I love these before & after challenges (on the photography board, we call them “edit my pics,” and this week we have another adorable little girl who just needs to be brightened up a little bit. I’ve included the before, after and my recipe.
In this first photo, I cropped the image a little closer and adjusted the levels on her (selecting only her with my marquee tool and then adjusting the levels to brighten her up). I then used the eye dropper on her face to select a clean area and used a soft brush at 40% opacity to adjust any redness (I find this easier and less harsh than using an action). Next, I selected her hair, feathered at 50 pixels and adjusted the hue/saturation to tone down some of the red in her hair (created by the overhead lighting). I added a light texture and removed it from her body. Then I added a subtle vintage action (adjusting the layers so they didn’t overpower the image) and finished it off by resizing and sharpening for the web.
This next photo was so adorable, I couldn’t wait to try my hands at it. I first adjusted the curve, then did some selective level adjustments (first selecting her face and brightening it up, then adjusting the inverse and darkening the background). Next, I used an apricot cream action – love it, followed by using the eye dropper approach to smoothing out the color of her face. I cloned out the distraction on the left side of the photograph, and added a 12% vignette before resizing and sharpening for the web.
What do you think? I’m always open to constructive criticism. Until the next time,
