fix it friday #48

Time for fix it friday at i heart faces.

Original

my edit

For today fix it friday I ...

• cropped image to 5x7
• lightened it using levels
• then ran coffee shop's perfect portrait action ... where I whitened the whites of her eyes, defined her eyes, and smoothed out her skin (lowered opacity to taste).
• then I ran coffee shop's little perk action just to give it a little more pop of color.

fix it friday #46

Yeah! It's Friday. My husband actually has the weekend off after a busy work week. I am so excited. And it's time for some more fix it friday fun over and i heart faces.

(original)

(my edit)

HAPPY FRIDAY!

fix it friday #45

It's Friday! I wish that I was super excited about the great things I had going on this weekend, but I'm not. My husband is out of town and my kids are STILL getting over being sick. I hope I survive.

Anyway, here is my fix this week.

Original

Such a cute girl! I love her expression. And I love the beautiful sky behind her.

my edit

Here are my steps (as best as I can remember them!):

• Cropped the image to a 5X7 with 300 ppi
• I lightened the shadows by 65%
• Use the clone tool set at 30% opacity under her eyes and then set it to 50% to work on her elbows.
• Dodged the whites of her eyes just a little
• Created 2 adjustment layers. I set the bottom one on screen (very low opacity) and the top one set on softlight (around 25-50% opacity)
• Then lighted the photo some using a levels adjustment.
• I then worked with the reds in the hue/saturation to take out some of the red in her skin.
• Then I ran Coffee Shops Perfect Portrait (to give it a slight color pop and to smooth out her skin)
• Then I ran Coffee Shops Tea Party action (with the color pop set very low and the hazy turned off)
• And last but not least I sharpened it!

I am sure this is not the most effective way to edit a photo - but it worked for me, and I really like the way it turned out!

fix it friday #44

I haven't participated in fix it friday over at i heart faces in a long time ... life gets busy. But I thought I would today. After all, it is always fun to work with a photo that someone else took.

original

my edit

I love the way it turned out. After lightening up the shadows I used CofeeShops "sun kissed" action followed up with "little perk". I just recently figured out how to install actions ... took me forever ... and I LOVE them.

i heart faces - texture

The theme this week at i heart faces is texture. This can be texture found in nature or added with photo editing software. I have tons of pics with natural texture in them, but I wanted to try adding it in photoshop. So I gave it a try! I have never done it with a pic with a face in it before. Kinda fun!

Winner!!!!

A couple of weeks ago I entered this picture in the i heart faces logo challenge.

And

I WON!!!

in the top 10

I am so excited! When I first saw that I had placed in the top ten I shouted from my computer ... "I won!"

{insert happy dance here}

i ♥ faces

January 2010 is very special for I ♥ Faces ... because next week they'll be celebrating their First Birthday! To kick off the celebration, they put together a special "I Heart Faces" challenge for this week. You can enter up to 5 photos as long as they have the I ♥ Faces logo in them!

I had so much fun putting these together!

So here are my entries:

“I am submitting this photo into the I Heart Faces logo photo contest. By entering, I am granting I Heart Faces LLC permission to consider my photo for use in the marketing and promotion of their website.”

fix it friday #36

the original SOOC

What a cute little guy to work with and such beautiful bokeh.

my edit

Happy Friday! I am so glad that it is the weekend.

fix It friday #35

I was hoping to have the new elements 8.0 for this fix-it friday ... but it hasn't arrived yet. Oh well! Hopefully by next week. This weeks fix was a great one. I am really starting to love editing photos ... until there is one that I can't seem to get right, and then I hate it. Ha Ha!

the original SOOC

Isn't she such a cute girl?

my edit

fix It friday #31

It has been a couple of weeks since I have been able to participate in the fun of fix it friday. I was excited to get back in the game!

original photo

my edit

For my fix this week

• I created 2 duplicate layers of the photo. On the top layer I used the blend mode of soft light and on the bottom duplicate layer I used the blend mode of screen. Both blend modes are used at around 50 % opacity.
• Next I bumped up the saturation level especially on the blues to help his eyes pop some.
• Then I popped his eyes some more by selecting them and using the High Pass filter in the soft light blend mode.
• Next I lighted the photo using levels
• And lastly I cropped and sharpened.

And WaLa! Finished. Oh and I cleaned up his face using the spot healing brush. I am glad that I am not the only one that gets pics of kids with "stuff" on their face. It seems my kids never have a clean face. Ha ha!

Fix It Friday #28

Todays fix-it baby is adorable.

original photo

my edit

What do you think?

Here is how I did it:

Lightened up the photo using levels

Sharpened

Popped the eyes

Added some extra sharpening on the eyes

Cleaned up the face with the spot healing brush

Used a warming filter on 50% opacity

and

Cropped

To see some more amazing fixes, visit i ♥ faces.

Okay, so I can't stop! I am waiting for my hubby to get home and I just couldn't pass up the chance to do another fix. This one has more of a pop of color, which I usually love. But this time I think I prefer the softer look.

Fix It Friday #27

The photo today for fix-it friday is of a cute little guy. . . with the cutest cheeks. See for yourself!

original photo

my edit

I followed the instructions on Pioneer Woman Photography on how to reproduce a PW Action in PSE. Because I still cannot figure out how to install any actions and I have now completely given up. It is probably better for me to learn how without them anyway. Sigh. But the action I reproduced is called "Fresh and Colorful." I really like the color pop it gave the photo. Then I used the dodge tool to lighten around the eye area, popped the eyes, cropped and sharpened the photo. I love the way it turned out, but really it was a great photo to begin with.

I am loving all that I am learning about editing photos. It is always fun to see the "before and after" of each photo.

Fix It Friday #26

It is always fun to participate in fix-it friday! The entry this week is from The Polhamus Family. This little girl is gorgeous ... the dark eyes, beautiful smile, and the hair ... need I say more?

original photo

color edit

black and white edit

Fix It Friday #25

It is time for some more fix it friday fun! Here I go...

original photo

my edit

and an edit with a little texture

just for fun!

Fix It Friday #24

Every Friday at i ♥ faces they have a photo to edit. I decided that this would be a good way to learn and practice editing photos. This weeks photo is from Muddy Boots and is titled "The Eyes Are The Window To The Soul."

original

my edit

I would love to share what I did to edit this cute guy, but I tried so many different things that I really have no clue exactly how I did it anymore. I tried using some actions, but had NO luck installing them. AARRHH! I was seriously so bugged and frustrated by this. But I did learn how to make eyes pop and how to trick PSE into making a layer mask. So a success! The tutorials at i ♥ faces are awesome!