My husband used to tell me, when I would post pictures, "with a little editing, these pictures would look even better." I would tell him that I barely had time to post pictures and I didn't feel like I had time to edit pictures on top of that. I wanted to learn Photoshop better but every time I sat down to play with it I felt like I was spending time on something unimportant when I had so much more important things to be doing.
Then one night back in August, I stayed up too late editing the above picture. I had discovered that through my Smugmug site I could go directly to the Picnik editing site. I had SO MUCH FUN with it and it was simple and fast. Nowadays, I have a hard time posting a picture that hasn't been played with in my "digital darkroom".
My favorite editing trick right now is called cross-processing. Here is an example...
(before)
I don't know what it does to the picture but I LIKE IT! I really REALLY like it!(after)
Enlargers, chemical trays, tongs, film cans, timers, all the dark room equipment one needed in the "old days" to do what we simply do with one finger now! It's just amazing! Randy's Grandmother had her own darkroom and it intrigues me to think of her out there on the Montana farm prairie where there was no photo developing place near-by, creating her own works of art that would be so cherished by her family for years to come. She had to know so much more than I ever will.
I'm thankful for my own digital darkroom and the enjoyment I find there. Sometimes I think I'm the one living in the "dark ages of photography"-the days of not needing to know much about it, except click button photo editing and developing. It's fun to think though, that I may be just one click away from "the perfect picture"!
Just "clicking" away in Montana,
