Fakin’ the tilt…

Ok, bear with me. I’m not too good at writing tutorials but I’ll try and explain this.

I saw, somewhere on the Internet, about tilt shift photography and how it could be used to create photos that looked like miniatures. There is a specialised lens (worth $$$) that creates this effect, or there is the cheap way (which is what I did).

I didn’t invent this by any means, but I did take the steps and put them into an action. I’ve created a Photoshop action which you can download here – it will do most of the work for you but it still needs you to define the focus point. Sorry for those who don’t use Photoshop.

Here is my photo. Well, it actually my brother’s photo, but it was a good one to use. This technique is effective with scenes where there are things in the distance, like houses or cars, that are smaller in comparison to the whole photo. This one has a small tent/car surrounded by a lot of unimportant stuff.

(You can download the original photo to play with here)

ETA: Alternate links – action here and photo here.

Open the photo in Photoshop and load the action set Fakin’ the tilt. Run the action.

It will do a couple of things and then stop to wait for your input. You will need to select the Gradient tool and make sure the Reflected Gradient option is selected and the settings are these.

Next, hold your mouse down on the box in between the tent and the car and drag your mouse upward to the top of the trees in the background, like this:

Don’t panic – it should now look like this:

The area that’s not red will be the area in focus. When running this on your own photos, you might need to experiment to get the gradient in the right place and the right length.

Now press run to continue running the action and go and have a coffee. Or tea. Maybe some chocolate. This next bit seems to take a while and doesn’t need any input from you.

When it’s done, it should look like this:

As I have said, some photos work better than others. Experiment, have fun, and show me your results!

Catch ya…
K

Happy World Tapir Day!

Yes, it’s Official World Tapir Day, folks!

I’ve been a fan of tapirs for years. When I worked at the zoo, kids came to see lions and snakes and monkeys but there were a whole lot of cool animals that no one got excited about. I thought animals like tapirs and coatis were great and much undervalued.

I left the zoo in the year they used the tapir on their zoo calendar. Part of my going away present was a great t-shirt with a mother and baby tapir on it (I was going off to have Mr L). I wore it to the labor ward when I gave birth.

Come on, tell me baby tapirs aren’t the cutest?

Next time you’re at the zoo, go check out the tapirs, and some of the other lesser known animals. There’s a whole world of coolness out there that doesn’t stop with bears and elephants!

Catch ya…
K

Hey, those people look like ants…

My newest hobby…. building miniature scenes…

I call this “Hut in the fernery”

 

And this one “Itty bitty tractor”

 

I call this one “Camping”…

“Toy tractor with realistic hay”

 

And this one is the War Memorial in Canberra, because it’s Anzac Day.

 

Phew. Been a busy day. All this model making is wearing me out. Too much squinting.

Catch ya…
K

PS -  Wanna know how I did it?

Shoe shopping with toddler 101…

I have a family wedding to go to on the weekend. I have a gorgeous skirt (the only thing I’ve bought at full price for years, but I loved it as soon as I saw it), a yummy necklace, nice top, bag – and shoes that would be ok, but not as nice as a pair of black boots.

I thought I’d head out this morning, and see if I could get some. I am not a shoe kinda girl (I am more of a camera kinda girl, but I digress) so the thought of shoe shopping at any time is enough to make me break out in a cold sweat. Going shoe shopping with a toddler is enough to tip me over the edge.

Turns out, shoe shopping went easier than I thought. Turns out, if you want boots that go over your ankle and up to your knees, you can’t have any calves. Turns out, I have calves. And big feet. I settled for a nice sensible black heel and turned to more important matters – yarn.

Since the main reason for my trip out was the shoes, the yarn was going to be a small part of the adventure. We went to the yarn shop, bought the pattern, established that they didn’t have enough of the right kind of yarn and headed back to grab it, quickly, from Kmart.

Being a sensible woman, knowing that I wanted 13 balls, knowing where it was in the store and what colour I wanted, I didn’t put Mr A in the pusher.

Mistake.

All was going well (by well I mean I knew he was still in the store somewhere, there was no blood and the police hadn’t been summoned) and we were just about at the checkout when he decided that enough was enough.

So I lined up at Register 7, basket of yarn in one arm, very loud, irritated toddler wedged firmly under my right arm. I manage to purchase the yarn with Mr A still horizontal under my arm, much to the amusement of staff.

As I was walking out, I was thinking, “How do they know I’m not kidnapping this kid?” He so obviously didn’t want to be with me and, considering the noise he was making, I was very likely torturing him. And then I thought, if he didn’t know me, he’d be quietly going along, so it was proof that he was mine that he was making such a racket.

Then I realised that these were slightly mad thoughts to be having, especially so early in the day. So, we came home and I’m now strutting around in tracky dacks and high heels while Mr A is napping. I’m about to swatch with the new yarn and contemplate how it is I’ve got to this point in my life where I can be nonchalant about tucking another human being under my arm while I shop.

Catch ya…
K

Autumnal…

In honour of my favourite season, I present Autumnal.

And an Autumnal Keyplate album.

Available at my store now, but wait, there’s more – if you buy the Autumnal kit, you’ll also get the Keyplate album, free! If you’ve already bought Autumnal, no worries – I’ll send you a link for the album within 24 hours (it’s bedtime now).

Catch ya…
K

Busy, busy, busy…

We made it home from our holidays – just. Poor Mr L became sick in the night, so instead of a drive over the big mountains, we came home via Melbourne. Same driving time, 100 km’s more, so not too bad, all things considered.

Since we’ve got back I’ve been busy, busy.

I’ve made this cupcake pincushion from this book:

I’ve also attempted to knit a cupcake. It’s very dodgy but Mr A loves it. He calls it a “bat-day” cake (birthday cake).

I had another go – please tell me there’s some improvement!

My brother and I took our boys over to see Grandpa digging spuds last week.

This was Mr A’s first taste of a tractor. He loved it.

 

He loved it so much that he didn’t want to get out. Here he is on his second row up and down, steering on Grandpa’s knee. OH&S would have a cow but he was a happy little monkey.

Then we grabbed some of the freshly dug spuds and took them home for lunch. Such a nice morning out.

I’ve put off blogging because I wanted to get a photo of something special to share.

I bought this plate.

Ok, it’s not the prettiest, most desirable plate in the universe. It was made some time between 1846 and 1860 in Burslem, England by a firm called Cork and Edge.

The reason why it’s special is that Joseph Edge, who was the joint owner of the firm, is my great great great great grandfather. I’m so excited to have something that was made in this pottery and that has such a strong link to my family. I only wish my grandmother was still alive so I could share it with her. I know she would have been amazed and delighted.

Ok, enough rabbiting on from me. I’ll be back later on with some new stuff.

Catch ya…
K

Last day…

We head for home tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it, I think because I know we have a big holiday coming up at the end of May. This was only a little break.

It has been good. Mr A has been a star in the big boy bed, which makes travelling a whole lot easier without a cot in tow. Mr L has been keeping a diary of these holidays and it’s been a great lesson (for all of us) on how we’re going to manage it daily when we’re away. I’ve nutted out a few things on this little computer that I needed to know. And Mr G has survived hanging out with us all (and beaten us soundly at Blokus).

Some photos…

Mr L, not looking surly.

Mr A discovering milk comes in other flavours apart from “plain” and “Mum”…

Experimental photos

And experimental toddlers…

The new WordPress photo uploader on the blog and I are not getting along, so I’m “exploring” alternative ways for me to blog from this computer. Fingers crossed, this will be arriving via Google Docs. With photos. Albeit unedited ones.

This little holiday will set the tone for the big one I think. Lots of walks, games of Blokus and Mancala, and op-shopping way too much (only two jumpers Amber!)…

Catch ya…
K

The view from the road…

is awesome. The weather has been perfect autumn weather, the boys have been well behaved and we’re all having a great time.

Just a few (unedited) snaps…

The bloke hang-gliding was a real highlight for us all. It was a 990m drop off there. Mr A kept saying "Oh cool. Plane fly. Fly in sky. Plane fly sky!" and Mr L kept calculating his chances of success or failure (if you knew Mr L, this would make perfect sense).

More adventures to be had tomorrow and then we’ll be home before we know it.

Catch ya…
K