On Knowing What I Don't Know

If there's one thing I have learned about Photoshop it's that I don't even know all there is to know. If I'm just correcting photos I've taken randomly of weekend activities or the cats, I use Picasa. It's good enough but also basic enough that it takes me no time at all to edit, and I still get decent results. But for more important photos, like the two shoots I've done recently, I exclusively use Photoshop.

Having in my teenage years worked in an old school photo lab, I became pretty picky about the contrast and coloring of my images. It's been a delight to see that I can be as picky as I want in Photoshop. If a magenta speck in the upper left hand corner of a photo bothers me I can tweak it without altering the rest of the photo. It's a picky photographer's dream come true, but that dream comes with a price. I am just now finishing editing the set of photos I took on Father's Day - three days ago. With Picasa I would have been done an hour after the shoot, but I also wouldn't have loved any of the photos I took as much as I do now.

I mostly use the color correcting and cropping functions in Photoshop. I know if I wanted I could twist images, make them into puzzles and turn all the colors neon. I don't really have use for all that. Today though as I reached the last three photos of my shoot, I knew they could be more dynamic so I tried something new.

Here are the originals. (Hunter was doing a little crazy dance for me)

I didn't want to discard them, but they also were not the best solo shots I got of Hunter. So this was my solution.

So much cuter! And it's a better representation of his little dance. Thank you Google and all your wisdom because I couldn't have combined these three photos otherwise.

My Photoshop tastes are constantly changing right now. In each of the three nights I've edited this collection of photos I tweaked their color, shading and contrasting differently. I've had to go back and change some of the photos I've already edited because I've liked what I've done on subsequent nights better. It's OK though. I guess it's all part of the learning process, which is definitely where I am. But it's good to know that there are certainly enough functions in Photoshop to keep me constantly learning and perfecting my editing skills.

And just because he's such a doll and I really did love this shoot, I will leave you with another of my favorite images from my Father's Day photos.

And now for a complete change of subject... Does anybody have a suggestions for a song I can play during the candle lighting portion of a wedding ceremony - preferably something good for a solo violin? I need another song for my September wedding, and I don't know what I want to play. Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring, Ave Maria, Canon in D and Ode to Joy have already been taken. Or alternately, if you don't know a good song, just for laughs, please suggest the worst possible song I could play at that moment. Immediately I am thinking Toxic by Britney Spears or Superfreak.