Fun with Paint Shop Pro - (SWF)

One night last week (or maybe it was the week before--it's all running together), we had no ball games. NONE! It happened to be Kids' Night at a restaraunt we haven't been to in ages, so we decided to go out to dinner. (Can't beat kids-eat-free deals, right?)

We really enjoyed our evening. No rushing to find team socks and ballcaps, no inhaling PB&J's on our way out the door, no wrangling of kids to different fields--just family time. It was wonderful!

It also happened to be an absolutely gorgeous evening. And on our way home through farm country, we noticed a hot air balloon. I grabbed my camera and Jeff turned off on the next side road that headed in the direction of the balloon.

Now, earlier in the day, I'd been experimenting with aperture settings and ISO adjustments as I was photographing the birds in the backyard, so the camera wasn't set properly for shooting landscapes or for the brightness of the evening sun. In my haste to get a shot before the balloon disappeared behind the treeline, I just started snapping pictures forgetting to make the necessary adjustments.

Needless to say, I wasn't terribly satisfied with the results. But I thought I'd try adjusting the white balance and removing the digital camera noise with my photo-editing program Paint Shop Pro XI. I also used the salt & pepper filter trying to get rid of the graininess that resulted from having the ISO set too high. I love the end result--it looks more like a painting than a photo, but I think it works considering the original.
air balloon


We're looking forward to a weekend of blue skies around here (oh, and more baseball). Would you like to see more skies from around the world? Check out SkyWatch Friday.

Comments

Shelley said…
I love seeing balloons in the sky - such a cheerful sight!
DeniseinVA said…
Hi Adrienne, I am glad you had such a great time, and this is a lovely image, so colorful. I used to see a lot of these when I lived in San Diego. They floated over our house regularly getting ready to land on a piece of land just outside our development. You could actually see the people's faces as they waved. I think you made a lovely 'painting' here. I also use the same program and whenever I get a blurry photo I tinker and play around with a photo until I come up with something I'm happy with. It's fun to do. Thanks for sharing it and have a great weekend.
Anonymous said…
Paint Shop Pro is a nice program. It does some things almost automatically. I really like the new version Ultimate that I got. I also have the latest version of Photoshop and it does everything and takes years to learn and I am not there yet. I am used to it more than Paint Shop Pro Ultimate though.

I also change camera settings all the time. I actually read the book that came with my Canon camera once and learned about ISO, aperture, f-stop and enjoyed the results. I still experiment but pretty much have learned my lesson. LOL Sometimes, though, I will forget and grab a camera and go out shooting and the results have to be rescued in one of the programs.

I would say that you really did a good job on your balloon shot. It looks nice to me. Did you get to go up in the balloon? That has always been scary for me and I have never gone up. I guess somebody must have pushed me out of one in some other life in a bad dream. LOL

Thanks for your visits to my blogs.

Abraham Lincoln's cousin
Hi Adrienne, GORGEOUS picture. WOW!!!

I understand about baseball.. My grandgirls in Texas both play softball---and this seems to go on year-round!!!!! Everytime I talk to them, they are all headed out to a game!!!! Tis life of young adults with kids these days... Right????

Have a great day.
Hugs,
Betsy
Carol said…
Nice balloon shot...so colorful....are you near Coshocton....I'm heading for the balloon festival this week end....
SaraG said…
Very cool photo!!
I can't wait for the hot air balloon festival in Middletown this summer.
Thanks for sharing.
Take care
Cathy said…
I love hot air balloons. When I used to work at Kings Island they set off a hot air balloon every night and the shop I worked at was right by it. I never got tire of watching them!!! Great picture.
Adrienne: I really enjoyed your work on the ballon in the sky. Have a great time in the Cuyahoga Valley.
Esther Garvi said…
I love the balloons! I think Koala had a balloon skywatch this week too! :-D
Unknown said…
I saw this last night Adrienne and for some reason I couldn't comment. It looks so wonderful! Just like you said, a painting : ).

I always love coming to visit you. I feel like I get a hug!
We once had an entire group of hot air balloons go over our house. They weren't very high and saw the kids waving at them so they actually lowered themselves right over our home so that the kids could yell and wave right to them. It was so cool! Unfortunately, I wasn't "into" photography then and have very few photos. We all still recall that day with big smiles on our faces though. :)

Your photo completely reminded me of that day. Thank you for that!

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