Tuesday, March 23, 2021

The Party Cast of Characters

Some candids from Sue's birthday party.

I posted a few of Sue yesterday, but here is one more. She is holding up the card that I didn't remember to make until late the night before.

I will leave Shauna out of the gallery for privacy reasons, but here's Jonathan. I have converted his and the rest to b&w, which didn't take much work in Danica's case, which I will get to last.

Most of the time and especially with women, we process in a way to smooth flaws and age lines. I took my photo in the opposite direction, just as an experiment. Danica had taken the picture with my camera.

The beard is getting rather wild. It can be trimmed anytime, so I will let it go and grow for now.
Nobody much sees me these days, and I lost my looks about 50 years ago anyway.

The surprise and delight were these next two photos of Danica. She was a bit in shadow, so I deliberately overexposed in camera. I was surprised and delighted by what I later saw on the computer -- two almost monochromatic photos. They weren't b&w, but more like sepia monochrome. Almost all that I did in editing was to convert to b&w and crop them into 8x10 ratios, which I think is a very good format for portraits. There wasn't much additional editing, and the result is pretty close to what came straight out of the camera.



I wish I could claim that I knew what I was doing in those photos, but it was luck, but let me tell you that I love them.

Oh, I do have one more party-goer to show you,  Lola, the very sweet Chocolate Lab.






16 comments:

Patio Postcards said...

That's a pretty special card for Sue. I agree all very good photos, whether it's skill or luck, nice to have. Lola is lovely.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Always nice to see your family in your photo posts and Sue did look very regal, sending belated happy birthday wishes to her. Also nice to see faces unmasked.

Marie Smith said...

Your b&w photos are great.

Goldendaze-Ginnie said...

Looks like a fun birthday and great photos. As you know my husband was a
professional photographer and he loved black and white and thought you could do so much more with it than with color... and your lovely pictures of Danica prove that true.

Barbara Rogers said...

Yes as all have already said. My humble opinion...you look great in the hairy wrinkly detailed one, and Sue is a great queen at 74. Sure doesn't look it at all. The other B&W's are super, showing emotions. Well done!

DJan said...

I always enjoy seeing your fine photos, intentionally good or not. :-)

Margaret said...

Sue looks great for 74--wow! I love those photos of Danica; they are beautiful as is she.

Marcia said...

Thanks for the link to the hat source. I've bookmarked it for later consideration.

Recovering from second shot now.

Joanne Noragon said...

You know, you have a very photogenic family.

The Furry Gnome said...

I like that beard!

Rita said...

Now that was a party!
Happy birthday to your better half--LOL! ;)

William Kendall said...

Good ones!

MARY G said...

The eyes in the first shot of Danica are perfect. Please wish Sue a happy birthday from me.

PipeTobacco said...

The photographs are all wonderful! Your bigger beard and mustache are looking nice too. Resist the urge righ now in the “middle” state to trim..... it gets even better and you can always trim later.

Mage said...

Yes, they are wonderful as is the one of your queen. :)

Jenn Jilks said...

Happy birthday to the queen!
You treat her well.
Amazing photos, as always.