Back in the saddle...

Hello there. Sorry I've been away for a while. Busy, busy summer, and no time to tell you about it.

I think I'll start with the most recent happenings and blog about the rest in between throughout the coming weeks.

Jim and I just returned from a wonderful weekend in Lancaster, MA with our great friends Jo and Eric, and their new baby boy Dylan. They have a beautiful historic home (built in 1771!) with plenty of room for guests. Other friends were there also - Danielle and Gerard and their daughter Maya came up from Long Island, as well as the newest marrieds of the group - Kate and Kyle all the way from DC.

I took the weekend as a great opportunity to explore my new camera and some different settings, and then take those photos and play around with them on iPhoto.

I was really pleased with most of the photos, but then the editing process has me even more excited! I really should take the time to edit my photos more often...

Beautiful Maya before

Beautiful Maya edited - cropped, enhanced color, played with color saturation, tint, shadows, etc.

Maya in the sunshine

Maya in the sunshine edited - just cropped and enhanced.

Danielle and Maya

Danielle and Maya edited - blurred edges, faded the colors, fine tuned other color settings.

Handsome baby Dylan

Handsome baby Dylan edited - black and white, cropped, and got rid of those mosquito bites on his head :)

Joel and Dylan

Joel and Dylan edited - cropped, faded the colors, tweaked the color settings.

Maya in the pool

Maya in the pool edited - cropped, antique effect, changed color saturation.

Jim and Dylan

Jim and Dylan edited - cropped, black and white, retouched some of his skin, played with shadows and highlights.

Cutest Dylan

Cutest Dylan edited - cropped, enhanced, used color saturation to brighten and enhance.

Floating Maya

Floating Maya edited - cropped, antique effect, enhanced highlights.

Maya and Gerard

Maya and Gerard edited - cropped, enhanced, sharpened the image.

Arwen

Arwen edited - cropped, enhanced color, played with highlights.

Not bad for my first real go at it. I like using some of the effects, even if the end result isn't exactly the true colors. I also have Aperture on my computer, and I've only played around with that a little. At some point I'll move my photos over to that program and try some more sophisticated editing. 

Do you edit your photos before blogging, posting to facebook, or printing? What program/s do you use?