If I only had a brain …

I’d tell you how she did it.

October is one of my favorite months … aside from being my birthday month … fall colors, Covered Bridge Festival, wiener roasts, S’mores, popcorn balls, hayrides, jack-o-lanterns, ghost stories, haunted houses, howling winds, a pair of eyes glowing in the dark, and things that go bump in the night!

This sentry near the field behind my house was colorful but nothing to crow about. LOL. You see one, you’ve seen them all, right? So another Photoshop trick turned this not-so scary guy into a spooky treat. I used a black matte with pumpkin orange inner edge to show him off.

Same 4-H judges in 2009 commented, “This is really neat! A little hard to judge – especially since pic has been modified so much, but does look very cool,” and awarded me a blue ribbon. Go figure. (See Bluebird of Happiness post for more explanation.)

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Bluebird of Happiness

I had to look no further than my own backyard.

What were the odds of this pair of love birds presenting themselves again? For fear of scaring them away, I took my best shot just outside my back door from about 50 feet. I zoomed. The focus was off and in another 250th of a second, they were, too.

While preparing entries for my first 4-H Fair in 2009, I conceived this notion that I could Photoshop the poor quality photo into a work of art.

I attached the original photo to the back of the matte to clue the judges, who later commented on my entry tag, “Very different. Color is nice! Pic on back is out of focus,” and awarded me a red ribbon. Guess they didn’t quite grasp the concept.

©Take Life to the Matte, Oct. 12, 2011