Category: Miscellany

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Cropping the Shot

myplaidheart

Hey guys! Happy Sunday to you.

For this week’s photo challenge, Patti asks us to show how we crop our shots to “improve an image and create a desired effect.” I like the quote she shared:

There is a vast difference between taking a picture and making a photograph.

– Robert Heinecken

I’m sure most of us have a selection of photos that we are quite proud of – the ones that require little or no editing – taken in that moment of magic when every photographic element fell into place. But what about all the others? All the other crummy shots that we hardly look at twice. And let’s face it. If we’re honest, we all have loads of “the others” in our files.

Something that challenges me is to take a photo that isn’t good and try and improve it. Or to take a REALLY horrible picture and try to find something – anything – within it that is salvageable. For today’s exercise, I looked through my Scotland photo archives for just those sorts of shots. Here are my examples of “cropping the shot”.

Before:

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Day 30: Words of Encouragement

myplaidheart

And last but not least…

One of my favorites.

Friends, thank you for tagging along with me these last thirty days as I diverged from my regular blogging routine in an attempt to provide a little hope and inspiration. I hope I wasn’t too cheesy. Eh, who the hell cares even if I was.

When I began these “encouragement” posts thirty days ago – on March 20 – there were (according to WHO) 266,097 cases of COVID-19 worldwide and more than 11,000 deaths. Italy’s death toll alone had topped 4,000, and Spain was close to surpassing the number of deaths in China. Numbers in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Iran, and Turkey were all beginning to climb rapidly. Fires were being lit all over the world.

Here in the U.S., the virus had already spread to each of the fifty states and 255 people had died. President Trump had declared a national emergency, and California became the first state to set mandatory stay-at-home restrictions. March 20 was also the day that New York City was deemed the United States outbreak epicenter.

Today, just one month later, the worldwide Coronavirus total stands at 2,160,207, and the number of deaths is at 146,088. In the U.S., there are currently 665,330 cases and 30,384 deaths. Ghastly, horrific numbers.

The fire continues to rage. However, there does seem to be a glimmer of hope now that many nations may have reached their peak. God willing, we will start to see a significant decline in numbers of new cases and deaths in the days and weeks to come.

Now that I have reached the end of these thirty days, I feel that I’m ready to get back to normal blogging. It’s time to live in the happy and not constantly dwell on the sad. We may not be able to travel right now (sob), but we can still see and share the world together through our computer screens. I think that’s an amazing thing.

I will continue to pray for those afflicted and their families. I will pray that you stay safe too.

Love y’all. x