I love Touch Up Tuesdays at Paper Heart Camera almost as much as I love this picture! This is my baby just a little under exposed :o( After adjusting the exposure, using an eye brightening tool, and removing the lines under her eyes in Picnik, I added a Dancing Light action and cool texture that I purchased from Paint the Moon. I love that the textures I purchased came with an action to remove texture off the skin. It's absolutely brilliant and I'm sure I'll master the technique with a little practice. Not too shabby for my first time applying textures in PhotoShop Elements though!
I feel the need to share something because I'm feeling kind of bad :o( I used to NEVER touch up/edit any part of a person's face. To me, it was sort of insulting to do so. I used to not trust my judgement and was afraid that in the midst of editing I would remove some of the elements that make a picture, well, great. I did not even trust myself enough to adjust the coloring! Now as I learn a little something new about photography every day my confidence has begun to grow and I find myself branching out a bit. When I edit my photos I tend to go for a particular feel which, if are portraits of babies or children, is usually soft, saturated, glowy and angelic. When I see a child these adjectives are usually the first that come to mind. In no way do I think my Alivia or any person for that matter needs to be retouched to be beautiful! We are all beautiful just the way God made us and to love the person you are is just one of the many traits I will work to instill in my own child! Editing software just gives me the chance to be creative so I've been taking advantage. I felt the need to explain because I don't want to be known as that woman that over processes her images. I'm sure my pictures and editing style will change as I gain more knowledge but I'm hoping I never look back at some of these pictures and feel the need to ask myself "What the hell were you thinking?"
SOOC
EDIT 1: BOKEHLICIOUS with Dancing Light
EDIT 2: TEXTURE
This is my submission for The Paper Mama photo challenge. The theme this week is GREEN.
I'm a little late making my submission for Color Splash Sunday but the linky is still open!
Where can I get this dancing light action - it's gorgeous. And ya know...about retouching. I'd like to think that I can nail a shot in camera, but I shoot RAW and have to process all my shots. So, it allows me to really show what my eyes saw even if the camera did not.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ashley...this is an amazing edit! I need to get some of this dancing light action too! The photo is stunning!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful edits! I think the Dancing Light bokehlicious edit is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteThis is your first time linking up to Color Splash Sunday, right? Thanks for joining us, and I hope to see you again in the next few weeks! Your selective coloring photo is just too cute!