Original

Edit in Picnik

Silly, slow connection on silly slow laptop ~ this is all I can manage today!!

Better late than never!!

Link up to Fix-It-Friday


POST-SCRIPT ~ looking at this now I am home shows me I NEVER want to edit on that laptop again!! YUK ~ SOOOO pixelated & dark ~ sorry folks!!

Black & White Wednesday # 4 - & - The Gallery # 1

  

One of these is new for me..

A photo I'm proud of...

Well that's a tough one!

I'm proud of so many of my photos for many different reasons, 

but not least because they speak of the journey I have been making these last 18 months.

So here goes...

A repeat ~ purely because I really love it!

I'm proud of moment's captured ~ always to be remembered!

I'm proud of the friendships my girls make, share, and keep!

And I'm proud of this lot because they are mine ~ who wouldn't be!!

(I'm also proud I managed to get them all looking OK in one shot ~ all bar my goofing teen, but hey - that's teens for you!)

I'm proud of this growing young man, who still has a soft spot!

I'm proud of this photo... well, I just am!

And this swan was a bit proud too!

Show us a shot you are proud of ~ for whatever reason and link up to STICKY FINGERS

And if you have a B&W to share with the world, link up to LISA'S BLOG.

See you there!

Communal Global ~ "Around the World"

Today I just wanted to share my garden with you..

Here in the UK the summer is definitely drawing to an end ~ there has been sunshine, but a WHOLE lot of rain ~ the veg hasn't minded at all!

My PUMPKINS are doing very well!

 Can't wait to make pumpkin-pie with the kids in a few weeks time!

Not only are they full of promise, but the flowers in the morning are so BIG and beautiful too!

The French beans are very late, but at last we are beginning to see a few beans, but mostly flowers still...

The runner beans are much the same, but I love having the red and the white in my garden!

Then there's the things I didn't plant, but am very pleased to have there ~ these will be edible Elderberries in a few weeks time ~ aren't they beautiful!

And the things that secretly hide in corners but bring extra colour and beauty (and a warning not to touch for the children).

These were all taken with my Canon A1000 P&S. My S3 ran out of batteries, but I was really pleased to see how far I could push the P&S now I have a bit of knowledge and a few 'tricks' up my sleeve!


To join in today link up below and then back to COMMUNAL GLOBAL...

FIX-IT-FRIDAY - NO.67- "Woodland Princess"

This weeks ORIGINAL is so sweet. But the colours and contrast are a bit lack-lustre.

It was a pretty easy fix though!

LIGHTROOM 3

At last my LR3 is mine (well my son's actually), no longer on Beta or 30 day Trial ~ but all our own!! :) ~ so of course it was the first place to go with a 'fix-it'. In reality it is always my first stop with all my photos. I think it works with JPEGs like Camera Raw would with a RAW photo and I just LOVE it! Sometimes I hope across to Gimp or PSE to add some 'touches' that I can't in LR3 (being that it doesn't have layering), and that's just what I did today. So...

 #1

• auto-tone, but changed recovery to 57
• auto white balance (I hardly ever like the auto settings, but this was not too bad).
• contrast 31, temp 17, clarity 15, vibrance 6
• Luminance Noise ~ luminance 18, contrast 10, lum' detail 86
• Colour noise ~ detail 83, reduction 11
• Shadows -26, highlights +21
• Wide Edge (faces) sharpening preset
• used iris enhancement brush 
• used a light burn on her forehead
• cropped to 7x5
• red saturation -16, tint +20
• Export (save) and publish to Flickr!

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#2

• created a virtual copy of #1 and convert to B&W
• Brightness 19, contrast 38, recovery 68
• Changed shadow (20) and highlight hue (155) to give the colouring
• Shadow tones -37
• export & publish.

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 #3

• virtual copy #1, rotated to -14.28 then cropped.
• export and pulplish!

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PSE7

#4

• Took #3 into PSE
• Duplicated the base layer and hid it ~ worked on copy layer
• Lasso'd losely around the girl, copied and pasted the selection into a new layer
• used 'high pass' filter on new layer, changed blending to 'soft light' at 30%
• flattened & converted to sRGB profile (not sure why it wasn't already!)
• used CoffeeShop Johnna's Tea Party action (IN LOVE!)
• changed Hazy layer 'Hard Light' @ 17%
• changed contrast layer to 'Soft Light' @ 23%
• flatten and 'Saved for Web'

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#5

• opened original in ACR and tweeked to 90% same settings as in LR3 (doesn't have as many same options though).
• duplicated base layer and hid it. 
• used CoffeeShop Johnna's Tea Party action (again), but pretty much left it alone this time!
• used the CoffeeShop EyeBright action and worked the layers appropriately (when I use this action after duping the base layer I always have to drag my copy layer down to the bottom again before I start 'painting') ~ changed 'bright eyes' layer to 11%
• merged visible layers (base layer still unchanged)
• dup'ed the top layer, lasso'd the girl, and copy pasted her into a new layer.
• high pass filter on girl, changed layer 'overlay' @ 38% ~ merged down.
• duped the layer
• used gradient map 1 layer (black and white) ~ 'soft light' @ 26%
• merged down & duped again
• used 'reduce noise' filter (can't remember settings, but they were mild) ~ set layer @ 40%.
• merged all visible layers and checked I liked the changes against the orignal base layer. :)
• Save for Web

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#6

I thought this would look lovely with a bright pink frame!

• undid the flattening, duped the base, but left visible this time. Created a new empty layer
• cropped new layer bigger than the base (creating empty space), then flooded with a pink picked from her skirt
• dragged pink layer into the middle (moved down), and made another new layer above it.
• used rectangle marquee to select just bigger than the photograph and flooded with a rusty brown colour. deselect & then ctrlT to 7x5 ratio and exactly where I wanted it to frame the picture.
• flatten and save for web.

___________________________

I hope you like my edits :)

To see everyone else creative juices flowing today head on over to FIX-IT-FRIDAY :D

Black & White Wednesday ~ 3

A Princess....

a Prince...

...and a Project!

I set myself a little assignment one day.

This is my Gt,Gt Grandfather and the little girl is one of his nieces we believe.

The original is very damaged by light and age. I love the wonders of the digital age sometimes :)

To join in link up to Black & White Wednesday over at Lisa's blog ~ and also see her fantastically exciting news while you are there!!

Today ~ WAR!!!

The weather has been WET here in the UK...

So this week my boys built their castles...

and played WAR!!

Join in and show us your world TODAY over at CommunalGlobal :)

I ♥ Faces - Week 33 ~ Got To Wear Shades!

"CHILLAXIN!"

This is possibly one of my favourite pictures from our holiday this year ~ it somehow says it all!

To join in this week head on over to iheartfaces and link up :D

A little Project...

I've been working on a little project today. I did this photo once before, when I knew nothing about PSE, Gimp or anything else! I've done a better job this time around for sure :) 

I actually worked this in Gimp mostly today as I find the cloning and healing tools easier than in PSE. I'm sure Photoshop CS would be awesome for this, but I don't have it, so I work with what I have!!

This is an old photo of my Gt, Gt, Grandfather. I wanted to maintain it's old appearance, whilst removing as much of the light damage as possible.

Fix-It Friday #66- Cute Boy 2!

Original

A few quick edits in Picnik ~ more later from Gimp...

Picnik 1

• Crop and rotate ~ I really wanted to tilt him more upward, but didn't want to chop off the top of his head. I might have a go with stretch canvas later in gimp!
• Warm and increase saturation slightly, increase contrast slightly, unsharp quite a lot
• Use eye bright lightly, use sunless tan lightly on skin

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Picnik 2

• used faded daguerreotype curve adjustment, with increased contrast (s curve)
• faded to 70 % and colour override at 95%
• Cloned out the grey area on the right, as it was quite distracting.

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Picnik 3

same as P2 just added a mirror frame with decreased polish.

 (I love the easy framing effects in Picnik)

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Picnik 4

• From P2 added cross process (faded to about 50%) and vibrance effect (also faded out)
• for framing I used 'curved corner' + border with rounded corner radius  (colour selected from his T-short) + curved corner again (remember to select 'transparent corners').

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To join in with Fix-It-Friday head on over to iheartfaces and have some fun!! 


POST-SCRIPT


As promised more edits... 

LR3 #1

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LR3 #2

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LR3 #3

Gimp Edit

I think these are my favourite edits of all, but it was also the most work!!
It shows me what I can do in Gimp though, with a little bit of patience, no actions and a fair amount of perseverance!
It really helps when I have the PC to work on rather than the laptop though as the colours are SO much better!