BEFORE & AFTER

I Heart Faces has a contest on Fridays called Fix it Fridays. They give you a pic and you edit it, that's it. But what is so interesting to me is how so many different people can edit the same pic in so many different ways. Some get my response of "oooh, that's pretty" and others I think "oooh, that's uh... different" :-) Everyone has a different preference, a different eye, and there really is not a right or wrong way to edit as long as you like it. :-)

Here's a look at what I do while editing. These pics are from Crystal and RJ's beautiful Ashton Villa wedding last weekend (more pics coming soon!). The pic on the left is straight out of camera (unedited RAW). I knew when I saw this pic I wanted it to be black and white. It of course gives it the timeless look that I was going for but also gives more detail to the chandelier and lighting. So I did the regular sharpening and fine tuning in Photoshops Camera RAW, I converted to black and white (layer) and adjusted the levels. Big thing I did here really is the removal of the ceiling fan and the little bit of door opening in the left of the pic. That was done with the clone stamp and patch tools. The ceiling fan took away from the beauty of the chandelier and the door frame drew my eye off of the couple. You can still barely see the top of the fan attached to the ceiling but I don't think it is noticeable, it blends into the chandelier just fine for me.



The next two photos show a minor edit. After opening in camera RAW I only had to brighten faces and apply a little antique toning to the color of the photo. I removed a small stray hair on the brides face and made her skin look even more perfect than it already was :-) Small change but it's the little things that can turn a regular pic into a something really special.






Stay tuned for more Before and After posts!