Chuck Norris gives me a photo tip

In one of my posts a couple of months ago, I mentioned that Chuck Norris had been at my sister's wedding. People commented and said I should write about that, but what I didn't mention was that Chuck also gave me a photography tip that I still use today.

Really, he did! Read on, if you don't believe me.

My youngest sister, Ginny, got married to the guy of her dreams 11 years ago. Since they lived in California, they wanted to marry out there somewhere and settled on a resort about an hour north of Vegas, in the little town of Mesquite, Nevada. The hotel was fantastic, and they reserved almost a whole floor for their guests. All of my family flew out, as did his, and their friends came from far and near. We had a lot of fun at that wedding and I remember it with fondness.

The complex was equipped with a large beautiful pool, with a swim up bar and everything was beautifully landscaped. It was so nice sitting by the water with my family and sharing laughter and just being together. The wedding was also held outside, by the pool, in a little area they had staged just for such occasions.

On the morning of the wedding day, as we were waiting to process towards the altar, I heard a whisper going through the crowd and everyone was saying that Chuck Norris and his entourage were hanging out by the pool. We'd seen Chuck the day before when he'd shown up, so it was no surprise that he was there, but he was sitting right by the chairs reserved for the wedding guests, almost like he was attending my sister's wedding. In his bathing suit. I tried to keep focused on my task, which was to walk to the altar. Do not look at Chuck. In his bathing suit.

The wedding went smoothly. My sister was extraordinarily happy and it was a beautiful day.

So, you see, Chuck Norris did come to my sister's wedding. And crashed it, if you want to get technical about it. He sat by and watched the whole thing.

I got my photo tip from him the next day when my family and I were all outside sunning ourselves by the pool. Ginny and Jay had a beautiful little honeymoon cottage way over on the other side of the pool. Very private and nice. They had come out of their cottage and had just joined us. My sister, Judy, was there with her then-boyfriend (who is now her husband) who is a dead ringer for Kevin Costner. In fact, during our stay at the resort, and because celebrities like Chuck had been spotted, people were actually asking Rick for his autograph and calling him Kevin. Ok, I'll get on with it because you know how I digress all the time.

Judy noticed Chuck and his group had just shown up again, and was sitting by the pool. She wanted me to take a picture of her and Rick with Chuck, but she said she needed to change out of her bathing suit first and fix her hair. So she ran upstairs and a little while later she returned looking gorgeous, and asked my cowboy brother, Pete, to go over and ask Chuck to pose for a picture with her. Pete's brave like that. Especially when he's wearing his cowboy hat. Which really went well with that bathing suit hewas wearing, I might add.

Chuck's a nice guy in real life, and he willingly obliged. He asked where we were from and chatted with us a little bit. In front of everyone in his group, and those in our family, Judy went on to gush about how her sister, Katy, was going to take the picture, because "well, she's just such a good photographer and she takes all the family pictures". Then she handed me her camera, a little 35mm, which she assumed I'd know how to operate. "Oh", she went on to say, "her pictures are so good." So, I stood there with my sister's camera, perhaps I was a little bit starstruck, or maybe it was the two Long-Island iced teas I'd just drunk, but I stood there and although I'd managed to actually turn the camera on, nothing was happening when I looked through the viewfinder.

And that's when Chuck said, in front of my whole family, in front of everyone, "Um, Katy, you really need to remove the lens cap first."

I was really embarassed, but managed to laugh it off, take a good picture, and sit back down. In fact, everyone was laughing. Here my family was all saying, "Oh, let Katy take the picture, she takes good pictures." And I couldn't even remember to take off the darn lens cap. Anyway, I got over it pretty quick. I'm good like that.

And to this day, every time I use my camera, I still use that important tip that I got from my pal, Chuck, that day. It's really come in handy.

Here's the photo I took of my sister Judy, Chuck Norris, and Rick, by the pool at the resort in Mesquite, Nevada. Chuck was still smirking about the lens cap thing, as you can see.

Judy wins again in the Guessing Game

Congratulations to my sister, JUDY, for her correst guess of a STRAWBERRY! Yep, that's what this is and so many of you got it correct, as well. Good for you! I wish I had whipped cream and sponge cake to go along with it, but unfortunately, I don't.

My sister Judy and her husband live in Florida. Judy is already famous from winning one of the first Guessing Game contests on this site, so she's a pro at dealing with the fame.

Judy and Rick are also featured on a post I wrote about a month ago, along with a picture of them with Chuck Norris in the middle. We were all in Nevada several years ago hanging out with Chuck. If you want to read the post about it, here it is.

Thanks to all who participated this week in the Guessing Game! It returns every Friday, when I remember, at 6 PM.

How YOU doin'? Photoshop slimming trick

There are few easier tricks I've learned than this simple slimming and trimming step. It can be found in Scott Kelby's The Photoshop CS2 Book for Photographers. You must have your photo ready to begin which means you've done all the work on it to get it to look its best. For help with your technique, I suggest you visit The Pioneer Woman site and click on Photography. From there, you can visit Donna Boucher's site as well. She's listed on the right hand bar as a contributor.

And now I'd like to introduce you to my model.

The Handsome Handyman you see here is my brother-in-law, JAY. You remember me telling you about him, right? Chuck Norris came to the wedding of he and my sister, Ginny. I haven't asked Jay if I could use his picture, but I'm so sure he won't mind that I'm just going to run with it. He's ready to lose a quick few pounds (not that he needs to, mind you) and he seems excited to begin. So here we go.

STEP ONE: Open up the photo you want to use and make a duplicate copy of it. It's helpful to make some off the gray canvas area visible, so expand your image window a little bit by click-and-dagging its bottom-right corner outward. Then press Command A (PC: Control-A) to put a selection around the entire photo. Then press Command-T (PC: Control-T) to bring up the Free Transform function.

STEP TWO: Grab the left-center handle and drag it horizontally toward the right to slim the subject. The farther you drag, the slimmer the person becomes. How far is too far? Look at the width field in the Options Bar for a guide ~ you're pretty safe to drag inward to around 95% (or even 94.7%) without getting caught (looking too obvious).

STEP THREE: When your person looks "naturally" slimmer, press Return (PC: Enter) to lock in your transformation. Doing this transformation leaves you with some excess white area on the left side of the photo; so with your image's selection border still in place (from Step 1), go under the Image menu and choose Crop to remove the white space. Press Command-D (PC: Control-D) to get rid of the dancing dashes and you're done!

Your subject will instantly look about 10-15

pounds slimmer. The original photo is on the top and the trim photo is underneath. So, try this trick and see how it works on your photos!

For those who don't use Photoshop or care about any of this, I apologize for this post. And for everyone else that does, I'm just trying to spread the joy that comes from a simple little trick. I tend to get excited about little things like that.

The Weekend Guessing Game is posted below.

Winner will be announced Saturday at 6 PM.

Getting to know me . . . getting to know all about me . . .

Since I've been enjoying the wonderful world of blogging, I've 'met' a few people and we've been visiting each other's sites and leaving comments. I picked this up from a site yesterday and thought I'd post it and let it fly. I wrote the answers on Sunday.

1. If your doctor told you TODAY that you were pregnant, what would you say? That would be impossible. You've got your test results mixed up. *Gulp*

2. When was the last time you flew in a plane? August of 2006 when I went out to California to help with my mother, who was dying. Sigh . . .

3. What did the last text message you sent say?" I am so bummed that I disappointed you. I'm going to stay home and knit and look at the birds. I'm sorry and I love you. ~To my friend Warren, who I was supposed to see today. (Don't get any ideas. We've been friends forever).

4. What features do you find most attractive in the preferred sex? It's not so much the features, but I've always preferred an outdoors, rugged type of guy. A guy who can fix stuff and looks good in jeans and a t-shirt. You know the type. You give them a q-tip and they can go out in the jungle and build a shopping mall. (Anne Heche to Harrison Ford in Six Days, Seven Nights)

5. What is a goal you would like to accomplish in the near future? I would like my photography to improve.

6. Shoe size? Why? Why do you need to know? Are you planning on buying me a pair of shoes? Because if you're not, it's rather a moot point, don't you think? Unless you have a pair of size 9's you'd like to share with me. Oops!

7. Been to Mexico? No, but I had a dream the other night that I was held up and robbed by banditos. Luckily, there were Fritos and plenty of Pico de Gallo. I love when I have food dreams.

8. When is the last time you had a massage? I don't think I've ever had a real massage. I had a dream about one, though .. .

9. What was the last TV show you watched? I'm watching golf right now. That's a TV show, right? Other than that, I'm holding out until later this week when Lost returns.

10. What are your plans for the weekend? I've accomplished my plans. They were to clean, to grocery shop with my husband, to visit friends (unfortunately, I did not accomplish that one) and to relax.

11. If your significant other asked you to marry them TODAY what would you say? I'd have to think about it. Then I'd say "psyche! yes!"

12. What is in the back seat of your car right now? Nothing but a blanket on the seat for George. And a doggie toy. The one especially for the car ride.

13. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Surprisingly, I was still asleep. I think I was dreaming of fritos (see #7).

14. If you could marry any celebrity today who would it be? Well, if he wasn't married, I'd be interested in Bruce (Springsteen), but would probably marry Tom Hanks.

15. Have you ever been to a strip club? Uh, no. I'm just not into that.

16. What is the best ice cream flavor? Ben & Jerry's Light Phish Food. OMG.

17. What is the last sporting event you watched? I'm watching PGA golf right now and earlier was watching extreme winter sports with contestants younger than my own kids. Sigh . . .

18. Ever go camping? I can camp with the best of them, except lately am into more comfort than my prior life of backpacking could offer. I love camping.

19. Last phone call? From youngest son who wanted us to co-sign a rental lease with him. I've been agonizing about it all day. Let's not talk about it.

20. Are you allergic to anything? Not that I know of.

21. What is one thing you have learned about life recently? That it can all be over in a flash, so appreciate what you have while you have it. That people can change. For the better.

22. What do you do at work? I help to run a K-12 private school. I like helping people, especially the children.

23. What is your mom's name? My mother's name was Charlotte. It's a unique and beautiful name. I have a sister named Charlotte as well. She is unique and beautiful as well.

24. Ever cried for no reason? Nah, not recently. I'm not really a crybaby. It pisses me off when I cry.

25. Can you do the Crank Dat dance? Yeah, baby. It's why I always get invited to chaperone the school dances. Not really.

26. What is your favorite color to wear? Brown or green. I'm the earthy type.

27. What is the longest plane ride you have ever been on? Baltimore to Vegas. My youngest sister got married out there. Chuck Norris came to the wedding. Seriously. I need to post about that one.

28. What is the longest road trip you have ever taken? From here (Maryland) to Maine. About 16 hours, but I love the Maine coast. So it's worth it.

29. What are your turn-offs? People who are mean to their children. Rudeness. Sloppiness.

30. What was your last alcoholic beverage? A chardonnay from the Russian River Valley in Calif.

31. What are you craving right now? Actually, nothing. I'm pretty ok right now.

Bloggers: Copy and paste, answering the questions and send as a link to this post under comments. Have fun with it! ~C.G.