Lil Miss Kylie

Same story... Mothers Day pics for Kylie's mommy (Kylie's mommy is my older sister)! Kylie is totally a tom-boy... so really these pictures don't suit her personality... but she sure is cute anyways! I think a baseball cap and a truck would have suited her better... but it is just to fun to dress up little girls!

and just for kicks... a picture that suits her personality...

Little Miss Olivia

For Mother's Day I am surprising Olivia's mom with some pictures of her daughter. I just finished them up and even though it will be a belated Mother's Day present... I am sure she will love it!

This is Olivia's signature face. She doesn't smile very often. She always has this pout face and she can get away with it because of those beautiful blue eyes! I tried for about 10 minutes to get her to smile... just once... but the harder I tried the harder she pouted... so I settled with the sweet dramatic pout face!

Week 18 - Photo Challenge “Laughter”

This week's theme is laughter. I struggled with this one. I had lots of smiles... but not a lot of laughter. I really wanted to find a photo that made me laugh when I saw the picture "Kind of like a contagious laughter" but not sure if I quite accomplished what I was hoping.

To see more entries visit here http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/.

This is my child's entry. I had a few that I really loved that I wanted to put in too but I finally concluded that this one fit the "laughter" theme the best. Madison was absolutely adorable in her Easter Dress and I new the instant I took this shot of her smiling it would become one of my favorites!

Here is my adult entry.

This picture is of my "FIRST" wedding shoot ever! (As you can tell because of all the beautiful casting shadows) But regardless of it not being a top quality shot... her expression is priceless. She was wearing her husband's top hat and he was getting the garter off her leg with his teeth... and well the dog didn't like him under there and was trying to attack him. It was hilarious! This dog brought so much laughter to this wedding!

Giving the not so good snap shot a better chance at "WOW"!

This was taken of my boys last minute for my mom for Mother's Day. It was taken in the mid of the day with lots of shadows and two uncooperative boys! Thanks to photoshop my not so good candid shot turned into something that Grandma would be proud of!

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Week 17 - Photo Challenge (Kids Category) and (Adult Category)

This weeks theme is hats! To see more fun entries click here http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/. This weeks guest judge is Jodi Friedman.

I learned something new about these photo contests! I learned that they post their themes in advance! I was wondering how people posted their amazing photo's so fast when the theme was only just posted... BUT they post them ahead of time. So I new this week's theme would be hats so I had such a fun idea for this theme! I ordered a hat and everything. I ordered the hat last week and I just got the email today saying it just shipped out.... (sob) It won't be here in time for the contest so I had to dig through some old photos that I had.

This one is of my daughter at 6 months old. I used a petal blanket as a prop and bought a fun bonnet and matching petal bloomers to match! She has the most precious little smile in this photo! This was one of my first photo shoots with props, lighting and a backdrop... one thing I learned about this is "TAKE YOUR TAGS OFF BEFORE YOU USE A PROP!" LOL! Has that ever happened to any of you or were you all smarter then me?

Here is my Kid Entry...

Here is my adult entry.

When I took this picture in Sayulita Mexico I was trying to capture the expression on his face more then the hat (Not knowing I would ever enter it into a contest). If you look closely you can see all the layers of hats he is wearing.

This man walked the beaches of Sayulita and sold hats. I actually bought a pretty pink one from this man! I have always loved this photo because the expression on his face is priceless! People in Mexico were so friendly, peaceful and happy. They were not like us in America where we are busy, stressed, busy, stressed. It was an amazing experience to see life from a different culture.. In Mexico they are all about family and it seems like here in America most of us are all about money and material items. Sorry to preach... but it just makes me take time to appreciate God and all the small things in life that he has blessed me with...

So there you have it! My entries into the contests this week!

Fix-It Friday #12 – Hands-On Photo Editing

My first fix it friday! How exciting! To see more great fix it fridays posts click here

http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

This reminds me of one of the thousands of pictures I have of my boys at the park. This picture reminds me so much of the typical care-free boy... playing, smiling, and being just a "boy!"

So I wanted to bring that into my photo.

What did I do

Step 1- I took out the hot spot in his faces

Step 2- I adjusted the coloring in the photo using Nik Software Filter- Graduated Neutral Density

Step 4- I softened his skin using Nik Software Filter Dynamic Skin Softener and I enhanced the foilage in the background

Step 5- I added a "touch" of Glamour Glow to the photo

Step 6- I crossprocessed the photo using Nik Software Filter L07

Step 7- I used a textured background in a new layer and used a Pin Light (opacity 43%) into the photo for an old textured look

Step 8- I cropped the photo

Step 9- I added the typing "All Boy" into the photo

Step 10- I added a white and blue border

How fun was that! I learned new stuff about out to edit shadowing on photos and can't wait to use them on some of my old and future photos!

Here is the original

Here is the one I edited