Tonight Fight Class begins. This is my 3rd year doing this and I’m still both nervous and excited about going.
Check out my post from last year:
Tonight Miss Munchkin gave thanks for our safety during our latest adventure. “And thank you that we didn’t fall to our doom in a scary crevice.”
This area boasts a huge variety of topography and landscapes within a short distance. If you drive less than an hour to the north, you can lounge on the beach of a Great Lake. Another short drive brings you to these incredible natural rocky ledges tucked away in a State park.
Believe it or not, these were not taken at the Ocean.
There’s nothing like sand on your toes and a fresh breeze in your hair.
Be careful Master Munchkin! And no, you may not spit.
A sneak peek into my post-processing
The first photo is SOOC (straight out of camera). I use Adobe’s Lightroom for all of my processing.
First I lightened the circles under her eyes then, for the center photo, I applied Steller's “Color Shout” preset, which I toned down and adjusted slightly. I didn't touch her actual eyes - they were already gorgeous! Finally I increased the Luminance Smoothing (noise reduction) 100%.
For the last photo, I used Steller's “70s Heatwave” Preset then recovered some highlights and adjusted the greens. Lastly I adjusted the Noise (Luminance Smoothing).
As you can see, with minimum post-processing you can get two very different feels for the same portrait. I love editing – for me it’s a continuation of the artistic process of creating a specific photograph.
OK, you guys got it.
Meet Frodo, our kitty, sans tail.
A few months after his accident, Frodo’s tail started to loose circulation and it started to, well, die. Shudder. It didn’t hurt him since it was below the break, but it sure looked bad. And smelled bad! It finally got to the point where it had to come off.
The surgery went well and he got to come home the same day. A few stitches and some time in the Cone of Shame and he was good as new. Except with a sylin’ new bobbed bum.
Now we can no longer call him the 1K Cat, although 1.5K Cat doesn’t quite have the same ring. My husband, who is not a cat lover to begin with, is having a conniption that we’ve spent this much on a stray cat! But, as many of you know, pets are a loved part of family. And there is a certain amount of guilt involved since I, ran over him.
But, we’re all glad he came though this whole ordeal (except MrMama). Although he’d better start bringing home golden mice, especially after what I did for him!
