Mystery Monday - perfect skin tutorial

Since I forgot to post mystery monday on monday here is the delayed post. I decided to edit a really ugly photo of myself and show you a step by step tutorial on what I did to make it look better.

I chose this picture because

1) I wanted to show you the things I've been learning recently as far as editing techniques go. and

2) That this is what I look like without make up, a close up to see all the imperfections, but its a real photo and this is me so I shouldn't be ashamed.

Here is the original

As you can see all of my pores are visible, I have some stuff on my lips, and have some blemishes, and my eyebrows need trimmed.

Step 1
Here I ran the perfect skin action from coffeeshop.
What I really like about this action is it gives me the flexibility to edit it myself and its not already done for you. This lets me touch up the parts I need to.
So for this first step I used the eyedropper tool and picked a nice area of my skin and then clicked it. Then I got a brush tool and set the opacity down to about 20% and brushed over my skin.


Step 2
For this next step I used the same brush and made sure the color was set to white and then brushed over my skin to make it smooth and adjusted the opactity of the layer as needed.


Step 3
I finished the action, brushing a glow on my skin and skipped the lightening the skin because it was already light. I touched up my eyes and lightened them a bit, used the patch tool to get rid of ugly blemishes, the stuff on my lips, and to erase some of the unibrow eyebrow hairs.


Step 4
I then decided to boost my eyes a bit more and to warm the photo up. I ran the warming action and reduced the opacity down to about 30%. To boost the color in my eyes I used a quick mask and selected just the eyes, added that to a new layer and then used color balance to adjust as needed.
So the photo is pretty much done now. And it looks so much better than the original.


But I decided that I wanted to run the 70s action from pioneer woman. I adjusted the opacity of the layer a bit.


And then ran the vintage action from pioneer woman and adjusted the vignette layer opacity.


I also use cs4 for all of my editing.

Enjoy!

Mystery Monday - Week 2

Iheartfaces didn't have a fix-it-friday this week. And I didn't edit any of my own, so I skipped the day. And I didn't have any links or comments for a showcase saturday or sunday so here I am for Monday.

Today is Mystery Monday. This isn't photography related but I thought this would be really helpful for people with kids, or who might be pregnant or just anyone who might be curious. The last few weeks I have decided to go green and switch to cloth diapers. It's a pretty overwhelming thing to think about and I didn't even know where to start. I you-tubed a few videos and googled cloth diapers and found this really awesome website that has helped me understand the various kinds, how to videos on the types, brands, must haves for cloth diapers, etc. 

Pootersdiapers.com

I'm the type of person who would like to save money in the long run, and I figured 3 years of diapers, wipes, would cost me over $1800 diapers. Yikes! Thats a lot of money, and I'd rather invest 300-400 (and that would be the high end for me) on the necessary supplies: 

• cloth diapers (maybe 15-20 to start since I have a 1 year old but if I had a newborn 24-30), 
• covers (unless I choose the AIO or pocket), liners (for the pocket if I choose that), 
• wet bag (for travel), 
• detergent that is safe for cloth diapers 
• diaper rash cream that is easily washable on cloth diapers,
• snappies or pins (for the prefold diapers)
• liner for diaper pail @ home

On this site they also talk about getting out the tough stains with just basic stuff that most people would have at home! That also helps because then I don't have to go out and find something special, but just things that most stores (wal-mart, safeway, kmart) would carry! The sun, peroxide, and making a paste with the powdered laundry detergent on the tough stains is the basic home ingredients.

I am in the final decision stages for the type of diapers I want but I'm thinking I may try a couple of each. I really like the all in one diapers and the pocket. And even though its a bit more work to fold I like the pre-fold as well and they are affordable! I will definitely post the stuff I buy in a later post so keep your eyes peeled.

So anyways I thought this could be helpful to beginners like me, or anyone curious or isn't sure if cloth diapers are for them. Yes maybe there is a bit more laundry but its worth the time & investment! And I love when its easy to understand. 

Check out pootersdiapers and let me know what you thought!

Do you use cloth diapers? or have you ever considered it?

Hope this was helpful! Happy Monday!

Mystery Monday - Week 1

This is a histogram.

So for today's mystery monday are some helpful tips for avid photographers on how to properly ready a histogram. I found this article and thought it might come in handy. I've only read a part of it but so far it has really helped!

http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/how-to-read-a-histogram.html

I have always wanted to "nail" exposure and not have to do a lot of editing after taking my photos. Sometimes I get lucky and nail it, other times I do alot of fiddling. Check the article out. I hope it helps you!!

It doesn't have to be an article but it could. What do you want to share today?? A tutorial? Video?

Just leave your link in the comments. 

Just 1 rule. 

Please link to your actual post not your blog.

For example.

Correct: 

http://jenileeholbertdesign.blogspot.com/2010/03/theme-of-week.html

Incorrect: 

http://jenileeholbertdesign.blogspot.com/

Happy Monday!!