My GPS Camera Phone

There’s nothing like a trip to Whataburger. Here’s the battle damage that the force of Daughter 1 and I can inflict on an unsuspecting order of fries. I love me some Whataburger.

Now whaddya say we dole out some link love to all of yesterday’s commentators? Thanks to you all – and those who didn’t comment – for stopping by.

Dianne | CatSynth | Bonds, Elizabeth Bonds | Pamela | Yen | Gina | Stan | Mommy on Top | Sheila | Urban Thought | nicktay | Secret Agent Mama | DNLee | TwoBarkingDogs | Lisa | Debbie | Susanne in Charleston | Greeneyezz | dcr and an honorable mention to soapbox mom, because she left 15 comments in one visit. Thanks and have a great day!

What we’ve got here is…a bunch of clouds! Yes, no fooling around this week. However, it is two cloud photos merged together with hue and saturation adjusted to make it more blue. Other than that, it’s nothing much really.

Just when you thought it was safe to guess correctly, I pull fast one. Actually, I had no idea that some of you would think I was trying to fool you with this photo. However, Dan’s second guess of waves breaking was correct as well because my initial intent was to do that, but it turned out to be a big blue mush instead.

So technically, Dan is correct twice.

As a result of his dual correctness, I feel obliged to offer him something more than a link. So here’s something better: two links. So please stop by dcrblogs.com and gain some wisdom on making your blog better. Here’s two recent posts I like:

Money for (Almost) Nothing
Mindful Monday: The Value of eBooks

Congrats, Dan.

Now that leaves me with the problem of everyone else. Since I suck this week, you all win, but everyone pretty much guessed the right thing anyway. So, in no particular order:

smarmoofus, dcr, CatSynth, Raven, Pamela, Jan, Rizza, Francine, Kelly, Michelle Gartner, Vixen, Chica and Bill (not Jill).

Thanks for commenting everyone! See you next week!

I didn’t realize the time, so stop by Dan’s blog and thank him for getting this post out the door today. On to the how-to!

Nothing was coming to me last Tuesday night, which nearly led to me not participating in yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday. Instead of giving in, I tried something that works for me when I get stuck: I went back to basics. Locating a simple image was the first step. After an intense staring contest with computer screen, I decided to re-visit the blending modes, but this time using one image with multiple modes and layers.

After opening the image above in Photoshop CS2, I desaturated the image and then copied the background layer six times, which ends up giving me seven layers total to work with. Switch off the visibility of all layers except the background and the layer above it.

Note: There’s no right or wrong way to do this. Experiment with different layers’ opacity and blending modes for many different results.

I left the background layer at 100% opacity as a foundation for the next six layers above it. Then, starting with the next layer above the background, rotate the layer via “Edit->Transform->Rotate” to any position desired. Try thinking ahead to the final finished product when doing this. Once the image is rotated to your liking, press Enter and the transformation will apply to the layer.

Here’s where it gets interesting. Change the layer’s blending mode to whatever you want, depending on the effect you are trying to achieve. In this case, I utilized Overlay and Multiply on various layers to get the effect you saw yesterday. You can also play around with layer opacity settings, but I don’t believe I did that on this image.

Once completed, turn on the visibility of the next layer and repeat the process. You will probably end up going back to lower layers for some fine tuning, but the end result will be nothing like the original photo.

With regard to blending modes, I’m partial to Mulitply, Overlay and Screen, but I’ve been leaning toward Luminosity as of late. Do you have a preferred blending mode or techniques? Let me know in the comments.

The closest guessers from yesterday: dcr, Chica, Raven, CatSynth, The Right Blue, Ryanne, on the Rock, smarmoofus, DrillerAA, Shiela, Secret Agent Mama, SarahHub, Sister Sassy, BK, Michelle Gartner, Vixen, Brony, kelly and nance (my darling wife).

Hey wait, that’s everyone who commented. Oh well, I’ll bend the rules a bit this week. Next week, though, only the closest guess (or two) wins a link! (Multiple guesses/comments allowed.)

Well now, here we are, Sunday evening and not a post to show for my past few days. Bear with me, I do have a good reason.

In a grand effort to sabotage my present good fortune regarding side work, I blathered on about how much the freelance work picked up. I’ve got some good work on the table, which could really help out with the seasonal gift giving (and bill paying). Well it wasn’t blathering, but just mentioning it was enough. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.

What do you think happened on Friday night? I asked Nancy why everything smelled like onions. She replied with something similar, yet more colorful. I noticed what appeared to be a leaky water line to the dishwasher and resigned to tighten it up on the weekend. Once the weekend came, that “leak” turned out to be a corroded, copper drain line. The bathroom sink drain line. In the wall. Behind the sink.

The drain is shared by the kitchen sink, which also drains the dishwasher. So, I couldn’t use the bathroom sink, the kitchen sink or the dishwasher until this got fixed. The hole turned out to be about 2 inches long and wide enough for my index finger to get covered in bathroom sink sludge that smelled far worse than any onions I’ve ever smelled.

After cutting a hole into the wall with my trusty drywall saw, I did some creative engineering and managed to cut out about 8 inches of the offending drain line, re-plumbing it with a variety of PVC parts. Thankfully, it is no longer leaking, but the fans have been running in a futile attempt to dry the water damaged walls and cabinets. The dishwasher is back where it belongs and the mess is cleaned up. Just in time for Monday.

What does all of this mean? Well, I was going to post about the award I received from Susanne. I was also going to give Dan some major props for his awesome butterfly photo and the continued linkage he’s throwing my way. I planned on giving Opal a much deserved shout out, just for being so helpful and inspiring. I even had some link love for Joanne, but I guess I’m too late, since she’s probably in Japan already.

Maybe even Debo Hobo would have seen me lurking. I planned on mentioning Mike Goad’s, Daily Chronicles of the American Civil War, which is definitely worth a visit or two. AntiBarbie got me riled up with a video of some atheist family, but I didn’t have time to tell her how I felt. Bobbie and Jerry at The Right Blue are visiting the Blue Penguins in New Zealand and I’m fixing smelly drain pipes. Diane is probably having more fun in dreary Dorset, even though her vacation is over.

I would have addressed the near-loss of Jon, but I didn’t have to because he is blogging again (for now). And I would have told Joeprah to stop hacking his own site, although he did manage to fix the line spacing issue that has been bugging me ever since I met him. And the Monetizer probably thinks I fell off the face of the earth, but I doubt it since The Monetizer is busy making money and talking in third-person.

I guess it could be worse. My traffic is slightly up, I’ve made a few positive changes regarding ads and affiliations, and my two-week vacation is quickly approaching. I’d better make sure that I have everything fixed so I can get some posting done. This self-sabotage really keeps me from my work.