For those of you with children, you know how much "fun" it can be to get a two year old to stop and smile at you. The reality is that you get comfortable and play like a two year old to get that perfect shot. Alright...so, take all of that with a grain of salt - I'm certainly not a professional, but my limited experience tells me that children are more likely to act natural and show their personality if you're playing with them. Well, I did just that on Tuesday evening.
As I mentioned the other day, I met up with Sarah and her family for a mini-portrait session. I had three goals:
- Get some great shots of Sarah (by herself) to use on her blog. Check!
- Get a couple of good family photos for Christmas cards. Check!
- Practice children's photography (aka shooting children) on Dustyn. CHECK!
So the above is clearly my SOOC (straight out of the camera) shot. Nothing too wrong with the exposure (I almost always have to do some processing for a clean finish), but Sarah was in the photo. If he wasn't looking so stinking cute, I might have just left it alone...but look at that smile...those eyes...it was begging for a "before and after." Below you can see the SOOC and after side-by-side.
I've been mixing up my processing just a little bit, and I'm really liking my my latest recipe (makes me that much more excited about upgrading to CS5 so I can make my own actions). Anyways, I removed Sarah's leg by using the quick select tool to select her leg. I clicked ctrl J to move her leg into it's own layer. I then made a copy of the background layer (bottom layer) and moved it above the leg layer. I clicked ctrl G to group them. On the top layer, I clicked ctrl T (transform) and pulled the right side to the left side so I could mirror the image and then moved it back into place (to fit in line with the rest of the photo). I clicked ctrl, shift, E to merge the layers and then created a new layer to heal the line from the merge. If I just lost you, I completely apologize...it's not really that complicated, but takes a bit of patience and experimenting to get it right.
I then used Coffeeshop's Baby Powder Room in low opacities to even out his skin tone, lighten the shadows and remove the bug bites from his legs. I used Morgan Kervin's Eye Love Sparkle on his eyes (again, low opacity). He has such beautiful baby blues that I wanted them to stand out.
I used Pioneer Woman's Fresh Color action to brighten up my background. I lowered the soft light layer to 40% and removed a bit of it from his face. On top of that, I used Everyday Actions Florida action, using sunlight and creamy glow (in addition to their default settings - removing some of the layers from his face). And finally, I applied a median layer (noise reducer in photoshop elements - applied manually). I'm really pleased with the final outcome. What do you think?
For more Before and After, go to:
Have a great night!
59 comments:
Love it!!!!! Great editing job.. someday I am gonna send you a ton of stuff to put your spin on... You rock!
great photo and he is so cute!
Amazing after! I wish I could explain it as well as you do! Do your write it down so you remember it, or do you just have a great memory? Love the edit! So crisp and clear!
awesome edit!!!!
beautiful foto and cute kid!
Kisses.
Oh gosh, you are so good at removing extremities from photos!! What a great photo!!
so cute! you did a great job!
Awesome touch it. It made a huge difference!
Great edit! He's adorable.
WOW. It was a great photo anyway but your edit is awesome! You'd never know there was a leg in there!
Wow, so crisp, vibrant, and the clarity is perfection. LOVE it!!!!
what an adorable photo! That was well worth saving and you did an incredible job of it. Love it! Thanks for sharing your steps Ashley.
wow what a great touch to a cute photo! the brightness really helps and his eyes look so much more blue!
GREAT edit! Love how you took the everyday bumps and nicks toddlers have and got them all covered! I have to do it all the time with my little monster!! Nice job!
This is awesome! Great tip! I do, however, want to let you know that your "Morgan Kervin" link takes you to The Coffeeshop Blog. Have a great night, Ashley!!!
Wow!! That is totally awesome. :) What a great shot - and the edit is amazing.
Awesome edit!!! Thanks for explaining the everything too. :D
Wow, great job! I love your processing here!!!
Amazing difference. He's adorable!
Fantastic post work!!! Love the light :)
WOW! What a GREAT edit!
this is excellent I have to try those layering, taking out tecniques some time. I do not have photoshop have to get it someday. but with what i do have i think i can play alittle. Just miss those actions they sem really fun.
You constantly amaze me!
Gorgeous Ashley. Really.
Great job on the edit!! He looks so clean and cute! =)
Awesome job! Way to get him looking at the camera too--that is a task in itself! :)
Um...
It's so good I could DIE!
Maybe you've mentioned before but could you puh-leeze tell me what photo editing software you use? I just got the Adobe Lightroom 3 and I'm beyond overwhelmed! I had to order a "dummy" book from Amazon today! Haha!
First of all, I LOVE the spelling of Dustyn's name. And second, I wish we were best friends (in a non-creepy way, of course), so that I could buy you a Starbucks and you could teach me what you know about editing photos. I'm learning and picking up things here and there, but goodness it's difficult! Anyway, long story short, I love what you did with the photo!
Gosh, your editing is amazing. I ought to send you photos just for you to edit!! lol. :) :)
Are you sure you're not a magician!?! Wow.
Love the shot! you did amazing on removing of his mom's leg. Love his smile. I'm going to answer your question on my blog by email. Later!
I think it came out so well! You're right that playing with them will put them at ease with the camera. Or in my daughter's case, she'll say, "All done Cheeeessseee!" so we can play even more!
I love it Ashley! I definitely need to learn more about my Photoshop (elements). I bought the book but I'm still not getting the hang of it, maybe I need to take a class. :-)
okay this is why i read your blog. the tips I learn are endless. what a great shot too!
Ashley...you simply rock with your editing. Now I have to try to edit out items as you do, and try to have it look as good as yours.
Nice work!
that is fantastic...we need to get you set up with a video so that we can follow along via video...this is amazing! great job
Ashley, the photo was cute to begin with, but your editing is wonderful. I'll have to check out the Pioneer Woman action.
This is one of my favorites! Adorable picture but the edit is perfect. I love it!
That's awesome y'all got to meet and take photos I would love to do something like that you're processing is gorgerous and full of light too ! Kids are great to capture even easier when it isn't you're own kid from my ow experience lol! Don't forgot to join my challenge even if it isn't a pumpkin patc a pumpkin photo to something of the sort would do! Have a great weekend!
Oh my gosh...it's simply perfect!! Thanks so much for the tutorial! What the heck is a median layer...don't think I've ever heard of it??
I think it's a perfect combination of boy genius and wonder woman! Genius and Wonderful :)
I could look seriously good knowing all those edits could be applied! Have you found the layer that can make me 5'9, perfect weight and perfect hair? I'm headed to Raleigh for a shoot when you do :) Ha!
Have a great night,
Kel
Very cute photo and now it looks just perfect!
You made it just great! It's really better now.
Wow, the transformation is magical, and the moment you captured is priceless.
You have fabulous post processing skills.
So cleverly and beautifully done. xxx
Such a cute picture, and amazing edit!
Wow...gorgeous. Your photos and edits are always AWESOME!!
Nice job Ashley, especially with that leg removal...seamless! And I just love Everyday Elements Florida...it is one of my new favorites.
This is fabulous! I'm sure his momma is really pleased with this photo! Great job, Ashley!
He's going to be a heartbreaker. Amazing photo
Awesome, awesome job Ashley!!!
awesome edit! He's adorable!
All of them are so cute and well done. I love them all.
Awesome editing and tutorial...saving your steps to try out myself. Love how it looks so much better than the SOOC, yet still natural.
This looks like a great tutorial but you completly lost me in . . . "On the top layer, I clicked ctrl T (transform) and pulled the right side to the left side so I could mirror the image and then moved it back into place (to fit in line with the rest of the photo)" . . . after trying like for half and hour, I just don't get it! :( would you mind explaining that step a bit more? Thank you!
Lovely tones. I was amazed by your entries and also I had fun lurking the blogs of your followers. :)
Totally got this one! Thanks so much for this!!!
http://beckyscreativecorner.blogspot.com/2012/01/removal-edit.html
Such an easy edit and VERY helpful. I have so many photos that I can edit with this!
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