Picture 211

Well, it's been a while since I've seen my g-parents.

I still have g-parents. Two of them.

But there's still two missing.

Recently, my missing two FINALLY got their gravestones...

Or...my g-pa had his, and my g-ma's was just put in...or the other way around...

I can't remember. Anyways, they're there now.

So, I wanted to get a picture of them. 

The one above was to send to the family, and the one below I secretly took.

I didn't have a tripod, so I was going to do what I did for a picture about my g-pa.

I'll just Photoshop myself in there. SIMPLE!!

(Remember: The words above explains the pictures below them. Don't get mixed up!)

Ok, here's the base photo.

I had to find a spot to match the lighting. I would take it outside, but it wasn't cloudy.

Then, I loaded them up.

First, I got to get me in the base picture.

So, I quick selected myself.

And all there I have to do is copy and paste.

I moved the me around to get the scale right. I wasn't sure how big to make me.

Once I got it figured out and I was in a good spot, I need to do some touch ups.

I need shadows. So, I drew in a shadow with the paint brush.

First on the ground.

Then, I selected me again.

And drew the shadow on me.

I had to select myself so that the paint would only be on me.

After that, I had to do so color adjusting.

A little tweaking here and there...

It was almost there. I cropped it. It would look weird with only half a me.

I just added contrast to the base photo to make is look better and blended.

Finally, I saved it and continued to play with the colors. I decided to go black and white.

And BOOM!! 30 minutes later. It's not bad. 

To my trained eye, I can see bloopers. 

But hopefully I'm the only one. :-)

I miss my g-parents.

I so happy with the one's I have left.

But there's still a hole...two holes...three...

But life goes on. 

Someday, I won't have any.

Then, I'll be helping the one's who raised me.

And eventually, it'll be my turn.

And the cycle keeps going.

That's life.

Our unstoppable fate.