Shooting up (no, not like that)

I'm not sure whether to make the picture/title combo symbolic of how my weight is shooting up, or of the amount of broccoli I'm going to have to eat to get down to the weight I would like to be. Ah well, comes to the same thing.

I planted a load of seeds last week and the rocket and broccoli are going great guns. Given that I have a small yard, and may well be moving in a few months, you may wonder what the heck I'm doing raising a zillion teeny tiny plants... well so am I a bit. I have a very good friend who lives around the corner and has a big garden but no time for it. She has two lovely big raised beds which have never been used. So I'm going to fill them with plants for her and her family (and my family until we move!) to eat, to pay her back just a bit for all the many favours she's done me over the years. And as for the rest... I'll hire a van and drive over to Fife (shhh, don't tell Mr B - he'd hate that).

Oddly lazy/busy day today. Culminating with a slightly scary Brownies evening (man, they can scream) planting sunflower seeds.

I had so many nice comments about yesterday's HDR cottages, that I thought I'd put a flickr link to the original shot. When I started out getting more serious about learning about photography I found so many intimidating images out there (and around here). Now I know a bit better that a lot of the shots that made me feel like a rubbish photographer are quite processed, rather than straight out of the camera.

I'm no great shakes, but I'm starting to learn more not only about how my camera works, but also about how I can manipulate photos. The biggest help to me over these last few years has not been books or manuals, but rather the generous work of those folk who offer tutorials on-line or show before and after shots and explain what they did. Of course, a lot of that has come from blip.

So, I guess I feel a bit guilty when I get nice comments about a photo (like yesterday's) that has been manipulated a lot - I feel like I have to confess all I've done to it - like processing the photo is 'cheating'. It's not, of course. Digital processing is a skill just like traditional processing was. It's just more accessible now.

Anyway, in case anyone is interested, the flickr link shows the before, and the next shot on the photostream the after - with a very brief description of what I did. And for what it's worth, I thought the original shot was rubbish - really washed out - but I loved the idea of the shot. Hence the voyage into HDR.