Last night I had the not so brilliant idea of re-editing every single image on my website. I picked up a few new Photoshop actions in the last month, and after playing around with them for a bit decided that almost every single image that I had previously post-processed was no longer satisfactory. Even though using Photoshop actions in post-processing saves a lot of time, I only managed to get through a few photos before losing my patience and going to bed. Re-editing a million images – especially when you have an almost equal amount of actions to choose from, is tiring. It also doesn’t help that I’m picky, a perfectionist, and can never make up my mind. Anyway, here are a few photos that I did manage to edit. I’m also including the SOOC (straight out of camera) shots as a comparison. One of my favorite Photoshop actions is “PW B&W” by Pioneer Woman, which I’ve used here.

Image #1 – SOOC:

I ran the “PW B&W” action from Pioneer Woman and did a slight unsharp mask:

Image #2 – SOOC:

Again, the “PW B&W” action and unsharp mask:

Image #3 – SOOC:

“PW B&W” action, a slight tint, and unsharp mask:

Image #4 – SOOC:

“PW B&W” action and unsharp mask:

We went for a drive yesterday and ended up at the Nan Hua Buddhist Temple in Bronkhorstspruit – the largest Buddhist temple and seminary in Africa. The temple is normally closed to the public on Mondays, but because it was a holiday we were able to get in. We walked around for a bit and I took a few photos:

You can view the rest of my photos of the temple on my Flickr page.

I’m not looking forward to Steve being gone for almost two weeks. He flies to Saldanha on Monday and will be gone until the 28th of August. I was originally going to go with him and we were going to drive down to Cape Town after for a short vacation, but the trip got pushed back so many times that we no longer have time as we’re flying back to Canada on the 31st. Also, originally, his trip was only going to be about five days long. I could still go with him, but sitting in a hotel room all day by myself for two weeks with no internet access or regular meals doesn’t really appeal to me. So I’ll be stuck here, and will more than likely be too scared to sleep at night.

A few photos from the Zoological Gardens of South Africa:

More zoo photos on my Flickr page.

Our balcony overlooks a golf course:

View from the front of the guest house:

Back of the guest house. Our room is the one on the top right:

Flying over France:

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A few more differences I’ve noticed:

- ketchup is referred to as “tomato sauce”
- traffic lights are called “robots”
- a pickup truck is called a “bakkie”
- ground meat is called “minced meat”
- when you tell someone something, they respond with “izzit?” instead of “really?”

We went to Pilanesberg National Park today and saw giraffes, elephants, zebras, buffalo, warthogs, rhinos, hippos, impalas, and wildebeests. The park is gigantic and we only managed to cover about half of it in the four or so hours we were there. We had sandwiches on a patio overlooking a family of giraffes. We were tired and it was getting dark, so we only drove through Sun City, but will definitely be going back sometime soon.

We had McDonald’s for supper because I was homesick.