Thursday, January 26, 2012

P52 Photo Challenge - Self- Portrait - Week 4

When I saw the theme for the fourth week of the P52 photo challenge I cringed. My picture - taken by others or myself - has to be one of my least favorite subjects. If I can avoid being photographed, I will. I much rather be on the other side of the camera.

After taking a lot of different shots with a simple point-and-shoot camera of me looking out the window so the trees and newly-fallen snow were in the background, I didn't like how any of the images turned out.

Took a break...fed the horses and filled up their water buckets...took out the garbage and brought it to the side of the road for pick-up tomorrow...made dinner...and tried again. Except this time it was dark outside. So much for the natural background.

Took some shots with the white walls as the background. Nothing was working. 

Decided to lay down, rest a bit, and think about what else I could do for a self-portrait. Ended up holding out the camera and just clicking a whole bunch of times.  Picked out a photograph I thought that was workable.

After seeing other P52 participants play around with their photos in photo shop programs last week, I decided to import mine to Paint Shop Pro. I never modify pictures with a photo shop program, so this was something new. 

Ended up cropping the image a bit; changing the photograph to black and white; and doing a soft focus. 

This is the final image:

...needing to rest...


project 52 p52 weekly photo challenge my3boybarians.com

10 comments:

Rita said...

What a sweet photo. I know zero about altering photos or videos, but this turned out beautifully! :)

carol l mckenna said...

tricky shot ~ well done ~ namaste, carol (artmusedog)

pauline said...

what a lovely photo!! i love that you made it black & white & the softness really adds to it.. very peaceful. THanks for sharing! xoxo

Chelsea said...

It was a struggle, wasn't it? Good job, though. Your pic looks great and good for you for trying some post-processing...for some reason my faves always end up being black and white.

Kmcblackburn said...

Your editing choices are perfect. So soft and dream like.

Kathy

Donna said...

Dreamy photo. Such a sweet photo. I really like the black and white. It looks peaceful.

Sarah Huizenga said...

After that exhausting workout trying to do this assignment, this is the perfect picture for you.

SJ @ Homemaker On A Dime said...

Lovely shot! Btw, thanks for your sweet comment on my blog :)

Nicole said...

Love it!

...melody... said...

This is a lovely shot...very calm. I really like how you were able to edit it as that is definitely something I know nothing about. :)

Thanks for visiting my blog!