New Violin - "Tartini"

Our son outgrew his violin (again!) and has now upgraded to a 1/2 size violin. This is a photo I took of his new violin ~ a Tartini Strad. The sound is so beautiful and so much more rich! Our son loves it and plays quite handsomely on it too. (I'm such the proud mama). :)

This photo was also my submission for DPS forum's last assignment ~ the "Five Senses". Obviously, I was focusing on the sense of hearing in this shot. The assignment allowed us to capture either all 5 senses or just one. This isn't the best shot I would've liked to submit for this assignment, but it was well enough due to lack of time. :) Hope you like it!

Btw, did you notice the "gallery print" I created for the shot? I love the look of it with the large white border. I learned this from my new favorite photography book: Photoshop CS2 for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby. Totally fun!

My First OOB!

Isn't this image effect so (if I must say).... COOL??? :) I just learned about it and could not wait to try it. This effect is called "OOB", which stands for "Out Of Boundary" images. I'll definitely be trying this effect on other shots. :)

If you're like me, you're probably dying to know where the tutorial is. Well, here it is....
http://www.logicscape.com/oob_tutorials/

Enjoy!

Visiting A Friend @ SHH

Yesterday after church, we visited a dear friend of ours at Scottsdale Healthcare Hospital. Our friend, Ron, has had severe health issues since his car accident over 20+ years ago when he was hit, head on, by a drunk driver. By God's grace he survived the near fatal accident and became a believer in Christ! Even though his health is an up and down roller coaster for him, he praises the Lord for the work in his life and for His sovereignty. We had such a precious visit with him! Praise the Lord he is recovering well from his recent surgery.

The photo for this post is the entrance to SHH. The original shot was rather bland (over exposed). In addition to sharpening and adjusting the exposure, I also added a "neutral density gradient filter" on it.

An ND filter is a filter that can be attached to a camera lens, which intensifies the color of the sky (among other things). Since I do not own an ND filter for my camera, I learned how to create the same effect in Photoshop. Here's my first attempt... :)

My Precious In-Laws

I love my in-laws! And today we were blessed to spend some time with them, as part of a belated Mother's Day celebration. We ended up going to Mimi's Cafe for lunch.....

...then we came back to our house so they could rest a bit before their hour-long drive home to Peoria. Our son also entertained his grandparents with a mini-concert with his brand new 1/2 size violin (more on that soon!). As usual, it was a lovely time with family!