Something must have been in the water over the past few days, while I was in California. Thursday afternoon, I had a series of emails from various blog followers/internet friends asking me to either write a tutorial or giving me an editing challenge. I was on an airplane most of Thursday and have been away from the photography board I frequent (work has really stepped up)…so I guess that’s what you get when you’re absent. But, I love these challenges, so keep ’em coming!
First up – Kendra sent me a few shots taken with her point and shoot. She mentioned that because she’s often behind the camera, she doesn’t have many pictures with her daughter. Thus, it’d be nice if I was able to do something with them. She also mentioned that because the shots were taken with the P&S, she didn’t have the raw files. Well here’s where I have a confession: I haven’t converted to shooting in RAW yet so I’ve only edited jpg files (with one exception). I keep hearing that I’ll have so much more flexibility when I shoot in RAW, so I plan to shoot RAW+JPG next weekend with my niece and nephew.
Initially, I didn’t know what I’d do with this photo, but I actually like the results. I cropped in closer, adjusted the curves and ran Squeaky Clean as I normally do with any photo. I then spent a lot of time cloning out the pole in the background. I may have also done a slight lighten and slight sharpen effect to finish the edit.
I’m pretty sure I went through the same work flow as I did above. I started to experiment with a few actions including an oil pastel (lowering the opacity) and then a lighten function to brighten up the image. I cropped and rotated.
Next up is Jack. His mother presented me with quite a challenge – I’m not sure that I even remember my steps, but here ya go.
I ran my typical work flow steps which includes a curve adjustment and Squeaky Clean. I also ran Coffeeshop Baby Powder Room to clear up his skin and Pioneer Woman’s Bring Out the Eyes. I also cropped the photo since there was already a leg chop. The real challenge here was the color cast on his skin. I’m not sure that I did one thing to alleviate that area, but it required quite a bit of work. Another challenge was the background. For this photo, I decided to apply a rough pastel photo filter and then painted the effect off his body. I tried my best not to get too ghostly (by running a warming filter), but he’s still a little light. Either way, I hope this is an improvement.
This next photo was also a challenge, but it’s such a cute snapshot.
After running my typical work flow steps (including Baby Powder Room), I cropped the photo to remove some of the distraction and ran Pioneer Woman’s Soft Faded. He’s such a happy baby and I hope his mother is much happier with the photo.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Next up is Jack. His mother presented me with quite a challenge – I’m not sure that I even remember my steps, but here ya go.
This next photo was also a challenge, but it’s such a cute snapshot.
Have a great weekend everyone!
