Shoot and Edit: Holiday traditions (after)

So here's my edited version of my photo from Tuesday--let's be honest here, the original photo needed a lot of work.  Here's what I did in picnik:

1. Converted the photo to black and white using the Tri-X 400 setting under the curves tab;
2. Increased the exposure by 80%;
3. Brightened Sammy's eyes using the eye bright setting at 80% fade;
4. Cropped the image and called it a day.

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the before and after: it's definitely an improvement in my opinion (black and white conversions tend to forgive a lot of photography sins).  What do you think?

And don't forget--if you'd like to learn how to make your photos go from good to wow, be sure to check out what's going on over at Jill and Ashley's blogs:

Shoot and Edit: Holiday traditions (SOOC)

There are only five days to go before Christmas and I still haven't decorated our tree; at this rate, I think I'll finally get around to tackling it some time next year. At first I was beating myself up a bit for not being more holly jolly about everything for Sammy's sake, but I have finally come to the realization that it's more important that Captain Husband, Sammy and I enjoy our very first Christmas together as a family without staying up all night decorating the house and stressing over whether everything "looks" right.  After all, as far as Sammy's concerned, the lights on the tree are the best thing since sliced bread--why fix something if it's not broken?  Now, hopefully our undecorated tree won't become a holiday tradition, but with any luck, this Christmas will be the first of many happy holiday memories that we make together as a family and that's a tradition that I'll embrace wholeheartedly. 


Oh--one more thing: our Christmas card made it to the top thirty in the Paper Mama's Holiday Photo Challenge!  You can vote once a day until Wednesday this week so I'd really appreciate it if you could click here and give us a vote--we're #28 (just look for the little Christmas cowpoke below).  Thanks!

Shoot and Edit: Bokeh lights (after)

So here's my edited version of my photo from Tuesday; I didn't want to do anything too drastic to it, other than fix the slight green color cast and crop out the bottle that held the tree topper upright for the photo.  Here's what I did in picnik:

1. Manually adjusted the white balance to compensate for the green tones in the SOOC shot; I skewed a little warm with this, just because I liked the overall tones that doing so created.
2. Cropped the photo.
3. Manually adjusted the contrast to make the tree topper pop a bit more.
4. Manually darkened the shadows just a touch.
5. For fun, I added one of picnik's featured Christmas textures at multiply and 90% fade to add the appearance of some flares amongst the bokeh lights in the background.
6. Applied rounded corners and called it a night.

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the before and after: what do you think?

And don't forget--if you'd like to learn how to make your photos go from good to wow, be sure to check out what's going on over at Jill and Ashley's blogs:

Shoot and Edit: Bokeh lights

For this week's before and after photo challenge, I decided to shoot one of my latest vintage holiday finds--a pink and turquoise glass tree topper that I found while visiting my family over Thanksgiving.  Little thought or preparation went into other than grabbing a bottle to balance the tree topper on and placing them on an end table in front of the tree.  My first shot wasn't too bad, but I didn't like how dark the turquoise-colored recesses of the tree topper appeared, so I took a lamp off of a nearby table, rested it on my shoulder and aimed it towards my subject, and tried again:

I really like how this little change in lighting made the tree topper appear as though it was lit from within.  Also, if you look really closely, you'll notice that my tree still has not been decorated--anyone else out there waiting until the last minute to finish up their holiday decorating?

Shoot and edit: Holiday/Christmas after

I was actually pretty happy with how my SOOC image turned out for the most part, so I didn't have to do anything too wild and crazy to it.  I tightened up the composition with a slight crop and then went into the curves tab in picnik and applied the Reala 400 setting at 0% color override and 80% fade; this step darkened the shadows just a bit and made the colors just ever so slightly more vibrant.  I then added the Kim Klassen texture, poetic, in the multiply setting at 75% fade and then rounded off the corners to give the photo a bit of a vintage look.

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the SOOC shot and my edited version:

Overall, it's a rather subtle edit and I like how it turned out--I think he might look pretty good on this year's Christmas album if I ever manage to get my laptop back from the Geek Squad (all of my Christmas music is on there).  Keep your fingers crossed--I have the feeling that it's going to take a Christmas miracle for that to happen any time soon!


And don't forget--if you'd like to learn how to make your photos go from good to wow, be sure to check out what's going on over at Jill and Ashley's blogs:

Shoot and edit: Holiday/Christmas SOOC

Thanks to a very fun playdate with a few of Sammy's pals yesterday morning, Sammy took an incredibly long nap in the afternoon, which allowed me to work on the rest of the decorations in the living room.  As you all know by now, I love old stuff and that most definitely extends to Christmas decorations and other ephemera.  Fortunately for me, no one in my family ever throws anything away, so I was able to return to Texas with a few vintage goodies that had belonged to my late grandmother and my late great aunt, like this fantastic ceramic tree that she made in the early 80s (she was also responsible for the awesome ceramic jack-o-lantern that was on display in my living room until last week).

The Elf on the Shelf has been all of the rage these past two years or so, but since I'm incredibly cheap I decided to forgo the $30 price tag and go with one of my grandma's vintage 1950s elves--I figure I'll make up my own story to scare Sammy into behaving well when he's a little bit older (and knowing me, it will likely involve zombies).  And maybe I'm a bit biased, but I think my little old elf just has a bit more character than this latest imitation.

Captain Husband thinks he's totally creepy, and to be perfectly honest, as a child, I was kind of scared of him, too.  But when I think back to all of the Christmas Eves I spent at my grandmother's, one of the memories that stands out the most vividly is that of the creepy elves that she had scattered in different corners of the house and when she passed away this spring, the elf was one of the few things of hers that I asked for.  And when Sammy gets a little older and questions why we have that creepy elf out every Christmas, I will tell him that it belonged to his great-grandmother and then tell him stories of the many Christmases that I enjoyed with her as a child and hopefully then he'll understand the real reason why there's an elf on the shelf.

Want to learn how to edit your photos so that they go from good to wow? Click below:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another holiday, another excuse to dress Sammy in something completely ridiculous yet incredibly awesome.  This holiday humiliation was provided by my sister-in-law, Sarah, who knitted Sammy a hat shaped like the business end of a turkey.  (She also made one for Henry, so with any luck, we hope to get an official cousins portrait with them in their matching hats.)

And before I totally forget, here's my before and after photos of my cutie-pie nephew:

I didn't do anything too drastic, although I did flip the image--I find that I often compose the subject matter in my photos to the right so I though it would be fun to change things up a bit (does anyone else find themselves favoring one side or another?).  I then did a clean edit to adjust the exposure and compensate for the green tone in the original, cropped things a little bit tighter and cloned out the design on his onesie because I found it visually distracting.  And just for fun, I then converted the edited shot to a black and white image:

What do you think?  Do you have a preference for one version over the other?  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving today!

And don't forget--if you'd like to learn how to make your photos go from good to wow, be sure to check out what's going on over at Jill and Ashley's blogs:

Oh, Henry!

I finally got to meet my nephew, Henry, for the first time last week, and boy, oh boy, is he a charmer! Even though he was overdue for his nap, Henry was such a sweet and smiley boy.

Like any new parents, Ben and Sarah are simultaneously exhausted and overjoyed by their bouncing baby boy but parenthood really seems to suit them both.  And just to prove I'm not the only shutterbug in my family, I managed to capture my brother in the act of taking pictures of me taking pictures of Henry.

I was hoping that Sammy would at least show some interest in his new cousin, but he honestly couldn't seem to care less--that is, unless I happened to be holding Henry, which is when the hysterical sobbing and the frantic, "Up!  Up!  Up!" began.  Sammy's going to have to get over this jealousy issue if he wants any siblings of his own.  We attempted to stage their very first photo as cousins, but neither one was really feeling it.  Fortunately Sammy and I are going to be around for the next week, so I'm sure there will be plenty of other opportunities for humiliation for touching family moments.

Sammy did attempt to tickle Henry's bare feet at one point, which resulted in the best dirty look I have ever seen a newborn give someone (I'm imagining his internal monologue, which is being directed towards his mother, as going something like, "Um, just who is this kid and why are you letting him touch me?"):

Soon it was time for Henry to take his nap, so I managed to snap a few photos of him before Sammy and I had to hit the road for Maryland.  Henry is such a cutie--I just want to hug him and squeeze him and call him George.

This week's Shoot and Edit theme is gratefulness and I have so much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving; I have a healthy and loving family that I enjoy spending time with.  I am especially grateful to my dad for cashing in some of his frequent flier miles so that Sammy essentially flew for free, which made it possible for us to come to Pennsylvania for the holiday. I am so, so grateful that Captain Husband will be spending this Thanksgiving here in the States...even though we aren't spending this Thanksgiving together, I know that he's only a phone call or a Skype session away.  I'm also grateful that CH is so supportive of my photography hobby/addiction, and grateful that I'm able to spend time photographing my lovely new nephew. What are you grateful for this week, my lovely readers?:

Want to learn how to edit your photos so that they go from good to wow? Click below:

A low-key edit: Sammy in the shadows (after)

 

From the moment I downloaded the SOOC photo of Sammy onto my computer, I knew I really wanted to amplify the extreme contrasts of light and shade.  However--and this is rather embarrassing-- I cannot for the life of me remember exactly how I edited the original image, so I've retraced my steps in Picnik and I think I've got it mostly figured out.

1. Ran my version of a clean edit and manually adjusted the highlights to bring out more of the details.
2. Under the advanced settings tab, I selected curves and ran the Tri-X 1600 setting at 100% color override and 0% fade.
3. Cropped the photo.
4. Using the clone tool, I removed some of the white patterns from Sammy's pajamas, leaving an all-black background.

Here's a slightly closer look at the after:

I love how the light highlights the delicate curves of his cheek and nose, the subtle turn of his lip, the natural texture of his lashes and brow.  If you'd like to revel in the majesty of Sammy's ridiculously long lashes, click on the photo above, which will take you to my flickr photostream where you can view it larger.  Seriously--why is it that boys always have the most beautiful eye lashes?

And don't forget--if you'd like to learn how to make your photos go from good to wow, be sure to check out what's going on over at Jill and Ashley's blogs:

Shoot and Edit: Sammy in the shadows

Sammy and I were goofing off the other morning while still in our pajamas and, like usual, I had the camera out in an effort to capture any cute moments as they occurred.  I managed to take quite a few candid photos, but for some reason this particular one just really speaks to me.  I can't quite explain it--I don't know if it's the moment of quiet contemplation that I managed to capture or the drama of the lighting...whatever the reason, it's compelling to me and as soon as I downloaded the image onto my computer, I knew how I wanted to edit it.  However, you're going to have to come back on Thursday to see what I did because I'm a tease like that.

Speaking of Thursday, Sammy and I are going to be flying to Pennsylvania that morning.  This will mark Sammy's first time on an airplane and my first time flying solo with a toddler.  If anyone has any tried and true tips for traveling with a little one, let me know in the comments.  I have a feeling I'm going to need every trick in the book at my disposal!

Want to learn how to edit your photos so that they go from good to wow? Click below:

Texture Thursday/LEM Photo Challenge: Leaves/Fall

The lovely and talented Ashley and Jill have teamed together to share their awesome photo editing tips and tricks; this week’s prompt/theme is leaves so I used a photo of a purple wildflower that I photographed on last weekend's trip to the Monjeau Lookout Tower in Lincoln National Park.  Here's what I did in Picnik:

1. Manually adjusted the exposure;
2. Manually adjusted the shadows to darken things up a bit;
3.  Under the advanced settings tab, I selected curves and then applied the dramatic sepia setting with both the color override and fade set to 0%;
4. Applied the Kim Klassen texture, water-stained frame, in multiply mode at 30%;
5. Applied the Kim Klassen texture, autumn burst, in multiply mode at 80%;
6. Cropped the photo and rounded off the corners.

Here's a side-by-side comparison:

I normally shy away from using textures on my photos because I'm always afraid of going too far with it and taking a perfectly fine picture and turning it into a hot mess, but I think I actually managed to strike a decent balance this time around.  What do you think?

In addition to Texture Thursday, I'm also linking this photo up to the LEM fall photo challenge--be sure to check out this week's other awesome entries by clicking below:

And don't forget--if you'd like to learn how to make your photos go from good to wow, be sure to check out what's going on over at Jill and Ashley's blogs:

To the lookout tower!

After grabbing some lunch in Ruidoso, Captain Husband, Sammy and I decided to head off on a scenic drive to the nearby Monjeau Lookout Tower in the Sacramento Mountains; built in 1936, the Tower served as fire lookout within the Lincoln National Forest and is now open to all visitors who hike or drive there (the drive was kind of scary to be honest, but I'm really glad that we braved out the five-mile unpaved road to the top).

We were greeted by a crisp breeze, the lovely smell of pine trees and the gentle rustling of aspen leaves at the top of the mountain.  It was just the taste of fall that I had been waiting for!  We bundled Sammy up, strapped him to my back and set out for the actual lookout tower.

It was a relatively short hike to the tower, which was a good thing, because I was huffing and puffing the whole way up thanks to the major change in elevation.  But it was totally worth it--the panoramic views were breathtaking:

We had to cut our tower visit a bit short thanks to all of the bees buzzing around, so there was no group photo at the top of the mountain.  I had yet to satisfy my photography urges, so CH kept Sammy busy playing with some rocks in the parking area while I went off and explored a nearby meadow that was filled with all sorts of beautiful wild flowers:

And just for fun, here's a SOOC shot for this week's Shoot and Edit Challenge (the theme is leaves, but I think this will work):

Want to learn how to edit your photos so that they go from good to wow? Click below: