A Little Bit of Photoshop

I had a couple questions on my editing when I posted these pictures. So for those who care, this post is for you. And for those who don't... well, unfortunetaly this post is for you too.

Image SOOC

• first I lightened the image using curves.
• then adjusted the saturation to +13.
• His skin was looking a little too blotchy and red because it was so cold outside. So under the Selective Color Options with the red selected, I turned down the black to -30 and the magenta to -5

After I made those changes his skin still had too much of a cold, blue tone to it and it was a little too dark. So I,

• Adjusted the image in curves again. This time just trying to lighten the shadows. Then in the red channel, I boosted the red just a touch to warm it up.
• Then in the Color Balance I turned the red up to +11 and turn the yellow down around -20.
• Last, I added a Soft Light in using the Layers palette and changed the opacity to 25%.

side by side comparison

They Sure Don't Grow 'em Like They Use To!

Meet Miss "Thang"... I actually call her Payton, but she will go by either. Miss "Thang" needed some shots of her and her cheer outfit so I took up the challenge. I must preface these pictures with the fact that I am not a huge fan of studio photography... well at least the -moving the couch out of the way so you can hang a backdrop up and make sure the kids don't run in the way of any of your pictures- type of studio. I have seen some beautiful studio work, but I'm sure it was done some where else besides the living room.

With that said, I give you Miss "Thang",

Can you believe she is only 13! I never looked like that at 13 and just in case you needed proof...

...here you have it. So you have the beautiful, stunning Payton... and the me, in my own unique did your mom put a bowl on your head and cut your hair, beautiful kind of way. Lets just say 13 was not kind to me.

And here is just one shot of many from our little session.... GO.FIGHT.WIN!

Sweetness

Sweet pregnant belly, sweet little boy, & sweet little kisses...

...it doesn't get much sweeter than that!

Flashaholics

THE FLASHAHOLIC DEFINED:
"Someone who appreciates and actively seeks information about portable lights because of an ongoing fascination with them and their development, and whose interest often results in the purchase and/or modification of these lights, very often to the point of distraction, social alienation, drunkenness, divorce, arrest, impoverishment, and general disintegration."

Some people want me to capture priceless moments of their growing babies, while others want to have images captured of their timeless love for one another. Well, in this case, some people just want pictures done of their flashlights.

I use the term flashlight lightly (no pun intended), because this is no ordinary flashlight (flashlights are just child's play). No, this is a Surefire... a real mans flashlight. I cannot begin to explain the art of the Surefire, because this is something I don't fully understand myself and quite frankly, never will.

Flashaholism is not to be taken "light"ly (pun intended this time). You never know who might suffer from it; could be your next door neighbor, could be your husband... could even be you. One of the sure signs of being a flashaholic is the desire to conceal multiple flashlights and the uncontrolable desire to modify flashlights. In fact, there is actually a forum dedicated to flashaholics (you learn something new every day).

So I dedicate this post to all the flashaholics out there... or at least to the only one I know.

In all seriousness, these are pretty awesome flashlights that made for some sweet pics.

The Many Faces of Kaleb

This little boy of mine can go from zero to crazy in no time flat!

NOTE TO READERS: Don't be fooled by all those little smiles. He is NOT as innocent as he looks.

This is the little boy that stole candy from the neighbors.
This is the little boy who threw mud all over my apartment building.
This is the little boy who likes to play with fire.
This is the little boy who poured cologne all over his new baby sister.
This is the little boy who thinks it's funny to stick his finger in his bum (Nasty, I know).
This is the little boy who gets a kick out of seeing me get mad.

Despite all that, this is the little boy that still has the ability to melt my heart like butta' with one of those little looks.

Abrie

Sometimes I take for granted how nice it is to have such big helper around. If Abrie's the first to wake up in the morning, she will quietly sneak into my bedroom, wake me up and ask, "Mom, what do you want me to make me and Kaleb for breakfast this morning?".

I'm so glad she's mine!

Sweet Baby Kate

Just a couple more...

Sugar & Spice

I simply adore these two little girls.

Ummmm Seriously,

... do they get any cuter than this?!

Just a little sneak peek. More of sweet baby Kate to come...

Behind Every Great Man....

is a great woman. Except in my case it is most definitely the other way around.

This is probably the closest I will ever get to a self portrait. In fact this was not meant to be a self portrait at all. I was playing around trying to get a picture of the two of us together and as you can tell; my husband was not being very cooperative. It was probably due to that fact that he was studying for his dental boards.

I mean what's more fun? Studying for boards... getting your picture taken. Studying for boards... getting your picture taken. Definitely getting your picture taken would be the lesser of the two evils... or so you would think.

Macie

Isn't this the saddest, sweetest face you've ever seen? Ok, that might be a bias opinion since I'm her mom.

Little Miss Macie is just taking her turn being sick. Poor thing, she didn't want to move all day, which was actually kind of nice for me... I've never had a subject sit so still.

Sick

It's been no fun at my house this past week. The stomach flu is slowly making it's way through all my children; 2 down & 1 more to go... change that, make it 3 down.

1/125 & 3.2, flash fired

Editing info:

• Brightend up in curves
• Turned down the master saturation to about -35
• Turned up the saturation indivdually in red, yellow, & blue (to bring out the pink in the skin tones and the color in the couch and blanket)
• In curves I selected the blue channel and dragged down the blue highlights a bit to give it more of a yellow tone
• Ran a light unsharp mask; amount: 20%, radius: 30 pixels, Threshold: 4
• Last, resized & sharpened for the web

~Think Pink~

I went to a double baby shower the other night and brought along my camera for fun. This is one of many baby showers I have attended since I have lived here in Philly. It's like a baby making factory over here. In the 3 & 1/2 years that I have lived here there has been more than 25 babies born just between my dental student friends that live around me. That is a whole lot of baby makin'!! I'm telling you, there must be something in the water. (And NO, I'm not pregnant... I make sure to buy bottled water.)

And incase you're wondering, the food tasted even better than it looked!