Week 26 good to WOW Edit Red, White, and Blue

How did I let myself post 5 pictures?  Again?  Not that some of these edits took much time at all, but I really do like to try the new and old things we are learning.  Next week one picture...I think I already have it.  As long as I take no pictures between here and Sunday.

Anyway, it is time to link our edits of Monday's pictures over at Ashley's.  You should hop over and check some out.  There are some great red, white, and blue photos being shared.




All Three Kids:

I used a levels adjustment to lighten the photo and ran MCP Mini-Fusion (a free action) to brighten the colors.  I was happy with the simple edit, but it seemed to be missing something, so I ran CoffeeShop Sun Kissed Action.  It isn't my usual style--I think (I'll find out more after taking Kat's class "Finding Your Eye."  Thank you, Thank you, Ashley and Kat!) but it captured the mood of the day.

Huckleberry:

All I did for this one is paint pink onto his legs very lightly and slowly to take care of the blown out reds (not a step I would usually take time on) as per last week's lesson.  I could not find out how to adjust paint flow in my brush in PSE6 so I just lifted the brush frequently and painted again at a very low opacity to try to mimic the unevenness of skin.  Then ran a Gaussian blur on the paint layer and set the layer to darken--all per the tutorial.  Then I ran MCP Mini-Fusion to deepen the colors.

Sunflower:

This was my most complicated edit.  I cropped a little closer.  I ran a levels adjustment.  I ran MCP Actions Mini-Fusion adjusting several of the layers.  Then I ran Coffee Shop's Perfect Portrait 3.  I don't usually use this on my children because they have beautiful skin and I don't really like playing with all the layers (though you do not have to use them all).  But I just was not happy with her eyes.  So I PP3 smoothed the skin, and I used the eye whites layer to lighten the whites of her eyes a little, and used the eyes bright layer--which I am still getting the hang of.  I only drew on the iris of the eyes but I think this layer is what brought out the light in her eyes.  Then I brushed the soft glow layer onto her face.  I'm not sure any of it was necessary other than the levels adjustment, but here is the final product anyway.

This was my simplest edit.  Levels adjustment.  Duplicate Layer set to soft-light 24% opacity to give added depth to the colors and shadows.  Solid pink layer set to multiply 51% to bring color into SnapDragon's face.  I brushed the layer off of my dad at 70%.  A clean edit was exactly what I wanted for this picture.  Yes, this is the same dad who owns a Road Runner car and his tattoo is a road runner.

Last One!  Me in SnapDragon's eyes:

I ran MCP Actions Mini-Fusion lowering the opacity of the warming filter and warm tones and adding in the pink layer.  That seemed enough to make his eyes pop and still be natural to me.  But I didn't really like the blah background.  So I used the stretching canvas tutorial to remove the yellow up in the corner and ran a Gaussian blur on that section because I ended up with a line in my work--need more practice with this method.  Then I added Kim Klassen's Grunge Texture (I probably should have used a softer texture for such a soft portrait) in Soft Light 100% opacity.  Then I added an invert layer and grouped it only with the texture--changing the texture from brown to this steel blue that I thought would go with his eyes well.  Then I added a layer mask to the texture and brushed it off of SnapDragon's face.

Sorry for all the text.  I thought someone might be interested in what I changed.  I find it helpful to read what others have done.  I also just like looking at pictures, so it is fine if you don't go on and on like I do :)

Have the most wonderful of Thursdays!