March 12, 2010
Before & After…Indecisiveness
I’ve become indecisive when it comes to my editing style. This is pretty typical when I’m learning something new – I enjoy the process and then I reach a point where I just want someone to tell me which direction I should go. Perhaps I’m getting to the point where I’m nearly ready to chose a style. It almost feels like I’m back in college, choosing a major – the pressure! I may also be indecisive right now because a fellow blogger/photography board member shared her before & after for the photograph below and I was simply in awe. I know I shouldn’t, but I got competitive…I felt the pressure to bring my A game. I guess that could be healthy, but I’m not in a competition…so I’ll quit rambling and share. 

Here’s the original, SOOC. 
And here are my edits: 1. Color Pop, 2. B&W and 3. Sepia Vintage.
  1. Color Pop: In this edit, I obviously cropped the photo to fill the frame. I then adjusted the curve and cleaned up her little face a bit. Then I applied CoffeeShop’s Color Pop 2. I adjusted the levels and then sharpened it up. This is a pretty intense edit, but I think it really shows off her eyes. 
  2. B&W: After a crop and face clean up, I went through the following steps instead of using an action: a. added a Curves layer to brighten; b. added a selective color layer to remove the magenta under the background layer and added a little yellow and cyan; c. applied a warming photo filter at 25%; d. converted to B&W using the gradient map layer and adjusted the levels; and e. sharpened it up. 
  3. Sepia Vintage: I used my first edit and applied Amy McMaster’s Sepia Vintage action and then sharpened it for the web. I think this one is my favorite. 
So, which one do you like…if any?
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