographers Forum) assignment! We went to Canyon Lake today with one of our church family friends, the Conklin's. Totally FUN! They have a boat and all the fun water toys -- wakeboard, water ski's, "hot dog", tube, inflatable trampoline. This is our friend's husband. Both him and his wife are pros at water skiing and wakeboarding. This shot was taken from the boat (obviously), about 50 feet away!

But more about our trip later. We just got back this evening around 9:45 and I am exhausted. I wasn't going to submit anything until tomorrow, but Gabe was so gracious to remind me via email that the deadline is today! Thanks Gabe! :)

Natural Framing - Can't decide!

I need some help! I cannot decide which of the two I should submit for the current DPS assignment - "natural framing". The guidelines are as follows, according to DPS mods: basically borders, nature paths, windows, all of these setup a nice natural frame outline for the focus of the subject.

Would love to get your feedback on what I should submit. We have until Tues/early morning Wed. to get our submissions in. Oh wow, I totally forgot...I'll take some shots over the weekend - at Canyon Lake! - and may find an even better shot to submit from those. We'll see! But for now, I'm thinking of either of these two. :)

My Mom

My beautiful mother, whom I love dearly! She is so amazing and full of joy! What a blessing to have such a mother in my life. I've been waiting to post this photo since we returned from our Legoland trip, but completely forgot about it until this evening. (Sorry, mom!) :D

I love my mommy!

DPS Assignment: Sharp

Here is my submission for this week's DPS assignment - sharp. Talk about procrastination, this was submitted at the very last moment. LOL. There are a lot of creative submissions (ie: using sharp objects, looking "sharp", and my favorite - God's Word as being sharper than a two edged sword), but I opted for the traditional sharp focus route. :)

This photo was taken at one of our church families' home. Our church was invited to come an pick apples from their apple tree. They have a beautiful flower garden.

Below is another photo I was thinking of submitting -- "sharp" blades of grass. But something about it didn't feel right to me. I don't think it was sharp enough. So I chose to submit the sunflowers intstead. :)

Father's Day Tribute

Children's children [are] the crown of old men;

and the glory of children [are] their fathers.

(Proverbs 17:6)

What a precious picture of my beloved husband with our son - a vision of Biblical Fatherhood. Words cannot express how much I love, adore, appreciate, and respect this man that the Lord has given me as my perfect complement. As I look at him in his role as a father, I see a man who, as imperfect as he may be, strives with all his might to be the kind of godly father he has been called to be by our Heavenly Father.

His love for our son, our family, is sacrificial and unconditional. He is always there for him (us!) and is faithful to his commitments. Yet, he is also humble before us when he falls short. He has purposed in his heart to lead this family for the glory of Christ! He is a man of VISION. He is a great provider and protector. All in all....he is the BEST! God knew the perfect man for me to be married to and to be the father of our child(ren).

We are not a perfect family -- we are, of course, sinners saved by grace! But His miraculous and all powerful hand is most definitely upon us. And most especially, upon my husband as He continues to transform his life in ways he (or I) could not have ever imagined.

Our journey has been joyful, challenging at times, but above all, greatly blessed. All glory is to Christ Jesus, our one and only King, Savior, Redeemer, and Lord! Apart from Him, we are nothing and in Him is life everlasting.

Beyond measure, I love my husband and our son loves his father! Happy Father's Day, honey!

Assignment: Clashing Colors

I missed the deadline to submit the last DPS assignment - "clashing colors". Nonetheless, here is what I would have submitted. This was taken at Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill this past Saturday. It's been so busy for me lately and I was struggling to find shots for this assignment. Then lo and behold -- we entered a Mexican restaurant! LOL. :)

I enhanced the brightness of the colors a bit in CS2 using the curves adjustment layer.

Speaking of assignments, I have 3 fun assignments to work on over the next couple of weeks for DPS and Christian Photographers forums. So stay tuned for my upcoming submissions - natural framing, motion, and sharp!

Virtuous Maidens

Raising up maidens of virtue towards Biblical Womanhood,
for the glory of Christ and for His Kingdom!

Post processing: Texture layers, unsharp mask, photo filter, vignette, noise reduction. Below is the original photo I took. I accidentally shot the photo with the wrong (higher) ISO, so there is a lot of noise. I continue to be amazed at being able to salvage a shot post processing in Photoshop.

Cactus Flower & Texture Layer

Can you believe these beautiful, pink flowers grew from cacti?? I still can't believe it myself. This was taken back in April, during our trip to the Sonoran Desert Museum. I'm loving how vivid the color of the flowers turned out!

The two shots show the difference in appearance when a texture layer is added. I've posted several texture layer shots before, but what I just learned is how to remove the texture on places I don't want it to show (ie: faces, flower petals, etc) and still keep the tone of the texture on those areas.

The first shot has a texture layer applied to it, but notice the texture does not show up on the petals. And yet, the tone of the texture is still kept throughout the entire photo. I'm so excited to learn this! :) The second photo is the original.

In Our Garden!

Look what's growing in our garden - squash! This is the first visible "fruit" of our garden. Woo hoo! We're a bit excited about this since this is our first garden ever. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think this is squash. LOL. It might be cucumber. You think? I'm sooo not a gardener. But, by the Lord's grace and for the sake of our children's children, I will be. :)

Well, we can't wait to taste all of the fruits and vegetables we've planted!