Fix It Friday - #82

It’s been a while since I have participated in anything over at iheartfaces…and I can’t promise I will keep up with it regularly this year…but I will try from time to time to be active.This week’s photo fix is brought to us by Rachel Durik captured during the recent Dream Big Photography Workshop in Dallas.

Here is the before:

My first fix:  Just basic things….I like things a little lighter so I adjusted the levels and adjusted color for white balance.  Then, a few little “pop” details using the Perfect Portrait Action from CoffeeShop.

Fix 2: Simple crop of Fix #1

Fix 3: Using a CoffeeShop action [Vivid], I took Fix #1 and applied 75% Urban and 25% soft.

I could go on and on playing with this photo…to see more fixes, visit iheartfaces!  

Fix It Friday

Yep…Friday again…and time to work on editing skills. This week’s photo comes from Michelle Johnson’s beautiful little girl dressed in purple.

It’s a gorgeous shot already, but I did find a few things to “fix.”

Here’s the original:

My basic fix [using PSE 5.0] was to lighten the photo up just a bit. I also wanted to make the eyes pop. So here’s Fix 1:

And a few more “creative” fixes [not all that creative actually]…

I cropped in a bit tighter and applied CoffeeShop Action Little Perk! I like the tighter crop!

And for this final one, I took the basic fix, applied 2 actions from CoffeeShop [Hot Cocoa and Creamy Toffee]. Gives it a warm, soft appearance.

Make sure to head over to iheartfaces to see more edits of this photo!

Fix-It Friday

It’s Fix-It Friday over at iheartfaces.  This week’s photo comes to use from none other than Angie, one of the iheartfaces owners: It is of Angie’s daughter and her little friend that was taken while Angie was doing a commercial photo session for Sucre Lulu.  These two little girls love hanging out together and we enjoyed the interaction that you can see between them in this photo.  A little in a rush this week as I prepare for the princess’s birthday party tomorrow, but I wanted to play…so here are my fixes.

Original: Already gorgeous!

First fix: Basic fix, WB adjustment and enhancement of color.  I also cropped it a little.

Nothing super creative this week…just a few quick changes.  Here are the rest of my fixes to this one photo. 

Make sure you check out some of the other fixes over at iheartfaces…there are some fabulously talented photo editors who do amazing things with already great photos!

Over My Head

This week’s theme over at iheartfaces [and by the way, they have updated their site so make sure to check it out!] is “Over My Head.”  Not a lot of  extra time on my hands to set up the super awesome professional grade shot this week…so I had a silly idea last night as I laid in bed.  And, my almost 3 yr. old subject cooperated…sort of…as well as a 3 yr. old cooperates.

Here are this week’s rules:

Think of anything that can be over a person’s head and incorporate it into your photo of a person!  This could include a hat, balloons, umbrella, scarf…the sky is (literally!) the limit.  We can’t wait to see how creative you are with this theme.

Just remember that you must have at least one human face clearly showing in your entry.

The face clearly showing was the challenging part this week.  Needed her to be looking at the board a little more…but this was about as much as the almost 3 yr. old understands “tilt you face toward me but keep your eyes on the E.”  But, she did let me tease her hair and use hairspray to give her the Einstein-esque hairdo!  That’s something!

Goofy!  Yep…but it’s what I’ve got this week!  Make sure to check out some of the more artistic and less goofy and rushed photos over at iheartfaces.

A Girl and Her Lizard

This week’s theme is “Pets Only” but anyone is welcome to enter a photo of any animal (it does not necessarily have to be a pet.) 

Well, for a family of three cramped in a small 2-bedroom condo, we have a virtual zoo.  Plenty of animals to choose from.  But I have to go with the Bearded Dragon.  She loves him…has never been afraid of him!   She loves to hold him, reminds us to feed him, begs to give him a bath.  But most of all, she loves to give him “nose kisses” [because she knows she’s not aloud to kiss him with her lips].

He may not be furry…he may not be soft…he may not be cuddly!  But she tells me everyday how much she loves Flash!

Make sure to check out some of the other pet entries for this week over at iheartfaces!  There are some funny ones, some tender ones, and some absolutely amazing shots!

Fix It Friday

This week’s photo comes from Susan Keller's and happens to be her own teenage son….fitting since this week’s them for the challenge was teens!

Here is the original:And here are my fixes.  The first fix was just a general fix, but it let me practice my cloning skills.  I wanted to remove the box and the pole from the photo.  This was certainly a challenge due to the rainbow effect from the sun.  I could have just cropped it, but I didn’t want to lose the awesome flare and it me a chance to practice cloning a difficult area.

I also added a CoffeeShop Sun Kissed Action and warmed it up a bit!  The cloning is a little off, but it was the best I got.

Fixes 2 and 3 are just additions…the first one is “Urban” from the CoffeeShop Action Vivid No Wait Action and the second one is the Creamy Chocolate Action [I wanted to try a black and white edit, but didn’t like it as a straight B&W…but the chocolate was nicer].

Make sure you check out some of the other edits over at iheartfaces.

Fix-It Friday

This week’s photo comes from Julie Rivera [one of my favorite photogs – I happen to love her work]!  The original photo is a pretty darn near perfect snapshot-like photo.  There really wasn’t much to fix.  All of my fixes were done using PSE 5.0.

Original:

See what I mean…super cute and just about spot on!  I did some minor adjustments.  I lightened the photo, bit and adjusted the white balance, and cropped for a more portrait feel.  Then I tweaked the eyes using a CoffeeShop Action.  And in literally under a minute I had this:

Then I added a texture…very subtle:

And finally, going back to the first fix, I used the CoffeeShop Sweet Bakery Action and added a glaze [blueberry 35% and Vanilla 20% – I just happen to like that combo and use it a lot!].

So there you have it…3 edits to an already amazing shot in less than the time it took me to write this blog post.  Make sure you check some of the other '”fixes” over at iheartfaces!   

“All About Babies”

This week’s theme over at iheartfaces is “All About Babies”…and according to iheartfaces, that can mean:

“anywhere from babies still in mom's belly... to newborns... to little babies who still aren't taking their first steps… to include baby animals or baby accessories”

I actually have access to a teeny tiny newborn, but not in time to get a photo in for this challenge on Monday morning.  But stay tuned later in the week for some precious newborn photos! And this precious newborn belongs to an awesome mommy [and one of my good friends] that I had the privilege to shoot a few weeks ago.

I had a message on my cell phone very early on a Thursday morning. It went something like this:

“Hi, it’s ______.  I had a long night of contractions and I’m not sure I am going to make to our scheduled shoot on Saturday.  Is it possible to come over today and shoot some just in case??”

OF COURSE!  I was over at her house in no time…and got some great shots.  Here is one of my favorites!

Leave some comment love if you like this photo!  And make sure you head over to iheartfaces to check out the other ‘baby” photos.  There will be lots and lots of yummy newborn shots for sure!

Fix-It Friday

It’s Friday…and this week’s photo comes from IHF Contributor, Susan Keller from Short on Words.  It’s an adorable self-portrait of mother and son.

Here’s the original:

And here is my fix this week.  I used PSE 5.0…I increased the sun flair, added some color pop with a soft light layer.  I also played around with the blur in the background.  Finally, I added a warming filter overlay.

Very subtle…but I like it!  Make sure you  check out some of the other fixes over at iheartfaces!

Fix-It Friday

The concept has changed slightly due to someone “stealing” a photo that didn’t belong to them…now all the photos will be coming from the owners of iheartfaces and the contributors.  While even the professional take some “bad” photos from time to time, fixing community photos was a little more thrilling [because we take some doosies and I learn a lot from trying to fix them].  So shame on you…to whoever you are…for taking something that didn’t belong to you…because essentially your dishonestly has cost us all!  Venting over…here are my fixes for an already adorable shot taken by Andrea Riley [a contributor over at iheartfaces].

Original:

Pretty darn good!  But I had to find something to fix or it wouldn’t be called Fix-It Friday.  So, for my own personal baby taste, I lightened the photo a little, did a tiny crop, and rotated the picture.  And because wrinkly baby feet are the best, I sharpened them a little!  Here’s my basic fix using PSE 5.0.

Fix 1: Basic

The next few fixes, not many changes, some some creative fixes.  For the first one I did a B&W conversion [half tone] while leaving full color on the feet.

Last two fixes used CoffeeShop Actions Hot Cocoa and Creamy Toffee [in that order].

My favorites are the last two…can’t decide which one I like better.  Make sure you check out some of the other fixes over at iheartfaces.  Until next week….