Flowers really do intoxicate me. ~Vita Sackville-West

http://carolineg.redbubble.com/

One of the joys of life, whether it be a bunch of spring flowers, a bouquet of red roses given to you by a loved one, or fields or verges overrun with wildflowers:

Earth laughs in flowers.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Hamatreya”

 

For myself I hold no preferences among flowers, so long as they are wild, free, spontaneous. ~Edward Abbey

 

Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844

 

If you’ve never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.  ~Terri Guillemets

 

Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity.  ~John Ruskin

 

That we find a crystal or a poppy beautiful means that we are less alone, that we are more deeply inserted into existence than the course of a single life would lead us to believe. ~ John Berger

 

Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into.  ~Henry Beecher, Life Thoughts, 1858

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How to use textures in photography.

All photographs on this site can be purchased at http://carolineg.redbubble.com/

The use of textures in digital photography can enhance an image, add a new mood and even turn a rather mundane photo into a piece of art!

Here is one simple way of using layers in Photoshop, with some examples of how I have transformed a few of my images.

Step 1) Open up the canvas with the texture on it. Select the entire picture by right clicking on the picture with the lasso tool or the rectangular marquee tool (both located on the main vertical menu). The “moving ants” all the way around the picture indicate the picture is selected.

Step 2) On the top horizontal menu, click Edit and then Copy on the drop-down menu.

Step 3) Now open up the canvas with the photo you’re going to applying the texture to. Again, go to Edit on the top menu select Paste. This should put the texture on top of the photo you’re applying the texture to. At this time you should not be able to see the photo, only the texture on top. You may have to resize your texture image, as it must cover the whole of your photograph.

Step 4) Open up the layers menu on the right side.

In the layers box you need to right click on the layer with the texture. (There should be only 2 or 3 layers here). Next, select Blending Options.

Step 5) You will now be at a large menu. Highlighted in blue on the left side should be Blending Options: Default. We are going to use both the Opacity and Blend Mode under General Blending at the top. Click the drop-down menu under Blend Mode and select Overlay (towards the middle of the menu). This will now make the texture over the photo more transparent. The default Opacity should be 100%.

Have a play around with the Opacity to get the effect you want, and remember you need to flatten your work and save!

You can obtain ‘textures’ from various sites – for example, or you can go out and take photographs to make your own..a fun job in itself!

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Post-a-week ..making the most of it!

I’ve decided I want to blog more…in fact, as I am fairly new to blogging, i though this would be great motivation for me!

While my ‘main’ reason to blog is about photography – I also want to do some writing and sharing – so this is perfect.

Rather than just thinking about doing it, I’m starting right now.  I will be posting on this blog once a week for all of 2011.

I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. Therefore I’m promising to make use of The DailyPost, and the community of other bloggers with similiar goals, to help me along the way, including asking for help when I need it and encouraging others when I can.

If you already read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way.

Signed,

Caroline

 

 

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