Double Take Challenge 2021

[Annie Tobin]

Cindy, please do not give up. You will experience such joy when you first conquer a hurdle. Need I say that we all started at exactly the same place you are and what we put out now has come from years of highs and lows ... and, Cassel's amazing tutorials. You must holler for help and anyone of us will be ready to respond, and you can call on Cassel at anytime. You may think that my work is nice but believe me when I say it is quite ordinary when you look at some of the designer sites ... that is when I know that I have a long ways to go, lol! Chin up Hon. ;D

[Cassel]

Ann, when I mentioned cropping, I didn't mean that you had to cut them to that shape, but using a mask gives the same effect as cropping (the viewer does not know how you do it). I meant it more as a different way to showcase the image in a unique way. Sorry for the confusion. You are getting the hang of the double pages now! The issue with the wedding bells might have been because it was a font (a dingbat) and when you use wrapped text, that does not resize as vector (although I would think that since it was not wrapped, itself, it would have resized) but I am glad you found a way around.

 

Barbara, I see a good composition with that panorama. Beware of the shadow on the eagle. In such a situation, it would not cast a shadow on the background. However, I had to look twice to notice it! As for your question about previews, surprisingly, many designers don't understand shadows. They create elements separately, without making sense of the realism. Of course, they might not care about that either. It really makes me cringe when I see that. If they don't understand shadows in their preview, would their elements be consistent with shadows and light sources? If anything, I think it has been a trend to simply add shadows to separate elements from their background, period. Does that make sense?

 

Monique, how many pets would you have at the same time? I am also a pet lover, but my husband is not as enthusiastic. The most we have had was two cats at the same time, and never "intentionally". I agree that you likely have doubled the shadow on the dogs page, as it is more visible. Yes, you are developing your eye for shadows! That is a big step. For the shadows on a group, Sue explained well how to make it without losing the flexibility of the layers.

 

Laurie, the darkened background definitely does not look too dark. I actually thought it was just a shady area and that brightness (or darkness) seems quite natural. That last page about finding beauty in the small ordinary things is so powerful. Didn't this past year forced us to re-evaluate some of our priorities too?

 

Sandra, those grungy overlays you are creating, you can also save them as your own so you don't need to redo it every time.

 

Sue, using characters to showcase photos is definitely another creative way to display them, that is out of the ordinary. You might inspire others to try that! I agree that the script seems to have worked oddly on your photo. I am not sure why.

 

Lynda that is an interesting fact about Earth Day (I wonder if they did it on purpose to choose my birthday??) I am a little unsure about some of the images on the right; although they are displayed in a thin shape, it FEELS like a couple of them are somewhat distorted and squished (the second and the third one). Do you have the original image to compare?

 

Jnet, I didn't even know of those places in Las Vegas! I am traveling with you!

 

Corrie, glad you did try the darker background even if it didn't make it. Sometimes, it can look good in our head but when we do it on the image, it does not turn out the same way. The beauty of digital is that you can always change your mind! Your butterfly looks well extracted (at least at this size).

 

Bonnie, 3 years is a long time to wait for posting. Out of curiosity, if this (day 4) is what you did then, what would you do differently now, using the same images? I think the right page of your Day 6 might be missing some shadows. Is that possible? It is so much fun how you added those flying seeds between the photos! Clever!

 

Jean, when you resize, everything gets smaller so if your font is small to start, it will look faint. Also, make sure you don't have a stroke around the text as sometimes, it affects how it will resize. As long as it is dark enough in the full size if you want to print it, you are ok.

[Ann Seeber]

Cassel: Thank you for the clarification. Meanwhile, the wedding bells are a transparent .png that I found with Google which, of course, had a fake transparent background so I wielded my trusty background eraser and it was pretty easy after all. It has two colors so I don't think it's a dingbat and I didn't treat it as a font which I would  ordinarily duplicate the vector and rasterize. I was rather dumbfounded when it vanished on resizing. Here's a peek at the original piece of art...

[Annie Tobin]

Hello Campus Friends.  Day 6 for me is completed.  The font for the title is Festival and I created the alpha by laying the letters onto emu eggs.  Thanks for takin a peek.  :)

[Jean Naumann]

Thanks Bonnie. Glad you liked the page.  Lach is now a very keen fisherman, but he only wants to catch big fish.  While we gave him a wonderful experience, I think we have spoilt him.

[Barbara Hall]

Day 6:  I've had a hibiscus bush in my yard for years and, until the never-to-be-forgotton 2020, never paid any attention to it.  Stuck at home, I decided to photograph its flowers in order to practice shooting things close-up.  I had no idea how interesting I'd find my little project.  I found the bean-shaped anthers so pretty and was fascinated by the shiny pollen grains bursting from them.  I also had no idea that my hibiscus was home to a thriving colony of aphids. (I didn't know what the white specks were, but I finally got a clear enough shot of a couple of them and then was able to identify them using the internet).  Since I didn't know the plant had aphids, I've never done anything about them and the  plant is thriving.

[Ann Seeber]

Annie: I love birds and have 5 or 6 feeders here for them at my little city condo. Your species Down Under are endlessly fascinating as I showcased with the lorikeets from my granddaughter's zoo. Interestingly, when in our 20s my first husband and I tried to emigrate to Aussieland. He was a local town police officer here and contacted several cities there looking for work. Unfortunately nothing came of it so I've never even visited your great continent! Actually, the 22 hour flight is somewhat daunting! Glad your layout had large enough type so I could read the whole thing. I would love to see a lyrebird in person! Well done!!

[Raymond Easley]

Day 3, trying to stay on the same theme and use pictures I took recently of the bluebird nest.

[Lynda DiGregor]

Day 3 - This is what has been taking me away from the computer.

[Jnet Allard]

Ann Seeber, I don't speak English but I understand there was ice on the road, I don't like roads in winter, I would have arrived half dead at my wedding lollll

 

Thank you Laurie, I wish you to make your dream come true. This is what we did for 10 years, from Quebec to Mexico. On the way there and back, we took the opportunity to visit the United States. We still go to Mexico but by plane and visit Quebec during the summer. With the instant translator on google.  You would be able to get by in French and we all have a good base in English since we studied it at school. I see you are from Memphis, a city that I loved to visit. Your page of day 6 is very beautiful, I rarely use black backgrounds but I find what you are doing very pretty.

 

Corrie, nice page with one of my favorite colors

 

Bonnie all your pages are very beautiful! I envy you playing pickleball. I don't think I would do it. You did well the one where you say you had trouble doing. I like the text block.

 

Jean woww what a beautiful page and beautiful fishing! The little one must have been very proud of his catch

 

Carole, I'm happy to make you travel with me

 

Annie Tobin, beautiful page with the emus

 

Barbara, I like your page with all the explanations on this beautiful flower which is among my favorites

 

Raymond, well done your page! What a beautiful blue for the eggs!

[Jnet Allard]

My day 6

 

Texte translated:

 

One of the highlights of our trip was this visit to the Grand Canyon. A wonder of nature! We had our eyes wide open on the beauty of the site. We had two memorable days on this visit. We have stored up memories that we will remember all our lives.

 

We were there on May 17th and 18th, it was cold, it rained the whole morning of the 18th and we had snow when we left the site at the end of the afternoon.

 

In the photo I wrote Pride Look because my husband was really happy and proud to be at the Grand Canyon.

 

 

[MoniqueN.]

Carole asked: "Monique, how many pets would you have at the same time? "

 

At one time we had 7 cats at one time and a dog . We had a big house then, so space enough :) Now we have one cat and one dog in a smaller house. :) Can't imagine a house without pets :) I haven't got chickens anymore now.

[Ann Seeber]

Jnet: Traduit pour vous

 

C'était le 18 décembre 1977 et cela a commencé par une tempête de verglas la nuit précédente.

 

Nous avons parcouru environ 20 milles dans la glace pour aller au palais de justice pour la cérémonie. Frank était le conducteur nerveux et nous avions Laurey, Beth et l'amie de Laurey, Laura dans ma petite voiture. Frank n'arrêtait pas de dire: "Je vais vous y amener, Annie!"

 

Nous avons dû nous garer en bas de la colline du palais de justice de Newton et c'était de la glace pure alors que nous nous efforcions de marcher dans nos plus beaux atours pour rencontrer nos parents et le juge.

 

Nous avions réservé une réception au Ye Olde Jolly Onion Inn à Pine Island pour 85 personnes. Trente-deux se sont présentés. Il manquait le témoin et notre patron du journal.

 

Le rendez-vous de la mère de Frank a remplacé le meilleur homme de la cérémonie. Ma fille, Debbie, a signé le certificat de mariage avec Russ.

 

C'était définitivement une aventure!

[Mary Solaas]

Laurie - loved that last layout because mainly of the text.  What a year.  The pics were good for demonstrating the ordinary things we take for granted.  Really liked the bird egg!

 

Annie Tobin- I agree with everyone else - Australia has such a beautiful diversity of colorful birds.  You showcase them beautifully.

 

Ann Seeton - How beautiful that layout for the migratory birds.  One of the things I've noticed (as I believe many have) is that the "Canadian" Geese have become the "Memphis" Canadian Geese and our city is not the only place where they have decided to settle down and not migrate any more.

[Bonnie Ballentine]

Carole, the 2018 pages were all done for the 2018 challenge. Somehow, I never shared them. Yes, I think day 6, 2018 is missing shadows...good catch.

 

Day 4, 2018 is not ready to split into 2 pages. I also think I would work on highlighting the photos differently to help them stand out. Day 5 cannot be split without dividing photos either.

[Lynda DiGregor]

Not  a problem Annie..be my guest  :-)

 

 

[Lynda DiGregor]

Love your Grand Canyon photos. Glad you had a great time there. It is one of the wonders of the world. We go there a lot, maybe we'll run into you sometime.  :-)  I might gather my photos and use them too!

[Lynda DiGregor]

Ann, I expect your wedding adventure was worth it!  :-)

[Lynda DiGregor]

Jnet, Love San Francisco....it's the Boston of the west coast. In the 60's I got the same feeling in both places.

[Lynda DiGregor]

Corrie, Love your Lilac spread. The photos as a border are a great idea

[Lynda DiGregor]

Wow, all these California photos are taking be back to my teens...thanks for the memories..they were good!

[Lynda DiGregor]

Carole,

 

You are right. The two photos that you spoke of were skewed and yes, Earth Day is a great BD present.

 

Here is the corrected project.

[laurie solaas]

Here is my Day 7 Challenge. Carole thank you so much for all of your instruction. I appreciated all of them, but especially the one today on different ways to display work. Thanks again! Today I learned why it's a good idea to use masks.

 

I started by not having a clear-cut idea about what layout I wanted. (Taking a few minutes to sketch thumbprint templates on paper would have been helpful) But did  I do that- no. So, even after I knew the layout I wanted, I still did not lay out rectangles for Mask Layers. Instead, I messed around trying to crop photos to exact dimensions to fit the layout I wanted. It took forever!  Lesson learned. Next time I will lay out rectangles and create Mask layers. So much easier to cut perfect rectangles and turn them into Masks than chopping away at photos. Thank you for teaching us how to do it, Carole.

 

I chose Finding Beauty in the Moment as my final page because I often forget to live in the now, and to find Joy in whatever comes my way.

[Minka]

WOW!  I sat this one out as I just had too many things going on here that I couldn't put off.  I just went through EVERY page and I am astounded by all your results. From travel, family, birds, sports, crafts, gardening, floral, fishing, wildlife, and even a wedding!  ... you covered all kinds of things!  Every one of them was a delight.  Impressive efforts from you all.  Totally enjoyable!

[Corrie Kinkel]

Thank you Lynda. Jnet I like the trip you made very much and I hope to see some of it for real in the future as we can travel again!!!!

 

This is the result of day 6 with the color purple. I made the background following the tutorial but used a blend mode or the color  choose. Carole's latest freebie alpha was perfect. I bought the script, but haven't had the chance to play with it. I had no beads so I used a string with some "flowers" with the date on them. And I couldn't end without a quote like on all the other days.

 

What I discovered: overhere we do not have many flowers with red in springtime. I did have blue ones, but not so much as the whites and pinks.