What Photoshop Can Do For You

I LOVE photoshop. Oh so so much. I love editing pictures; photography is a favorite hobby of mine! I love taking pictures of anything and then picking some of them to edit. It's a great way to pass some time and to realize how you can improve your photography skills.

This is what photoshop can do for a picture for you if you take the time... I didn't take near as much time as I wanted to to show you what it really could do for you, but I hope you see what I mean. 

Before (taken with my iPhone camera)

After (not as much editing as I wanted but still)

I know it's not much, but there are actually a ton of adjustment layers as well as a handful of filters. Let's not forget that I added some more "make up" to my face as well.

It's easy to hide your real self through pictures and the internet. It's easy to see a flaw in a picture of yourself and fix it instantly. It's easy to deceive the world by viewing it through a mask and going through each day like a masquerade. But you know what I think? DON'T DO IT!!! Just be yourself!! Beauty is only skin-deep and everyone is beautiful, no matter what society may say. There is no such thing as a norm.

This is why I don't like photographers who edit portraits so much that they look fake. Why are you going to get a portrait for something when it's not going to be your actual face? A few fix ups here and there, fine. But changing it completely that your face doesn't look real in them? No thanks. 

HARRY POTTER!!!!

Um...so...Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Amazing. Loved it. I cried, yeah, so what? I started crying when it showed Fred, Lupin, and Tonks dead. So sad! And then I was teary-eyed the rest of the movie and the I felt like something died inside of me when it was all over. Because....it is. This has been 10 years  of my life! My childhood, more than half my life up to this point(almost half though)! You honestly can't blame me for being sad, when I've grown up with this magical story since I was in first grade and when it first came out.

I had the privilege to see the movie at 7 PM, so 5 hours before midnight premiere. Hurray for connections! Anyway, it was so awesome to do so, and I sorta dressed up. Enough so that I was comfortable, and people could tell I was dressed up for Harry Potter anyway. I was so super stoked, it was embarrassing. But that's ok, I was only concerned about Harry. 

So the movie. Oh man oh man. It was great. Perfect balance of action, darkness, humor, and romance. The action scenes were really great, especially when Mrs. Weasley and Bellatrix duke it out! Another awesome part I liked was in the Room of Requirement when Malfoy and his gangs come inside the fire comes around and all! Also...Neville!! dang! Matthew Lewis did SUCH an excellent job portraying Neville. I say he's a true hero to this all because if the sword never appeared to him and he didn't kill Nagini, then Harry would be done for. I'm a fan. Go Neville! The epilogue was slightly funny since it was all the same actors, but dressed to look like they're 36. And Ron and Hermione's kiss?! the first thing that actually popped in my head (while everyone else was cheering) was, "Katy's probably going to be super jealous of Emma right here" ha. It was awesome to see all the characters back at Hogwarts during the epic battle, even Percy was there! The only one not there though was Oliver Wood! What the heck, why didn't he come?! He's supposed to....

I kinda wish they had mentioned that Harry's invisibility cloak was the one from the Deathly Hallows...that's kinda important seeing as it's the  title of the book, eh? So there's that, for all you non-readers. Also, I think it would've been way cool if they had explained how Voldemort got all the items he used as horcruxes, especially since he used the founders of Hogwarts' items. But I guess the movie would've been too long. So you non-readers will have to figure that out on your own...like by reading the book. Also, I really wish the epilogue showed more main characters, like Neville and Luna, or George and what happened to him. And what occupations the all acquired would've been awesome. A few more minor details missing here and there that only avid fans would've appreciated (me included) because they know Harry Potter too well, but other than that this movie was excellent! I need to go see it again sometime soon!! If this movie doesn't win box office of the year(or whatever the prize is called), I'm going to be angry and it'll be a shocker.

And so, the worldwide phenomenon has come to a close. I'm hoping JK Rowling will think of another book just as good as Harry's, if not better. It's bittersweet, but it was great!!
Harry Potter forever!!!! <3 <3 <3

My views on some literature?

So first off, I just finished reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. I would have to say it was a bit of a struggle for me to get fully into the book so that it made me want to read on and see what happened. But it's also part of my personality that once I start something, I must see it through, unless it's something that I really can't bear (like this one movie called Moby Dick....thought it'd be interesting, but boy was I wrong...I couldn't even get past the first 10 minutes of it.) 


Almost went off track there....back to the book, so the story line was pretty good, one of those "typical ones" per se from Ms. Austen. Girl is different from the environment she's in, falls in love with a guy, some other oppositions along the way, girl and guy get together in the end. Except, I didn't really like the fact that the guy the main girl is in love with is her cousin...who she's lived with since she was...9 or 10. And she's 18 when the story ends. Now back then, I know some people did that and it wasn't weird, but still....to me it was a bit much. But they did go well together and Edmund is a good man (and a good name). Fanny (the main girl) was an interesting character. She sometimes bugged me because she wasn't very opinionated, and if she was, she hardly said it aloud; most of the time it was when she was with Edmund. 


Personally, I feel like it was a slower read than most, but I would still recommend this to others. The story was written to show the effects of money and marriage, and how much they influence each other. I would say this book showed this relation very well. Most the interests within the story revolve about income and status in society. Not a whole lot of people cared about actually loving someone and wanting to marry them. However, I think Jane Austen could've written the story in a more interesting manner, maybe perk up some points in the plot. But, alas, I think this might just be me and I may be different from most people. 
Overall, I'd say it was good. Maybe....a 7.5 out of 10? It's a classic. Read it. 




Next, since I finished Mansfield Park, I began reading The Three Musketeers. I bought the book ages ago and never got around to reading it until now. The first paragraph was brutal. I had to look up the names of the characters and city etc. to know how to pronounce them. Took me longer than I thought it was. I felt like I had researched more stuff about French pronunciations and history than I actually read the story. Once I got past the first page though, it contained a lot less researching than before. Hopefully it'll stay that way. But I'm excited to read this book. I've heard about the Three Musketeers when I was little (thanks to Wishbone), but I never exactly knew the story in detail. So this will (hopefully) be a good read. Keep me on my toes and anxious to know what happens. We'll get back to that sometime in the future....


Also, just would like to say that I love the movie Tangled, made by Disney!! It's a cute one, and it's got a good mixture of action, singing, etc. I just watched it tonight so I just thought I'd throw that in here. But for real, I really wish Rapunzel's parents said at least one word each in the movie! The silence is a little much. But still, it's a good story! The smolder....too funny! 


Anyway.........that's all. Hope everyone is enjoying life and loving it! It's summer, do exciting stuff! Do random stuff!! Go make an adventure worth telling your children in the future! x