Cut it out!

Before

After

For this assignment, we were supposed to pick a picture that we had taken from unit 1 and crop out anything extra in the background. I chose this picture because I really like the lighting on my cat, Jinx. The only light in the room was coming from a window. I really like how the soft light from the window falls across him, I think that it really accentuates the curves of his body and the colors in his fur. The shadows really add an interesting dimension to the picture. I used Picasa to crop the photo. I felt like there was too much extra stuff in the background. I didn't want to crop it any smaller though because I wanted to keep some of the colors from the pillows in the picture, I think it helps to brighten the picture. I think by cropping this picture it simplified it and made it a better picture.

Always greener on the other side...

Before

After

This is a picture that I took in my backyard for the unit 1 photo assignments. I think that it is actually a weed but I thought that it was pretty. The original picture was dark and somewhat dull. I used Picasa to enhance the photo. First I used the effects tab and increased the saturation. Then I increased the fill lighting in the tuning tab. When I first took this picture I didn't think there was anything wrong with the picture. I thought it was really good, but once I saw the difference side by side I can see how much better the enhanced picture is. The enhancements make the flower really pop out of the background. I think the saturation makes the entire picture brighter and more vibrant. Picasa does a wonderful job of enhancing pictures!!