Photo editing has improved my photography skills

I am finding more and more frequently that I take photos like the one on top, that needed virtually no retouching.  I liked banding it in black, to make the colors pop a little, but it didn't need exposure or color tweeking, and I liked the composition.  Also, I've gotten less reluctant over the past decade with digital photos to be conservative.  I shoot lots and lots of shots, so I keep the best and throw out the worst without worry.  Occasionally I still use photoshop elements to improve the basic flaws in a photo as I did with photo 3 from 2.  I blurred out a messy background, sharpened the face a little and did a color correction before cropping it down to a more focused subject area.  I couldn't do much with the motion blur.

I was REALLY BAD at taking photos when I bought my first digital camera and started playing with edits.  My subject was usually out of focus and had parts cut off (usually the top of the head, but I could miss other pieces) and I ALWAYS caught my subjects with their eyes closed, mouths gaping, and leaving the frame.  If there was a mess or flaw in the background, I'd have it in the picture.  If not, I could always insert a finger.

The more I edited, the better I got at fixing some of those things, switching out heads and backgrounds if needed along with sharpening and blurring and color and exposure, and then, joy, joy,  cosmetic touches.  Along with the skills in altering, I must have got into the awareness of them as I composed and shot as well, I just don't do as many of those terrible things as I used to.  I was starting to become kind of fond of my dead on capture of the just missed shot, but I can still do that quite well :).

I saw a post the other day about challenging yourself by shooting some film, but it may be another two decades or so before I'm ready for that, if ever.





goofing with fantasy

I'm still pretty awkward with this kind of edit, but having a new baby in the house in inspirational.  I know this is a pretty clumsy attempt, but I kind of like it and I can come back when I get better and both cringe and feel proud.  Since I spent a fair amount of time (that could have been spent on SLEEPING or CLEANING or even SEWING (two baby quilts in s l o w progress)  playing with this I figured I'd put it up.  Layers and brushes- of course I cut the kids out from the background.  Added sky in a layer below, then trees and grasses.  Butterflies went below and on top, then the fairies on top.  Added the glow edge for a frame, and a glow layer style to soften it all up.  Lots of blur brush on edges.

I guess this is like scrap booking without glue?  I confess, I like it because I can sit and work on it, I don't have to get up and hunt or go to the store for stuff I don't have- I can just search for brushes and images online.  So, let me give credit to Midnightstouch Brushes, Linda Rae from Deviant art for her grass brushes, and unfortunately I don't have the name of the fairy artist- the rest of the brushes came with photoshop elements.

Time to get up and move......to the kitchen, for food!

I sure am a better photographer since I started messing with elements.  On the top left is the original, the right is tweaked just a little...and since I still haven't learned about distracting backgrounds, a new one put in.  I think it turned out at least as nice as your average school portrait.  Especially done bleary eyed after night shift when I shoulda been in bed, but felt like doodling instead.

I found a great new outlet- I LOVE restoring battered and old photos but have pretty much exhausted my supply.  Looking at a profile on tipsquirrel (an awesome place for tutorials) I saw on Janine Smith's profile that she got much of her expertise volunteering for an organization called Operation Photo Rescue (OPR).  They use volunteers across the internet to restore photos for people in disaster hit areas.  I've finished my first photo for them and hope they ask me to do more more more!

Meanwhile, I still haven't tried out "actions" in elements.  Its a series of somewhat automated fixes that you can rapidly apply to photos without having to go step by step.  Especially for when you want to do the same thing to several pics without having to go through all of those steps over and over.  If you have (at least version 9 or above) elements, the guided edits are pretty much the same thing.  Trouble is, except for lomo (which is a very cool effect) I don't much desire to use them.  And they seem very complicated to install.  Still, so much bru-hah about them, I'm going to get around to it one day.  I guess it took a couple years before I could see the point of brushes.

Happy editing!

I should wear make up more often

I always have to smooth my skin and take out the bags under the eyes, and I tell myself, it's not really much edit, just how I'd look if I put on some concealer and powder.  This time I added eyelashes too, thank you ss eyelashes at www.obsidiandawn.com .  They have cool eyeshadows too.  I add them one lid at a time onto transparent layers, then shrink or revolve and adjust opacity until they look right, like mine when I put on mascara.  I promised my granddaughter a makeup day soon, and then we'll take glam shots and touch up from there.  I'll leave the wrapping paper off.

postscript- a little makeup and combing the hair DOES help!