Distractions

I can't help it. It's not that I don't have anything to say. You probably don't need me to remind you of that. But I've been supplied with a steady stream of distractions this week and I just can't seem to focus. 

First, there's the blog redesign I mentioned a few weeks ago. I was serious about that. Honest. I'm tirelessly teaching myself enough web coding to be dangerous and having a friend help me do a complete design overhaul of my little website. I am so excited I can hardly stand it, and I hope to have all the changes live in the next ten days or so. Keep your fingers crossed.

Second, I have had a dream come true. I don't know how many of you read The Pioneer Woman, but if you don't, take a second to check her out. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Cool, huh? She is one of my blogging heroes. Heroines? She does more with her 24 hour day than seems humanly possible, but is brilliant and funny and, well, lovely. She also provides some of my favorite photography and Photoshop tips and tutorials. Seriously, she talks Photoshop like a normal person. It's refreshing.

So. The distraction. Well, first you have to understand that most of the photo editing knowhow out there is for fancy pants people with real Photoshop. Those of us with Photoshop Elements are often left to our trial and error (and drooling) in order to recreate some of the edits and effects. But I've really enjoyed clicking around in PSE - and, honestly, it does nearly everything "real" PS does. So I don't even know what I'm missing, most of the time.

Except actions. I have coveted The Pioneer Woman's actions for months. I have learned about layers and masks and all that crazy talk, just to recreate some of the things those fancy PS people can do with ONE CLICK with one of her actions. I thought the day would never come.

But! Actions! For Elements! It's like Christmas!

(I've probably lost some of you. What with all the PSE and action and masks/layers talk. Sorry. Just have to get it out of my system.)

PW (Pioneer Woman) posted two full sets of PSE actions that act JUST LIKE the "real" PS ones! So I followed the 47 step installation instructions and waited 100% impatiently for them to fully load, but I am now the proud owner of my very own PW actions for Elements. What used to take me 7 million layers and endless adjustments and A LOT of time - now takes me, literally, one click. It's like cheating.

Here. Let's pretend you asked, and I'll show you.

Here's one of my favorite photos of our family. Nancy took it when Colt was about a month old.

Cute, huh? I know. 

But now that I'm armed with actions, I will probably find it increasingly difficult to leave things well enough alone.

Here's the same photo after applying two different actions:

I love the faded color. As if it's an old family favorite I found in a shoebox in the attic. There was nothing wrong with the photo before, but the action added a little oomph. See?

 

So. Distractions. Yeah. The web design thing. And the Photoshop actions thing. Add the sick toddler thing and - what can I say? - I've slacked with the blogging. I hope hope HOPE I'll be able to unveil the new blog design soon so I will be forced to stop fiddling with it. And I'll eventually get over the shiny-new-toy-ness of the actions, right? Yeah, probably not.    
  

Comments

[Nancy Bunch]

Love the action work! You should put some more before and afters up. We should make an arrangement--I'll take all your pictures, and you can edit all of mine!

[Jennifer H-F]

I have a program on my iPhone that does pretty much that same thing. It is called Lo-Mob. I love it. Try it!

[Emily @ The Pilot's Wife]

Funny that we both wrote about this! It was a pain to load, but totally worth it!