And remember, you can view my other Wordless Wednesday posts simply by clicking on this link.
Wordless Wednesday v. Could he be any freaking cuter?!
October 7th, 2009 | Posted by in photos | Tyler | wordless wednesday - (9 Comments)I’m a big fan of organization when it comes to my music collection, videos, and photos. I use a very structured folder hierarchy and tagging process so that I have little difficulty in finding just about anything. I became a huge fan of using a program called Photoshop Elements (actually, I began with a program called Photoshop Album, which is now bundled with Elements) for my photo collection. It only made sense to me to move on from my previous photo editing program (one that had been outdated and discontinued for a few years – clicky), to the program that marries nicely with what I was already using. I don’t use the full Photoshop program, because of its obscene price tag. Instead, I use the watered-down, novice-friendly Photoshop Elements. Lately, I have made a concerted effort to learn to use the graphic EDITING features of the program, so that I can make good photos into better photos.
Some of my editing projects are done for fun (like this, this, and this). Others are done because I have an ALMOST great picture, and I really don’t want to delete it just because Tyler was in mid-blink when the shutter snapped on the camera. The purpose of what I hope to be a semi-regular series of posts titled Photoshop Phun is to showcase some of the things that a novice (yes, I am a complete novice where it relates to Photoshop, but I’m learning) can do with your almost-perfect pictures. Don’t worry, most, if not all, of the pictures will have Tyler in them, so it still fits with my daddy-blog focus, right? RIGHT?!
Here, we have a picture of Tyler with his Aunt Ace.
The picture looks great, right? Well, that’s because you’re looking at the after picture. If I showed you the before picture first, you’d inevitably say that you can easily see the difference and the manipulation was the work of a novice (which as I’ve said, it is). Here is the before picture:
The only difference is the spot of marinara sauce on Tyler’s nose that needed to be removed. Oh, and the fact that he couldn’t keep his eyes opened for the 1/200 second shutter speed.
So, how does one salvage a picture like this? His Aunt Ace looks beautiful, and I frankly don’t have a lot of pictures of the two of them together. Finding a way to keep this picture is crucial. In a nutshell, here are the bullet points in making this picture work:
- Find another picture with the features you need. Here, I need a picture of Tyler with his eyes open. He needs to be in the same perspective as well (it’s not critical, but it definitely helps). What I mean is, he can’t have his head turned too far, since he’s looking straight on in the photo I’m trying to fix. I picked this picture, because it was taken just minutes later, so the lighting was identical.
- Cut the eyes out of the picture from step one and paste them into the photo you’re fixing.
- Make the cut out eyes layer 50% transparent.
- Position the eyes directly over the half closed eyes and resize them to match.
- Knock the opacity back up to 100% (not transparent).
- Use the feathered-edge eraser to erase the hard lines around the cut out eyes
- Adjust lighting, hue and saturation to match.
- Don’t tell anyone, they’ll never notice unless you draw their attention to it.
My camcorder is experiencing some communication errors with my computer due to old age. I suspect I’ll be in the market for a newer (digital) model sooner than later as a result. I managed to come up with a very roundabout way to get video off the tape and onto the computer for editing that is very sketchy, at best, but workable for the time being.
So, if you’re the sort that doesn’t mind watching videos of other people’s kids, feast your eyes on these gems. I’m going to link to the videos that I’ve posted to YouTube and I’m going to embed the couple of them that I have classified as “must see videos”.
First, the ones you must check out:
Tyler is a big fan of watching football. This is the only thing he’s allowed to watch on TV.
Tyler has recently started using “yeah” and “no” to answer questions. The way he says “no” is adorable, so we exploit it here.
The rest of the videos:
2009-07-19 – Tyler helps feed Delilah: We have Tyler grab Delilah’s dish every morning and evening so he can help feed her.
2009-09-15 – Tyler rides his horse: Tyler’s riding on his annoying rocking horse. He falls off it. He demonstrates his smarts…. you know, Tyler stuff.
2009-09-15 – Tyler shows a touchdown (embedded above): It’s football season, and Tyler loves to watch the games. Here, he shows you the touchdown signal and says “Dowwwwww”. Plus, he shows his shoes.
2009-09-15 – Tyler talks and other stuff: Tyler tells you what sounds certain animals make. He plays with his toy dog. He plays with Delilah’s toys. Etc.
2009-09-24 – Tyler wants more: When Tyler wants more food, he’s not afraid to tell you, and you BETTER HURRY and get him the food he wants.
2009-09-24 – Tyler’s Melmo, Ah-ah, and Ouch: Tyler talks about his two favorite toys and shows his ouch.
2009-09-29 – Tyler says No and brushes his teeth (embedded above): Tyler’s brushing his teeth and saying “no” in the cutest way possible. This is also the first time he ever said “Maybe”.
To see all my YouTube videos, head on over here: http://videos.irrationaldad.com
The scene: I’m on the phone with Sarah. Tyler is getting tired of having eggs every morning, but shows no interest in oatmeal.
Sarah: We’re going to give oatmeal another shot.
Me: Yeah?
Sarah: Yup, I’m going to try to add berries named after a color, and the fruit that Gwen Stefani sings about.
Me: Blueberries and bananas?
Sarah: JOE! YOU’RE ON SPEAKERPHONE!
Tyler, of course, wants blueberries and bananas RIGHT NOW, and can not wait for the oatmeal to be done.
In my defense, Sarah has an awesome phone and I can’t tell when I’m on speakerphone. As such, I refuse to feel guilty that Tyler heard and reacted.
Bad parenting at its best?
October 1st, 2009 | Posted by in adventures in babydom | Bad parenting | irrational dad | Tyler - (9 Comments)
There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wonder if the way I’m rearing Tyler is good for him. These concerns of mine weigh heavily on me because I want to be the best father that I can for Tyler, and any of his future siblings[1]. This weight of concern doubles when I see differences in how other parents raise their spawn. While I am aware that everyone parents their children differently, and there’s no single “right way” to do so, there are certainly many wrong ways to raise a child.
Take, for example, the parental duo running one of the carnival games at our county fair this week. This was one of those games where you throw rings at a bowling pin, or some other such nonsense. I avoid all eye contact with that stuff because it will invariably lead to the game runner heckling me to “step up and win a prize for the lady.” Buddy, I’d rather hand “my lady” the twenty dollars it would inevitably take to win a “prize” worth a tenth of that cost, so that she could buy something more substantial than an inflatable tiger. Sarah did look though, and quickly told me to do the same. Roughly four feet off the ground, on a platform where all the prizes lay, stood a Pack-N-Play. Inside the Pack-N-Play was a less than two year year old toddler. A toddler who was wearing no pants. On a 50ºf (11ºc) evening. With 25 mile per hour wind gusts[2]. That, in my opinion, is poor parenting.
We don’t do that. We also don’t let Tyler play with knives, go near the stove, run around in the street, or drive the car unsupervised. In those respects, we’re good parents. I’m a good father. However, there are many other things that I do allow Tyler to do. I explain to him that he needs to be careful because he may hurt himself, but I don’t remove the “danger”.
Allow me to textually paint a picture as an example of something that may or may not take place in our house on a near daily basis. In our living room is a glide-rocker chair that Sarah used to nurse Tyler in. Its companion piece is a glide-rocker ottoman. Tyler would climb onto the ottoman, which would start rocking back-and-forth, then try to climb from that to the chair roughly 18 inches away. Both pieces sway and rock from hither to thither, threatening to drop Tyler, face first, to the floor. Instead of pulling Tyler away and telling him that he shouldn’t climb on the dangerous furniture, I tell him to be careful because he may hurt himself if he falls (which has happened more than a couple times[3]). It’s a weak example, but Tyler’s only fifteen months old. What’s he going to be doing in six more months, standing on the peak of the roof with an umbrella in his hands to act as a parachute?
I don’t want Tyler to fear doing things because I’m the one afraid he may hurt himself. But, I also don’t want him to be completely fearless and do something to severely injure himself.
I just don’t know. What say you?
[1] I say siblings as a plural just to keep Sarah happy. I really only intend on giving Tyler a single sibling.
[2] Yes, for serious.
[3] Resulting in little more than an “oww,” said barely louder than a whisper from the little guy.
Recent Videos
-
2011-01-31 - Darn It -
2010-12-13 - Tyler Plays Angry Birds -
2010-12-05 - Tyler Slides Down the Stairs -
2010-11-26 - What you said -
2011-01-10 - Tyler Watches Two Minion Videos -
2011-01-07 - Tyler Does Somersaults -
2010-12-20 - Tyler is Iron Man -
2011-01-27 - Tyler Sings -
2011-01-06 - Tyler Mimics the Minions -
2010-12-05 - Happy Birthday, Grandpa
View my full YouTube channel by clicking on this link. There, you can view all of the videos I have uploaded, as well as some other gems that make me laugh.-