Thank you for stopping by! As I rarely have time to update this blog anymore, please come visit me at my new photoblog, Cari Berry Photography where I'll blog the occassional Beauty and the little Beast story, as well as post sneak peeks and stories from all my photo sessions. I try to give return blog love to all visitors over there, and hope to start giveaways there in the very near future!

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Friday, March 13, 2009

Fix It Friday, First Time!


My favorite blog, I Heart Faces, has a great weekly feature called Fix It Friday, where they post a photo and let contestants edit it anyway they choose. Since these photos are always way better than anything I've ever taken, I thought I'd try my novice-editing hand at post processing a great portrait. This week's submission is "Cutie Pie" by my friend Lolli over at Life is Sweet.

Here is the beautiful original shot:


And here is my edited version:

Here's what I did:
Opened Image in GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)
Increased brightness and contrast using curves
Added new layer
Lowered opacity to 40%
Selected paintbrush, fuzzy circle, opacity 20%, color white
With brush size same as iris, painted over irises of eyes to brighten color
Flattened image
Saved
Opened in Picnik Premium
Cropped slightly
Increased color saturation
Played with Orton effect, but portrait looked better without it!

This was so fun! I think I overdid the brightness because I lost the detail of her cheek in profile. And of course, I didn't do anything original here, but it was great practice for me! I think I'll try again next week too!

40 comments:

Heather said...

Looks pretty good to me!

Sara @ Domestically Challenged said...

I love the editing, it makes a good picture really great.

missy said...

how fun...i may have to check this out!!!!!

Teresa said...

Beautiful job! Love the crop and eye work. Wonderful color, too!

Bird's Eye View Photography said...

Great job!! I love fix it fridays!

Skeller said...

First time out, and you did GREAT!!
Fixit Friday is all about all of us stretching our processing abilities!

Kelly said...

I love what you did. Editing is so much fun and there is so much that you can do! :)

Unknown said...

Wow, I LOVE that, but I didn't understand ANYTHING that you did, except crop and save! :)

R and R Stacy said...

I saw that. Very nice! I need to figure out how to do that to my pics.
Thanks for the sweet comment. You are too sweet!!

Courtney and the Boys said...

Good work! I'm so impressed! I'm frustrated, though, because when I saved the pic and then tried to open it up in my Photoshop Elements, it's tiny! When I make it fit to my screen size, it's all pixelated! Bah!

Teresa said...

I just saw your nice comment on i♥faces...thank you so much!!!

Unknown said...

I like it so much. If you overdid the brightness, I can't tell! It is smashing!

Brandy said...

Her eyes really pop now. I love it!

Have a great weekend!

christyzee said...

very cool! I love both photos! I wish I could learn more about photoshop. maybe if I get time I might just start playing around, who knows!
blessings...

Trisha said...

Hey there. Thanks for stopping by my blog. :)

Great job editing! :)

Thanks for introducing me to this awesome new website. :)

Muppet Soul said...

That is a friggin killer idea.

And I LOVE how you lightened it up and made the eyes pop - it's angelic.

Unknown said...

I think you did GREAT! I have heard so much about GIMP but never tried it. I really like what you did with this pic!

Awdrey said...

I like your cropping of this photo. I like the eyes and skin tone you achieved.

Rachel Lundy said...

That is a beautiful picture! I love how the photo editing brings out her eyes even more.

Mrs. M said...

I like it!

Frogmum said...

That's a beautiful first-attempt! Well done :D (FROGMUM)

Rachel said...

Oh how pretty! Amazing job!

BeLoVed AiMeE said...

a very good edit.. I totally heart I Heart Faces!! Welcome to the addiction :)

Eyeglasses & Endzones said...

Oh, I love that you told us what you did to it too! That is great!!! Good luck this week!

Brooke said...

Great fix to the picture!

Elaine at Matters of the Heart) said...

Great job, it looks really good. I think I might have to give this a try..

Melinda said...

You did a beautiful job!!

Momma@Live. Laugh. Pull your hair out said...

Looks great! I have Photoshop but have absolutley no idea how to use it!

amy & lisa said...

My daughter downloaded GIMP for me and I cannot even figure out how to use it, so I think that you are doing pretty awesome in using it!
I like the picture you edited.

Tonkamom said...

Great job! Her eyes look beautiful!

Katarina said...

I really like it.

Keri said...

I think you did a great job! Love the enhancement of her eyes. Nicely done.

Unknown said...

very good job!

brionyskerjance said...

thanks for the comment. i am not sure how mine doesn't move...when i set it up there was a couple options and i picked the stationary one. try clicking on the link and see if there is still a stationary option :)

Unknown said...

I just want to stop by and say Hey my nickname is Carebear! Love the pic by the way!

Alexis AKA MOM said...

Wow you are amazing! I try to mess with the photos but I found the auto correct is my friend anything else isn't so good ... LOL

Thanks so much for stopping by! Love your blog it's so cute!

Shae said...

good job. I like how bright it is.

Wendyburd1 said...

That looks really pretty, I see what you mean about losing detail, but it is either detail or punching up color, etc.

Alisha said...

Looks great! I suck at editing! Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Anonymous said...

This is really awesome job...