Fix It Friday (6/5)

He are my edits for fix it Fri. I have had a crazy week so I will have to make my explanation brief, but I really wanted to participate.

1. Ran noiseware portrait setting.
2. Opened in ACR adjusted exposure, brightness, contrast and fill light to taste
3. Opened in PSE7
4. Cropped to 5x7
5. Used clone tool to remove circles under eyes and blemishes
6. Ran Digital Photography for Moms' Defog action, used Pea Soup layer at 100%
7. Ran Coffeeshop Perfect Portrait Action and adjusted layers to taste and that is edit #1
   

#1

On a copy of #1 ran Coffee Shop Warm Vintage action and adjusted darken layer to 30% and vintage layer to 53% and that is #2

#2

On a copy of #1 converted to sepia and added an old photo texture!

#3

I heart faces Week 21 (birthday & pets)

These are my entries for this week's contest at I Heart Faces. Check out all the other great pics by clicking the button below...

This is my oldest son with my aunt's serval. My aunt has raised him from a cub. He and my son bonded instantly and have been buds ever since. He actually passed away a few months ago from renal failure so these are the last pictures I have of him. He live 21 years which is way above average for his breed.

Pets entry

I struggled a bit with the birthday theme. I had a hard time finding pictures that you knew for sure were at a birthday. Anyway this is my oldest son on his first birthday. At one time this cake was in the shape of a #1. I just love him looking at his goooooey hand

Happy Birthday Entry

Fix it Friday "Little Precious"

I have to start out by saying...what gorgeous little girl.

1. Ran Noiseware-portrait
2. Opened in Adobe Camera Raw, adj exposure, contrast and white balance to taste
3. Opened in PSE7 and gave it a square crop
4. Ran Digital Photography for Moms Defog action used Pretty Foggy @ 100% opacity
5. Ran Coffee Shop Perfect Portrait action/color pop @50% opacity/vivid color with 100% opacity white brush on eyes and shirt straps /whiten whites @51% opacity/eye define @100% opacity/ brighten eyes on iris' using a 10% opacity white brush/adjusted vignette layer to 69%/sharpen layer @ 50%/dodge& burn with 5% opacity soft brush to lighten under eyes.

Edit #1

#2

1. On a copy of #1 ran Coffee Shop Cross Processing Action
2. Chose Cross Process #3 adjusted opacity to 78%

#3

1. On a Copy of #1 Ran Coffee Shop Attic Vintage
2. At the prompt added a scratch texture
3. Adjusted Gradient Map layer to 27%
4. Adjusted layer 1 to 25%
   

#4

1. Ran Coffee Shop Selective Color Action
2. On the colorize layer used a 100% opacity white brush on the eyes and adjusted layer opacity to 67%
   

I Heart Faces Week 20 (silhouette)

This was so fun. I had never taken a silhouette picture before. I got online and read up about how to do it. Here in Utah, we have a lake called the Great Salt Lake. It is unusual because it is a salt water lake. It is much saltier than the ocean. Normally we don't go out there much because it has quite the odor, but I decided to make an exception due to the fact that there is amazing sunsets out there. I checked the time of sunset and we packed up and headed out. My kids are in bed by 7pm each night so this was a late night for us. I have to say we had a blast. In processing these pictures, I did nothing to the color. I wanted to be able to remember the gorgeous colors of the sunset just the way they were! Check out all the cool silhouettes by clicking the button below.

Fix it Friday (5/22)

Here are my edits for fix it Friday. I can tell this is going to be a new obsession of mine. It is so fun to edit other peoples photos. I find I'm not as critical of the SOOC image and I can just work on making it look better.
I cropped the image, but felt a bit limited due to the size of the file.(I did download the large file)

The first image is just what I do for my basic work flow.
1. Open image in ACR(adobe camera raw). I liked the exposure, I just adjusted the white balance a bit using the dropper.
2. Opened image in PSE7.
3. Removed the chair in the bottom corner using the clone tool. I also removed the clips from her hair using the clone tool. They were a bit distracting to me.
4. Ran Digital Photography For Moms Defog Action ( http://digitalphotographyformoms.net/ ) I activated the Pea Soup Remover Layer and set it at 100% opacity. Flattened image.
5. Ran Coffee Shop Perfect Portrait Action( http://coffeeteaphotography.blogspot.com/ )
I adjusted the levels layer by using the white dropper and clicked on a part of her shirt. I activated the sharpen layer and adjusted the opacity to 61%. Left the color pop layer at 50%. (I usually mask out the skin, but I liked the color the pop left it.). Activated the whiten whites layer and using a 100% opacity soft white brush, I whitened the the whites of her eyes. I adjusted the opacity on the layer to 41%. Activated the eye define layer and using a 100% opacity soft white brush I went over the entire eye and then lowered the size of the brush to define eyelashes. Activated soft skin layer and with a 15% opacity soft white brush, softened her skin a bit. Activated the dodge/burn layer and using a 5% opacity soft white brush, lightened underneath her eyes. Flattened the image. Now I have my palette to run some other fun actions on.

#1

#2

Using a copy of #1, I ran Coffee Shop Pink Glow Action. I have been wanting to try this action, but I only have boys so this is fun.

I only activated two layers. Soft Haze at 91% opacity and Pink Glow at 21% opacity.

Flattened image.

#3

On a copy of #1 I ran Coffee Shop Creamy Chocolate Action.

Turned the Lighten Layer off, set Chocolate Layer at 71%, kept b/w layer where it was, using the layer mask on the Creamy Layer, I used a 100% opacity soft black brush to remove the creamy from her eyes. Flattened image.

#4
On a copy of #1, I ran Coffee Shop Vivid 2 action. First I activated the Urban Layer and kept it at 100%. Then I activated the Soft Layer and set the opacity to 63%. Flattened image.
#5
On a copy of #1, I ran Coffee Shop Retro Honey Action. I set the opacity on the Dark Burn Layer to 32% and the Light Burn Layer to 50%. Flattened image!

I Heart Faces Week 19 (Blurb Book)

Amateur Entry

I posted this picture a few weeks ago, but I had to choose it again. It is one of my all time favorite pictures I've taken.

Disclaimer

I am submitting this photo into the http://www.iheartfaces.com/ Blurb Book Photo Contest. If chosen I grant I Heart Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both Blurb and I Heart Faces websites.

Check out all the entries by clicking the button bellow

Fix it Friday(5/15)

This is my first time participating in fix it friday. Right now I am loving sun flare. When I saw this image, I had to give it a try it is so beautiful. I did a few different things with it.

Original

First I ran it through Noiseware and picked the portrait setting. I opened the image in Adobe Camera Raw. I adjusted the exposure, the blacks slider, contrast, recovery and the fill light a bit, until it was to my liking. I opened the image in PSE7. Cropped. Removed skin imperfections with the clone tool and the healing tool. Ran Digital Photography for Mom's Defog Action( http://digitalphotographyformoms.net/ ) and used Pretty Foggy at 100% opacity. I then ran Coffeeshop Pefect Portrait Action.( http://coffeeteaphotography.blogspot.com/ ) It contains a levels adjustment layer, I used the white dropper and clicked on the ribbing part of her dress under her arm. I used the dodge/burn layer at 6% opacity to lighten up her face. Used the soften skin layer at 15% opacity to smooth out her skin. I used the Color Pop Layer at 50% opacity and left the Brighten Layer where it was set. This is what I came up with.

Edit #1

Edit # 2

I ran Coffeshop LOMO action on a copy of Edit #1. I adjusted the Black Fill Layer to 37% and the Vignette Layer to 67%

Edit # 3

Using a copy of Edit # 1, I ran Coffeeshop Color Pop Action. I used the Decaf Color Pop at 57%



Edit # 4
With a copy of Edit # 1, I ran Coffeshop Cross Processing Action. I chose Cross 3 Layer and set the opacity at 67%. I used the Contrast Layer at 79%.

This was so fun. Thanks for sharing your great photo!