Pixlr photos: the original and 6 variations on a theme by Prata

I love Pixlr, the free photo editing application available either online, on your phone, or to download. It's versatile.

Yesterday morning I was out and about on a fine, crisp dawn. The moon was bright in the sky against a vivid blue. I took a photo of it, naturally. Here it is:

I'm always looking for pictures that have a lot of blank space and sky photos are good for that, when you want to add a caption or an overlay.

I used Pixlr with several other overlays of this same photo, so you can see how different they can all come out.

Neat effects, eh?

Here is an original photo of a cemetery followed by a Pixlrize:

Here is a photo of Portland followed by a pixlrize

Fun, isn't it! And I'm not even that skilled. You should see the Pixlr Twitter stream of the photos they highlight. Very artistic.

Pixlr challenge: ArtModern

Every week Pixlr posts a new challenge, and every month the challenge is accompanied by the rresentation of a new overlay pack.

This week/month it's a challenge to use the new pack: Artmodern.

I thought of this picture I'd taken in San Francisco in 2004. I'd liked the juxtaposition of the handpainted funky sign with the sleek steel city skyscrapers. Before I used the overlay I'd masked the sign, then I added the overlay Artmodern:Language. I think Language overlay is going to be a fave of mine. To finish, I also added border Ripped Paper: Atta, Here it is.

Vesuvio is the iconic bar founded in 1948, across the alley from City Lights Bookstore, ground zero for the Beat Generation. The bar was frequented by famous beats such as Lawrence Ferlighetti and Neal Cassady, and the generations after them, including Bob Dylan.

I don't know the people in the photo. They were just there when I was taking my photo.

A slideshow of Pixlr photos

These represent all the pixlr photos I've created so far. I update it each time I add more photos
A Pixlr photo is my photo post-processed using Pixlr software to overlay or otherwise manipulate the photo to add texture, mood, or other elements into the photo.

Created with flickr slideshow.

Some pixlr pics

Pixlr is a photo editing software in which the photographer post-processes his or her photos by adding overlays, effects, and borders. People who are talented even make their photos look like works of art. Here are a few of my attempts.

Birds on branches and death in paradise

This is an actual photo of a bird silhouetted against the sky, with Pixlr overlay pak Mermaid and Dreamscape added to the background, which was a very dull late afternoon misty gray.

This is the original

What I love about school break is:

-sleeping until after 5:30,
-not getting dressed until I want to,
-being able to wear leggings and a soft turtleneck all day,
-washing my dishes on the same day that I dirty them,
-spending time playing with pictures and reading my twitter stream and not worrying that I am wasting time,
-being quiet,
-discovering more about my Logos bible software, like you can select a passage to be read aloud to you,
-listening to sermons and Gospel music in the afternoon
-cooking (today will be granola, and roasted broccoli)
-having time to go through my Youtube subscriptions and culling the dead ones and uninteresting ones,
-organizing my photos on the laptop...

and so much more.

I found another tv show I like. It's British, which means there aren't a lot of them. Their seasons, or series as they call them, are only 6 or 8 shows long. I watched all 8 of the first season and it is a top-quality show: Death in Paradise. Despite the goth title, it is a 'blue skies' program, and a 'fish out of water show' and a 'police procedural' if you like categorizing shows by title. It is about a London police detective temporarily assigned to discover why the Chief of Police on a small Caribbean island (a UK protectorate) was killed. Of course, his temporary stay becomes lengthier through no will of his own, he hates the heat, the sand, the slower ways, and mostly everything about the place. He is a stiff, a British man through and through with a single minded head for solving crime and absolutely no social skills, quite an abrupt thing for his colleagues living a friendly island reggae life. Of course he is brilliant and successful at solving murders so his colleagues forgive his quirks, even as he has a harder time overlooking theirs. The characters are realistic, nice, well-played and distinct.

There is no profanity, no sex, no gore (well only a drip here and there, but it's minimal). The setting is glorious, actually being shot on Guadaloupe. It is well-written and acted (usually the case with BBC TV shows). I like it. I will be sorry when I finish season 2, because I learned that the main character is killed off in the first episode of the third series. He found that being away for six months at a time to shoot on Guadaloupe was too stressful on his family whether they stayed there or flew to the island. So he gave it up. Sigh. Anyway, it's lighthearted, sometimes funny, and good. On Netflix.

Well it's nearing noon so I will get dressed and then continue on the peaceful day set before me.

Pixlr photo editing - it's fun to experiment with pictures

Pixlr is my favorite photo editing software. It's free, or if you want more versatility there is a minimal charge for the year.

It is versatile, interesting, and they provide tutorials on how to use the elements and recipes to try yourself. There are also weekly challenges to motivate us to try new ways to enhance the photos. This week the challenge is to use the autocontrast feature. If you run a photo through autocontrast several times, it reduces the realism of the photo but it brings out the other aspects, such as making it look faux HDR, or graffiti/cartoonish, or bringing out the rough edges of granite or the veins in flowers. Here are my attempts. The first two I was satisfied with and sent them to the challenge.

In this one, I used fast splash. This feature allows the editor to select one color to 'splash' or remain in the photo, while making the others go to black and white. Then I used auto contrast three times to heighten the pine tree needles.

On this one I used autocontrast three times, and the silk effect to give the crinkle look.

I used splash again, this time to highlight the aqua of the graffiti and to make the distance between the train and the overhanging pine tree more stark.

There are lots of fun effects in Pixlr. I plan to re-arrange my photos on my laptop into folders and be more organized, so that when I play with them in photo editor Pixlr I won't have to spend so much time searching for particular photos I know I have and want to use to experiment in different features.