I Figured I Ought To Tell The Story Of My Blog Background (which Gets Into The Story Of My Blog) And
I figured I ought to tell the story of my blog background (which gets into the story of my blog) and give credit as best I can for the picture I used to make it. Also I should probably warn you here and now that I tend to ramble.
So, first off, I have to admit that I can’t give exact credit for the original picture I used; I got it from Google Earth a long time ago, and now that they’ve changed the photos layer, I can’t find the original anymore. I’ve tried a reverse google image search, but it doesn’t come up. All I can tell you is that it came from Narrows, Virginia, or the surrounding area, and it’s of the New River. So, if you’re the photographer who took this picture, let me know how you’d like to be credited (or if I need to find a new background image).
I love this picture, though, with the tranquil water reflecting the mountains and that lone tree jutting up on the left. It has a nice balance, or perhaps a good visual flow, and it reminds me of home. (I’m originally from Blacksburg, Va, and Narrows is a little over half an hour west and a smidge north of home.)
Anyways, I’m also posting the various stages of my photoshopping (well, actually, I just used the “markup toolbar” in Preview on my Mac to edit the color of the image, but that doesn’t work as a verb as well as photoshop does).
Aside from my general love of all things purple, I also wanted to tint the picture purple so that it would be a picture of “the Lande of Violet Mists”. The Lande (with an “e” for artistic flair) of Violet Mists is a fantasy land and somewhat of an in-joke going back to the blogspot blog I made Sophomore year of high school. It has a vague mythos on said blog--in bits and pieces, such as the one I have in my blog description here--but it’s mostly more of an aesthetic theme than a properly developed literary location, though I have written bits and pieces set there. Remind me to dig some of those back up and see if any are worth sharing here, actually.
At first made this edit for aforementioned high school blogspot, and I did try to set it as my background there, but I couldn’t get the formatting to work. When I started this tumblr, though, I was happy I had it in reserve.
So, basically I tinted the picture pink and turned the temperature towards cool (aka blue) to make it purple. I think I also decreased the sharpness to give it that atmospheric haze and boosted the saturation some to intensify it. I decided the first one wasn’t purple enough, so I made the second one, but that one just looked too unnatural (and a bit too pink) so I went back to the first one (each time I started a new edit, I made a copy of the original so that I could have each step as a separate image) and made it just a little more purple. I liked that one, and I just inserted a translucent square to have that more opaque region in the middle where posts go. That wasn’t wide enough, though, so I actually took a screenshot so that I’d have an image in proportion with my computer screen and copy-pasted the image onto that and stretched it wider, and that’s how I got the final image. I suppose this isn’t necessarily specific enough to be helpful as a tutorial, but hopefully it gives the gist of how I edited my background picture. When in doubt, add purple :)
More Posts from Alfhildr-the-word-weaver and Others
I am realizing that I’ve been obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer for more than a month now but I haven’t put anything on my main blog from it yet, so it’s time to remedy that :)
There is something so tragic and darkly beautiful about Spike and Drusilla’s relationship... I quite like the light this quote casts on Spike’s turning, how he was a poet out looking for his ideal of love, and in her own way, Drusilla was looking for her ideal of love too, but neither of them got quite what they expected--and yet they also sort of did, oddly? In a twisted sense, Drusilla got her knight, brave and true, inasmuch as a vampire can be one; from a vampire’s point of view, killing a slayer could indeed be akin to slaying a great beast, except for the part where they themselves are the beasts to be slain (from a human perspective, at least). And Spike really did get a grand romance with Dru (until it ended), though it involved perhaps more pain and death than he had anticipated. They are in many ways a dark, grim old fairy tale couple.
528: First time I’ve ever wished for a disney version.
How precious it is to lightly hold my cat's paw and feel her gently squeeze back <3
Happy Tumblr Prom 2021!!! I had a fun time doing a fancy photoshoot for @internet-prom-2021 today; it was a good chance to dig out my old formalwear, including my actual junior prom dress, the suit I assembled for my Oswald Cobblepot Halloween costume in 2018, and my fairy wings from a different Halloween, because this is Tumblr prom, and this time I’m wearing fairy wings. Oh, and what would a formal photoshoot be without a sword? :)
This photoshoot goes out to my prom date @ravenfal and to my friends and tumblr prom posse @saturnrx @katastrophekid @shy-ginger-in-the-graveyard and @emovampy :)
Bonus pics & things under the cut :)
Fancy jump shot + cool shadow :) I love how my skirt looks like flower petals here, even if my head got cut off in the mirror, lol.
Also fun fact, the tie knot I used is called “the eldredge knot” (not to be confused with “eldritch” haha), and it’s also one of the knots Noam uses in The Guards Themselves--in Back in the Ring specifically--which may have had some influence on my choice of tie knot, haha. The video I used to tie it is here if you want to try. Here it is up close!
And while we’re doing closeups, here’s a closer look at my makeup (for my second photoshoot in my dress, which actually shows up first in this post; I did just the eyeliner, mascara, and a lighter lipstick for my pictures in the suit):
I tried to do a rainbow ombre thing with my eyeshadow but I maaay have taken up a bit too much space with the purple part, which I suppose is very on brand for me. It’s been forever since I put makeup on, but it is kinda fun to play around with :)
And here’s a closeup where you can see my hair a bit better, too :) I did a whole braid thing but it didn’t show up a ton in most of the pictures.
Oh, and here’s an artsy thing I did where I put my travelling selfie photoshoot mirror on the ground and took a selfie looking up at myself, for artistic reasons.
Happy tumblr prom everybody!! :)
I only watched Matilda for the first time a couple of years ago. And then I quickly read the book and listen to the musical about a dozen times after that. It’s one of my favorite stories, and I’ve always adored this moment of Matilda walking along the road with her wagon in tow! My mom recreated her iconic dress by upcycling a large women’s one she found at a thrift store. To match the floral pattern, she actually hand painted the red and yellow flowers onto the fabric. It’s one of my favorite things!
Yes, this is definitely my favorite Gerard hair :) The color, the shape, and the softness are all on point.
Day 57: “Sniper”
Attack of the fire puppy :)
(image source: http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:Atlantis-milos-return-disneyscreencaps.com-7761.jpg)
This will never stop being the perfect mix of adorable, adventurous, and mystical--truly the winner of all Halloween comics :)
This post is what caused me to put this book on my Christmas list this year. I got it and I’m not super far in yet (I’m in Chapter 5, shortly after the bit with Borusa, actually) but it is entirely as fun as advertised so far! :)
Honestly I just get so excited whenever they go to Gallifrey, despite the Doctor and all intergalactic tour guides’ apparent consensus that it is a hopelessly dull place. But it’s a place replete with backstory and that’s why I love it. I have an academy-era fic I’ve been working on and I’m already thinking how I’m going to have to revise my portrayal of Borusa based on what I’ve learned in this book.
And, of course, it does have that distinctive Douglas Adams tone. My dad was surprised to learn that Adams had written for Doctor Who, actually, so that was a fun bit of knowledge to impart. Very fun book :)
Guys I have a new favorite Doctor Who book
No hate to Star Wars, but Earth is a really awesome planet and this is a super cool post! :)
Oh, and speaking of pink lakes, this reminds me of Lake Hillier in Australia (image source: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lake-hillier)
And also, I know people get all excited about Hoia Baciu forest because it’s supposedly haunted and an alien sighting hotspot or whatever, but just aesthetically, I think the curvy trees would be a neat look for a far-off planet. (image source: https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/109706/hoia-baciu-forest-beyond-the-legend-explores-one-of-transylvanias-greatest-mysteries/)
(image source: http://lilianausvat.blogspot.com/2015/03/hoia-baciu-forest.html#.XB3An9MrKXQ)
And speaking of funky looking forests, did I mention the rainbow eucalyptus forest in the Philippines? (image source: https://matadornetwork.com/trips/75-places-so-colorful-its-hard-to-believe-theyre-real-pics/)
(image source: https://www.elitereaders.com/rainbow-eucalyptus-tree-philippines/) (*note: I have not read or verified image sources; these are just from whence I got the pictures.)
Yeah, sci fi in general could do well to take more advantage of these things. Like, I know filming in quarries is a time-honored Doctor Who tradition, and I’m not suggesting an end to that. Welsh quarries are neat, too :) But the world is full of a great many fantastic sights.
why are star wars planets more boring than earth and our solar system like sure we’ve seen desert, snow, diff types of forest, beach, lava, rain, but like…
rainbow mountains (peru)
red soil (canada/PEI)
rings (saturn’s if they were on earth)
bioluminescent waves
northern lights (canada)
salt flats (bolivia, where they filmed crait but did NOTHING COOL WITH IT except red dust?? like??? come ON)
and cool fauna like the touch me not or like, you know, the venus flytrap.. and don’t get me started on BUGS like… we have bugs cooler than sw aliens
BASICALLY like???? come on star wars you had one (1) job where are the cool alien species
You’re never too old to get cuddles from Momcat, no matter how much bigger than her you get! :)
Welcome, dear traveller, to our fantastical lande shrouded in swirling violet mists. Here we study how stories shape our lives, how words weave wonders before our eyes. Here we are enamoured of love and the connections betwixt people. Here we seek daring adventures in our wild lande, delving into the unknown at every turn. But mostly, here you'll find my obsession with any number of things, like Doctor Who, the Vampire Diaries, or any number of others from the ever-shifting tide of obsessions through which I cycle. My more-used sideblog is blagueofchaos if you ever wish I posted more :) She/her, 28
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