We got back from a weekend in Boston Sunday night. Late. The return was a little difficult because of some car issues (all solved now!) and that spread all the way into yesterday when Mr. Mouse had to be gone for a long time to return the rental car and pick up our fixed car from the dealership. In Hartford. 2 hours away. That’s 4 hours of driving. And me at home with a sick daughter who refuses to nap and one who refuses to let go of me so I can make dinner.
Emmanuelle seems to be doing better today. It was just a cold and I think she may be over the worst of it. It will do me loads of good to get back to the schedule. I have tons to do! I haven’t finished that fleece cardigan for Emmanuelle yet. I’ve done all the blanket stitching around the edges and I need to sew it up. I found out that the buttons I ordered were out of stock and I can’t seem to find those exact buttons anywhere else. I really want to finish this up this week so Emmanuelle can be nice and warm. I may have to use less than perfect buttons…
I also need to get moving on Valérie’s Halloween costume. I can’t seem to move forward with the second part of the costume. I’ve cut out one piece but it’s a little big in some areas and it’s too square. I need to add some curves but I’m afraid of messing it up. Which is ridiculous because I have plenty of material. Maybe I should skip ahead to the third part. That might unstick me.
In the meantime, I’ve gone through some photos of our trip. On the first day, we walked most of the Freedom Trail and we went on a duck boat. Mr. Mouse took photos. He likes to take photos of landscapes…
…architectural details…
…and “look at the camera and smile” portraits.
For once, I look okay in a photo! Even though we’re a little blurry…
Adjusted the curves on this one but the change is very subtle…
The next day, we went to the aquarium before heading home. Mr. Mouse was in charge of the camera again for a bit. I held mouseling 2 while we watched the seal show. I should have handed her over and taken the camera. I like taking photos of moving things and I know how to get good ones with our camera (children mode, no flash if possible, successive photo mode). As it is, by the time I got a hold of the camera to take photos, the seals were done showing off. So all we have is what Mr. Mouse took (they’re not bad, we just don’t have the more spectacular ones). A seal, showing off…
…and Valérie, really excited.
Back in the aquarium, I still had the camera and decided to try some fish photography. The aquarium function on the camera works really well except for the fact that the fish were moving too fast so a lot of them came out blurry.
Seadragon. Can you see him? I adjusted the color curves a little to help him stand out more but this little guy is really good at camouflage…
I wish I could have taken my time more. If there’s one thing that I’m learning about photography, it’s that quality photos take a LOT of time. I also took some photos of jellyfish. I picked one to work one.
Pretty jellyfish
Mainly, I wanted to get the background nice and black so my jellyfish would stand out. I made a second layer, all black, and cut out the shape of the jellyfish from it. I got lucky that the tentacles or whatever they’re called are already on a very dark background. It made selecting much easier. I feathered the edge of the selection so it would blend in better. That was good but I still had an issue. The jellyfish is a little translucent, especially on top and you can totally see the exit sign right through it. I used the clone tool and a little bit of smudging to remove it. It took me all day to get it right and I’m sure a professional would do a much better job but it was my first time and I’m happy! Finally, I adjusted the color curves to make the jellyfish brighter. Had to do this carefully because I didn’t want to lighten up the dark space between the tentacles. And I cropped it to reduce the amount of negative space. And here it is!
Jellyfish!
So much work but it makes me hopeful that I can produce some really wonderful photos some day…
Creative mommy at home to two wonderful little girls, trying to juggle family, sewing, exercise, family, knitting, photography, and did I mention family?
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