Sleepless in Seattle...

'Twas the night before Leap Day (almost)
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring...

except for mom, who was Photoshopping in a jittery flurry that can only be accomplished by parents who can't sleep, but are tired, but think, What the hell? She'll be up in a few minutes any way...

So, yeah, Photoshop. I love it. I dabbled here and there with the software in the past, but dagnabbit if this program isn't HARD. I just could not get beyond the whole layer thing for the longest time, and, let's face it, I really wasn't all that motivated to push through it and learn.

But now? I have all these precious baby pictures that are reaallllyy precious on their own but with a little editing here and there they can be just STUNNING ("stunning" being more of a reflection of my beautiful daughter and less on my editing skillz, as I am still a beginner).

You can probably even tell the point in time that I started actually using Photoshop by the pictures in my blog. I also got a really nice new camera (Nikon D5100) for Christmas/Birthday/Valentine's Day/Boxing Day. I haven't quite mastered the whole shooting in manual yet, but since I can take pictures in RAW format, there are a lot more editing options to be had.

 

So this one was more of a "project" to get me to practice manipulating the image and whatnot. If you stare at it long enough, you may actually temporarily go blind, but I think it's a fun one. Kind of like one of those Magic Eye pictures, no?

This I created for the sole purpose of making it into a canvas for hanging over Penny's crib in her room. This was the nighttime prayer from my own childhood, and I look forward to passing it on. The good news is there was a groupon deal, so I actually ordered it today. I'm SUPER excited for it to arrive!

One of the main things I like to do is make pictures look as professional as I can. And I really do think I'm getting the results I'd like. Between my camera and Photoshop, I don't feel like I'll ever really have to hire a professional photographer (except for *maybe* family shots someday), OR do the whole studio thing. So, in the long run, I think I'm saving money.

The main thing is I feel really blessed that I'm able to stay home with my baby this year, and spend my little bits of free time here and there developing this hobby.