If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo
It’s time for Fix-It Friday at I Heart Faces!
This was such a fun edit this week! I love how Angie caught a sweet moment of her son at play. The motion blur adds so much personality and I really love how she composed the photo. I love the depth of field and the leading lines and the color… this is just such a cool image! I really wanted to bring out the gorgeous fall colors that are somewhat hiding in there and bring the focus right to Angie’s son.
1. The first thing I did, as I almost always do, is add a Levels Adjustment Layer. I brought the two outside sliders in towards the middle just a bit to give a little color and contrast boost and lift the digital haze.
2. For the next few steps, I turned to my actions and Photo Veils from Love that Shot. All of the actions I used are available free to Love that Shot members! First I ran the Technicolor action. This really gives a nice boost to the colors, more than the Levels adjustment.
3. Next I thought the photo could be a little warmer so I ran the Warming action.
4. Then I applied three Photo veils: Brave, Northern Lights and Serenity. I set them all to Soft Light blending mode and adjusted the opacity on each.
5. I ran the A Little Lighter action, used a large, soft brush and painted over Angie’s son to bring him out of the background a bit.
6. Finally, I sharpened the photo using the High Pass Filter.
And that’s it! I love falling back to my Photo Veils when I want to do a quick and easy edit! They’re so fun! 
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.
It’s time for Fix-It Friday at I Heart Faces!
This is such a cute picture of Keli’s little girl! I love the angle and the direction of light. I really wanted to lighten and brighten this one and draw the focus right to that sweet little face! My edit was pretty simple, not too many steps.
1. First, I added a Levels Adjustment Layer and brought the two outside sliders in towards the middle a tiny bit. This took the digital haze off and gave a little boost in contrast.
2. Next, I added a Curves Adjustment Layer. I clicked in the middle of the graph and pulled up and to the left a little. This lightened the photo.
3. Now, I wanted it to be brighter so I added a black and white Gradient Map Adjustment Layer. I set the blending mode to Screen and the Opacity to 50%. This really gave a nice brightening effect!
4. I wanted to add in a little warmth to the photo so I ran my Warming Action from Love that Shot (it’s coming very soon!).
5. Next I ran my Darkening Action from Love that Shot (also coming soon!) and brushed around the edges of the photo. This brings the eye straight to the subject.
6. Finally I sharpened the photo using the High Pass Filter.
And that’s it! Here’s the before and after:
To see more great edits of this photo, visit I Heart Faces!
And don’t forget to enter our Love Your Shot! | Link-Up at Love that Shot! Angie and Amy of I Heart Faces are our special guests and there is a fabulous prize from Florabella! The link-up is open until Wednesday, October 6th.
It’s time for Fix-It Friday at I Heart Faces!
This is such a touching photo from my fellow contributor Julie Rivera this week. A tender moment between father and daughter before he leaves for deployment. I really wanted to keep the emotion in the photo and just enhance it a little bit.
1. I wanted to lighten and brighten the photo first, to bring the focus into the family. I did this in two steps. First, I added a Channel Mixer Adjustment Layer and selected the preset, Black & White with Red Filter. I set that layer to Screen blending mode and the Opacity to 25%.
2. Next, I added a Curves Adjustment Layer and brought the overall lightness up.
3. Then I added a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer. I selected Colorize and chose a sepia tone. I set that layer to Soft Light blending mode and the Opacity to 35%. This give a nice contrast and tones down the reds.
4. When I lightened the photo, some of the noise stood out that was hiding in the darker areas. I thought it kind of added an intriguing detail so I added some more to make it look deliberate. I made a duplicate layer of the layers I’ve added so far and added a noise filter. I clicked on Filter > Noise > Add Noise. I set the Amount to 7.16% and the Distribution to Gaussian.
And that’s it!
The Final Image:
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.
It’s Fix-It Friday Time again at I Heart Faces!
This is such a fun picture this week from Angie! I love that gorgeous truck. I have to admit, I was not too sure of what I would do to this photo. The white sky scared me a little! So I let it sit for a few days until I was inspired.
I thought I’d go with something totally different and unexpected! I like to do that sometimes. As always, I worked with my trusty adjustment layers and came up with this fun, masculine look in no time. I wanted so show off that beautiful truck as well as the handsome young man next to it. (Ok, I feel little bit weird saying that! He’s not a cute little kid, so I can’t gush over how sweet and precious he is! Gah, I think I’ll just shut up now. LOL!)
1. Ok, on to the good stuff! First, I added a Levels Adjustment Layer and brought the outside two slider in just a bit to add some contrast and give the photo a little boost.
2. Now it was time for some fun! I added a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer to make a split-tone effect. I first click on the gradient in the dialog box and that brings up another dialog box where you can adjust the colors. I clicked on the bottom left box and chose a nice buttery tone. Then I clicked on the bottom right box and chose a very dark navy blue tone.
3. Next I ran my darkening action from Love that Shot and brushed around the edges to bring the focus inward.
4. I then sharpened the photo using the Unsharp Mask. I selected a high radius and a low amount percentage.
5. I sharpened again using the Unsharp Mask. This time I added a black mask and only brushed over the truck, sharpening it a second time. This brought out all the little details and made it shine!
And that’s it! It’s pretty different than I what I normally do, but I like 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.
