In Memory of

She would be 55 years old today.  My sister, Loretta.  I know she is heaven driving faster than 55 in the slow lane, in her convertible Forest Green Mustang along the beaches of  'Heaven', enjoying the sun, with a vase of sunflowers by her side, a good bottle of wine and surrounded by the Pelicans we so love. When she isn't driving the Mustang...she's riding one bareback.   She knew how to tame 'em.  She was a natural born rider.

Oh, how I miss her and still...wish I had been there for her.

Forever, in my heart.  Forever in my mind.

Forever, my Sister.

Floral Dreams - 2B Day 18

Our challenge this week is with adding and adjusting presets and textures to photos.    I started with this picture, which I love in its original format and had already added it to my contest/card file to include in my upcoming photography contest as well as turning into a gift card.

In it's original fomat

Are. They. Not. Sweet?

So I played.  I added a preset in its original format of KK tea and honey and then I took it into PSE and added another layer of it and played with the blend modes.  Then i added a layer of KK May 2bsafe in a soft light blend mode.  I added another layer of the original photo in a color dodge blend and layered that again with another layer of 2Bsafe in screen mode at 17%.  I merged all of those layers down and then duplicated it and put it in a multiply blend mode at 100%.  I then took it back to LR and increased contrast a bit and then reduced clarity to give it a soft dreamy look.

My dear, Kim.  These are for you.  To dream upon through these tough times.  In hopes..they will bring a smile to your life.

2B - Beyond Portraits

In an attempt to try to catch up on my Beyond lessons...well..one of the recent ones had to do with editing portraits utilizing LR.  In my search to find a portrait recently taken that I could work on, I found one of my son and his, at that point in time, fiancé (now wife).  Well...I have to admit, I don't think I quite did what the lesson wanted me to do...but I had fun 'editing outside the box' per se.

I love TEXTURES.  Love love love!!!

And actually I had messed with this one

just the night before which I did something different with and that is where I kind of got the idea for the one above.

Just remember to play around with the blending modes and utilzing the brush to erase areas of texture to highlight some of the more interesting areas to make them pop.

LR and PSE...what a wonderful world it is!!

Inspiration through Weekend Walks/Rides

In an attempt to get myself up and going again...and trying to utilize my time in a more creative way, as well as cramming as much as possible into the little bit of pleasant weather there might be before the challenges of winter photography sets in, I've joined the inspiration of Weekend Walk Challenges.

These walks will be posted here on my Breathless Rambling Page.  Click on this link or the 'Rambling' tab on the home page of this blog.

If I don't get a weekend walk in, it is normally replaced by a weekend road trip...which may be only a couple hours of enjoying the countryside...but I normally always find something that makes my camera shout out.....STOP!!!

Enjoy.

Follow me........

A few wedding memories

I promised the wedding photographer I would stay out of his way.  I kind of regretted it.  I didn't even take my camera out to the ceremony itself...but I snuck in a few shots during preparation!!

Sister/Maid of Honor watching out the window at the out door photography session.

A Bride in waiting.  A beautiful bride.

Her grandma by her side.

A little review of the vows after a minor change.

Getting the veil put on .....

with Proud mom watching over her shoulder.  My best shot ever!!

Ready to go....and patiently waiting.