Fix It Friday Week #15 @ I ♥ Faces

Fix it friday again....I love it! I have been taking a bit of a photography break in May with all the busy things going on, parties, soccer games, and yard work!! (Never ending yard work!) So the fix it friday's have been keeping my creative juices flowing!) I am using photoshop 7.0. Here is the original picture submitted by Jennifer from Confessions of a Working Mom.

My first edits were to lighten the image, boost the colors and sharpness, then make the eyes pop! I smoothed out the skin as well since the lightening process brought out the white fuzzies.

On this final draft I just enhanced the above version by cropping in close to her face and then running "Lovely and Ethereal" from PW. (one of my favorites!)

On this one I took the cropping even closer in and made the picture into a vertical layout. Then I ran "70's" action from PW (love her!) What would fix it friday be for me without a 70's action picture?! :)

Another Giveaway

Check out this cool giveaway for a camera bag...take a look at Tracy Joy's bags, http://tracyjoy.com/ then enter to win at the I ♥ Faces blogsite. Here are a few images of my favorites...

"Ponytail Princess" = Fix it Friday @ I ♥ Faces

This weeks photo comes from Katarina @ Rambunctious Joy. This sweet little girl is adorable.

The Original Image:

My first edit was to crop it and boost the colors, lighting and sharpness:

I then did a high contrast black and white:

I wanted to try a change the background a bit. I layered a texture over the image, lowered the opacity and then used a mask to remove the texture from the Ponytail Princess:

On this edit I extended the canvas on both sides of the little girl. Then I cloned the background in to create a continued background. I then boosted the colors, and ran PW's "Lovely and Ethereal":

~Custom Card Design for Angela~

Awhile ago I had a custom card giveaway and said I would post the winners card designs...well, the time has come!! We'll post one of them anyway, we are waiting on a baby for the second card! ;)



Angela gave me the theme of "Wizard of Oz" for a 5th birthday party and this is what I created.

Willamette Valley, Oregon Engagement Photographer

Fix It Friday Week 13 @ I ♥ Faces

Fix it Friday again...yay!

This week we are fixing the following picture....the first thing I noticed was the bright background and underexposed subject. I thought of using PW's action to "dim the lights" and it worked beautifully. My edits are below...I tried not to do a bunch this week, but as I have said before, once I get started, I just don't want to stop! :)

ORIGINAL

Cropped, dimmed the lights and then lightened the girl, then ran "Lovely and Ethereal"

Rotated, cropped, dimmed the background, lightened the girl and ran 70's Action

Rotated, cropped, dimmed the lights and then lightened the girl, then ran "Lovely and Ethereal"

Same as above, but converted to black and white.

Same as above, but layered the black and white over the color, then used a layer mask to remove the b&w from the tulips.

~Giveaway~

A blogger friend, Thrifty NW Mom, is hosting a giveaway of the most adorable little hats....made by the "Portland Beanie Company". You can win a free cap!

Click here to enter.....or go to http://www.thriftynorthwestmom.com/ There are lots of ways to earn entries...and blogging about it is one of them! ;)

I ♥ Faces "Laughter" ~Adults Category

This one I pulled from some fun pictures I took of a friend back in November...she and I can have a lot of fun together, so it wasn't too hard to get her laughing. ;)

I ♥ Faces "Laughter" ~Kids

I saw this sweet picture and thought it fit nicely with the "laughter" theme for the contest at

This is my sweet 4 year old...we were out taking some birthday pictures last month and she was just posing away, so I started shooting and caught this adorable moment of her laughing!

Whirlwind processing...

Whew, can't believe I already finished up the session from last Sunday. It helps that this little cutie pie doesn't need much done to her images to make them gorgeous. We had a great combination of cute baby, perfect overcast weather for great lighting, no rain (until we were walking to the car), and a great location. So, a little color boost here, and an eye enhance there and wa-la...we are done.

Willamette Valley, Oregon Child Photographer

"Miss M" ~5 Month Session~

I know this little girls mama has probably been waiting all week to see some images....I am just now able to get to them, but we are moving right along. This sweetheart did so good for us...I can't believe she is already sitting up at just 5 months! She is so cute and I even got some smiles from her this time. It made my day Stacey!

Willamette Valley, Oregon Child Photographer

~Editing~ Willamette Valley, Oregon Senior Photographer

Wow, this has been a busy week. I feel like I have been editing images night and day. (But we got so many good ones!) I am finishing up on Shelley's senior pictures, and should have them done by this afternoon. I have another session that I can't wait to get started on for Miss Maggie! (her 5 month portraits!)

Willamette Valley, Oregon Senior Photographer

Opinions Needed!! Willamette Valley, Oregon Senior Photographer

This session has been so fun to edit so far...we got some great shots! I can't wait to finish it up. I have quite a few more to go though.

I have a love/hate relationship with senior sessions. I LOVE shooting seniors, they are so fun and always end up with some awesome shots, but in the same breath I have a really hard time deciding which shots I like the most, and it takes time editing them because there are so many options for each of the pictures!

Take the image below...I love how it turned out, but then I ran one little action on it and it looks so fun both ways I can't decide which one I like more! Leave me a comment and let me know which way you like it.... Click on either image for a side by side comparison.

Willamette Valley, Oregon Senior Photographer

Shelley's Senior Pictures Willamette Valley, Oregon Senior Photographer

Shooting in the rain totally rocks! I got to take some pictures of Shelley today. I met with Shelley and her mom in Albany this morning. We took some shots downtown, then drove out to an old farm and played with some shots in the rain!
I am so excited about this session. Shelley was so easy to photograph,...she is just absolutely gorgeous! So here are just a couple of shots to show quickly before I am off to soccer games in the rain!

Willamette Valley, Oregon Senior Photographer

I ♥ Faces = Fix It Friday "My Shadow"

This week at I ♥ Faces the picture was submitted by Andrea. The original has quite a shadow to his face, but is a cute picture. I lightened it up by adding texture layers that had a lighter tone to them. All of my edits were done in Photoshop 7. I used Coffee Shops Barn textures for these overlays. So...without further ado, here are my edits. :)

The Original Shot

This is my edited version. I lightened it just a bit, then added 3 different layers. I used one as a soft light layer, and the other two as overlays at about 50%. Then I used the healing tool to remove the texture from the little boy without removing the color tones of the layer.

Ran the "70's" action on this one, then boosted the sharpness, colors and contrasts.

This one is just a black and white version of the picture above.

Now we are off to the Oregon Zoo in Portland with some friends!!