Photo Technology
Today’s photography is so different from when I was a kid. At that time, most of the photos were still black and white and you couldn’t make any changes in them.
Not like today. With photo technology, digital photos can be easily and quickly edited using programs like Photoshop, Google Picasa and GIMP, just to name a few. They can even be edited on an iPhone with a special application.
Today, color photos can become black and white and for those more talented than I, black and white can be colorized.
Change Things
Okay, enough of the photography lesson. I decided that today’s challenge I’m going to change things and give you a break from writing stories and answering lots of questions.
Don’t get me wrong, I love your replies to the questions and the inventive stories you create, I just think it’s good to keep things simple every once in awhile.
The Challenge
While I did change the size of this photo so that it fits my site, I challenge you to tell me if I have modified it in any other way. If you think I did modify it, tell what you think I changed about it.
That’s your challenge. Please include your answers in the comment box.
Special Challenge
Now, I know some of you may want more. If The Challenge isn’t enough for you, I welcome you to invent your own special challenge and reply to it. If you do this, however, please be sure to include what the challenge is, as well as your answer. This is TOTALLY optional.
Have fun, be creative and enjoy:~)
p.s I will fess up about this photo in the comment box for this post on Thursday, August 12th:~)
{ 46 comments… read them below or add one }
I wish I knew more about camera effects – but I think the density or something might have been changed to make the color of those flowers pop.
.-= Lynn´s last blog ..K-5- memories and notes from a wise woman =-.
I think corn flowers are yellow or something other then pink. the green is to red and it looks like you mikght have addes some under leaves.
.-= desk49´s last blog ..Was it- =-.
@ Ellis — Now that I’ve done this, I realize I can’t say much in my replies…silly me:~) I will tell you that I didn’t anything to the objects in the photo….let’s see if anyone else reads this reply:~)
The pink color is an alteration. I also suspect that you overlaid the pink flowers onto another photo.
.-= Mark´s last blog ..Our Default Settings =-.
@ Mark — Now, that’s interesting about overlaying the flowers. That’s a lot of work…you have to really good with the lasso or the pen tool in Photoshop to do that. I’m getting old and my fingers aren’t that steady anymore:~)
I know less than zero about photography so I’m out of my league here. But I suspect these flowers are not normally pink. The ground is also unusually pink. Also, I’m wondering why there are no flowers on the stems on the left side. And I’m thinking the leaves on the right hand side were added.
@ Belinda — You’re doing exactly what you I was hoping. You’re really looking at the photograph and seeing what looks right and what doesn’t. Check my comment to Ellis for a BIG hint:~)
Sara, you are great with Photoshop. I think it was originally a picture of the Eiffel tower. It had a crowd of tourists in front all singing old Beatles songs. If you look closely you can see Elvis climbing the tower in the background. It’s amazing that you made that look like flowers!
@ JC — LOL….Careful or you’ll give everything away? Remember, everyone is supposed to guess!
Seriously, even I never knew I was that talented with Photoshop, but I’m very pleased that your imagination is so talented:~)
You’re not talking about the frame?
http://sarahealy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/is-this-real.jpg. There is a bottle in the pic. Do you have a black cat?
@ Ellis — No…the frame isn’t part of the picture…that’s a WP thing:~)
So the challenge seems to be an attempt to find out how much we know about photography eh?
Well, I don’t, so the only thing I can say is that it seems to me the colors were changed to a reddish tone. Other than that, I wouldn’t be able to say because many times while changing pictures for my blog I notice that the original looks stranger that the adapted one.
Raul
.-= Alien Ghost´s last blog ..Role Reversal Guest Post =-.
@ Alien Ghost — Well, actually that wasn’t the real intent and I suppose this might be a good time to give another hint. In this case, you don’t really need to know much about photography:~)
One thing I find interesting is that images do look very different depending on what you use them for. For example, there’s a difference in colors used with print versus on-line. This is where it does get dicey and knowing editing programs helps.
For example, most print photos are in CMYK colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) and on-line photos are RGB colors (red, green and blue). If you print in RGB, the picture may not come out as well as when it’s changed to CMYK. See a “quickie” photography lesson:~)
These are purple coneheads, a member of the aster family, like black-eyed susans. They are indeed pink (more than purple, I think), but you’ve done something to get the neon effect here, though exactly what, I’m not sure. Perhaps you’ve used a filter for the entire shot, thus accentuating certain colors and eliminating the color of the filter. OR, maybe this is some trick of late light. You’ve done SOMEthing, trickster Sara, but I’m not so sure what!
.-= Fireblossom´s last blog ..A Cautionary Tale =-.
@ Fireblossom — You are very close. Photo editing can create magic and so can other things:~)
Whoa, those are the most beautiful coneflowers I’ve ever seen Sara. And like the others who’ve commented, I couldn’t at first imagine them naturally occurring in nature with that intense, spectacular color. But then, I remembered something you said on my site about August in Florida, and how sometimes the sky turns an incredible rose color. So I’m imagining those coneflowers surrounded by that amazing sky, and maybe this is what coneflowers look like in that atmosphere. And maybe you did nothing, except find the exact right moment when flowers and light and sky came together. Even if I’m wrong, I like imagining it!
.-= Patty – Why Not Start Now?´s last blog ..Meaning Mondays- Life As Collage =-.
@ Patty — You have an amazing imagination and it’s fun to read how you have worked this out. I love your line, “Even if I’m wrong, I like imagining it!! I’m also impressed with your memory:~)
Thanks for the comment:~)
Bubble-gum pink coneflowers – neat! I’m thinking it has to do with the saturation so that now the blooms are oozing pink.
Sorry that I’m late today – my Mom is up visiting
.-= Talon´s last blog ..The sunset hour =-.
@ Talon — That’s okay about being late….Moms come before commenting…it just a law that we all must obey:~) Saturation is a possibility, but who did the saturation???
Sara, I think you used some kind of filter to increase the magenta (I think I got that colour right). Really neat affect. I’ve seen lighting (not this extreme) when clouds are a certain way just before a storm, everything takes on an effervescent glow.
.-= Davina´s last blog ..I’m Not Blogging You Are =-.
@ Davina — As we’re getting close to end of this post, I can tell you that I did not use a filter:~) I like the idea of the “effervescent glow.”
Thanks for sharing this:~)
Sara, I must say that I immediately assumed you’d played with the warmth, saturation, highlights, and shadows — but I don’t have Photoshop, and so I can’t know in advance all of the features available to you. There is a feature on Picasa called “glow,” but I don’t think that’s it because it kind of blurs the edges to give a halo effect. I’m going to go with you definitely warming the photo (going more toward yellow/orange/red and away from blues/greens, which it looks like from the dulled green of the leaves, the red of the earth, and the popping orange of the cones), saturating the color (or increasing density) so that pink just screams at us, and increasing the contrast on both ends, highlight and shadow, so that everything looks almost surreal as it pops off the screen.
.-= Meredith´s last blog ..tilt focus- week 31 =-.
@ Meredith — Okay, one more hint. I like your ideas, but I didn’t use any special filters and I did not use “glow.” Photoshop has something like that, but I haven’t successfully figured it out yet:~)
Hi Sara! I have no idea about the photography but I sure could tell you a lot about that flower and it’s use in herbology!
hugs
suZen
.-= suzen´s last blog ..Healthy Intentions and Blah blah blah =-.
@ SuZen — I’m all for sharing…tell about the flower and how it is used. You are absolutely right, it has a medicinal purpose, as well being a “pretty face.”
Thanks for sharing and hugs back at you:~)
^^^Suzen is a rotten tease! I want to hear about the herbology!
.-= Fireblossom´s last blog ..A Cautionary Tale =-.
@ Fireblossom — I beat you to it. I asked her to tell us more about this flower and how its used. BTW my Thursday post will feature Don Marquis and his characters Archy and Mehitabel…thanks to you:~)
Oh, I see what you’ve gone and done, Sara! The others may not see it, but I do! You clever thing!
Okay, it’s clear to me that you know all about Quantum Theory, but for the rest of your readers, a little preamble…
Quantum Theory posits that particles do not occupy a distinct position in space until they are physically observed… and even then they only have a probability of being in that position in space, rather than actually being there.
That’s what you’ve gone and done with this photograph. You’ve fiddled with it at the quantum level. So now what we have is an image that not only exists when we look at it, but also exists in several places at once when we’re not looking at it.
So, for example, there’s a 40% chance that it exists here at A Sharing Connection, a 25% chance that it exists in another place altogether, a 10% chance that it exists in Teletubby Land, and so on and so on until it occupies a number of places at once in the guise of a probability wave function. However, as soon as we observe it here at your fine blog, it suddenly occupies only this one position at the top of your page.
And this is why it appears, to the human eye at least, to be slightly wibbly wobbly and skewiff of colour. Very very clever. I am in awe of your quantum prowess, Sara. I truly am!
@ Tony — I needed to read a comment by you today:~) This was great. I laughed so much and was amazed at quickly you’re were on to me. I thought I could fool everyone, but I should have known better. I can’t believe you even figured out about Teletubby Land. I’ll have to be more careful with how fiddle with photos at the quantum level from now on!
I’d say there’s a pink tint somehow applied to it. In college, I wrote a piece about these magically “rose-colored glasses”, in which the characters wear these glasses to cure their depression with magical optimism and they end up coming up with solutions for life’s problems wearing them. When the sketch was produced, the director got these pink-ish sunglasses for everyone. When I wore them, I think the world actually looked better with a pink tint. And this picture reminded me of that.
And what Tony said about quantum theory is absolutely correct. The act of observing something does change the outcome. Just ask any sports fan and they’ll tell you how they’ve all influenced the outcome of games by either watching or not watching (or watching from a different chair in a different room while wearing a certain color).
.-= Kelvin Kao´s last blog ..A Little of Everything =-.
@ Kelvin — That’s a verrrrry interesting story about the “rose-colored glasses.” You should find that piece and put it up on your blog or better yet have the puppets describe the experience of wearing them. That’s so cool that it was actually produced and you got to wear pinkish sunglasses…very clever.
LOL about the sports quantum theory. This is so true with some of my friends. They have rituals to go through before a big game…like wearing the same shirt for three days in a row…YUCK:~)
Hi Sara — I looked at it with an electron microscope and I noticed 22 clearly Photoshopped-in single-celled organisms. Okay, I’m kidding, it’s the bee on the fifth-from-right flower, right?
@ Chris — Very clever of you Dr. Edgar:~) It must be handy to have an electron microscope available. I didn’t actually plan on someone being able to use one…did the bee tip you off?
The original setting has been edited, it looks like a sephia setting in pink. Just a guess.
@ Walter — Good guess, but it’s not a sepia setting that was altered…at least not by me:~)
I think you took two photos and blended them together. In other words, I think the flowers were isolated from another photo, placed on a transparent background, then pasted onto the landscape photo. That’s my guess!
.-= Colleen´s last blog ..Memorial Held Tonight in Rememberance of Nagasaki Bombing =-.
@ Colleen — I love that you’re giving this a go! I’ve enjoyed your visits very much. Truthfully, I did not blend two pictures together. I’m not even sure I could do that:~)
Sara,
I know nothing about photography at all..after reading the comments I can tell what you didn’t do…but still not what you did do..I’d guess it has something to do with the overall color somehow…or that Tony’s comment is right on–both are a bit beyond me..Intrigued though..very intrigued..bet your flowers show up in my dreams somehow..perhaps as I’m sailing the Greek islands a handsome rogue drops into the scene with an armload of your flowers, wine, cheese, and chocolate..
.-= Joy´s last blog ..Wednesday Wisdom- Abundant Joy…An Interview with a Mentor… =-.
@ Joy — wow, that dream sounds nice. Mine don’t usually end up that way. Instead, I’m usually late for some test which I totally forgot to study for or caught in the school hallway naked…I like your dreams better:~)
The answer will be in the comment box for this post on Thursday, August 12th!!!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and for visiting:~)
Hi Sara .. are they black eyed susan’s normally? Dosed with some cochineal? Certainly – you’ve been clever and played around .. but now I’ll wait til tomorrow .. not long ..
Another subject to learn sometime .. happy summer days to you .. Hilary
Hilary´s last [type] ..Painted Ladies of the World who stop trains A year later!
@ Hilary — Okay, I confess I had to look up Cochineals. I didn’t know they made red dye out of insects. See you’ve done it again and taught me something new…and in the comment box of all places:~)
However, no cochineal was used in this photography!
Happy day to you:~)
Here’s…the Truth and nothing but the Truth!
Other than the sizing of the picture, I made no changes. In this case, nature was the one playing with her version of “Photoshop.”
Patty was the closest as she remembered a comment I left at her site about a strange event that happened at my house. I looked out my window in the evening to see that everything appeared rosy.
It was the most amazing thing I’ve seen. It was like I was wearing rose colored glasses and I wasn’t:~)
I went outside and started taking pictures. I was surprised to see this photograph had actually captured that color. I still do not know what phenomenon caused this, but it was pretty:~)
Thanks for all the wonderful comments…I really appreciate all of my readers. You are such wonderful and creative people!
Wow, Sara, that is amazing! I’m stunned at this evidence of your rose-tinted moment in nature. How cool.
Meredith´s last [type] ..give us this day
@ Meredith — This happened in the evening. I think there had been a storm earlier. We were sitting in the living room and I looked out…everything was rose-colored. It was so neat:~) It didn’t last very long and I have no idea what caused it.
Thanks for the visit:~)
Hi Sara . what an amazing site it must have been – and how fantastic that you were able to get out and just snap a photo to remember the hues by and the day and evening colours ..
Just great – and I did like my thought about cochineal spray .. Jason would have known! – the idea a little far fetched I realised!
Amazing it was natural though .. thanks & I’m glad I came by to read the answer!! I’ll get to sandcastles another day .. or later .. enjoy today .. Hilary
Hilary´s last [type] ..Seven Sisters – what would these mean to you
@ Hilary — It was amazing. I’ve never seen that kind of light before where it actually came into my yard. It makes me wonder if it’s a weather phenomena, or what. The closest I’ve gotten to an explanation is that it was light reflected off of dust, but that’s strange because it had rained earlier. So, who knows? I’m just glad I got to see it.
Come back and visit anytime you want…I always enjoy your comments:~)