英语博客：The Alps from the plane.

　　The Alps from the plane.
Many of you have seen some part of the Alps, I suppose. They're spectacular, aren't they? I saw a small part of them recently from a plane. I was traveling from the south of France up to Germany. Luckily, I was sitting next to a window, so I could look at every detail as we flew over. Now, typically, when you take a photo from a plane, it won't come out very well at all. The plane windows aren't the clearest, for sure. And it is impossible to control the light. Add to that the fact that my camera is a little cheapo. I certainly didn't expect to get a good result from any of my pictures taken on the plane. So, I snapped away when I could. When I got home, I looked at what I had taken, deleted most of them and then edited a couple that had come out well. I use an editing software by Google called Picasa. You can do all sorts of things with it. You can crop the photos, which means to cut them. Then you can add color, texture¹, shadow, and definition. You can even add text, which means writing. One of my photos was taken at a strange angle, so I used the straightening option to give it a better perspective. A couple of years ago I decided² to create nice portraits of my children. I looked through our collection of different school photos, and those taken at home. I scanned them into my computer, edited them, saved them onto an SD card, and then printed large versions of them in a sepia tone. Sepia is a lovely dark beige or light brown color that gives the photo a soft, sometimes older look. These photos now hang formally in frames going up the stairs. I'm so thrilled that this software can improve photos. Now I have a beautiful snap shot of the alps that I otherwise would have deleted.
Grammar notes.
Expressions: typically, text, formal.
Typically, this shopping center is packed with people on Saturday mornings.
You must edit that text; it is full of errors.
That dress is too formal for our casual get-together³.

1 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 get-together   

n.(使)聚集；(使)集合

参考例句：

• Well,Miss Huang,we are planning to have a casual get-together.嗯，黄小姐，我们打算大家小聚一番。
• Will you help me prepare for the get- together of the old classmates?你能否帮我为这次老同学聚会做好准备工作？