Venice at night... and how to make a new Twitter background...

Venice was the first places I photographed in Italy. It will always hold wonderful memories! It was right before Christmas and many restaurants and businesses had beautiful decorations and colorful lights. This little restaurant on the waterfront had pumpkin ravioli with a pumpkin and nut sauce, yes... it was delicious! Venice is a maze of walkways and waterways. The gondolas were left at the dock in favor of water taxi's because of the freezing weather, but it was still, all and all, just wonderful.

This night shot was enhanced with a layer of texture from Flypaper Textures, and the Impasto filter from Alien Skin Snap Art. I like the brushstrokes of color and texture throughout the image. I made this my Twitter background for a new and different look. Click on this link http://twitter.com/#!/debsandidge to see the background, and please join me on Twitter! Want to make a new Twitter background? Resize your image to 1600 pixels wide, 1200 pixels tall,  and save as a jpeg no larger than 800k. In Twitter, upload your image under Settings>Design>Change Background Image. That should do it, and hope to see you on Twitter! ~ Deb

PS - All coupon codes are in my sidebar (DEB0902 for everything Alien Skin).  Click on the links to visit the sites, and please feel free to use any codes for plug-ins you'd like to try!

A little romance... with Alien Skin Snap Art

What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Italy is a very romantic place!  Outdoor cafes everywhere, candles, flowers even on the coldest of days. I liked this couple walking arm in arm and couldn't resist taking their picture walking under a canopy of blue stars. The scene looked as if it could be a artistic painting rather than just a photograph. To complete the idea, I used Oil Paint in Alien Skin Snap Art which creates wonderful brushstrokes of color throughout the image. We will be covering this technique in my 4 week online course Enhancing Images and Creating Works of Art at BetterPhoto.com. There is still time to sign up and join the fun! Make great pictures. ~ Deb

Venice Gondolas... a painterly approach with Alien Skin Snap Art

Venice is most beautiful, like the rest of Italy, everything is a picture! These boats were right outside my window. They stayed docked most of the time, it was a lot colder than it looks! This photo was taken very early in the morning when the sky was beginning to take on color and a few clouds.  I wanted to create a artistic look for this image, as if an artist in Venice had painted this from the heart. My painting skills are somewhat limited but I truly enjoyed working with Alien Skin Snap Art. Brushstrokes of color and texture brought this photo to life using the Oil Paint filter. It was just what I had in mind when I made the picture! Buon giorno... have a wonderful day! Happy painting and please feel free to use code Deb0902 for anything Alien Skin!

In case you were wondering where in the world Santa is???

Just in case you were wondering where in the world Santa is... he's in Venice on a gondola! All six of him! This might be a tradition here, in any case it was a lot of fun being surrounded by so many rowing Santa's!  I hope everyone is ready for the holidays, and for the upcoming New Year. 2010 went by really fast!  Photo tip... Always have your camera ready! Have fun shooting... ~ Deb