The first order of business was to give the girls some legs. I used bits from another pic we took during the same photo shoot to add legs (and more greenery) to the bottom. If you look closely, you'll see that it's not a perfect match, but it'll do for our purposes. (This change also allowed me to size the photo in a 5x7 ratio instead of 4x6.)
Next, I decided to remove the color all together since I don't think I can quite trust what I see on my computer monitor. I made a Hue / Saturation adjustment layer and overlaid it on top of the original. Oooh, but look how dark it is. Time to tweak!
First we'll work on Dos: Using masks and Curves adjustment layers, let's lighten up her jeans to add detail, then brighten her arm, hand and face.
Uno's next: Her face, hand, and Dos's hair were all way too dark so we've used the same technique as before -- masks and Curves adjustment layers -- to lighten them.
Aaah, look how pretty they are! But it's still too contrasty and harsh for my tastes, so let's make one final tweak: We'll add a lens blur to soften the background and make everything look a little dreamy (with the added benefit of hiding the imperfections at the bottom):
Ta-da!
You'll note that I also changed the font and style of the text from the original; I love my Photoshop CS2 because you can type on a path (in this case, in a semi circle) whereas in previous versions text had to be in a straight line or weirdly warped. Hooray for CS2!
I printed this version on metallic paper at Mpix.com and it turned out beautifully! That metallic paper is some pretty cool stuff; I wish I could show you, but I don't think the effect translates online. I guess you'll just have to come visit me to see it, lol!
And thus concludes our Fun with Photoshop for today. :-)
~RCH~
3 comments:
May I just say this is a beautiful picture. And I think that Photoshop is perfect for you because of your perfectionist tendencies! I also love the one you did of the Grand tetons..its beautiful.
Oh, I want photoshop!! It sounds like so much fun!!
The picture is so pretty, and I am sure the metallic paper makes it even prettier! Yay!
Thanks, guys! :-*
K2, you do mean perfectionist in a good way, right? Not so much a neurotic, just-get-over-it-already way? Because that last picture really is better than the first one, right? (LOL, no, not neurotic at all!)
ME, I do happen to have an old version of Photoshop (PS7) that I'm not using anymore -- it won't put your text on pretty curves like this, but it can do everything else that I've done here (and more!). Big learning curve, of course, and it really eats up your computer memory (because it's hard at work doing lots of cool stuff!). Let me know if you want it. And then come visit me for some tutorials! (It is tricky to learn at first, sadly, but only because it's such a powerful editing tool.)
:-)
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