You've heard that you shouldn't believe everything you read, right? Don't forget that you can't believe anything you see in photos either.
Case in point... It is fall and I love taking pictures of my kids in the leaves from the big tree in our front yard. This tree turns from green to yellow in about a two week time frame and all of the leaves are gone within three weeks from the time the first one fell. This creates some really pretty colors on my lawn and great photo opportunities. I've taken my kids' pictures in these leaves each fall since they were born. We moved here shortly before Erik turned 1 and I haven't missed a fall yet. The pictures I get in these leaves are some of my favorite pictures I've ever taken of my kids.
Well, this year I had loaned my camera to my in-laws who had an event they were attending. So I had to borrow one from a neighbor on short notice and went right to work taking pictures. There is a particular time of day that I take all the pictures in and this causes them all to have similar qualities. Call it an OCD thing, but I have to have the pictures look the same in the backgrounds so they will work best in the collage I have planned someday in the future when I have a dozen or so of these pictures taken. I just think it will be cool to have a photographic record of them in the leaves. If we stay in this house forever (which I honestly wouldn't mind) then perhaps someday they will be able to bring their kids to take pictures in the leaves too. If I could have one wish then it would be that. Here are a few examples from years past.
Case in point... It is fall and I love taking pictures of my kids in the leaves from the big tree in our front yard. This tree turns from green to yellow in about a two week time frame and all of the leaves are gone within three weeks from the time the first one fell. This creates some really pretty colors on my lawn and great photo opportunities. I've taken my kids' pictures in these leaves each fall since they were born. We moved here shortly before Erik turned 1 and I haven't missed a fall yet. The pictures I get in these leaves are some of my favorite pictures I've ever taken of my kids.
Well, this year I had loaned my camera to my in-laws who had an event they were attending. So I had to borrow one from a neighbor on short notice and went right to work taking pictures. There is a particular time of day that I take all the pictures in and this causes them all to have similar qualities. Call it an OCD thing, but I have to have the pictures look the same in the backgrounds so they will work best in the collage I have planned someday in the future when I have a dozen or so of these pictures taken. I just think it will be cool to have a photographic record of them in the leaves. If we stay in this house forever (which I honestly wouldn't mind) then perhaps someday they will be able to bring their kids to take pictures in the leaves too. If I could have one wish then it would be that. Here are a few examples from years past.
2004
2005
2006
2007
This year I tried to get all three kids in a picture, but Adrienne doesn't always like to smile and Parker didn't like the leaves and Erik was too distracted... The list of reasons that it wasn't working out perfectly goes on and on. So I figured I'd just get as many pictures as I could and then I'd create the perfect picture later.
The first attempt with all three kids didn't go very well. I couldn't get them to look at me and Parker certianly didn't like the leaves.
Yeah, not exactly what I had in mind. So I took the eyes off some other pictures and a face from Parker that I liked better and started playing around. I didn't really finish this picture because Jennifer had a better idea that turned out better. You get the idea of where it was going though.
Ok, so not bad, but they aren't smiling very big. I wanted a better smile on Adrienne's face for one, but I wouldn't mind all three of them looking happy. So I decided to take this picture...
...and add another little body in it. :) I kept the face enhancements on Parker and just cut the rest of the body out and slapped it on this picture. Not too shabby. I still need to finish the coloring on the lower part of Parker's face, but honestly... If you didn't know he wasn't supposed to be in that picture, could you tell that this was a photoshop job?
2008
So there is your reason not to trust anything that you see in photography. I won't say that it is exactly easy to do that kind of thing, but it certianly isn't hard. If you have the right tools and you know what you are doing then it is really quite simple. We'll have to have a discussion on the difference between 'easy' and 'simple' sometime in the future, but for now I just wanted to give you those examples and show off my cute little leaf bugs. :)
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