Monday, February 25, 2008

who says they're just for the kids?

Sometimes I wonder who has more fun with the toys in our house,
G-man or me & JQ?


I tend to not do much post-processing work to my images after I shot them. Besides, the necessary resizing for the web, I usually just pop them up there right out of iPhoto. This image, however, needed a bit of tweaking. I really liked the original—what is up with my look of pure evil?—but the background was too distracting. With the red walls and the bright colors of the rest of the table in the foreground, the flower failed to pop. So, I desaturated all of that in Photoshop using an adjustment layer and ta-dah, a much stronger image.

I dig the onslaught of ways to see—the eye, the camera, the mirror. I also like the way none of the focal points are in full view—my face is cropped by the camera, which is cropped by the flower, which is cropped by the edge of the photo.

What do you think? Do you have one to share? Do you find yourself playing (and having fun) with your kid's toys?

14 comments:

Mrs. Gray's Class said...

That's a cool shot - I definitely play with my kids' toys more than they do.

BO Snagley said...

cool picture.
my kids are playing with a 55 gallon drum right now.
and i dont need a broken leg so i am staying clear

mandaroo63 said...

Cool image, I like what you did with it. Yes, definately some playing going on with the kids' toys around here, especially the electronic ones like wii and nintendo! Not so much the kiddy ones, though occasionally I do have fun with the imaginext pirate ship and the dora house! : )

Megan said...

very fun -- at least someone is getting use out of the toys :)!

Lynda said...

I have a lot of fun with Calem's toys when I go out to visit, or buy them for him.

Maggie said...

What a fun shot!

Christina said...

Very cool image! Yup, I play with my girl's toys too - that's half the reason for having kids, so you get to play with all your favorite toys again! ;o)

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

gray—Thanks.

bo—Is it a rusty drum?

mandaroo—The pirate ship would be right up my alley.

megan—For the price we pay for them, they have to get used somehow.

lynda—I can see that with you.

maggie—Thanks!

christina—I'll get a whole new slew of toys since I have a boy.

Rose said...

That IS a really cool shot. I like the original one too, actually.

I agree, I love the toys and the photo ops are so fun.

Phyllis Sommer said...

wow. that is way cool. i think i need to play with the toys more!:-)

natalie said...

Love it!

Bonnie said...

Oh, I love that !!!

Cupcake Blonde said...

You look all sexy and serious in the reflection. :)

Naynayfazz said...

You do look a little evil in that one pic but it must be the angle you were looking at the camera. Although, I am still going to try to not piss you off. :)

I can't answer the kid toy questions because I don't play with any kid toys. I will get back to you on that one.