Seeing Things in Black & White

With the rush of the everyday grind, sometimes we forget to slow down and really notice the most beautifully simplistic things in our lives. In order to "slow " things down for myself I decided to try a little exercise in photographing parts of my home in black and white. 

It is so funny how just by removing the color from these pictures things begin to take on a different type of beauty. You notice the lines of a cabinet or the pretty shine of metal, and how light, or the lack there of, can completely change the mood and even add depth to an image.

For whatever reason these pictures seem rather quiet or tranquil to me. 

But very strong at the same time.

They feel like an era gone by yet very contemporary in style.

Ahh the simplicity of it all.

Wishing you a beautiful weekend!!!

XO

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Cedar Hill Farmhouse ~ The Scoop

Scenes of New Orleans ~ the French Quarter

My sister Kim and myself just spent 5 glorious days in New Orleans. We stayed in the French Quarter and what can I say...it was fabulous!!! We had so much fun on our trip and it was great to spend time with just ma sista! (Aren't sisters like the best invention ever???) Well here is a taste of what we experienced in this little corner of the world! 

(I was so inspired by the color and artistry of the French Quarter that I decided to take a little "artistic license" of my own in the editing process of these photos...I hope you enjoy them)

Which pics are your favorites?

XO

(All photographs were taken by 21 Rosemary Lane)

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Good Bye Picnik...Hello PicMonkey

Last week we all said good bye to the popular photo editing site Picnik as they packed up their picnic baskets forever. I was just wondering what editing site you all have decided to use if you were once a Picnik user?

Well one of the recommendations Picnik had was to use a website called PicMonkey and I have to say that I love it! Although in some areas like font selection there are not as many options on PicMonkey as what Picnik had, but what they do have is skin, eye, teeth and even weight loss abilities to edit your photos.

Look what I was able to do to this photo of the still stunning 64 year old Cheryl Tiegs.

The original picture...

After tinkering with it on PicMonkey.

I was able to remove wrinkles, whiten teeth, brighten eyes, and even slim down the face using the touch up option on PicMonkey.

How about the ever so handsome Robert Redford?

Original...

And now the retouched picture...

Airbrushing is no longer something only the editing folks of magazines have...we have it too and for free!

Look at what I was able to do with a photo of myself...

Original

This picture was taken in the month of February so in addition to removing facial lines and brightening my eyes, I decided to give myself a little bit of a tan and highlighted my hair.

Retouched

Other manipulations that can be done with the images under the "Effects" option...

Frosted

 Sepia

 Pixilate

Additional effects options available on PicMonkey include Focal Zoom, Dusk and Edifice.

Original photograph...

...with Focal Zoom

With the Dusk option applied...

...and here is the same photo with the Edifice option added.

New framing choices...

And...

PicMonkey is a lot of fun to play with and although it can't do everything Photoshop can do in terms of total creativity, it does have many cool options and is really easy to learn. And like I stated earlier...it's totally FREE!

I'd like to know what you are using to edit your pictures since Picnik is now over. This is such a whole new world of entertainment and creativity for me and if there are other sites to play in I'd like to give them a whirl too!

Have a great day!!!