CCF - Seth

This photo was posted by Farmgirl over at Life on The Farm for CCF: here's my edits. Hope you like! :D



Here's what I did;

In Gimp:

• healed his skin a little (not too much though)
• added a screen layer
• add a brown tint hue layer and made it a second screen layer (faded to taste)
• used smart sharpen
• repeated smart sharpen and faded out - lots! (this double sharpening made his eyes pop nicely)
• dodged the midtones all over his face (on a layer) and faded down to look more natural
• SAVE

In Lightroom

• auto tone
• punch

then to get the black & white (still in LR)

• switched to B&W mode
• strong contrast
• auto
• SAVE!

I was pleased with the result here, but it was a beautiful portrait to work on in the first place!

CCF - For "Wrong Week"

This is a photo from Wrong Week blog that Jess put up for Constructive Critism :D It's a cute shot, but her littel girl was a bit 'in the dark'

I'm no expert but here's what I did;

In Gimp:

• Added a screen layer
• Added a very faded deep-red hue layer just to twist the colour of the background a little :D
• Selected the child and made her a layer mask
• added another screen layer just on her, followed by a 'grain merged' light brown layer

In Lightroom:

• Auto tone
• colour punch

In Gimp:

• Add a frame
• sharpen using smart-sharpen (faded out)

In PSE7:

• made the before and after!!

Hope you like :D

I ♥ Faces - Constructive Cristism Friday

EXIF; Shot on manual, 1/400, f/s 3.5, ISO 80, Focal length 22.5mm,

White Balance - daylight, Vivid Colours mode, Light Metering - Centre Weighted Average.

This is a shot I took of my daughter back in the summer (just remember those blue skies!). I loved it, but I wanted so much more from it - it says so much about her and who she is!

My thoughts are; I love the blue sky, but she is in shadow - and I'd like the whole thing to 'pop' more.

I've showed you the edits I did back then (in July) above and the ones I did today below (basically a re-edit in Gimp now I know a bit more, some touches in Lightroom - and then back to gimp to play with frames!), but I'd really like to know what you think of them and what you much-more-pro-than me-s out there would do with this one! :D

They can all be seen in original resolution if you click on them (so you can use them :D)

... and oh if only I could ask for advice on SO many more!! ;D

I'm really looking forward to hearing what you have to say and seeing what you do with my Lilo, meanwhile I shall checkout everyone else's CCF's over at I ♥ Faces and see what fun I can have with them maybe :D

I ♥ Faces - Week 49 - “Pets Only"

Of course this little visitor is not our pet, but we do feed him and his friends in our garden :D A few weeks back he decided to pay us a visit in our kitchen. I snapped him quick - I had only one chance to get the picture before he flew off (out of the window we had opened for him).

This time of year, it seemed so Christmassy to use his picture for my entry :D

There are many other stunning pet entires this week over at I ♥ Faces so go take a look :D

BEST SHOT - Selfridges

I went shopping this week and against Paul's wishes (and accompanied by his sighs and sneers) I took my camera.

I made a storyboard of the best shots;

To see the rest you can nip over to my 365 blog :D

To see everyone else's best shots (including Lolli's amazing angels!) nip over to Better in Bulk :D

You Capture - Lines

I went shopping this week and against Paul's wishes (and accompanied by his sighs and sneers) I took my camera.

These are my lines (courtesy of Selfridges in Birmingham);

Not all lines are straight!

Lines of ... sinks!

Each year Birmingham has a German market - there are so many lines in this shot!

To see more of the shots I took you can check out my 365 blog

To see more LINES check out Beth's You Capture :D

FIX-IT-FRIDAY - NO.38 - "Oh No - Rodeo"

Original

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Edit One.

Simply crop - I wanted a crop that put the man's face top left third, but kept the horses feet to tell the story. This is cropped using 'golden sections' guidelines.

High Pass sharpen

Luminosity sharpen

Auto tone, noise reduction and add vignette in Lightroom

Add Fancy Frame in Gimp again

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Edit Two

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Edit Three

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Edit Four (Vintage Photo effect)

Unless otherwise stated all edits done in Gimp :D

Enjoy these, comment and then don't forget to check out all the other fixes of the fantastic shot over at I ♥ Faces Fix-It-Friday. :D

I ♥ Faces - Week 48 - “Sweet Dreams!"

Something tells me this week the competition is going to be tough, but very 'sweet'!!

Here is my entry, taken one nap time when my little Stitch dozed off with 'his' baby! I loved it SOOC, but I've made it more 'dreamy' for the purposes of the competition :D

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's beautiful dreamers this week over at I ♥ Faces - so why don't you nip over and join in the fun!! :D

Best shot - “On the first day of December the good lord sent to me…”

I woke up on December the first to the most beautiful sunrise and clear frosty morning – I had to grab my camera and go shoot in my PJ’s!!  You just have to click these to see the originals - especially the ones of the ice! :D ENJOY (and then please comment) :D

These have all been edited in the Lightroom3 Beta test :D.

Now be sure to see what every one else has captured this week over at Lolli's Better in Bulk :D

I ♥ Faces - Fix it Friday - #38- Baby Blue

Original

Things I notice; 

The little boy is VERY cute!

The photo is a little under-exposed.

The background is good, but bits of it are distracting.

The little man needs a bit of 'punch and pull'!

He also has a slightly sore mouth that needs 'healing'.

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Edit one.

Nearly all of my essential editing I now do in Gimp - I have grown to really love it!! After I have it where I want it, I take my work in and out of PSE7 / Picnik & Lightroom to 'play' with it! (I also love LR, but don't want to attach myself too fondly as I only have the beta trial until April - and I can't afford to buy it after that if I want to save for that longed-for DSLR).

High pass sharpen whole picture.

Luminosity sharpened just his eyes (with a layer mask) 

Add a grain-merge layer (faded)

Heal the marks on his face (mouth & nose)

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Edit Two

Cropped

Spent ages cloneing on his left side to make it look better and less distracting!

Add a hue layer of light 'beige' (faded) - merged down

Copied layer and changed to faded screen.

Layer masked and edited his right eye, which was significantly darker than his left & a slightly different colour too! I took the colour of his  left eye and painted it onto his right, faded out, and brightened. Made the layer an addition layer and faded out to blend.

Layer mask and dodged the whites of his eyes.

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Edit Three

I can't remember what I did next!! 

I know I tweeked the 'levels' somewhere along the line..!

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Edit Four

Applied CoffeeShop 'Hot Cocoa' action and fiddled :D

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Edit Five

Applied CoffeeShop 'Green Tea' action (onto edit four) and fiddled :D

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Edit Six

Took Edit six into Lightroom, cropped differently and rotated very slightly.

A touch of extra sharpening. (Yummy!)

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Edit Seven

Took Edit six into Picnik;

 cropped (differently again) and rotated

Applied Ortonsish (faded)

Applied a very light matt vignette.

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Edit Eight

From Edit Seven I applied TriX400 curve, faded a touch and added text. 

Framed

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Edit Nine

From Eight I added a faded blue X-process curve - and liked it!

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See now, the best thing about having a great starter picture is that is takes so little to fix it up that then you can just have fun with lots of different effects and it really doesn't take too long - it's getting it on the blog that takes the time!!

I can't wait to see how everyone else has fixed this picture up

 OVER AT I ♥ FACES  FIX-IT-FRIDAY