Have a bit of Fun, Finish This Poem...

I have decided that although this blog is very new and I do not have very many followers yet at all, I would like to attempt an interactive post. I have written a random poem- something fun and light- about a cat. I would like for you to play ad-lib with me and help me conclude it. Finish the story. Will you help me? 

If you can't help, pass it around to your friends and family, let them help... anything silly, light and non-derogatory is welcomed(remember that young eyes may stumble upon this blog).

 I warmly welcome you to play along with me. You can add as many lines or as few as you'd like. You may even give ideas. I would just like to see this take off in a way like nothing else before. No need to worry about punctuation, spelling or things of that nature... this is purely for fun. Can't wait to see what you can do. Share share share. Enjoy~!

Calico Kitty Pop Art © 2012 Kristina Conatser, All rights reserved.

This is the story of a cat...

A cat who thought that he was all that.

He had the look.

 He had the style.

He even had a flashy smile.

This cat, he had it all...

With soft fluffy fur,

and a  pink button nose.

He even had well-groomed toes.

All that wasn't enough for this cat.

What he wanted, oh it was much more than that.

What he wanted was tiny and grey.

Each time he tried to catch it,

it would scurry away.
(bit added by reader Ani):
 He didn't want it for the reason you think. 
He just liked it 'cause His nose was also pink. 
(bit added by reader Myshelle):
Now our tiny and grey would scurry away, as fast as its little legs would carry it.
It has the jinx on our little minx.

Finish this story :) What happens next?

Don't drop less appealing photos, make them POP!

As one who doesn't even throw away the little resealable containers you get when you buy lunch meats at the store, I tend to find ways to preserve my less than perfect photography as well. What do I mean by less than perfect or less than acceptable? Those slightly less pretty or more out of focus shots that you capture as you're calibrating your camera for a particular scene, trying to adjust for lighting or even still trying to learn your way around your new camera. I call these 'Trial and Error' photographs. Even some of the most seasoned photographers have these because no one is perfect and nor are the subjects that we shoot. 

My point is that those shots you spent so much time trying to capture don't have to go to waste, so long as you have some sort of imaging software. Those pictures don't have to be complete garbage. Even if most of the shot is ruined beyond compare but the subject of the shot is of great quality, you could clip the subject out of the image and crop it someplace else all together. I call this getting creative with photographs. 

I believe that anyone who has sheer passion for art, life and taking photos- even for sport or as a hobby- could learn to love doing this. It is a wonderful form of self-expression and it brings new life to something that you may have potentially thought was dead (speaking about the photo of course). Best thing is, you don't have to use only your 'trial and error' photos... you can digital recreate and manipulate to your hearts' content.

Here is an example with both before and after images. The one on the left is of a 'trial and error' photograph of a Blue Jay that I took. The image came out less focused than I would have liked. I decided that instead of tossing the image, I would digitally manipulate it using some filters from my extremely ancient version of Photoshop Elements (that would be the image on the right). 

©2012 Kristina Conatser, All rights reserved.

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If you do not have any imaging software but you are interested in getting creative with your images, 

I have compiled a small list that you may consider 

(note: some may cost money and some only do minor imaging effects):

http://picasa.google.com/

http://www.gimp.org/

http://paint.net/

Download a free trial of Photoshop CS5 Extended

Download Free trial of Corel Paintshop Pro

Download Free Trial of Adobe Photoshop Elements 10

Do you have more imaging software links I can add? 

Please share them in the comments!

Fun Pop Art Creations

I like to play around in Photoshop as a hobby as well as for work purposes. Lately, in my spare time, I have been creating pop art or cartoonized manips of images I have lying around on my PC. I have also been asked to make some of these for others, so that they may be used as profile pictures on FB, Myspace and etc. I enjoy creating these type of graphics. I find fun in adding textures, patterns and filters to images of people, places and animals to give them a unique look.

Here are a few of my creations:

Holiday Pup © 2011 Kristina Conatser 

Actress- Nicole Kidman