Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Adrienne in black & white

Readers of this blog should know my friend, Adrienne, by now. She's actually the daughter of my best friend, Karen. She comments as Acorn, when she comments. She's usually too busy with her job, her dog, and lately with travel. Today she called my cell phone. While I was at school. Here's how the conversation went, as I recall:
A: "Hey, Katy!"
CG: (in a whisper) "Um, hey Adrienne. What's up? I'm at work."
A: "Well, guess where I am?"
CG: "God only knows, Adrienne. It could be anywhere."
A: "I'm at a bar in Key West. Renee (her sister) and I are having a beer!"
CG: "Um, that sounds like fun. Wish I was there."
A: "So guess what the bartender's name is? You won't believe it! It's Katy!!! So we thought we'd better call you right away."
CG: "Well, that's good. Drink at toast to me, ok?"
A: "Yeah, we already did. And we're about to toast you again. Just wanted to say hi!!!"
We then hung up, but I told her to check the blog tonight because I was posting a nice picture of her. I took this picture back in December, shortly after my husband had given me the camera for my birthday. And I have to be honest, people. On Sunday, I did something bad.
On Sunday, I had a few glasses of a lovely pinot grigio. And by a few, I mean the whole bottle. Please don't judge me. It took a long time to drink it, and by the time I was finished, I had discovered that I'd been online at Kevin Kubota's site and I ended up purchasing a set of his actions for Photoshop that I'd been lusting after.
How this happened, I don't know.
So I've been playing around with a lot of the black & white effects. For this picture, I had first gotten it to where I'd wanted it to be, cropping it and doing other things that for the life of me, I can't recall. I originally worked on the picture back in December and I don't recall exactly what I did to fix the picture. But I opened up the retouched color picture and added a "skin cream" effect to prepare it for the black & white process. The one I chose was "Chocolate Syrup 2". Originally, I'd chosen it just because I liked the name, and then after I used it, I realized how much I really liked it.
Well, I'm vowing off the wine for now, and am truly sorry for what I've done. Well, sort of. Here's the original image below. And there's my friend, Karen, in the background. I think the finished product looks so much nicer in black & white.

17 comments:

Pat - Arkansas said...

Wine certainly had a good effect on this photo! Nicely done.

Anonymous said...

BEAUTIFUL!!!

Mental P Mama said...

That is a great edit! By the way, you are officially invited to visit us at Cocktail Corner. After our weight loss clinic is complete.

abb said...

Oh my dear friend....just a bottle of wine???? Definitely a Cocktail Corner kinda gal your are!

The photo edit is wonderful.

P. S. - Don't tell Mental, but I'm cheatin' on our weight loss clinic...I can't TAKE it!

Pony Girl said...

You did a nice job turning an ordinary photo into an extraordinary one! I think sometimes we forget that just editing a headshot out of a photo can change the whole perspective of it.
Loved the hush-hush phone conversation, too!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, I love the B&W it looks beautiful!

Egghead said...

It turned out spectacular....bottle of wine or not.

Laura ~Peach~ said...

awesome photo, I am clueless how to do that kind of stuff so my pictures are just as I see them when taken :(
HUgs
Laura

Treasia Stepp said...

It looks beautiful in black and white. Looks completely like a new photo. Great job. You deserve another bottle of wine.

dlyn said...

If that is the result of your drinking, I don't think you should give it up! Truly - you took an ordinary shot and made it into something really special.

Dr.John said...

It does look better in black and white. It also looks better with the top cut off. She has to like it.

Mary said...

Wow, that looks amazing -- I think the wine was a good idea. And oh, how I wish I had peaches and cream skin like that!!!
xoxo,
Mary

Country Girl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

BEAUTIFUL! And I am talking about Adrienne. By the way nice job!

ps ask Adrienne about Bobby!

Anonymous said...

Hey Kate! I look fabulous as usual.....Love you ....thanks

Country Girl said...

Yes, Adrienne. You always look fabulous! And who the heck is this Bobby person that I have to hear about on my blog?? Why haven't you told me about him. Or is it a her?

~ C.G.

PS -- Kidding about the gender thing. Or am I????

brneyedgal967 said...

My word - I know this is a late comment. I am starting backwards and scrolling forwards to play catch up. Drunk internet shopping? Sometimes those are the best surprises from the UPS man... what have we here? Oh yeah! LOL