Fix-it Friday #76

I'm really beginning to love fix-it Fridays! 

Here's the original: 

This is fine on its own, but I think it's a little to "hot" and overly saturated. 

 My edit: 

I changed some color levels and desaturated the whole image.

 Another edit: 

I think I like this one the best.

 

I Heart Faces: Pink Photo Contest

My husband and I walked in the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure 5k this weekend and they served pink pancakes to the survivors! (Check out the post below for another picture from the walk.)

I love how seriously this guy is taking his job. I tried several times to get him to crack a smile for me, but he was all about business.

Sunday Scavenger Hunt

I really love these scavenger hunts, because even though my shots may not be that great—*cough* "night" picture *cough*—it's making me focus on taking a picture of something specific. So not only am I practicing taking pictures, but I can practice editing different things, too! 


The 5 Senses

I had a really hard time figuring out what I was going to do for this one. In the end, I realized the only sense I need help with is my sense of sight, so this is a self portrait of my left eye with my glasses on. If I ever take a shot like this again I'll make sure my glasses are clean first..

Child/Children

My husband and I participated in the Susan G. Koman Race for a Cure yesterday and I saw this little girl being carried by her mom, a breast cancer survivor. It was a sight to see, for sure. (On a technical side note, I did some pretty fun editing with this, all with the clone stamp. I took out a whole bunch of telephone wires and a couple people. I think I did a pretty decent job and had so much fun seeing the difference!)

Dining(October 2010 item) 

Dining out at Chili's. I ordered the chicken fajitas. YUM.

Night

I hate this picture. But it's a scavenger hunt, not a "great picture" hunt.

Sky

I pulled this one out from my archives. It's only about two weeks old, though. We visited a lighthouse on Tybee Island, Georgia and I just loved the blue sky surrounding the lighthouse. It was gorgeous.

Fix-it Friday #75

This was a fun picture, but also extremely hard for me, because I'm still so new at this and there was a lot I wanted to do, but couldn't. A few things that drove me crazy: it looks like the little boy is missing his right hand, his eyes are closed, and he's not really in focus. 

I'm almost positive there's a way to add a hand (I tried cloning his other hand, but I have no idea if there's a way to rotate the cloned part). And I still have no idea how to add on layers, so adding eyes are kind of out of the question. 

I did a few edits, but I don't know if I'm happy with any of them. 


Here's the original:

Edit 1:

The original photo needed to come to life a little bit more. I ran PW's boost action and then lowered it and added in some warmer red and green tones to make it look a little more like fall.

Edit 2: 

My husband suggested a landscape crop and I really like it this way. I don't remember what actions and levels I played with, but my goal was to make it look a little more whimsical and soft.

Edit 3:  

This is the one I'm not so sure about. I had an idea in my mind, but I just couldn't get it there. I wanted an extremely soft, almost dreamlike photo. I desaturated it and then added some color back in. I also sharpened it. On my Smugmug screen (and PSE and my computer screen) this photo has a little more warmth to it with a touch of gold and red.

I've been trying to back off from using actions so I can learn how to edit manually, rather than falling back on clicking a sweet action. Are there any books or great tutorials online you recommend to learn more tricks of this trade? 

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

I took these at a corn maze in Warner Robins, Georgia. It was just before the sun set and I loved the golden color coming through the corn stalks. 

 

I Heart Faces: Week 42 {Orchard}

My husband and I got lost in a corn maze this weekend and I snapped this photo at the top of a bridge in the middle of the maze. There's a huge pecan orchard right behind him.

I think my eye is drawn to more of the sepia/vintage look of photos these days. At least that's what it looks like to me. 

(p.s. Can anyone tell me how I can get rid of the dog hair from his shirt using PSE?)  

Sunday Scavenger Hunt

I had fun with this week's list, but it definitely made me stretch my creativity a little bit. I have a question for those of you using Blogger: Do your photos lose some of their luster when you import them on here? Mine look different when I upload them than they do in PSE or on my desktop. Am I doing something wrong?

Side Lighting

To be honest, I wasn't sure what "side lighting" really entailed, and even now I'm not sure that I really got it. But this was my interpretation of side lighting.

The story of where I took this photo is even more touching. A Marine was killed in Afghanistan last week and his body was flown to our base to be with his family. There was a motorcade for more than 10 miles with the community lining the road. It was incredibly touching. I took this photo while I waited for his body and family to pass by.

 

Jack o'lantern

My husband and I perused an arts and crafts festival, which is where I saw this happy guy waiting to be purchased...by someone else.

Faces Formed in Nature

This one stumped me and I had no idea what I was going to capture, but then I had an idea of making a face out of nature. Two pine cones for the eyes, several acorns for the nose and twigs for the mouth! 

Sunset

This is SOOC outside of a peach orchard in Georgia. I'd like to process it a little, but I'm not sure what to do to it. Besides, I kinda like it in its raw form.

Warm 

I did a very bad thing and made homemade Apple Pie Cupcakes yesterday. My house smelled like warm apple pie and the sweet scent of cupcakes all afternoon. It was what I imagine Heaven smells like.

 

Fix-it Friday #74

This is an adorable photo! I really need to play with PSE a lot more so I can know what I'm doing. Honestly, right now I only mess around with some Pioneer Woman actions, so I would love to hear about more actions available or some good PSE guides to learn how to do things manually. 

BEFORE

AFTER

Side-by-side

If I have more time later today I may pop back on here and try editing it a few other ways. 

Sunday Scavenger Hunt

I know I'm a little late to this party, but better late than never, right? 

Ramblings and Photos

Pink

This is a ring my friend gave me on my wedding day. I've been itching to take some photos of it, and thought this would be the perfect opportunity. I'll have to try taking more, because I'm not happy with the sunlight reflection. 

Books

Just some old, random books I saw in a store in Savannah. 

Fall Colors 

I saw this display inside a store and thought it had a rustic and creepy fall flair to it. 

Leaf 

One random yellow leaf in the midst of twigs, acorns, sticks, and other leaves. 

Orange 

I thought I would've had more time to take more pumpkin photos, but it turns out the only pumpkins I saw where these from inside a grocery store. 

Sunday Scavenger Hunt

Woohoo! This is my very first post on this particular blog. I'm really excited to have a place to post pictures I take. When I'm not taking photos I'm blogging over here: Jesstagirl and her Officer. Thanks for stopping by :)

Golden: 
(It's white gold and the only piece of gold I own!)

Smell:

Fruit:

Simple:

Sports: