It’s not every day that a beautiful lady passes through my newsfeed street. I see them often.Remember the lady with the t-shirt with a Hermes signature on it? Today’s lady has a smile that is captivating. But unfortunately, the photo that she came with had so much noise, or what some will call dust speckles.
The original photo posted on Facebook.
I decided to work on her. I worked on removing the speckles, especially on the blue channels. After about an hour’s work, this is what I arrived at.
After work on the noisy photo. First pass.
Then I worked further on sharpening the image although I thought it would be at the cost of losing some details. I had to place a limit on how much sharpening I should achieve. You should know that I have one limitation: the camera that was used for taking the photo. So, I had to realize that if the camera was in my hands, then all the fault will be mine for not achieving a perfect lady like the Mona Lisa. I achieved the best I can.
The last pass.
So, make your choice. What do you think about how the noise was removed? If she was doing a catwalk, then you’d realize how distracting the noise was.
This is a puzzling cartoon. So I slept on it for about a week before I discovered the moral. I thought initially that the lady in question had replied to the comment the gentleman did on the blog, but she hadn’t, so I threw away the idea that they had had some “talk” or communication in another form, so why was she complaining?
Now I know she has a right to complain. Her man was married to his computers like so many men are to their cars and material possessions.
I used to have a friend whom I confessed my love to. That was years ago, about a decade. She refused and said I was married to my work. I thought about it for a long time. I really didn’t understand what she meant because I was doing everything to please her. That is the dilemma our gentleman in the cartoon is in.
It was years later, when I began to reflect on my loneliness and on life in general (I started personal diaries for that, you know), that I realized I was so tied to personal success and to work at the cost of my health and friends. I paid dearly for it. Now I do not anymore.
Before I undertake anything, I consider God, family and friends paramount before position and success. I do not take things for granted anymore. I think I gained a lot in understanding humans and human relationships, that is, I gained spiritually, but have not gained materially like I was used to. So I decided to choose between value and priority. I choose priority. I choose the important things in life. I choose to live a satisfied, contented life with God and family values in mind rather than possessions and trampling on people’s feelings.
I have become better for it. I have grown wiser and somewhat aged; in my opinion. I have not made money from this decision but I have gained a lot in health and happiness.
That is what the gentleman in the cartoon will have to realize himself.
It’s like a century. Been back to education for just three weeks; had to catch up on Linux. I decided on using Linux because of GIMP.
I went through my facebook yesterday and decided to touch-up a nice looking lady on my newsfeed street.
This is what I did with her photo. I discovered it had an annoying screen over the view, so I darkened it a little and then accentuated her African face. She has the natural African expression, reminiscent of 2Face’s “African queen.” I highlighted the red channel of the picture so her skin could come out better and then sharpened the photo. Pronto! Before I rush down to do one or two things for the sake of the Almighty above. You know today is Sunday! Gosh, how time flies. Do you know it’s july and the rains are here.?
By the way, the original unedited photo and my edit are below.
Enjoy your Sundays.
Some days ago, someone sent me a message. She was confused about my blog and Facebook page, Engagement Ink. I wrote this piece for her and all readers of this blog. By the way, I’d give anything to have ten people LIKE my Facebook page on Engagement Ink for this month of July.
The focus group of Engagement Ink
Engagement Ink is focused on the family and family institutions, and indirectly on you. It starts right from the wedding day. We love to share our beautiful memories. One of the most memorable in our lives are wedding days. How would you be able to share those memories successfully on the Internet and with your friends online if your photos do not come out very well, if they are not well illustrated and if your videos do not get to all of them? Engagement Ink was created to fill that need. Engagement Ink can also be used for other occasions like photos and videos for events, anniversaries etc.
The principal work I do on Engagement Ink is to process your photos and edit your videos, place them online and make sure your friends and relatives get to enjoy them online as they are used to offline, (if distance and time would permit).
So, recently, you must have noticed that I have integrated a cartoon column and a regular post I have tagged: “This week on my newsfeed street.”
The cartoons are to share marriage and wedding anecdotes; the viewpoints of the cartoonist which Engagement Ink also shares. I believe you will find them valuable. The “this week on my newsfeed street” series was begun because of the dearth of photo materials on weddings and families, a problem I am having, and you know, opportunity and preparedness go together so I have to be practicing on my photo editing skills while waiting for you, the opportunity, to give me an offer of processing your eventful photos and videos for online enjoyment. So the series are practice sections.
Without media, how boring social media would be
Photos and videos are the mainstay of the internet; without them, we’d have only lines and lines of boring text. So, whatever you do on Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn or whichever site on the internet, you must need a photo editor and you should need me. Also, my services are affordable. Why not stop by the Engagement Ink Facebook page and go through some of the older postings; I’d recommend that you start with the Photos app on it. I have two mature service offerings right now, a Basic and Premium service for post-weddings.
Conclusions
Some of you must have received emails from me. I cannot use your photos for the “newsfeed street” series without seeking your permission, although the use is non-commercial. I envision a situation in the future where more photo editors will understand the importance of posting images with visual and aesthetic beauty and join in my work, then we’d see more photos of Nigerians and Lagosians looking not worn and weary, which is not the normal, but enhanced, optimized and looking their best, which you will find when you browse the photo galleries of people from other countries. I wonder why we should be different?
So, in a nutshell, this is what Engagement Ink represents.
Questions anyone?
