So this morning I was entertaining myself taking selfies of me in my best Ranch Fashionista outfit, trying to capture exactly how I felt at the moment. I had just begun my morning chores at the barn and I had forgotten my go mug of coffee, so that was a challenge right there. I was clomping around in rubber boots because the horse pens are muddy and that was tiring. For some reason Bubz, whose big head is in the lower right of the photo here, was sticking so close to me I kept bumping into him — what was up with that?
It’s not like I was suffering. It wasn’t all that hot this morning, the flies weren’t any worse than usual, the mud wasn’t deep. But chores are chores and I’ve done them lots of times before and it’s hard to get enthusiastic about doing them. It takes some imagination to come up with new distractions while hauling feed buckets and hay and water to horses and manure from them. It also takes very little to make me start grumbling. I try to be inventive — tough thing for a non-morning person who hasn’t had adequate caffeine. At any rate, this morning I set the phone’s photo app on a timer and made selfie faces. For this one I heaved a big sigh meant to express how I felt about doing the same old chores that I will be doing lots of times more.
Fast forward to after the poop scooping part.
By the time I was back in the house and at my desk, I had forgotten about the selfies. Later on, once the afternoon’s thunderstorm had blown on by (dumping a mere .03″ of rain), I was poking through Facebook and saw a photo that had nothing to do with anything I’m talking about except that it jogged my memory. Oh yeah, selfies.
Oh yeah! Playtime!
I’ve been experimenting with some of the AI filters that come with PaintShop Pro 2022, which I’ve only had for a few months now. The filters are still feeling new to me and since I’m always searching for tools to help me make my photos express more than just a snapshot of the moment, exploring the filters is not only good fun but it’s useful.
And I never know what’s going to happen. I love it when filters do stuff I’m not expecting and the results are cool.
Such as the weird thing this filter did. It’s called Depth By Design (the filter, not my photo). No real instructions come with the filters — not that I’m big on reading instructions — but I am big on googling stuff. What I discovered was that there’s a thing called depth filters that filter out particles, somehow doing it better if there’s lots of particles because… never mind. All you need to know is that among other things depth filters are used for treating sewage, which seems pretty appropriate for someone who scoops horse poop every morning. Whatever that has to do with PaintShop Pro remains a mystery but I played with Depth By Design a while and ended up with the image here. I want to emphasize that the filter put that weird Munch-like expression on my face — I mean, sure I was hamming it up but not like that!
But so what? It was playtime and I like the photo. So I’m sharing it with you.
Hope your weekend is going well!