She has been missing from the Coin Talk Ancient Coins Forum for a while now, but certainly not from PM participation where I found her, as usual, helping fellow Coin Talkers. She survived those devastating hurricanes, moved to Texas to take care of her aged mother and has continued to be one of the most active and valued members of the Coin Talk community. Of course, her forte is Photo editing - she has completely mastered Photo Shop and she frequently dazzles us with her work. But she also is constantly offering to help Coin Talkers with their photo editing problems - like me for instance. When I discontinued and archived my web pages I found I had amassed an enormous number of photo images in a bewildering assortment of sizes and formats and also with a great many different backgrounds and margin spacings. I had also always photographed both sides of my coins separately. I desperately needed to stitch them all together and give them uniform backgrounds - @furryfrog02 helped me with that for some pics I wanted to use immediately. I decided I needed to use a sophisticated Photo Editing application in order to get my photos the way I wanted them. So I downloaded Photo Shop for iPad from the Apps store and set about learning it. That was a sobering experience for me - I had always considered myself a fast computer app. learner, but advancing years and months of house quarantine have taken their toll and I was soon floundering and getting confused. So what did I do? I turned to @TIF for help. I found her via PM - of course helping others, including knitting wonderful Covid masks - and asked if she could assist me (even tutor me a little) to get me up to speed with Photo Shop - “of course”, she replied, but she went further and offered to get my most used photos sorted out and corrected where needed! I am now plodding along trying to learn how to use Photo Shop effectively. What a woman! Like I said @TIF is a real treasure and we are lucky to have her as a member of coin talk. I wanted to acknowledge her help to me and express my gratitude. I just hope I have not created a lot of work for her by posting this. So where is TIF? - on PM helping others!
Yes, I bet many men here feel the same, daydreaming their wife was into coins and such like our favorite here @TIF .
Thank you, James, for your post. I'm happy to help you or anyone with anything, within my abilities .
I do recall that she had moved in with her mother, as she needed care 24/7. I can assure you ,after better than 10 years taking care of my wifes parents is a full time job. I do not know this for certain....just off of some of her post. So she knows that she is loved here, appreciated by many members and as soon as she can Im sure she'll check in....but until she does....postive vibes..... and thoughts . I see you snuck in on me Tif. Good to see ya.
Thanks, Paddy . To clarify though, my mom does not require 24/7 care. She is fortunate to be almost 88 and still able to enjoy many activities but it is difficult for her to take care of all of the details of modern life. I'm lucky to be able to have her company while her health is still good. Despite the hardships of COVID-19 and other things, life is good .
I have been here for only 5 1/2 months. (I'm a little embarrassed that I already have more than 1,400 posts; I know what my answer will be if anyone ever asks me "how have you been passing the time during the pandemic?") And I've seen quite a few posts by @TIF, as well as "likes" of other people's posts. Especially in the last couple of months. So from my viewpoint, she hasn't been away at all! And I very much appreciate her presence and contributions, for several reasons. Including -- but hardly limited to -- her photographic and other skills, which are so far beyond mine that I might as well be living in a different universe! I can't claim to know her well, but based on what I do know I'm not at all surprised to hear about how helpful she is to other members.
When yyo When you have been here a bit longer, you you will realise that @TIF can turn her hand to just about anything, and I am not easily impressed.
That may be my favorite photoshopped funny. Hershey looks like my last cat, Tigger, so that's another reason I like it. Here's an improved version of the animation:
Hello @TIF. Could you use your magic "photoshopping" skills to help me ? I'd really like to get married soon...
I just had a horrible thought. You know all those fantabulous coins she shows us? Well... WHAT IF THEY'RE ALL PHOTOSHOPPED JUNKERS!!!
While it is hard to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, it is no easier to make a sow's ear out of a silk purse. Photographing poor coins can be easier because we expect less but some really nice coins resist our efforts and make us feel bad about our skills. Often we make the problem worse by trying too hard and losing the natural beauty of the subject. Which is worse: a poor photo of a good coin or a good photo of a poor coin?
What strikes me when you see a TIF graphic is the fact that you can have all the photoshopping skills in the world, but if you don't have that wonderful sense of humour of hers, it would be pretty much like looking at a Mint State coin with poor style. So yes, can we have more @TIF, please?
Coins or other subjects, as many images are ruined by Photoshop style programs as are helped. There is a huge array of tools of which 90% will never be used by 90% of the users but it is nice to have the tools for that one image that needs it. The trick is knowing what to do when and what not to do..... ever. It is rather like the situation with cameras. The important part of a camera is the finger that pushes its buttons. 45 megapixels and fuzzy thought results in fuzzy photos. I have enjoyed the YouTube channel PixImperfect's tutorials. Easily 90% of them cover things I will never do but I enjoy his videos. To the best of my knowledge there is no video on coins. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMrvLMUITAImCHMOhX88PYQ There are several videos telling how to make a 'gold' coin from your photo. Maybe I'll have to watch one and see if they convince me why I need to do this.
I second everything mentioned here about @TIF. As a frequent reader of this great forum, I always enjoy her posts and informative comments. One thing I would like to add though, is that PhotoShop is just a tool, like a paintbrush or a pen, so I will first of all praise @TIF's general artistry, passion and wit, which, among many other ways in this forum, also becomes exemplified through her usage of that tool.