Having Fun in Our Garden

These photos have minimal Photo Shop enhancement.
I brightened them a bit. The light at this time of day was really nice, but it is a challenge for me to have Amelya look in the direction with the best light, and get the light in her eyes. I see that the stones act as a reflective light source to brighten up her face.

Having Fun in the Garden

Amelya does her thing so I can practice taking photos.

Each photo was Photo Shopped a little bit.

White Balance was the main enhancement and made a great difference!

October in North Carolina Going a Cool Night Stroll

Crop #6 photo from Step by step enhancement below.

Tree Trunk and Mushrooms

I have seen this before, but never like this! Look how the mushrooms are growing under the bark. If I knew my mushrooms better I would collect them and cook them for dinner! We found these in our neighborhood along our walk to the pond.

Step by Step Photo Shop Enhancements

Photo #6 Opacity Brought to 30% brings out the color, like hand painted.
Photo #5 Opacity brought to 70%
Photo #4 Convert to Sepia
Photo #3 added Contrast to 30
Photo #2 Pupils sharpened with Laso & Increasing Contrast & White Balance
The original photo #1


Doing these corrections & posting them is a great learning tool to me. I will come back to it later and see if I added too much light. I like them all & after looking at them for so long I would need to take a break and come back to it. I would love to get an experienced professionals opinion!

Improving Old Photos Taken with Point & Shoot

It's nice to get a smile every once in a while.








The photo of Amelya in her B&W dress was quite dark. I corrected the white balance, by typing
Ctrl +L and that gives you the new window to work from. Click on the white eyedropper and left click the photo with your mouse until you reach the desired result. Or use the different tabs on the light scale. I added light to all of them and increased the contrast, sharpened the eyes, and some I converted to sepia and played with the opacity. I love all of these quick & easy techniques! I have taken so many photos over the years using very limited equiptment (none) just a point & shoot. So it is a real plaesure to see my old photos come to life!

My Daughter at Dunbarton Pond

Click on the Post title to go to the page that covers all kinds of ways to sharpen eyes.

Marek Fogiel says:
"I tend to do another thing, although this works best in B&W - instead of local sharpening, I boost the local contrast of the irises ( - you select the outlines with the magnetic lazo, and pull up the contrast), and this way you get a sharper look without actually pulling out the grain (noise).This is just a self tought trick, not a sophisticated technique."


The top photo was coverted to Sepia & the opacity was brought to 35, and then to 22.

The middle photo is the top photo cropped. The more I crop the more beautiful she becomes.

The bottom photo I sharpened the eyes with Mereks technique & I also did a little white balance enhancement. To do that ( Ctrl + L) and the window will pop up. Select the eyedropper that is white and left click your mouse and play with the lighting.

I really like this technique! I was using the laso & sharpening by simply clicking auto sharpen & it worked well at first but suddenly I have been getting the "Andy Warhol" eyes. So that is why I researched other quick methods. And this is super quick & easy! Thanks Marek!