Blue

I Heart Faces -Week 38 - Sept. 29, 2009 - "Blue" photo challenge

Fiona in her blue tie-dye shirt, playing in the blue water area of Legoland. I like how the afternoon sun is shining on her face.
I had a lot of "blue" choices, including "blue" faces,( not just the color blue). But this one really says "BLUE" to me.

Completely Candid

I Heart Faces -Week 37 - Sept. 22, 2009 - "Completely Candid" photo challenge

I have more posed shots than unposed shots. If a person sees the camera, then it's not "completely candid" right? That's a tough challenge. Here is my completely candid shot. While on vacation this summer, we had the kids put on their bathing suits and cool off in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. The fountains shoot up out of the ground in a somewhat unpredictable way. My two year old was frightened. My husband Jack, is hugging her for comfort and protection. I just love this shot how daddy is a solid protector of my precious with all the spouts of water shooting up around her and the laughter looks on people in the background.

My 1st Fix-it-Friday submission. I use CM's MM 3.0

My first submission to the I Heart Faces Fix-it-Fridays:



Here's the original and how I got to my finished image:



The original is a good shot. If there was only one thing to improve it would be to crop it. Do you see how the arm in the forefront is bigger and way more in focus than the girl's face? This is for I Heart Faces, not I Heart Forearms, so cropping to a square is my first thing. I use Creative Memories Memory Manager 3.0 for my photos.




Then I click "Auto Color" and "Auto Contrast" and "Sharpen (lightly)". This image didn't need any extra adjusting in my opinion.



Then I click on "Touchup" and "Lighten" and I lighten the whites of the eyes and catch light just a bit. And I lighten the teeth, just a bit.


Now I think the image looks great this way. Green and red are complimentary on the color wheel so they look very nice to each other. But the green is very strong and competing with the girl's hair. What to do? The finishing touches for me are still under the "Touchup" tab. I "Decrease Color" and brush that on the background. Then I notice some fly-away hairs, so I use the "Clone" feature to copy the background over her fly-away hairs. I'm not very good at cloning so I can see my work, but I'm including it here in case you have any tips for me. One last thing, under "Adjust" and "Color Balance" I removed 10 points of Blue. Here is my finished submission:






If you think you would like this program, please visit my Creative Memories - LisaBE and check out the Memory Manager 3.0.

Contemplative part 2

While looking for "Contemplative" images, I thought of this one of Ari from a photo session we recently had.

Contemplative

I Heart Faces -Week 36 - Sept 14th - Contemplative -

I've been told by doctors that my son, Lars, "thinks differently from other children his age".
I look at this photo and just wonder what he is thinking.
Lars looks like he has so much on his mind.