Scavenger Hunt Sunday--March 20th

I have been looking at the photos over at Ramblings and Photos and the other Scavenger Hunt Sunday links for a few months.  I feel a little out of my league to join in, but I love hunts.  I did this once before, but I didn't have time to take all the pictures that week.  This time I was determined to follow the rules.  It was challenging to come up with ideas and I didn't quite get exactly the shot I wanted, but it was a GREAT way to force myself to experiment and use my camera.  I also forced myself to use only manual mode and no flash--truly an accomplishment for me.  I really had a ton of fun.  So without further adieu...

Camera Phone

I do not have a camera phone.  I do not even have a cell phone.  However, we do have a lot of cameras, so I thought having my son use a camera as a phone would fit into the spirit of the hunt.  It was a little difficult because he wanted to have the camera be flat--he'd never seen an old-fashioned phone with actual curve to it.  I don't know what his friend is telling him, but it looks intense.

Camera

I wanted to include my new camera in the line-up, so I used a mirror.  It didn't come out quite as I envisioned it, but I had fun experimenting with angles and my manual settings.

Shoes

I couldn't get any good pictures of shoes so I decided to just inundate you with shoes.  I had to use a PW Vintage to hide the dirt and scuff marks on our uninspiring shoe collection.

Chair

This baby rocking chair was given to me by my Grandma for my 1st birthday--30 some years ago.  I never got a really stand-out, unique shot of it, but I had fun trying.

Imperfection

I started out with the imperfection of a broken chain and ended up with the imperfections of a broken chain, dusty dresser, crooked angel, blown out details, and overused color retouch in a B/W.

Thanks for letting me join in and for more Scavenger Hunts check them out at Ramblings and Photos.

Fix It Friday #91

At the I Heart Faces Community everyone is given an image to edit.  By the time I get around to doing it many, many others have already posted beautiful edits.  However, in the spirit of learning, I try.

Here is the original (it is only to be used for this challenge and for no other personal reason!):

It is amazing what a smaller crop can do.  I am really impressed with the crop choices of the other participants.  However, I wanted to do something different--not because I think mine is better (I don't)--but just to see what her face looked like.  It means there isn't enough pixels left for printing, but it is still fine for web viewing.

My first edit--

I really wanted to see what could be done to add color back into her face since it was so washed out.  I did an adjustment level bringing up the mid-tones, up the black, and a little of the white.  It sharpened the colors overall, but did not fix her face.  I did a spot check under her eye to remove a shadow.  Then I added a soft pink color fill, overlay, 60% opacity.  I erased the color fill all around the girl and her eyes.  I think it helped define her a little.

However, she was still pretty washed out and all my other fiddles weren't fixing it.  So since I learned lens flare yesterday I thought I would add one to give me, the viewer, an explanation for the washed out face.

Second Edit:

It warmed the tones up; I think that is what I'm seeing.  But still not the awesome edits I was seeing already posted.  So I went back to before the sun flare and applied PW Vintage just for fun and went back to my real life chores.

Third Edit:

I love what it did to the background, but such a shame to lose all the details of a pretty little girl.  I did not sharpen the last one for the web because THAT would make it even grainier.

Week 10 good to WOW Edit Yellow

Next week I am definitely narrowing down my choices a little more!  I don't want to bore everyone and what do I need with 7 pictures of a Yellow Dogwood Bush (or really any for that matter).  What does everyone do with their gorgeous shots besides put them on their blog?  Not that my shots are gorgeous, but maybe someday...

Anyway, I didn't want to be too long in posting, so I did edits on the least favored shots last night without Ashley's tutorial.  I even edited one I hadn't uploaded to see if it could be improved.

SOOC 7

2 Soft Light--100%/60% top erased, Texture--Warm Grunge, Warming 85 Filter

SOOC 1

 I figured this picture was so bad it didn't matter what I did to it, it would have to be an improvement.  Let's see.

Some Yellow and Red Boosts--erased hue Saturation on the bottom edge; Paper Grunge Texture, Frame Effect

Sooc 2

I did a whole ton of stuff to this one.  The most interesting would be painting the background black and an adjustment layer--Gradient Map in Yellow and White that is what makes the yellow soooo bright and took away some of the detail.  What I wanted to do was create a "black and white" photo where everything was black but the yellow and red branches.  I didn't quite get there.  But I like the drama.

This next one was one of my favorites as is.  It seems so soft and felt like it needed softer edits.

SOOC 6

 Two NaturesBeautyJan28 Textures, Soft Light, Multiply, and a PW Sharpen This on the branches in the foreground

This still didn't seem soft enough so I added PW Heartland Action and erased it on one branch:

I could see adding a quote to this and printing it for a card or something.  Maybe...

So that is what I did last night.  Today I read Ashley's tutorial and to the two pictures everyone seemed to like the best I copied exactly what she did (except I chose a slightly different yellow for my fill color).  It was great to learn how to add a Lens Flare.  On I Heart Faces I couldn't join in this week because I did not have a picture where the sun flared on a face; I did not know I could add it in an edit.  Though I imagine the truly great pictures do start with it already there, but I'm a ways away from figuring out that technique!

Here are the results.  I do like them.  I wouldn't have thought to edit these pictures in this manner, but I think it actually worked pretty well for these shots, particularly the second one.

Edit on Picture SOOC 3

Edit on SOOC 5

You can see all of the originals at my earlier post Week 10 good to WOW SOOC Yellow.
One last edit.  It seemed like at least one of these was just screaming to be black and white so I took the SOOC 5 with all of Ashley's edits and ran PW Black Beauty.  I do like it.

SOOC 5 Edits and BW

Thank you so much for all the encouraging comments on my original photos and for all the teaching.  I am learning so much!  By the way, I did shrink and sharpen for the web.  I might finally be getting the hang of it.  Now if I can just find some flowers to take pictures of for next week; I'll probably have to buy some, unless my husband planted some I haven't seen yet.  Have a great day!

All Textures are from Kim Klassen's Cafe.