When Did I Turn This Into a Photo Blog?

Seriously folks, I'm addicted to photography and photoshop now. It's getting bad.

I did work today (not overly eventful) and will be working on Sunday for another supervisor. I'm hoping, hoping, HOPING, that I don't have to work Monday and that I will actually end up with a three day weekend (minus weekend days) in here somewhere. The Monday will be determined by another supervisor's return from a trip to Italy. If he's back and able to work, I won't have to work. If I don't hear from him, I'll be in the call center instead of going to see Superman Returns with DM and Keem at James's theater.

Either way, I'll have Tuesday and Wednesday off. Interesting days. But Tuesday is our Independence Day, so that'll be like an actual weekend day. Maybe I'll get some good pictures of fireworks this year!

Besides taking pictures, I've been trying to learn techniques in Photoshop to enhance the images. Straighten out a horizon? Check. Change the hue a picture? Check. Crop the image? Check.

Tonight's lesson was in clone stamping and learning how to put a frame on an image.

Here is the original, taken while DM and I strolled through Alfama, over a year ago. That trip still seems like a dream.



Now, what I did to the picture to update it and try to fix it up. I used the clone stamp to take out as much of the graffiti I could without destroying the tile work. I also cropped the image to make it horizontal (I cannot for the life of me remember what that is actually called. I know the up and down pictures are called portraits. Landscape! That's it!) Then I did a minor color correction (auto in Photoshop) and darkened the shadow a little bit.

Next step was to add a small gaussian blur to soft the image. Finally, I added the frame.



This is the description I gave the picture: This woman, who I didn't even notice until after I took the picture (yes, I know, how observant - I was looking at the tile work), is someone I wonder about. She's most likely native to the area and with the satchel, I imagine her strolling home from her job in an office. Does she walk past these doors, this tile work, this beautiful scenery every day and never looks around. She seems set in her way, introspective. I wonder if she's thinking of what to cook for dinner or how she's going to finish that project due at work tomorrow.

What do you think? Which is a better shot? Was the picture worth editing?