Photo fix: holiday card edition

So I sure had a lot of fun with these images from H & W readers, and I hope what I did makes their photos just a little bit better. I’ve been mostly editing photos in Lightroom this fall, so it was fun to get back into Photoshop and work on an image individually!

Reader Jyl at Moore Love Than Ever sent this photo of her  little two-year-old loves. They are almost twins, just a month apart.

jyl_moore_original

It is slightly soft, so I used curves, levels and a soft light layer blended together to increase contrast, then sharpened.

jyl_moore_edits_color

Here we have the lovely Kate from Walking Kateastrophe.

The first image is her original. Kate and Matt are shown kicking up their heels in China (those are Chinese military hats). The fog made for a tough shooting environment, and the image was underexposed for the people, but lovely for the scene.

kateastrophe_original

kateastrophe_edits

Looking at my edits, I’m glad to see their faces, but I think I pushed the exposure too far, bringing in too much grain and losing the lovely detail in the background. Kate, since you are a PS user, try opening your original in Adobe Camera Raw, and using the sliders to adjust exposure and fill light. I like seeing your faces and the beautiful red of your jackets, but it I had five more minutes to call my own I would strike a happy medium with less exposure adjustment. See if you like your edits better!

Fabulous quilter/crafter Molly at AppleCyder sent this charming photo of her little fella. It didn’t need much to enhance those beautiful blue eyes, but it looks like the flash fired, blowing out (overexposing) some of the detail in his face, so I wanted to bring that back a bit. Also, Mama requested “crud removal” on the side of his face which was an easy fix with the clone tool in PhotoShop.

mollyphoto_original

I used a multiply layer blend in PhotoShop at about 30% to try and expose the face properly, and then boosted color and contrast with curves, levels and a soft light layer for this color boost option. Also sharpened.

mollyphoto_colorboost

I also tried a brown-tone color action I am currently loving, by photographer Brenda Acuncious.

mollyphoto_browntonecolor

Hard to pick isn’t it?!

I have one more to share, but my own active photo subjects are calling. And are probably wondering when I’m going to make my Christmas card.

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Anna Sawin

Anna Sawin is a Connecticut-based portrait, wedding, and editorial photographer. She lives in the shoreline town of Stonington with her family and has discovered the perfect cupcake. Just ask, she is willing to share her secret.

15 Comments

  1. Christina on December 11, 2008 at 8:51 am

    Terrific fixes, Anna!

    Reply
  2. Sara on December 11, 2008 at 9:16 am

    It is amazing to see what you can do with a photo! How much do you charge????

    Reply
  3. applecyder on December 11, 2008 at 9:28 am

    Thanks Anna. I am so pleased! You are wonderful and generous to do this. I just put my order in. And have entered your address into the ole label spreadsheet….. Happy Holidays!

    Reply
  4. B. on December 11, 2008 at 9:33 am

    way to go!

    Reply
  5. Maria on December 11, 2008 at 9:52 am

    Great FIXES!

    Reply
  6. thelandofka on December 11, 2008 at 10:32 am

    Good job on the edits! You know for the fog one, you could have just made a copy of the background layer, did the edits on that for them and then erased out the areas that had the fog and brought that back from the original. Love the foggy look!

    Thanks for sharing your steps!

    Reply
  7. Kateastrophe on December 11, 2008 at 11:11 am

    I think you overestimate my PS skillz! I love the color in the pic you did for us. So much better! Thank you thank you!

    Reply
  8. Shelly on December 11, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    What beautiful editing work – they look great!

    Reply
  9. katherine on December 11, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    W O W ! nice work!

    pls send me your mailing address offline and I will stick our card in the mail to you. 🙂

    Reply
  10. kayris on December 11, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    Is it too late to send you a photo? I have a lovely close up of my daughter, but the lighting isn’t right and there’s the corner of a picture frame too close to her head. I know zero about photo editing.

    Reply
  11. katy on December 11, 2008 at 7:57 pm

    I don’t really understand anything about what has happened with these photos–on any level–at all, but now I sort of understand why my photos are so cruddy. It’s the E for EFFORT. And the K for KNOWLEDGE!!! can not BELIEVE you could make those fog people’s faces visible! You are AMAZING.

    Reply
  12. Chelle on December 11, 2008 at 9:20 pm

    Loving the brown-tone curve. It just adds that elusive quality that makes the little guy look heaven sent. And amazing job with the foggy photo…

    You rock…

    Reply
  13. Jyl on December 16, 2008 at 7:26 am

    Thank you again for the fix! I have ordered MULTIPLE copies and they will make great Christmas gifts. (Don’t be surprised if I come “knocking” at your door again!! 😉
    You are fantastic!

    Reply
  14. Maya on December 18, 2008 at 12:41 pm

    Love that you’re sharing your PS knowledge! You really made those blue eyes pop!

    Reply
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anna

Anna Sawin is a Connecticut-based portrait, wedding, and editorial photographer. She lives in the shoreline town of Stonington with her family and has discovered the perfect cupcake. Just ask, she is willing to share her secret.

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