photo editing software

I'm told I need an intervention and this was before I got the new glass. I'm not sure this is the case, but I know I need to clear the decks. I was without internet today and was just starting to twitch when I figured out how to reset it. In the meantime, I decided to learn how to use the photo editing software that came on this computer and make it work for me, since my skills as a photographer will never be noted in my biography. The program I am using is called Gimp 2, or something similar. I can't say that it is good, bad, or indifferent when compared to any other because I've never tried to learn to use one before. What follows are before and after pictures of my beads. Of me, they are pretty much the same.

I now know why these shades are so much fun to photograph. Not only does the glass shift colors but the editing software mangles what is left over. On the left, CIM chalcedony, untouched by digital hands. On the right the same glass. Both are pretty darn similar to Effetre opalino periwinkle. Neither looks particularly like the pictures I'm putting up, but this is truly a case of the more I messed with it the worse it got until I went back to the image I wisely saved before I started and at least got the dirty, burned and battered table looking right.

This one I'm still not entirely happy with, since even the retouched picture doesn't truly work. After fiddling around for 20 minutes I lost patience and decided to quit while I was ahead. On the left, the unworked photo, and on the right, the adjusted one.

This is the best example of how a photoshop program is helping me to take more accurate pictures. The picture on the bottom left is the original, done with my paper napkin and scotch tape diffuser that I thought was pretty nifty. Yuk. The center photo is of the same setup with flash and no diffuser. I white balanced it and neutralized it and got the right picture, much better but still too pink. After playing with almost every setting on the photoshop i got this, which is pretty much exactly how the rod and bead really looked. I believe this is Effetre silver color 2.