If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo
Well… I am not a pet person, but it Pet’s Week at I Heart Faces! You’re not required to post a photo of your actual pet, thank goodness since I don’t have any! But, we are allowed to post photos of animals if we don’t have pets, yay!
So here is one of my favorite animal photos. I got up close and personal with this squirrel at the park last month. He sure was a feisty little guy! Yes, I was pretty stupid and and got probably too close, since I only have a 50mm lens and it’s not got much zoom! But, I got this awesome picture and it was totally worth risking getting rabies for… 
You may be thinking, “Didn’t she just redesign her blog a month ago?” Well, you’re right! But, as we designed our new website, Love That Shot, we (my sister Misti and I) had the brilliant idea to make our blogs coordinate with the site. And boy, am I ever glad we thought of it! I love my new design! It’s clean and simple and showcases my photos perfectly!
And it’s totally cool, and convenient , to have a graphic designer as your sister! She designed my beautiful new logo!
So, tell me… What do you think of the new design? 
It’s Fix-It Friday time again at I Heart Faces, and this week is all about Teens! This handsome fellow comes from fellow contributor Susan Keller. I love all the sun flare and haze, and this image was just screaming grungy, cross-processing to me!
Now, normally I am not a good cropper! I tend to frame my photos in camera and rarely ever do any cropping in Photoshop. But I really wanted to bring the focus to the boy and still keep some of the awesome sunflare! So I tried some cropping! It was sure a challenge for me to get a crop that I liked, but I think I succeeded!
Anyways, here is what I did in Photoshop:
1. I added a Levels Adjustment Layer and brought the two outside sliders in towards the middle a bit.
2. I ran my Lightening action from Love That Shot and lightened the boy.
3. Then I ran my Darkening action and darkened the edges to bring the focus to the subject.
4. Next, I created a Curves Adjustment Layer and created a slight S-curve to bring in some contrast.
5. I created another Curves Adjustment Layer. This is where I made the cross-process look. From the Channel drop-down menu, I selected Red and created a slight S-curve. Then I selected Green and made another slighte S-curve. Finally I selected Blue and brought the right corner down and the left corner up.
And that’s it!
Michelle Johnson is a fine art photographer and the co-founder of Love That Shot, a website for photographers with tutorials, workshops and fun products! Find her at her blog, My Two Seasons, and her website, Love That Shot.
Hello, and welcome to our Creative Team Search for 2010! We are so excited that you’re interested in joining us at Love that Shot, where our mission is to help photographers fall in love with their photos.
The goal of our Creative Team is to promote the digital products, workshops, and membership we offer here at Love that Shot:
- By creating projects that showcase the products and instructional techniques offered through the tutorials and workshops at Love that Shot.
- By acting as a representative of Love that Shot through interacting with current and future members.
Requirements & Benefits
We invite you to spread the word about our products and tutorials through the following:
- Complete at least one project per month, using our products, tutorials, or workshops…then blog about it. Posting on other social media outlets such as twitter, facebook, and flickr…even better! Remember to link back to Love that Shot when posting.
- Add our special Creative Team button to the sidebar of your blog.
- Spark conversation in our forum and gallery. Periodically log on and answer any questions members might be asking at the time and give feedback on gallery posts. We’re working on growing our forum and gallery and would love for you to help us breathe life into this community!
In exchange, we offer you:
- FREE, UNLIMITED access to all of our tutorials and workshops for one year!
We’ll also periodically send you special announcements on upcoming tutorials, workshops, and events that we would love for you to post on your blog, twitter and facebook as well.
Feel free to post your thoughts about anything (tutorials, announcements, tidbits of any kind) you see posted on Love that Shot, our forum, our blogs, twitter, facebook, etc. We just ask that if you’re posting about a tutorial, you link back to the tutorial rather than posting it directly on your blog.
Basically we want you to tell everyone how cool we are with links back to Love that Shot. You can feel free to work ahead on projects, we definitely want this to be fun, not a source of stress!
Entry Details
To apply for consideration for the 2010 Creative Team:
- Choose THREE of your best projects (photography or digital spreads)
- Upload your projects to the Creative Team Search Gallery.
- Be sure to list all of your supplies used, AND any special techniques you used on your projects.
Entries will be accepted from 12:01 a.m. Eastern June 24 through 11:59 p.m. Eastern July 8, 2010. Creative Team members will be announced July 12. No templates or quickpages allowed for digital spread entries. You do not need to use product from Love that Shot in your entry. Residents of all countries are welcome to apply, except where prohibited by law. Please review the requirements carefully, and do not enter if you are unable to fulfil them.
Good luck and have fun!
♥ Michelle and Misti
