Miso Crafty: Why diet when you can Photoshop??

A few nights ago, after the little one was put to bed, I was up past my own bed time messing around on Photoshop. I can't remember exactly how this came up, I think it was Brett wanting to jazz up a photo but not knowing how. Brett is used to this PC one-click photo touch-up program and has never used Photoshop before. Nevermind Photoshop on a Mac computer. I'm constantly trying to get him to just mess around on it, and he did...once, but then he got frustrated with all the functions and hasn't tried again since. He just doesn't have the patience for it. At least I got him accustomed to the Mac! One day I will get him Photoshopping!

My most fave technique to do...I just love black and white photos with a pop of color!

Anyways, I was spiffing up his photo in several different (and easy) ways...only to have him claim he wanted something completely different. Again, I forget what it was. Bare with me here, I have "mommy brain" and it has only gotten worse in the last week or so. I do remember that his request was something that I haven't done in ages. Truthfully, I haven't really Photoshopped a photo since I graduated from university and the only thing I have been doing on Photoshop is re-sizing photos and making the odd color correction here and there. I had a massive brain fart and for the life of me I couldn't remember anything I had learned about Photoshop. It was like I had pulled a few all-nighters in a row and was running on Red Bull fumes. I ended up Googling Photoshop tutorials before all my Photoshop knowledge came flooding back to me.

Lomography effect: the before and after...the after makes me look so goth!

Doing all this Photoshopping took me back to when I was living and going to school in Helsinki, Finland. At the time I was living with 5 other girls, aside from the good friend and fellow Canadian classmate, all of my other flatmates were from different school programs. My time in Finland was quite an overall learning experience, but I have to admit that I learned more from my flatmates and the other students in my building (I was living in a huge dorm-like building full of exchange students) than I did from attending school (not to say that I didn't learn anything from my time at Evtek! I just mean school in general). One memory in particular that stands out is of the time when I was pulling an all-nighter to get my portfolio/fashion collection finished. I was trying to get my images all artsy fartsy but wasn't getting the results I was looking for. After practically pulling all of my hair out, I took a break and went into the kitchen to breathe and calm down. My flatmate Anja from Poland just happen to be taking a break from her project as well. Sensing that I was disgruntled she asked what was up. I told her my issues with my project and she burst into a huge smile and was jumping with glee, telling me what I wanted was super easy to do! I had forgotten that she was a student in graphic design and knew all there was to Photoshop! Ahh...the lessons she had taught me. Invaluable!

My version of Pop Art, what you can get from messing around with hue

Messing around with all these photos made me realized just how much I missed/liked Photoshopping, and now I think I should have gotten into graphic design rather than fashion design. Too bad I'm done with the whole school thing, or else I would go back to school to get into it. Not to mention I have a little one to take care of too! Full time school and a baby just don't mix in my eyes! The stress!

If you're not too keen or just can't Photoshop, try PhotoFunia. All you have to do is upload a photo and it does the work for you! Like this: