Blog Hoppin' & A very random note to Livvy

Linking up to the Before & After Blog Hop over at Pixel Perfect.

I've attached my original, clean edit, and final below.

Camera Settings for SOOC:   Shutter Speed-200  ISO-400   Aperture-f/5.6   Focal Length-45 mm

I used Picnik to clean it up.  I adjusted the shadows, brightened eyes, and wrinkle remover for under her eyes.  I still wasn't happy with the color of her skin as it tended to photograph neon.  Normally I would have desaturated a bit but I didn't have to.  Instead...

...I brought it into PSE and used an action from the Coffee House Decaf collection that I purchased from Paint the Moon called Biscotti which toned her skin color down a bit.  I sharpened it for the web and used the twinkle eye action to lighten her irises a bit (also from Paint the Moon) and then applied the CoffeeShop Blog's Color Bar Template which I'm loving!

I think the best pictures I've taken to date have been outside on a cloudy day using natural light.  I think I've really mastered camera settings for an overcast day.  The sun, however, is an entirely different story.  I need to practice more.  I guess I'm just going to have to take more pictures.  Darn, I hate that ;o)

WARNING: Mushy text coming up

A random note to my baby:

It took me years and years to figure out what I was good at.

Then you were born.

And every second of every hour of every day, I was doing something I wasn't only good at but was ridiculously great at and without even realizing it.

I was,

still am,

and always will be

loving you.

And can you imagine that with time I will only get better?

That's just crazy talk ;o)