Our nephew, Carter, is a real cutie patootie! Believe it or not, in between editing pictures from the wedding I photographed a few weeks ago, I still find myself looking at pictures from our last trip to visit my in-laws.
For some reason, I love this shot. He’s so full of personality right now. Granted, he has little time to stop for the camera, but I was able to capture a few decent shots. This particular shot is all about the eyes.
In my edit…
In my edit…
- I started by duplicating my background and adding a high pass filter (Filter>Other>High Pass>Radius=15 pixels). I then applied a soft light blending mode and lower the opacity to 30%.
- I added a texture (although you can’t really see it) to hide the graininess that was peaking in on the leather. It has an overlay blending mode at 40% opacity. Like I said, you can’t see it, but it’s there.
- I have two color balance layers to really bring out his eyes. I normally don’t mess with eye color much, but after a few tweaks, they really popped. I duplicated that layer and applied a soft light blending mode at 34% opacity.
- I adjusted the curves to pull out some of the yellow/orange tones in his skin.
- I adjusted the levels, color balance and brightness/contrast to taste.
- I added a black and white layer (green filter) at 10% opacity
- I applied Totally Rad’s Lux at 55% opacity.
- And finally, I added a warming photo filter to warm him back up.
I might have gone overboard, but I do like the final outcome. Note to self – learn how to make your own actions, so you can simplify the process.
I decided to go a step further for Shutter Love Tuesday by merging my layers and creating a new black and white layer with a brownish tint. I love how his eyes still pop. For more photos with tints, go to:


And finally, let’s see the SOOC, Color Edit and BW Edit w/ Tint side by side. Which is your favorite? For more touch ups, go to:
Have a great day!
