I Heart Faces: peoples choice

Uggh.  I wasn't sure which picture to pick.  This is torture for me!!  I've already changed my mind 3 times.  I had one that I LOVE but I think what I love about it so much is the ambiance and the scenery so since the  I HEART FACES challenge is for "best face in March" I changed it to a picture with Riley posing in his playset outside.  Then Scarlett's little goofy smile got the best of me... but then while I was editing some more tonight, I found this one just elicited so much emotion in me so we're going with this.  It's been a rough week full of tears because of those darn new teeth making their grand appearance.  This shot is pretty much what it's been like.  She wants to be ok, but that tear can't help but sneak out and plant itself right on my baby girl's cheek.  I've just got to walk away before I change my mind again! 

Sorry for being so indecisive.  I can't help it.  It's what happens when you label the challenge "best face of March." 

Go check out the other amazing entries this week!!   They're not being judged so throw in your own entry- just for kicks!!  And it is people's choice so go on over and vote for me!  It'd make my day!  ;)

Fix It Friday: Back in the Saddle again.

I haven't done one of these in so long but I couldn't resist.  I've been itchin to do something with my camera lately, but since we've moved to Florida we've had many dark and dreary days.  So here's my outlet to get a little photo editing in!  Doesn't hurt that it's an adorable little gal with eyes that speak volumes.
Here's the SOOC shot (by Rachel from Savor Photography)

 

 Here's my edit-- gotta zoom in on that face b/c that's what I love about the picture, her sweet innocent glance.

 Here's what I did.  I didn't feel like typing it out so I just screen printed my PS workspace.

TGIF!

Head over to I<3 faces for more fun edits on the same picture!

Fix it Friday: Couldn't resist

As if I haven't been busy enough with editing lately, I couldn't resist this adorable little girl that Keli Hoskins captured.

Here's the original shot.

I just found a bunch of free actions at My Four Hens so to keep things quick this morning, I did a few quick edits (curves to brighten and a little hue correction) then let the actions do the work for me.  I can't remember which is which by I'll try my best.

I think this is Melancholy

 This one was Little Bee action.

 This is back to school blues

 This one is Cream Cheese

So which look do you like?

Photojournalism

This week's photo challenge is so perfect.  Well, at least my entry is so fitting.  Let me explain.  I have this friend, Carissa who has been living at our house for the last  7 months.  Carissa is the sister to an air force friend and has been dating one of John's best friends, Karl (Notch).  They got engaged since she's been living here with us.  It's been such a blessing to have her here for so many reasons.  She has been an amazing friend and someone that I can always talk to.  In fact, when she first moved in I was almost exhausted at having her here because every conversation we'd have was really deep and it took it out of me after a few days of our gab-fests.  She is a lot like me, kinda hippy and laid back but has a very organized and busy side of her that I've also benefited from.  She has been such a help since I was pregnant and now mommy of two and would always be busy picking up here and cleaning up there.  My kitchen has never been so clean and it'll definitely be an adjustment in my near future.  Anyway- she's a great friend. 

I took engagement shots of them a couple months ago.  It was such a laid back and fun time and I think they both enjoyed the whole shoot too.  I caught this series of shots toward the end of our shoot and it just shows how cute and playful they are and the heart of service that Karl has.  This is such the perfect time to showcase these pictures since they are getting married in LESS THAN A WEEK!!   Congrats you two- I've been pulling for you all along!  Can't wait to see you finally tie the knot (and get that girl outta my house!)..  Love you!

Check out the other photojournalism entries over at iheartfaces.com

Editing Fun Day (ie: Fix it Friday)

While feeding baby girl, I had just enough time to fit a quick edit into a busy day.  I just got some actions loaded into my CS3 program so I was messing with those as well as a few techniques I picked up in the magazine I bought last week.

Maybe you know the drill by now..  Here is the SOOC shot.

Here's my fix.

• I cropped and rotated just a tad cuz I felt like the girl was falling over.  
• Then I ran the Sunshine Action from Pioneer Woman
• Ran PW's Boost action too.  That created the feel that I wanted but now to tackle the boring sky.
• I need to preface with I had no idea what I was doing and probably had no business with this effect since I didn't and still don't really understand it.  But I went to Filter>Render>Cloud Difference which put a bunch of dark splotchy patches all over the picture.  
• I created a layers mask to leave the splotches only in the sky and then 
• I did a gradient layer to give the splotches the color I wanted and 
• Set blending mode to color.
• Then I played with a kinda funky border by using new brushes I downloaded
• And finished it off with a quick boost using Unsharp Mask (Amount- 20%, Pixels- 80) and brought down the opacity a touch.

Check out the other edits for this picture at Iheartfaces! 
Have a great weekend!

Beach Fun Photo Challenge

This is a little bit of a throwback but since the beach isn't my back yard, I had to dig a little for an entry photo for this week's photo challenge at Iheartfaces.com!  Uhhhg.  When you dig through old pictures, do you cringe?  Don't get me wrong, it's a good memory and I love seeing my son so much younger and just so kissably cute, but I am just so unimpressed with them since back then I really didn't know what I was doing (I still don't have a clue but at least I know more than then).  On a happier note- I just love babies playing in sand.  I remember when I was a little girl and how fascinated I was with the stuff.  It's like dirt- but way better!!!  You can dig in it for hours and all you have to do is brush it off and it's gone.  Ahhh- childhood.  It's a beautiful thing! 

Check out the other amazing beach photos at I heart faces! 

Another Fix it Friday

John and I got in a discussion this week over Photoshop. He hates it. He thinks it's cheating and that I (and all photographers) should be able to set up the perfect shot, utilize the camera settings and be able to take the image from the camera into a frame. "Ansel Adams did it," he argued. No doubt Ansel Adams was amazingly talented but I am sure even he did some manipulating (not Photoshop, but the equivalent of the time) of his finished pictures to get the contrast just perfect... I don't know. It all started because I bought a $30 Photoshop Magazine from Costco. So his whole argument was that it's fake and not the way his eye saw it when looking through the lens. Valid point I guess. I, on the other hand like to get the most out of my pictures and because I am still learning about the camera, the pictures aren't always perfect. Photoshop can serve as what used to be a dark room, correcting exposure, contrast, etc and why not sharpen it up here and give a little tweak there. I don't see anything wrong with that. But the best part is when I asked him why he thinks I look beautiful wearing makeup. After all, my eye lids aren't really that smokey color that I paint up there, and with his other argument it's unnatural... His response- cricket... cricket. Chalk it up as a win for yours truly (disclaimer: I don't really count wins/losses in our marriage)!!

With my little victory, I feel justified in putting my time to a little "Fix it Friday" action over at Iheartfaces.com!
Here's the SOOC (straight out of camera) shot- pretty cute as is...

But what happens if we crop a little, clean it up (ie: take out the wispy hair in her face) add some sharpening and a little gausian blur for the skin.
I like that. Now let's warm it up a little with a warming photo filter. And let's be honest. That twig that looks like it's sticking out of her ear- it's gotta go!!

Ahh. Better. And this one is just playing with a sunlight effect. I love the lens flare I added. I think it's a neat effect. I can almost feel the warmth of the sun and smell that fresh summer's eve air. **BTW- This is so against my husband's taste


And just for fun, here are a couple with added textures.
This one has a linen texture. You might need to zoom in to see it.

And this one I used cracked paint.
Kinda fun!
So how do you feel about Photoshop? Just curious since my debate this week.

By the way- check out the other amazing edits over at I ♥ faces!

Fix it Friday: I Heart Faces

So like the fun photo challenge every Monday, the folks over at iheartfaces.com also do a picture editing challenge on friday's. They give you a SOOC shot and you may edit it as you wish.

Here is the SOOC (straight out of camera) picture

Here's my CS3 only edit
And then I messed around in Lightroom

Gosh- I don't even know all that I did. Obviously I cropped the photo to get rid of random kid's shoulder on the right.

In Photoshop CS3:

• I sharpened the eyes, hair and mouth
• Softened his skin via inverting high pass which took away a little of the undereye color
• ran Pioneer Woman's Boost action
• Did some dodge/burn effect with the eyes to give them depth

Then I went to Lightroom (I've only got 1 day left on my free trial- booooo):

• I ran the aged photo preset and tweaked that
  
• boosted saturation in the lips a little
• gave it a vignette (I ♥ the vignette feature in Lightroom- it's rad!)
  

And there you have it. I went a little more dramatic than I do for everyday, but why not. It was for editing practice and did I mention that my free trail for PS Lightroom is just about up??? I had to mess around in there one last time.

I Heart Faces- Purple

Another fun photo challenge from the folks over at I Heart Faces! Luckily, my little man is a good sport and didn't mind sucking down a blueberry-raspberry smoothie for the occasion!

Don't forget to check out the other amazing "purple" pictures over at Iheartfaces.com

I Heart Faces- Over his Head

So if you're into photography, either taking pictures or looking at them here's a fun site for you. As you may guess, I ♥ pictures and I heart Faces does a weekly photo challenge/contest so this is my first entry. They have a theme each week and the purpose is to get out there and take more pictures in order to grow as a photographer/photo enthusiast or whatever you are.

So here's my entry for the theme "over my head."