Mary Ann's Photo Gallery and Tips

Last week we had the privilege of visiting with Maureen in Kansas City as she was there as a adviser teacher of SKILLS, USA for her students from Foothills High School in Henderson, NV.  What an experience.  We had seen this wonderful competition before but this time we were able to meet the students and what a wonderful group of young people they were.  All were in the top 2 percent of the talents they competed in and one group placed 8th in the nation, and another young lady won a gold medal and with it came a $40,000.00 college scholarship!

I used this trip to photograph some of my entries for our La Crosse County Fair which begins on July 15th.  I was missing photos in some of the categories I planned to enter.  The one of the lovely little girl has a history to go with it.  We were visiting the Pony Express Museum in St. Joseph's, MO and there was a play area for children.  She captivated my eye while she was playing house with her brother, aunt, and grandmother.  Of course, I asked permission of the grandmother before taking the photo and told her what I intended to use it for when she told me that her family was direct descendants of William Russell who was one of the three investors in the Pony Express.  If I remember correctly this little girl is the 6th direct generation.  What fun to have a story with the darling photo.

It was hot, as in very, very hot in Kansas City last week with temperatures in the heat index of over 105 degrees in the afternoon.  We were at the center where Skills USA was competing and there was a small outside balcony.  I went out with my camera and I couldn't have ask the city to plan a better "Kodak moment" when it came to lining up this beautifully colored architecture...and I needed a architectural entry, desperately.

This is my favorite photo that I took on this trip.  It is a ceiling overlooking a glass floor over the poppy fields in the WWI museum which was right near the Westin Crown Plaza Hotel where we stayed.  The history of this era is very well told though artifacts, stories, and history.  It's a must see if ever visiting KC especially on a hot day.  The second floor has two wings with more interesting displays and the view of the downtown area is spectacular.

TIP for the day:

 Sometimes you get a photo under exposed and it just is too dark for your likeing.  With PS and blend modes it can be easily saved.

Press Ctl J (or Duplicate) so that you now have two copies.

Change the Blend mode on the top layer to screen.  If your into shortcuts it is Alt-Shift-S.

Now use the opacity slider to make it the right depth of exposure you are satisfied with.

If there are areas that you don't want this blend to effect just use your eraser tool to eliminate that area controlling the hardness of your brush and  opacity as you chose.

I hope this tiny tip may just save that one photo that is precious to you but just to dark.

Well back to finishing the collecting of my photos for the fair submission.

Enjoy!

Mary Ann