Before & After
This before and after is sponsored by “dodge and burn.” 

This is an adorable picture of Carter, but there are a number of spots that have been blown out, thus, the burn tool was my friend. Carter’s mom took this photo at her in-laws’ farm and hoped that this might be a photograph that she could frame for them. It’s such a cute photo that it must be saved!
My steps on this one are fairly typical. 
  1. I started by adjusting the curves and then applying Squeaky Clean. I really focused on the levels and warming it up. 
  2. I then merged those layers and created a duplicate layer. On the duplicate layer I used my burn tool to darken the bright spots on his body…and even the roof of the barn.
  3. At this point, it was time to add texture! I used textures from Shadowhouse Creations and Johnna LaFaith. You can certainly do a search on their websites for the textures to use on your own photos (or just send me a note and I can do something similar for you). Here’s the order:
    • Lost, Soft Light, 90% opacity
    • Ghost4, Multiply, 50% opacity
    • RVT-Blue, Overlay, 21% opacity
    • Background Copy (just a copy of the original), Hard Light, 16% opacity
    • Aged2, Soft Light, 46% opacity
    • Vintage Grain Overlay 5, Overlay, 77% opacity
  4. I did use layer masks to erase the textures (using a 40% opacity soft brush) from his body and some from the chair he’s sitting in. 
  5. I then applied Paint the Moon’s Sugar Cookies action. I adjusted the layers until I felt really good about the coloring – increasing the contrast so he popped. 
  6. Before resizing and sharpening, I decided that I didn’t like the composition, so I cropped…still leaving the old barn in the background.
So, that’s my steps. Have a great Mother’s Day weekend!
 
 
No comments yet