Edit Me: Week 26

Edit Me:

Another week, another edit.
I so look forward to these weekly edits and love a piccie that challenges me so I was quite pleased with this weeks submission from Alita of 'Alita jewel's treasure'

Here's the SOOC

and here's my edit:

Opened the image is CS5 and after spending a good hour wasting time by getting everything wrong I decided I was being too technical so started over and kept it simple.
Opened HDR toning in image adjustments and moved the multitude of sliders until I got a half decent image.
opened curves and created a loose 'S' curve.
Created a white border by changing canvas size and that was it!

Hope y'all head on over to the 'Edit Me' challenge, take a look at the other cool edits and maybe have a go yourself.

Edit me: Week 20

Ouch! This one hurt. The picture is so darn cute to start with and as with all baby / children photographs I am acutely aware that this is someones adored child and that my idea of a good edit may be their idea of an insult. Eek!

Luckily I have been stuck in doors all day waiting for a delivery - you know the kind, anytime between 12pm & 6pm and we'll phone when on the way! - so I'd been grumpily patiently waiting for said delivery to arrive when I happened across this weeks edit.

Once again I just couldn't decide what to do with it so I googled ideas - as you do - and if I wanted to turn this adorable baby into Shrek, or give her google eyes or even wanted to plant her in a barrel I had a plethora of tutorials before my eyes.
Not gonna happen though.

So I guess you wanna see this adorable cutie courtesy of Kala at 'The Wishful Lamb' - here you go then.

This is the SOOC

Told ya, little cutie pie ain't she!

And here is my edit

Now I know I should have catalogued the steps I took for this but believe me I have done so many different things and started over that I have completely lost track of what I did.
I opened it in CS5 though - I know that much! As for the rest of the edit well it's vague but I cropped the image a tad, boosted the colours before then desaturating it (actually don't know why I did that but it seemed to help).
I then played around with the tones somewhere (sorry don't remember where) until I got a Sepia type look and then messed with the highlights, shadows etc until I got what I wanted.
Next I added a 5 pixel border in Black ( I tried a multitude of different colours for that before deciding on Black - how original)
Then I added the text 'twinkle, twinkle little star' and then finally I used the colour fill tool to add colour back to the flower.

Like I said there were many many steps to this edit, many of them deleted and I could have used shorter and easier paths along the way but this edit was basically playing and deleting until I got what I wanted.

I also need to thank Branson from 'My Reflection of Something' for not only hosting these edits but for hosting a gorgeous blog too.



Linked to

Edit Me - week 19

Yet another cool image to get to grips with.
This weeks image was submitted by our guest judge this week, Deb from 'Deb Duty Photography', please take a couple of minutes to check out her blog and awesome images.

So without further ado here's the original image

and this is my Edit

I must be remembering how to use Creative Suite (finally) as this was a fairly quick one.
I opened the image in CS2 and created a new 'channel mixer' adjustment layer.
I then messed with the setting until I got the vibrant punchy tones I wanted. The first 2 setting were about +200 and +100 and the final two settings were approx -75 and -79.
Next I created a new text layer and added the text 'Autumn, the year's last, lovliest smile' and added a drop shadow via 'Blending options'. I also played with the drop shadow settings and distance until I got the effect I was after.
Finally I cropped the image to make the leaf less central and voila! Edited!

I have to thank the guest judge for this image. I usually like more active images as my imagination can be limited but I loved working with this one.
I did attempt a frosty ground and crispy leaf number but kinda didn't work out and so I had to rein myself back in - I get a tad too enthusiastic sometimes and go overboard.
So thank you to Deb and to Branson from 'My Reflection of Something' for co hosting these challenges.

Oooooh something completely new today

I've not been able to get on with my craft projects over the last couple of days, mainly because I've become addicted to reading blogs belonging to my friends on Blogfrog etc.
However, I came across an 'edit me' submission on 'My Reflection of Something' Blog and just had to give it a go because I loved the photograph so much.
The guest judge for this 'edit me' is Stephanie from 'Behind the camera and dreaming', so why not pop on over and take a look at some adorable, classy and downright fabulous work.
This is my first ever submission and from what I can gather the idea is to take the original photo and adapt it using Photo editing software in whatever way you feel.
So here's the original:

See what I mean about it being a gorgeous picture!

This is what I did to it

I struggled with this one, not just because it's my first, nor because it's a photo of someones else's child and I'm very aware that my interpretation may not be her parents' but mainly because I liked the original so much it seemed such a shame to alter it.

First I opened it in Photoshop CS2 and diddled with the exposure to make a base for the warmth I wanted to create.
Then I added a Warm filter to the image and adjusted the settings until I got the 'feeling' I was after - I wanted to create a warm, early evening feel.
I then added a Glass filter and adjusted the settings until I got the effect I have here, this took a suprisingly long time and found me also experimenting with a load of other filters.
Originally I wanted a pencil effect but I loved the Glass effect and seeing as the child is on sand - ironic!
In a separate layer I added the words 'Discovery in a grain of sand' as that is what the image says to me.

Voila! My 'edit me' submission.

UPDATE:

The winner of week 16 'Edit me' is - drum roll - Deb from 'Debduty Photgraphy'. Well done!