I was experimenting with my blog colors last week. I was trying to coordinate the background shade to go with this photo of a pink mum, which I had become intrigued by when it was adjusted to this focal black and white setting:
I really liked the gray and pink together, but I missed the more upbeat shade of green that I'd gotten used to. I guess it had just 'grown on me' since I began garden-blogging a year ago. Since many of you commented on how much you liked the gray and pink together, I wanted to explain my reasoning for changing it back to the original.
Isn't it fun to fool around with colors? It's almost as much fun as making collages! With all of this technology at our finger tips, one needn't be an artist to create eye-appealing 'works of art'. If only housework could do itself. Imagine the works we could come up with in all of our spare time!
Here is the same photo, uploaded through Flick'r:
--Today I am thankful for time to blog and compare notes with other bloggers;-)
Words and photos by Jan Huston DobleThanks For 2 Day.
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Yes it is such fun to experiment but if only someone would do the chores.
ReplyDeleteThe Flickr photo is smaller but seems to be higher quality. That's my quest lately, trying to figure out how to get better quality photos on my blogs without spending all day on the roundabout methods.
ReplyDeleteIt takes a little fine tuning in the html of a photo to make Picasa pics size up right for the blog. I change the size from s800 to s640 for a large photo that doesn't have the edges cut off.
ReplyDeleteI am partial to the gray color, very elegant. Interesting that the Picasa is large with this one. Pays to experiment.
ReplyDeleteJan it never hurts to try something new .. especially when you have a safety net to be able to fall back to the "old" ? LOL
ReplyDeleteWe all have tried something new after we feel a bit more comfortable playing with pictures and formats and all of that sort of thing : )
Joy
I spent hours and hours yesterday redesigning my blog. My husband commented how it reminded him of our daughter with instant messaging, my space, & facebook. I was enjoying myself and considered it to be a learning experience. And I even got out of cooking dinner! Love your blog! You are a talented photographer.
ReplyDeleteJoanne took the words right out of my mouth:)
ReplyDeleteI love the coloring in this picture, very soft. I really want to get photoshop or something like it to play around with this winter. It really is neat to see how much you can enhance or change a picture.
ReplyDeleteCreativity. It's a beautiful thing!
ReplyDeleteI like the gray and pink.
Cameron
Alright Jan now I will have to go over and check out flickr. Your really having fun with it aren't you ;-)
ReplyDeleteOf course I'm partial to the green! Sometimes I consider changing colors again, but I'm not one to change things too much. I
ReplyDeleteI love manipulating photos in various ways to use in visual journaling and other artwork. Love your pink and gray and the way you've made it work together. Reminds me of half a century ago when I was a teenager and those colors were all the rage!
ReplyDeleteAiyana
I think this looks good. Green is my favorite color.
ReplyDeleteI like them both but that pink and gray is yummy.. I so have to get over to Flicker to play ..
ReplyDeletehugs, Cherry
Outstand photo either way Jan. That shot is definitely frame-it-and-hang-it-on-the-wall worthy!
ReplyDeleteIt is fun to experiment. I like the result.
ReplyDeleteHi Jan~~ Rhetorical but relevant. I'm also a die-hard fan of green, thus my blog's similar background color. Yes we need the rest of life's duties to go away for a while so we can figure out all this cool stuff at our fingertips. Who'd a thunk? Can you imagine someone thirty years ago telling us we'd have a personal computer and would be writing to people all over the globe?
ReplyDeleteHi Jan!
ReplyDeleteLove the picture. Just as a suggestion - what about an olive tone?
Beautiful photos..I love them..!I think your blog looks lovely whatever color! and your photos are fabulous! Keep creating..it is wonderful!
ReplyDeletethanks for visiting my blog, jan. i'm glad to find yours. your photos are beautiful - whatever the size!
ReplyDeleteI must say, its a nice combination. And yes its fun to play with colours.
ReplyDeleteOh I love the dreamy quality of that photo! Great job, Kim
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photo of your mum, Jan! I always plan to experiment with some changes to my blog, but never seem to find the time to do it. Sounds like a good activity for a later cold wintry day.
ReplyDeleteI almost changed my blog look the other day too Jan. But I really like my theme alot, it's grown on me I guess. ;) Love the gray background with the pink Mum. Very nice!
ReplyDeleteI must learn to make collages! That is the latest thing for me. I know very little about what all I can do with pictures, despite having 3 digital camera's, 4 if you count DH's camera that I can use too. You would think I would know more about it already!
ReplyDeleteI love the pink and gray, too. It does remind me of my teen years too, I have a wonderful wool outfit.....
I really enjoy your blog, whatever the color.
Ahhhh you guys just keep giving me more to think about. Now everyone is changing their headers and I want to but afraid - if I screw it up can I get it back to how it was so I can try again. All these questions.
ReplyDeleteFor right now I just got released from a week at the hospital so can't be stressing with this - but can run it around in my mind and try to figure something out. HELP!!! LOL
I can spends hours and hours and hours messing with my computer. It's a lot of fun. I've been thinking about changing my blog design to accomodate the larger pictures... I haven't come up with anything I really like yet so I'll keep working at it. I would love to get Photoshop so I can do more with my pictures. Your pictures are always so gorgeous - especially the macro shots. -Jackie
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you're still blogging. Things are looking good here :)
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Hani
It is so fun playing around with all of the textures and color combinations isn't it? I just did that with my blog too. The pink and gray are lovely. If you export thru Picasa, you can adjust the size of the photo. I don't know about Flikr. I haven't played with it as much. Happy blogging.~~Dee
ReplyDeleteJan, Your photos are excellent...regular sized or supersized! They are delicious to look at! You all are spurring me on to make the jump to a new look...now if i can just take the time. gail
ReplyDeleteJan, after all the false positives...the Operation Christmas Child widget finally works...thanks for your patience. And thanks so much for giving.
ReplyDeleteLove that you are having fun, Jan ... great so see life in a different perspective!
ReplyDeleteThere are so many variables - including ones one has no control over - like what kind of screen blog readers are using.
ReplyDeleteI tried using bigger pictures but it wasn't just that the edges went missing - the quality varied massively depending on what browser the viewer was using - again out of the blog creator's control.
I think all these things may affect who one's regular readers turn out to be. Someone complained they couldn't read LOOSE AND LEAFY because the text and the background colour were too much the same. I couldn't understand what she was talking about until I saw it on a friend's computer. On mine the two are highly contrasted - on theirs . . . not! (On mine it is very dark brown on pale orange. On the other screen it was red on a darker orange - not good!)
I think this is one of the reasons to be careful of too much change all in one go. At least you know your regular readers can see (and enjoy) what you are doing.
Lucy
Sooo beautiful! your photos are fabulous! Keep creating..it is wonderful!...
ReplyDelete