Early though it may be - this is what I want to see when I look out my window or step out into my backyard.
Instead, there is still a 20 foot dumpster (full now) sitting in my driveway, jigsaws and 2 by 4s and nails and sawdust, door frames and baseboards lined up, waiting to be painted in my backyard, scattered among the just budding tulips and peonys.
So I could have graced this post with some samplings of the ongoing chaos and mayhem that is our renovation from.....ahem....heaven
but
alas
I opted to encourage myself with some of last years beauties that are just waiting for their moment on center stage this year.
It's Wednesday again folks.
Gardens are all about color and I love a full, lush, bursting garden full of blooms but there is something to be said for the soft grays. Sort of like a tease of what's to come.
(if you look closely, you can see me in the globe, squatting for this shot)
Look at all the detail in this rose. I was messing around in Lightroom and after I increased the exposure,added a bit of reovery, black to 43, hit the greyscale, I added +100 in the greyscale mix blue and increased the clarity to +100.
Now look at it with the clarity lowered to -100.
Cool, eh?
This shot was taken last summer near here. Dahlia is climbing up on this statue - I kind of like the contrast between the torn fense and her silk dress. I'm not sure where she thought she was going.
So, above is just my normal post editing but below I lowered the blue in the grayscale mix to
-100 and look what it does to the sky and water. Doesn't really affect the rest of the picture much.
Really makes that little sailboat pop though.
Really makes that little sailboat pop though.
And finally, one of my all time favorite shots of Dahlia last summer.
My little coquette!
Ahh....so....thanks for that.
I feel better now.
:)
Hi, I'm Wanda. I am a happy woman, wife to Danny for...oh....lots a years and finally Mom to THE most adorable little girl from Hunan, China - Dahlia. And now we have been blessed again with another daughter, Milana, from Zhejiang, China. (The 2 best things I've ever done!)
We live in the Montreal area. After a loooonnngg wait for Dahlia's little sister Milana (pronounced - Mee-lana, like banana), we finally brought her home in August 2009. Dahlia came to us in Nov 2004 (at 20 months of age)and a year later we began the application for another baby - at the time the waiting period was around 8 months. Almost 4 years later (say what!?!)we, at last, brought Milana home.
This began as the story of our journey to bring Milana home and life with her big sister, Dahlia. It now continues as we live as a family of four!
God.
My (growing) family.
Hangin' out with my girlies.
My wonderful friends (you know who you are!).
To laugh (out loud and a lot!).
Music.
Painting. Hugs.
Long chats with my buds.
My garden.
To read (ha...when I can!).
Sunshine.
Spring, Spring and more Spring.
Building things.
Cooking.
Decorating.
Parties (ahem).
The internet.
Life.
Movies. A.I.
Dancing with the stars.
So you think you can dance.
Travel. Umm..did I say laughing my head off.
Oh Gee...everything actually!!
29 comments:
Pretty flowers and great editing!
gorgeous pics, as usual. I bet its next to impossible to take a bad pic of your girls. Hope all is well with you and your family.
I must admit that your lack of posting makes me wonder if you've been sucked into the renovation black hole, and therefore having trouble communicating with the free world.
Kind regards from Miami,
Carol and Taylor
Great editing! That is something I need to learn. Your pictures are beautiful!
Great photos! I hear ya with the renovation nightmares. We have been confined to living in our basement for two years now while we're remodeling our main floor and upstairs. Ugh! I love taking nothing and making it into something, but even our renovation is wearing on my patience!
Lovely photos...love your flower shots! And your girls are such little dolls :)
Amazing shots and editing. Good luck with your remodel...end result is always worth the stress.
Wow -- beautiful! You are so talented. Good luck with the remodel!
Janet
Beautiful! And it is fun to see what your editing changes were too. I love lightroom!
Cool shots! I feel your renovation pain, hang in there, the end result will be worth it!
Hi Wanda. What great pictures! I love the flower, although you are way over my head with all the editing talk! I need you at my computer helping me with pics!! Have a wonderful day!
perfect spring photos
love them
Wow! Wanda these look so cool!
Great Post!
Wow, great photos Wanda. It is so much fun to play around with the images!
I really like the first photo the best!!
Iris is one of my favourite flowers, so hard to wait to see them again this summer! Beautiful!
They are all wonderful but I do love the rose! :-)
My favorite..."I'm not sure where she thought she was going." That pretty much describes my kiddos 24-7!
Lovely pics, as always! Good luck with the renovation.
Even with all the reno stuff, you are all creative and working on nifty pics.
Keep smilin!
Your flowers are stunning Wanda! I love most flowers, but Iris are one of my very favs!
Happy Wednesday!
Spring is here....even with dreaded reno, dumpster and all!! And honestly I could hardly get a mental imagine of the chaos amid your stunning photos....the rose shot is magnificant ~ as is your sweetie pie!!
Hang in there my friend....I hope the end is in sight and just imagine the joy when its all just the way you want it to be ....AND the flowes are in full bloom!!!
Hugs of Spring!!!!!
Ooh, very cool editing on the photo of the rose! But my favorite of all the photos you posted here is the very last one. Looks like she is growing up very quickly!
I love the iris! Probably my favorite flower ever. And the other photos are beautiful too. Especially your sweet human 'flowers' ;)
Donna
Our Blog: Double Happiness!
The pics are awesome. I was all over the iris.
I'll let you know when I make the blueberry... Wish you were close by - I'd bring you over one of my Apple pies :)
peace
fm
ahhh, the last shot is breathtaking! And the name Dahlia? Beautiful.
She is a little coquette indeed! :)
I love that first edit of the rose... beautiful!
Happy weekend!
Beautiful black and white photos!
Oh my goodness Wanda! I love the rose. AMAZING! I am glad you are focusing on the positive : ) Soon you will see pretty things again!
I love these!! Truly gorgeous. The rose is amazing. I am always in awe of what you can do with photo editing programs!! Just amazing!
These are BEAUITFUL!! Look at the detail in that rose....WOW!! I also love what you did to the picture of Dahlia climbing the statue....the clouds look so cool:)
She is such a sweet girl.....I can see why that last shot was your favorite summertime photo......what a beauty!!
Hope you are hanging in there thru this reno........soon....soon it will all be done.
Enjoy your weekend:)
xo,
Lisa
BOY, have I missed visiting 'round these parts! I FEEL like your backyard looks this week after starting my new job. I realize the older I get that I just don't bounce back like I used to....hmmmm, I'm gonna have to work on that.
Glad to see you are still thinking positive AND that you are playing around editing. I just LOVE the one of the sky and the sailboat behind Dahlia...that is sooooooooo cool...and the rose too. I need to play around a bit in Lr too....I am afraid to say that Lr is more my speed than Photoshop...I'm a tech idiot!
Miss visiting here and miss you and your adorableness and sense of humor. I could use a bit of both these days, my friend!
xoxoxo
Dita
sounds like you are moving along with the renovation and soon it will be over with and you will be sharing all your beautiful pictures for us to oooooohhhhhhhhh and aaaaaahhhhhh over : )
Love your black and whites...beautiful!!! Playing around is so much fun!!! I love LR and PS...fun fun fun!!!!!
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