You just might be able to use the first statement to brighten February 14 for someone in the second category.
Take one of your old color photos of a great time you’ve shared with a friend, convert it to black and white, put it into a red leather frame, and you can truly warm a friend’s heart. (We saw some red frames online for $7.99—just Google “leather picture frames.”)
This photo was taken in color in 1972. One of the women pictured had it in a shopping bag for just about 40 years. One day she put some lightweight photo paper into a copier and pressed “Black Copy.” She fiddled with the “Lighter and Darker” settings and got something that was totally acceptable.
Then, when she remembered that she had a friend who was a Photoshop whiz, she was off to the races. The transformed picture was just what she wanted.
There are many ways to achieve Black and White results from a color photo original, and many Web entries devoted to the process. If you are starting with a digital image, the transformation is even easier when you use the pre-set filters in iPhoto, Picasa, and/or Photoshop Elements.
None of us thinks Valentine’s Day is the end-all and be-all of defining love or devotion, but it’s a given, and there’s no better way to deal with it than by giving to someone who isn’t expecting the day to offer much at all.