Getting to know you, Grandma

Due to a devastating fire that happened years ago, many of the photographic memories from my mom’s side of the family went up in smoke. My sweet Aunt has a few remaining pictures of the family and has recently been sharing them with me-‘her favorite niece’.
(Note: I am her only niece…)

My Grandpa (my mom’s dad) is the man on the right wearing the ‘old man onesy’. Grandpa didn’t mess about when it came to fishing. Nor when it came to love. Grandpa was madly in love with my Grandma. But she passed away at the age of 53. I was only three at the time-I don’t even remember what her voice sounded like. And up until yesterday, I had only one picture of my Grandma.

I see where I get my sass from and my love for men’s oversized flannel shirts.

My Grandmother looks classy and so full of life. We would have gotten along famously, I am sure.
Because of these photos, I feel a bit of a connection to the woman I never knew. I feel my Grandmother would understand my weird spiciness.
Or at least pretended to understand..but at any rate, I would have another ally on my side. And I need all the help I can get.

Vintage Advertisements-Part Deux

Creative marketing types are always pushing the envelope when it come to advertising.
However, these advertisements show that the envelope has been pushed too far.
In fact, the envelope looks a little weird and mangled.
It looks creepy.

Photo source unknown
I have a hard time believing that any woman would be or should be this excited about saran wrap and her ability to wrap an inordinate amount of sandwiches. I think a bit of vicodin has been involved here.
And why is there a creepy Jay Leno in the background?

Photo source unknown
The pencil has completely enamored this poor little mountain girl.

Photo source unknown
‘Oh, Dahling…I think I forgot to eat for the last five years. Has anyone seen my waist?’

Photo source unknown
Life is so much fun when you have three men in very strange swimsuits chasing you.
I hope these advertisements have creeped you out.

Inspiration from Vintage Advertisements

I was born in the wrong era, I just know it.
I can’t get enough of vintage advertisements.
I wanted to share some of those with you.

Photo: Source Unknown
Everything about this photo intrigues me.
It is quite simple, and yet it looks psychedelic, off kilter and kind’ve crazy. A little bit like me.

Photo: Source Unknown
I have no idea what is being sold here, but I want it.

Photo: Source Unknown
I know a few ‘very secure in their manhood’ type men that would disagree with this slogan.
But, I love the pink overload. It reminds me of my first master bedroom.

Photo: Source Unknown
This entire shot is surreal, otherworldly, alien-esque.
I would love to own this bathing suit. If I did, would I have to stand like this to make it look good?

I want to live in an era where women still wore hats and gloves, where men opened the doors for ladies and where we all had martini parties.
But if I did, I would’t have Biceps. I would probably have a ‘Jim’ or a ‘Harold’. I don’t think I could be with a ‘Harold’.
I think I’ll stick with Biceps and throw my own martini parties while wearing gloves.

Selecting & Adjusting using the Inverse Function

I wanted to use two different effects with this photo.
I thought a diffuse glow action would soften the flower petals and a sharpening action would bring out the muted leaves that are lost in the background.

The color (and my overall interest) was lacking in this blah photo.

After boosting the saturation and the brightness of the photo, I used my ‘magnetic lasso’ to draw around the hydrangeas.
The magnetic lasso has become my new best friend. It makes it so easy to draw around crazy objects such as these flower petals.

After my whole hydrangea bunch was lassoed, I chose the diffuse glow function under the ‘filter’ tab.

I toned down the ‘glow amount’ so as not to overpower the photo with too brightly lit flower petals.

I boosted the saturation on the hydrangeas to draw out the details of the petals.

Happy with the look of the hydrangeas, next I focused on the background. With my magnetic lasso still active, I right clicked on the picture and chose to ‘select inverse’.

This makes the entire area, minus the hydrangeas active. Now, I can adjust anything in the background, separate from the flowers.

Under the ‘filter’ tab, I clicked on ‘sharpen’ and over to ‘sharpen’ again.

I wanted the leaves to stand out a little more, and so I boosted both the brightness and the contrast of the background.

And here is the final product.
Below is the before. If you’re into that ‘comparing’ kind of thing.