Saturday, July 6, 2013

A little this and that

There's Al, where did he go?
Diane took the first picture of me with my camera and I thought it was wonderful, until I discovered that Al was behind me taking pictures. Although it wasn't a huge thing, I have a program I bought for the Mac called Pixelmator, which gives me the ability to edit pictures. I think it was Al who told me about it. Having become accustomed to the magic of PhotoShop when I was working, which is very expensive, I was dubious about how a program that costs less than a fraction of the cost of PhotoShop might work, but I bought it anyhow. I used the clone tool to pick up a bit of the brush in the foreground and simply painted it over Al.

I suspect if you are really proficient at PhotoShop, this might look amateurish to you, but I was quite impressed with the result, since I was never very good at photo manipulation while using Photoshop during my working days. You be the judge.

Today I spent the entire day at the Drop Zone at Skydive Snohomish making four skydives with my friend Linny and others and packing up my parachute after each one. I came home at 6:00pm with my ass a-draggin' and I'm supposed to be raring to go in the morning, to head to the High Country with my Trailblazer buddies. After a good night's sleep I might be fine, but right now I feel like heading to bed and taking it easy tomorrow. However, I'm worried my friends might have a good time without me.  I just can't allow that to happen, so I'll be there.
The 4-page Owner's Manual
Some of you asked what in heaven's name could be in the Owner's Manual for the Tilley Hat, so I put a picture of it here. It's mostly about how to fit it, that they will replace it if you wear it out, and how to take care of it. Tomorrow the hat will be used again in full sun, along with my strap-on YakTrax to give my boots traction in the snow. Not sure where we are going exactly, but I'll be there, hoping for more fun in the sun!
:-)

25 comments:

  1. Yes, I received that 4 page book as well, however; having had a previous hat, ignored instructions to read again. Pretty nice hat, Eh. Lots of fun to play with photos and manipulate them. I had seen a beautiful motorbike downtown and it had a real UGLY background, so I took a tree n bushes out of another photo and scattered them along the background. cut, copy n paste are my best friends. ha, ha That is a really nice photo of you DJan with AL or without Al. Nice job. :)

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  2. i'd have never guessed you cloned out al. :) and i still love you in that hat. you be safe and don't push too hard today!

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  3. Al is hiding in front of that bush HA..you did great! hope you have a fun day today..we are headed to a Flea Market and possibly a Garden:)

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  4. An owner's manual for a hat, huh?

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  5. No grass grows under your feet. I'm stll lusting for a Mac laptop.

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  6. hope you got the rest you needed....thats a pretty good amount of air time...bet re-packing would wear you out as well....

    pretty cool on the pic...my wife is learning these things now...

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  7. Hey, great photo with the Tilley hat! I should wear something on my head but I can't. Too much perspiration and very uncomfortable.
    Enjoy your walk in the snow.

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  8. I have Photoshop, but have not bothered to learn all of its features. Bad me! Love that photo of you, though. Have fun today, DJan.

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  9. I refuse to own Photoshop. You did a good job on that edit! I love the photo.
    I am not a fan of power lines in photos.. so from time to time, when it's not possible for me to crop them out of my frame during shooting - I'll use a basic, inexpensive program to edit them out.

    In fact, there were photos of our Johnathan & Lilly jumping off a dock a few weeks ago... flying in air. Across the lake there was a great big house that, while a nice place, was really a distraction to me in the photos. I did the same thing you did with Al - copied some trees right over it. :)

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  10. And poof!, he's gone. Having learned to do a lot of things in Photoshop (for web sites and publications work), I'm never giving it up. I don't use half of its features, but the ones I use I really need, and I don't ever want to have to learn a new program. But I know there are some cool and inexpensive ones out there.

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  11. Now I will never know if you are really out in the mountains walking or whether you've been playing with that programme again.

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  12. That was neat how you shoved Al behind a bush. I need to check into that. Looks like fun.
    Take it easy. One day not pushing it might be nice.

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  13. I like that, you covered Al with shrubbery. I have played around with Photoshop but still don't own a copy. I have downloaded the free trials several times. It is fairly easy to use.

    Four pages for a hat? You got more instructions for the hat than I got with my new tablet. But then I don't read the instructions any ways.

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  14. I'd say you did a great job on brushing Al from history! I'm impressed. I never would have noticed if I hadn't read the post.

    I always learn so much from you. I will have to check out this program.

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  15. Your hat is very pretty and looks good on you. I had not seen the background until you mentioned it. You did a great job – your picture is very good. Your weather looks nice – we have had rain constantly since last Sunday – I feel like we are in your state instead of Georgia – and the temperature did not go over 75!

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  16. How cool is that! It's pretty amazing the software that's out there and the reasonable prices that come with (some of them). You did a great job and that's a terrific shot of you.

    Four dives! You continue to amaze me!

    xo jj

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  17. Love your photo editing. Nice job, Jan. I have photoshop, and I can say without hesitation that this editing you have done is not amateurish at all. Very good.
    And...I wanted you to know that after your last blog, I spent a great deal of time on the site for the Tilley Hat. Thank you very much!! :))) Seriously, I enjoyed looking at all the different hats.
    I'm so happy that you have one!
    Smiles and hugs for you,
    Jackie

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  18. I do have Photoshop and love it although I don't know how to use 80% of it. What you did is fabulous, DJan! It looks very professional. I've been using Photoshop a lot to lighten dark faces under hats in our trip photos. It's great to be able to just spot lighten certain areas. My brother was able to take eyes off one photo and stick it on another because mom is notorious for blinking.

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  19. I just got a photoshop up-grade. It has been fun slowly learning how to use it over the years. Nice pose DJan!

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  20. I love it!!! You're such a doll DJan. And yes, my software program is kinda like what you're describing. And I love it. I think the task is called cloning in my program.

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  21. Dear DJan, I'm just amazed at what the program/app??? you have can do. I know nothing--and I mean absolutely nothing--about photography and programs that embellish photographs. Why, I don't even know how to get the pictures from a digital camera onto the computer. So I'm impressed. Peace.

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  22. I think you did a great job with the photo edit. I can do basic things on Photoshop but am far from proficient. I use a very basic and inexpensive editing program that suits my needs most of the time. If I need some major editing done, I outsource to my dad who is good with Photoshop.

    Sometimes I feel like editing photos is sort of like whitewashing the reality of the moment. Will people years from now realize how much editing was done on "candid" photos? I wonder.

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  23. I have never tried editing photos or videos or anything. I am duly impressed! ;) But the four pages of hat instructions just cracks me up! I am behind on blogs, so I hope you had a good hike on Sunday. :)

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  24. Cloning tools can be fun.. or frustrating but it's nice to know there are options to get rid of unwanted aspects of an image. Not that I'd call Al unwanted or anything. Well done. :)

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