Freedom!
I’ve been working on my laptop a lot more lately since Photoshop doesn’t crash on here. The iMac is full to the brim of photos and other files and reeeeeeally needs a good house cleaning, but I’ve managed to avoid that backup headache by using the backup computer instead! Haha. Photoshop runs like a champ on here, save for the eyedropper tool color selection ring (CSR) which, apparently requires me to update the perfectly good video card (not gonna happen) Thus I learn to work without my favorite tool. Sigh. Grumble number two- have you ever done extensive editing on a laptop mouse? Trust me, it’s NOT fun. I actually have a cramp in my pinky finger! Ah the things we must suffer for our art…Which leads me to complaint number three- all the photos on my desktop are the ones I want to edit. But Photoshop keeps crashing my desktop. The photos on this computer are nothing but untouched beach pics from last summer, so I’m editing some old stuff. And it feels strangely out of season to be editing beach pics when it’s winter outside (it actually snowed a few flurries here last night!)
I can officially NOT take credit for this post as it was ALL my husband’s idea. He’s the brains behind this operation. I’m just the camera 
He wanted a shot of himself stripping his flight gear off and running for the ocean. It’s really a self portrait… sort of. OK, technically he didn’t trigger the shutter, but if I’m his not-so-better half, that counts as a self portrait, right?Anyhoo, it truly captures that liberating feeling of leaving his work behind, especially since squadron life was officially OVER… at least for a season! This shot actually took several attempts, and I will eventually post more from this sequence. But as you probably know by now, I am ADD and tire easily of editing similar photos. So the next time you see this image (or a version of it) it will likely be completely different.
This was edited with a mishmosh of actions and textures. First I ran Petite Treat by Oh So Posh at 60%. Then Oasis of the Sea, from the same set at 20%, masking it off the foreground because it acts rather like a haze. Then I layered Depression Glass, a texture by Jessica Drossin. I actually added this texture twice in Soft Light blend mode, although the second time it was very low opacity. Of course I masked it off his flight gear- there’s something very unprofessional about purple-tinted military gear! Haha. Last, I used Magic Markers by MCP to pop the colors a bit. I wanted to deepen the green in the water and the purple edges of the sand. You know me- it’s not a complete image until it has purple somewhere!
So anyways, here’s my summer in the midst of winter. I call this one Freedom!
What a great photo!