Fix-It Friday #18

This pic was not at all difficult to "fix" -- it was already so precious! But here are the edits that I came up with.

Original photo, by the author of this blog:


My edition version:


Again not being terribly specific, here are the general steps that I took in my editing process (using Picnik):
1) Crop -- cropped it down to a better-focused, more interesting composition (in my opinion at least :-p).
2) Curves -- adjusted the lighting, adding more exposure and contrast.
3) Gritty -- to mute the color slightly and make the lines (local contrast) "pop" a little more. (This is probably my favorite Picnik tool, as you may be able to see from my edited pics so far on this blog. :-p)
4) Focal zoom -- to mute the background and put more focus on this beautiful face.
5) Soften -- only on the skin, to give it a smoother appearance.
6) Zombify -- on the eyes, to bring out the catch light just a tiiiiny bit more.
7) Saturation -- putting a teensy bit more color back in there. :-)
8) Matte -- to soften the edges of the photo.
9) Frames -- self-explanatory. :-)

iHeartFaces: Week 23 -- Cutie Pie

For the challenge "sepia-toned," here is a recent favorite of my younger cutie pie.



Comments and critiques are much appreciated. Thanks for visiting!

Check out other entries at iheartfaces.blogspot.com, and come join in the fun!

Fix-It Friday #16

I've never participated in the iHeartFaces Fix-it Friday challenge before, but this one looked like a fun challenge that was too good to pass up.

Here is the original photo, taken by the author of this blog.






















And here it is with my edits.



Just for fun, here's what I did, using the online editing program Picnik, the premium version. (I'm not going to be incredibly detailed, but here are the basics.)

1) Exposure -- added more highlights and upped the contrast a little. Also some local contrast to add more definition.
2) Curves -- to adjust the color.
3) Clone -- to clean up the under-eye area.
4) Vibrance -- to bring out more color, especially in the eyes.
5) Black and White, then Vibrance again -- to mute the color ever so slightly and then bring it back out in certain key features such as the eyes, lips, and cheeks.
6) Zombify -- to bring out more depth in the eyes.
7) Frames -- self-explanatory. :-)

And there ya go. Sometimes I have even more fun editing pictures than taking them, so this turned out to be a great thing for me! :-)

iHeartFaces: Week 21 -- Happy Birthday!

What perfect timing for this category! My daughter Lucy celebrated her second birthday yesterday. We recently moved several hours away from any extended family, so sadly we weren't able to celebrate with them. But we had a nice little party at home with Daddy, Mommy, and Baby Sister. I got lots of fun pictures of her playing with her new toys, but none of them were an obvious birthday theme. So in the end, I went with this one of her opening one of her presents.



(Economical side note: 2-year-olds don't care what the present is wrapped in, just so long as it is a present, and it's wrapped. Hence the newspaper as wrapping paper. Also a great way to recycle!) ;-)

Anyway, I know this entry isn't going to win or anything, but I loved it because of her face in this picture -- she is in the middle of saying, "Ooooooo!" as she opens her present. Classic Lucy expression. :-D

Check out some of the other entries at iheartfaces.blogspot.com, and join in the fun! And if you have a comment or critique to share with me, that would be much appreciated! Thanks for visiting.