Summer...

It is definitely summer here in Western Oregon...

The yearling cattle are quickly eating up any green grass

that is left in the fields...

It won't be long and we will be shipping out the yearlings...

I will miss them coming up to the yard fence in the mornings,

just barely visible through the fog.

My days have been spent in the hay fields...mowing hay...

see the red tractor in the very center of this image?

We are nearly done with haying. 

This was my last field to mow.

You can see me taking the photo in the top left of this image.

  My favorite guy is baling this field today.

I will be saying good-bye.....for awhile.

We are hosting our son's wedding here at home in July...

just 3 weeks away.....no time for blogging.

Gunnr wishes you all a summer filled with 

sunshine and smiles!

This is the last image I will share from 

my online Photoshop class...

Star Lily backlit from the setting sun while I was watering.

CLICK HERE to view Photoshop Elements for Quilters

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Photoshop Elements....for Quilters

Last week in the Photoshop Elements online class

we learned to sharpen images.

How does this come in handy for quilting?

Let's say you are at a quilt show taking photos of

quilts that interest you....like this one:

When you get home to view them...

you can't see the machine quilting that you liked so much.

So....you crop the image.

Still can't see the machine quilting.

You lighten the image...

still can't see the machine quilting.

 

You crop in even closer....

still can't see the stitching very well at all.

Here I have used the unsharpened mask in PSE

and now I can see the swirls and plumes 

in the machine quilting.

If I am not at the sewing machine...

then I am behind my camera lens.

A lot of my images inspire my quilted textiles

and even become quilted textiles when the images 

is printed on fabric.

I took this image last year and saw the potential, 

but didn't know how to work with it to improve it...

I cropped the image......much better.

Using the levels filter in PSE.....it is lighter

Using the Hue/Saturation filter in PSE.....it is richer in color

Using the unsharp mask in PSE 

the bird's face is more in focus.

After I water the flower beds...

I love the way at the water beads up on the lupine leaves...

However, this image is too dark.

I lightened the image...

Improved the Hue and Saturation levels

Then used the unsharpened mask 

and the water drops are more in focus.

 I took this image at the aquarium last year:

Again, I knew this image had potential, 

but I couldn't make it any better.

In the PSE class I cropped it...

Then I sharpened it with the unsharpened mask.

All the fine detail of the jelly fish is in focus.

Click here to view all of my Photoshop for Quilters posts

CLICK HERE to find out more about this PSE class:

http://www.pixeladies.com

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Photoshop Elements.....for Quilters

In the Photoshop Elements online class one of the lessons

involved lightening images.  Many of the students lightened 

up dark images of their quilts, but I chose the images below...

We recently visited our son.  

My husband took this picture of us:

You can kind of see my son and I, 

but our doggie Gunnr is only a silhouette...

This image probably would have ended up in the trash bin.

This lesson taught us to lighten the image...

...then saturate the color back into it in the correct places.

This is definitely useful for an image of a quilt that needs to 

be lightened and have the color corrected.

I took this photo out the back door...

There is a fog bank down below the back yard 

because the river runs through the fields.

I like this image, but decided to play with it 

to see what I could do with it.

This image has been lightened...

This image has the color saturated.

I took this image of a dandelion seed head years ago:

I knew this image had potential and saved it...

In class I cropped it...

Much better already, more focus on the dandelion

Then I lightened the seed head...

Then, just for FUN....I oversaturated it a bit.

I love the way the seed head sparkles and twinkles now and

I love the lime green grass in the background.

This is an image that could be printed out and quilted.

You can find out more about this online class here:

Pixeladies

CLICK HERE to view all my Photoshop posts

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Photoshop Elements......for Quilters

As I review these images from my 

Beginners Photoshop Elements online class...

I can't believe how much we learned in 12 lessons!

I will share a few more techniques I learned.

We learned to adjust the color on images:

Original image of pink Iris

The entire image has been colorized....

the pink iris is now blue/purple, the yellow background 

flowers are now red.

Original image of pink clematis

The entire image was colorized.....

green clematis and blue leaves......wild!

In this image the clematis flowers remain pink, 

but the leaves are blue.

We were taught to colorize one area and not another.

Original image of lily bud

I was watering the flowerbed with a soaker hose and caught

 the water drops in the sunlight.

I colorized the entire image and really punched up the color

 of the water drops and the background leaves.

This would be great printed out on fabric and thread painted.

Original image of Lily

Only the pink centers of the lily 

were colorized a brighter pink.

The lily remains the original color, but the green background

leaves have been colorized to be a bit brighter.

Many of the students in class did this same color technique

with fabrics from their stash.

You can find out more about this online class:

Pixeladies

 CLICK HERE to view all Photoshop Elements for Quilters posts

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi