What's In a Picture

My vanity always gets the best of me when it comes to having my picture taken so I don't have them done often enough. The worst are the throw away cameras as they will add about 10 pounds or misshape faces among other things. I love how you can do so much with photos now though. I took the same photo and tried different effects to see what I would like better. The black and white is obvious of course, and I suppose the sepia one is as well, but can you tell which is the original and which is antiqued?
Using different effects is dictated by what you are trying to achieve. Sometimes a plain old black and white just looks better, depending on what you are going to do with the photo. Most actors and musicians have their portfolio photos in black and white or a slight variation of such. A person can actually look quite different from what you would see in a regular setting, just by changing the color of the photo.
What do you prefer when taking photographs? Do you ever play around with color and style to see what you can do? I could get bold with these photos, but I'm needing to change my photo on Facebook and other venues to show my new hairstyle. Which one do you like the most? Which one ages or makes look younger? This was a big step for me as I don't like to show photos so be gentle....:-)

Promises of good things to come.....

...unless the cold weather reported over the next couple of days takes it's toll, these lovely peach blossoms are a promise of good things to come! Heavenly gifts, sent sent from above, by the ultimate artist. I can already smell the sweet fragrance of a fresh sliced peach, juicy and bursting with flavor. Peaches for breakfast, sliced into yogurt, or over pancakes, or just by itself as a snack. Peach pie, or cobbler, spicy warm from the oven with vanilla ice cream. And don't forget peach jam on homemade bread with lots of real butter! The fun part of making jam is that you get to sample as you go. It's what all good cooks do, right? I hope that Spring has sent you promises of the good things to come as well.