me? yay!

aaahhh! roy.....

They ARE adorable. You're a good mommy.

I'm first!!! Do you think I can photo shop my a*s? I wonder what I can make myself look like. That would be iunteresting. Kinda like Home Depot where you can take a picture of your room, and then choose all different colours of paint to see what it looks like. Ya, I think I'm gonna get me some photo shop!!!

Happy Kitty Friday!!!

Monica,

I ALWAYS Photoshop my ass.

xo,
so skinny ... in pictures

I am a big fan of the photoshop! I use it often!!! Got a cute kit pic up at my site too (where I used photoshop to lighten), she's becoming a snuggly kitty now that I've finished knitting my! first! sweater! She sat on it the entire time I was knitting it...I shoudl have figured she'd sit on me too! :)

Keep the cat pictures coming!!!

For cheap people like me, Google has a photo software called Picassa that's pretty good. Can't do nice borders and text boxes and all, but can lighten, brighten, de-red-eye, create web albums, etc.

Can you take a picture of the laundry pile...I want to see if it's bigger than mine!

Dear Roy,

You are so damn handsome. Love you!

Roy is really the Most Adorable Cat on the Internets. Bob is a close second. I just want to give Roy snuggles and cat treats. And Bacon.

I kinda love Fireworks. Does that make me weird?

Oh great. Now you've done it. I'm going to have to buy photoshop now. Maybe if I pretend it's ALL YOUR FAULT I'll feel better about dropping the $$. Actually, I've been wanting it for awhile. I have the free trial version and have enjoyed using its limited functions.

e -- Fireworks is really great, too. Especially for working with png files, and the slicing tools can't be beat. But I am a photoshop gal, it's just a personal preference thing. I'm a bit of a photoshop geek.

This is perfect, perfect timing. Thank you so much. I've been wondering how you get such adorable pictures.

Roy just breaks my heart he's so adorable! Kitty head-butts to him...

Thanks for the lesson, Laurie. I actually have Photoshop, but fear to use it, just as I once feared to use double-pointed needles. But you helped me with that and now I'm a hat-making fool. So on to the photos!

Roy + Toys = !!!!!!

Photoshop kinda scares me but I'd sure like to be able to put text boxes in my crappy pictures. Thanks oodles for the lesson.

I want to marry Roy.

Thanks for the little tutorial in Photoshop. I've often wondered how you did the little caption boxes, and now I know.

I have Photoshop Elements because seriously? I'm not a graphic designer and never will be. I just wanted some thing that would allow me to mess with my photos without causing my head to explode.

I never "nood off" when I'm reading you!

xo - don't ya just love how I'm picking at your typos when you've had about 38 minutes of sleep?

All work & no play makes one--??? Hope you get in some play & rest over the weekend--and Mom & Dad time. That would probably make things all better!! Have a great weekend Laurie!!

yeah i know i am a shitty typist

Not boring at all! In fact, this is incredibly useful since I am a total Photoshop dimwit. Thank you!

I nodded off to sleep. But that's b/c you were boring me to tears, not b/c the cats aren't so DANGED cute. And, your neighbors really are better than guard dogs, aren't they?! :)

Oohh...I just loves me some Photoshop...and pictures of cats.

No nodding off here ;)

Hey, I didn't think it was a boring post, I found it very useful! And your cats are so adorable, who could snooze looking at them!

Can I still read if I love Paint Shop Pro? It's Photoshop for the (frugal) masses.

Don't ya just love photoshop!! I use it all the time.

Roy looks like he just loves being photographed. He could be the centerfold for a cat porn magazine. :-)

So THAT's how you do it. I wondered why your pictures were so professional looking and just figured it was because you're, well, a professional! Thanks for the tutorial!

I put comments in pics using Paint.

My pics don't look anywhere near as good as yours, but mine can talk, too.

[And I was already nodding because I JUST got up, not cuz you bored me.]

Oh, Roy... why don't they allow interspecies marriages?

*heavy sigh*

Hi Laurie,
This is a reply to your onion thing, I just thought you probably not going to read it if I post it in the previous entry..:)
So, that's right put it in a pot with some dirt - garden soil, water from time to time. It will sprout and you can eat the green bits!!! That will prolong its life actually. You'll have to pinch them off (just the outer ones and never pinch all of the green bits) you can use it as spring onions.
Uh, another thing, you put about 1/4 of the onion in the soil

Thanks for the tutorial. I now now about Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop Elements and Picasa. Guess I'll have to find some experimenting time soon as I finally got a digital camera.

You can never be boring when you use cat pictures for examples, didn't you know that??

Nice info on Photoshop :) I use my software I got with my Kodak camera (it comes in the package) and looove retouching, cropping, altering brightness/darkness, saving people from the Red-Eye demon pictures, and generally messing around. It sounds like you can do more in Photoshop, but I'll just stick to my free program until I need a new camera or I somehow get money...I need a good camera for Spain!

I have your "Mmm, laundry pile. I love you laundry pile." picture saved on my computer. When I need a laugh it cheers me up.

Roy!!! I <3 Roy! The first picture is like Demon Roy. Look out, he's glowing! Beware the Radiant Cat!

Anyway, for Mac users (or frustrated PC users who might consider switching to Macs), iPhoto is decent for basic cleanup, cropping, redeye removal, etc. I haven't used Photoshop though so I can't compare, other than I know Photoshop has a zillion features that iPhoto of course does not, because iPhoto is meant to be basic. Someday I'll have time and $ to learn Photoshop.

I hardly know how to use the digital camera....but I'm great with knitting needles!!!!And I have a big,black cat that will always cuddle up in my lap while I knit.Your photos are great, and I really like to read your blog.

I do the same thing, I have a kodak 6200 even!!

Thank you thank you thank you for the photoshop lesson!!! I always use 'raw' pictures, because I do not UNDERSTAND anything in photoshop LOL. Now I will know a bit better what I should be doing :)
And as usual the kitties are cuteness in person :)
Cheers Eva

Roy Boy! Lo, the cuteness. He looks handsome with the light shining through his ears. And his blue eyes are so purty. Laurie, thanks so much for the tip on caption boxes! I do a lot of work in Photoshop but never figured that out myself. Also, I second Martha--Paint Shop is really good--that's how I started out, and my kids actually prefer it to Elements.

Well, Roy - nutten better than laying around on all your toys!!! soooo cute. And Frankie, I don't think I've even seen that profile of her, the camera must be putting on that 10 extra pounds.
thanks for the photo shop lesson~

I loves me the GIMP...does pretty much the same stuff as Photoshop, but it's open source = FREE. I love free...

oh the cuteness! It is almost unbearable. However in that one, that toy there looks like it's trying to attack him and eat his eye.

I wish my two brats were half as sweet as Roy looks.

Ah, the unbearable cuteness of being.

We have Paint Shop Pro and/or PSP Studio (the latter being to PSP what Photoshop Elements is to Photoshop), depending on whether I'm using the work software to fiddle with my personal photos. Neither has nearly all of Photoshop's bells and whistles, but enough to make me clutch my head from time to time. PSP (unlike Photoshop) used to have an incredibly easy way to make a transparent gif, but no more. Now I have to have DH show me how to do it every time, although in fairness if I had to do it often like in my last job I would probably remember. This we call feature creep. Have you noticed that every company has a Feature Creep who always comes to work perfectly dressed and never gets laid off?

P.S. Ed has found the sofa. Even better, he has found the litterbox.

I totally have a similar picture of my 20 year old cat lying in a pile of toys. And a video. It was taken with my old Palm pilot and has no flash, but I've kept it all the same. I wonder if it's something that cats do when they get older, wanting to hoard all the catnip toys.

I'd have my photographer boyfriend photoshop it for me... But he always has a backlog of photos to work on. That's why my blog has no photos - I keep going to take them, he tells me "Oh no, honey I'll take them" and then nothing happens. Like the cobbler's kids with no shoes. SIGH. He does not understand the need for kitty pictures.

And he TOTALLY photoshops me to my request. I've taken some naked photos and he made them "internet-okay"...

http://crazedknitter.blogspot.com/

I put a picture of my cat (and knitting on my blog), he is cute too ! but I think he is possessed.

Your lucky. When my cat hears the "whine" of the flash gearing up, he takes off for parts unknown. I swear there is a hatch of some type under the bed that he disappears through. He will go under there for hours on end, walk out and yawn and have to take a nap. What do cats do that is so strenous under a bed?

Believe me, I understand the joy of taking umpteen million pictures of a cat. They're just naturally photogenic, y'know? All that soft fur and those whiskers and those shiny eyes. I stalk my fuzzball with the camera on a daily basis:

http://pics.livejournal.com/corvustristis/gallery/00003dyt

Of course, I think that Metaxa, Havoc and Bob are The Cutest cats ever, but Roy sure does take a close second! I certainly wouldn't throw him out of bed for eating Greenies ;-)

I have to know...were the toys already in a pile like that or did Roy (or another resident of Chez Poops Alot) do that?

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz- WHAT?! HUH?! P0RN DRESS?!?!!!

You realize that 1 million cents equals $ ten grand?

I am going to have to commission you to take pictures of the new puppy. She is a cutie but it took me like 2 hours to get a decent picture to post on the blog the other day...Blogging is a lot of pressure.

See, my take on the whole "no jeans" policy is pretty loose. So, black, khaki, or any other color that happen to have a "jeans" shape to them and may also be made out of denim, aren't jeans. Just as "jeans" shaped pants out of other fabrics aren't jeans. Plus it's perfectly acceptable to wear blue denim if it's cut as a skirt or a shirt. So, the arbitrary interpretation of "no jeans" strictly applies to the wearing of blue denim in pants form. Yours are black, you're totally safe. :)

If anyone says anything, just say "whatever happened to casual Friday?"

Just this morning (a Friday, no less), we were told we shouldn't wear jeans anymore. Now , most of us don't wear them very often, except on the occasional Friday, but who decrees this ON a Friday? A couple people actually went home at lunch to change!

And thanks for the tutorial - I don't make very good use of Elements, so this is a trick to try.

You know, it's amazing what you can do with just the very basic Microsoft Photo Editor that comes on every PC, or the photo-editing software that comes with your digi-cam (Canon's version is "ZoomBrowswer EX", for example). I'm a software and gadget geek, but Photoshop is just so daunting with all of its seventy-thousand different tools and menu options. I envy those who get to learn it on the job, because that's about the only way I'd really want to spend that much time getting familiar with it.

Speaking of nature photography -- be sure to catch "Planet Earth" on the Discovery Channel, starting this Sunday. I've already watched "Forests" from my digital cable box's "On Demand" menu, and it's amazing stuff. Can't wait to watch the rest of the episodes, and buy the DVD set, eventually.

How can anyone NOT love Roy, after that last picture?

Tee hee hee! MG said p0rn! ;-D

Thanks for the Photoshop info! I have it, but don't have a clue how to use it, so it just sits there takin' up space on my computer. I'll try to use your tricks to see if that helps me learn anything.

Boy, I do need help with my pics. Thanks, Laurie! I guess I'll try the free downloads first and see how far that gets me.

Apparently, some of us are going to have to fight for Roy's hand, er, paw in marriage. I see I'm not the only one! heh.

I tried to post my comment earlier but I kept getting hampered by being forced to check out the links given by some of the cat ladies here - can't pass up a chance to view a cute kitty!

Oh, forgot to say that we can wear jeans on Fridays at work but alot of us will wear them a time or two during the week also. We're sort of business casual. I work in the construction materials testing industry and there's really no need to wear your Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes every day. We get the dirt that makes its way in from the soils and concrete labs to our offices. And our clients, engineers, architects, contractors, etc., understand we work in a dirty business anyway.

So, yay, for comfortable clothes at work!

natural light is a wonderful thing. thanks for the tutorial. if i ever get past chapter three of photoshop for dummies i'll be able to make my cats talk too.

Aw, such a beautiful Roy! And a beautiful Frankie! So serene... (Said as 2 of my cats are beatin' the snot out of each other for fun.)

Hey, how's Victor?!

DITTO TO ALL OF THE ABOVE..
I admire your clear photography and thought you had a top of the range Nikon!!!!!! Hope by now you have your laundry done... or go buy new clothes... YES!!!
Take care...

Oy. I feel so stoopid. I think I blew a gasket trying to understand the tutorial. Clearly you are the Photoshop Queen. :-)

I am so looking forward to Monday when you wear your prom dress to work.
That will totally make my day.
Thanks in advance.

Such a good thing to have your photoshop tutorial--the graphic designer at my work quickly ran me through how to easily make caption boxes (as you can see at: http://kimskitchensink.blogspot.com/2007/02/adventures-in-blocking.html) I had some funny troubles with my photo-captioning.

I made mine the hard way, apparently, so I'm glad I can refer to your blog for the easy way to do it from now!

Yay! I followed your tutorial and I have achieved my first caption! Thank you, Laurie!

PS - how do you ensure that your photos are the same size? I thought mine were all A-ok, and blogger reformats them so they're smaller on the page, but when you click on the picture and it opens in a new window (because my captions are just too tiny to read), some open normal-ish size and some turn into gigantor pictures. What's going on with that?

Thanks for the photoshop tutorial!! I've been wondering how to add those captions --- I was thinking of downloading some of yours and trying to reverse-engineer them by opening them in photoshop.

Uh, yeah, that's the ticket --- not at all that I like fuzzy kitty porn.

Actually, I would be happy to upload some of my pictures in the raw .psd format if anyone wants to see some layers already set up. I'll do that next week1

Kim, I don't understand blogger, so I have no idea. I would suggest searching through their FAQs or something. I size all my images myself, because I am a control fre... uh, control *enthusiast*
heh

Photoshop rocks, no doubt. 'Course I am a few versions behind; my version has an ImageReady plugin that does the slicing and dicing for ya.

Susie, you can't reverse engineer the photos that CAP uses. In the jpg format, they are already flattened out and compressed and made all good for web browsing. Only raw psd files will get you the real goods.

Photoshop also offers "macros" where you can resize images. Just set it off and it will tweak the images to your predefined settings, including size. There is also the resize tool built in.

Laurie, you put your geek on in this post. Nothing wrong with that :)

He is quite unbearably adorable! Love that cat!

You could never bore us, dear...

Hi! Couple of glasses of wine working here! half-way through with a post of my own, and had to come and see you...

Kisses from the great North...

NO! I was not bored. Everytime I read your blog I say to myself, "I love this blog!" But also: "How does Crazy Aunt Purl get photos of her cats without big glowy scary eyes??? Is she magical?" So I'm very glad you gave this little lesson.

And the lesson I need to take away is: NATURAL LIGHTING. And also, NO FLASH.

Gotta love that Roy!

Creepy...I was just about to write to ask you how you make the text boxes...and when I clicked on your site today you just happened to have already posted about it. Thanks!

I didn't understand it, but I'm blaming it on the nyquil that I took 24 hours ago. Who, me? Sensitive to meds? No way.

Do you think I could use Roy to get my 'friend' jealous, you know, not telling him that he's a cat? Hmmmmm... okay, yeah, nyquil makes me weird. Gotcha.

Oh, I forgot. I used to wear black pants that weren't jeans, no, of course not... to work too. Fortunately we had to wear vests that covered the pockets in the back so I could get away with it. Heh.

I'm looking forward to seeing your pic Monday, too.

I may be wearing my old Catholic School uniform come Monday, so don't feel bad about the laundry piling up. I'm going to force myself to the laundromat tomorrow.

I think that first pic looks like Roy is having an out-of-body experience from all the toy-love.

Sweet Roy, reminds me of the dear, departed Luke (a.k.a. Lu-Lu, Lu-lu Bear, Luka, Luka-Bear, and Hey You Could You Get Off My Lap For Just One Second So I Could Get Another Skein Of Yarn!??!). I miss my knitting buddy....

Are you reading my mind? Coz the last time I was looking at your blog I was thinking "I wonder how she does those cool text-box thingys? I want to do those on my blog and be one of the Cool Kids!" Thanks for the info...and the cats really ARE unbearably and compellingly gorgeous!

I'm very glad to see I'm not the only one whose cats have waaaaay big bunches o' toys. They don't play with them very often, on account of 'cause they LOVE to chase the Little Red Dot of Doom. (Always be VERY careful to not point it near their eyes though). And now I'm inspired - I have some version of Photoshop but haven't ever dared to try anything with it. Perhaps now.......

I love Roy's light pink nose and blue eyes! Such a gorgeous boy.

I have a 2MP Sony old.as.dirt.

Still works....

I have all my laundry DONE for me...

tot ziens!!!

I've indexed Peachpit books on Photoshop! But I don't own it, but maybe I should, because I'd like to make some photos into high contrast for silk screening and I can't figure out how to do it without. But I wonder if Elements would do it, because Photoshop is so expensive.

Roy looks like a kitten in that one you lightened, he's so cute! And you do the best captions. Have you seen I Can Has Cheezburger? Very cute stuff. http://www.icanhascheezburger.com/

cat on my stuff!

You are a Photoshop Guru! Really, the touch-ups look great. I just thought you had a great camera!

Cool PShop tip, Laurie - which will work equally well in PaintSho Pro, thanks! [veg] No way can I afford PShop (yegawds, it costs more than a month's *rent* does for me), but PSP is almost as good and a helluva lot cheaper. (Of course, I also indulged in Corel Painter IX, and the KPT Collection, and some Alien Skin plugins, 'cause I'm a graphics slut even if I am on a fixed income, and why no, I'm not spending the money for my fading years on hyacinths now, why do you ask? ::shifty-eyed look::)

And other folk wanting to know how to Do Stuff in photo-editing software when the stupid manual refers you to 5 different places and you're screaming in frustration? Two words: Web tutorials. Google 'em. "Your program name tutorial" or some such. You'll find scads of step-by-step instructions on the web. Entire sites full. With links to more. People make 'em up for *fun*. With screen shots. Lots of 'em work in more than one program, the functions just have slightly different names. As above, for instance; many PSHop tuts work great for PSP. Save 'em on your computer as complete webpages, print when you need, and follow them through. Lots cheaper than a how-to book, esp. when half the time you have no idea if the book is any good!

Yeah! ROY! *hugs*hugs*hugs*

I've been a graphic artist for over 25 years (ooops! is that sort of telling my age? hehehe) and I don't understand how anyone could consider doing photos online (or printing their own) without the magic of Adobe Photoshop. It is almost as wonderful as Roy ... and worth every penny spent - for both, I might add.

All I have is the program that came with my Canon Powershot and I am an old "control enthusiast" photographer back from the fully manual F-stop days so making the hop from manual everything to uber-digital was a major adjustment for me. I completely do not understand photoshop so thanks for the tips if I can afford to get it one day. For now I rely on my old tried-and-true red-eye avoidance strategies: don't flash too close, never flash with the subject making direct eye contact with the camera, natural light when possible, etc. Thanks for the tutorial!

Oh, about the jeans ... you know you are in the South if you go to a funeral and people are wearing black jeans and black cowboy boots. Or black boots with a long black skirt (that being me).

I stalk my cat too. She may think I'm weird, but she loves the attention. *L*

Of course they are not denim. They are twill. (If they were denim, they would be twill, since denim is a kind of twill, but don't tell.) You are wearing functional black twill pants. Yay!

Looking forward to the prom dress on Monday. Do you still have the shoes?

I use the latest and greatest version of Photoshop at work, but I still use the lowly version 5.0 at home which works fine. Yeah, more bells and whistles with the new one, but 5.0 works just fine. And VERY affordable on eBay. Last time I checked it cost under $100 for a full version. Love reading your blog, Aunt Purl, you are HILARIOUS!! Love the cat photos, too!!

That first photo is definitely Ghost!Roy :-)

And how would I live without Photoshop???

Dear Roy,
We've never met, but I read your blog often. I admire how you pile all of your toys together and sleep on them. I have a three year old who does the same thing--coincidence? I think not.

Dang--you can still fit into your prom dress?! You go, girl!

Thanks for the awesome and helpful entry, Laurie. I think I need to try playing around with my photos. :)

I have Photo Shop and Corel Paint and I still can't figure out how to put text on my pictures. You go girl!!

P.S.
My cat Cavuto thinks he is related to Roy.

Wow. Product placement! Is Adobe paying you for this!? I sure hope so! (if they're not, you should totally get them to!)

Cute kitties! Tucker would love to chase them...he is not so good with cats, but loves to have his picture taken. Have you put Roy on Catser.com yet? Our cat Sachem is on there -- http://www.catster.com/cats/476786 Tucker and the rest of the pack are on Dogster. Both are fun sites with interesting pictures...though no great stories like yours!!

Ok! first I know you feed your kids anitbody free chicken but could you please do a PSA I just found out about this and I'm outraged I hadn't heard about if sooner.
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/Press_Recall_03162007.pdf

http://www.avma.org/aa/menufoodsrecall/menufoods/product_cat.asp

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/FAQ_Consumer.htm

Love you and your fuzzies!

CAP, I am a longtime lurker ... I just started a blog finally this week, and mentioned you so you might want to go check it out!!

When you're down to club clothes and Christmas panties, it's time to do the laundry.

That's what's on the agenda at the Roadtrip today.

Oh dang, we use the same camera! Whatever works, right?

Your cats are too cute for words!

Bossy enjoyed your tutorial since she is presently poking her eyes out while learning how to drive her new expensive Nikon digital. What was so wrong with film, anyway? And you can't secretly kiss anyone in Photoshop like you could the Dark Room of yore. (Did Bossy just use the word 'Yore'?)

Just the thought of wearing a prom dress makes me laugh. Now prom dresses are sleek and sexy. When I was a young 'un, we all looked we stepped out of Little House on the Prairie or Pollyanna. Flowers! Ruffles! Bows! BARF!

HAHA going to work in your prom dress, now THAT I would love to see! Too bad April fools' day is on a Sunday this year ... unless of course you and white men in ties are all heathens like that and go to the office on sunday :O) kidding, y'all know...

any april foolery you'd like to share? i've been involved in some crazy sh*t in the name of The Day for All Fools to Nearly Get Fired, got photos to prove it!

Well? Did you or didn't you wear the prom dress yesterday? Inquiring minds want to know!

Your headline reminded me of an old laundry hassle: I liked to dry my laundry on a line over the back porch - nothing feels quite as good as a dried-til-it's-crispy towel after a shower - but I couldn't understand where all these little holes were coming from on all my nice chambray shirts.

Then I saw them: wasps. Paper wasps, industriously gnawing fibers out of my shirts and chewing them up to make their nests. Little demons.

We had BABY BLUE WASP NESTS that year. And a new dryer, carefully installed at the point where laundry and wildlife collide.

Roy so reminds me of my Caesar. He is adorable and I love him so. Ok I love all of them. I am a crazy cat lady too. Being married with 2 kids apparently doesnt change that in a person.....

I confess... PhotoShop drives me nuts. I followed your nice directions for putting a border on (I figured I'd work up to captioning my cats.) I was all happy because I got it to work, but when I uploaded my photos to Blogger my pretty borders were gone! Do you have any idea what I did wrong?

BTW, I just love your blog. A friend of mine introduced me to it last month - I can't believe I had never seen it before. I have (depending how you count) three (or possibly four) cats. One of them poses nicely for the camera (basically because he's too lazy to move) but the others tend to walk toward the camera, pretty much defeating the whole purpose. But I love them anyway. :-)

Wow, your blog sure gets a lot of comments, not sure how you can keep up with them all!?! I've spent that last part of my Saturday guffawing over some of your cat entries, they are great! I am really delighted to read about your love of Photoshop. I will be a life long addict of the Adobe product and use it every chance I get, I've even PSD'd in my dreams (that sounded dirty, sorry). I quilt, obsessively, but dabble in the other crafts as needed. Yeah!