Fix it Friday

So, on my new favorite blog, I heart faces, they have a Fix it Friday. They post a picture and hundreds of people 'fix' it. I love tinkering around in photoshop, so I think I'll starting giving this a try. Seems like a fun way to make sure I blog on Fridays. Along with posting the before & after pictures, I will also share the steps I took to achieve the final look!

Enjoy!
Sarah


Before


After


Normally, I'd work on a picture the 'long' way... by hand and not by actions. I was in a hurry today, so I did each of these using actions alone. Now, that being said, I do not believe that photoshoppers should rely on actions. Once you learn how to
to properly work on images, actions can be a great tool for cutting down your work time. But before that, you really need to understand what you are doing and why you are doing it! :)

Now, for the steps that I took to get this image:

1. Crop to 5x7, just because that's what I prefer to work with
Used Child's Play Actions for 1-4
1. Exposure fixer-upper
2. Brighten up buttercup x2
3. Warm me up x2
4. Glowly Color

4. Circled eyes using magnetic lasso and ran a USM set to 100, 3.0, 0
5. Brought down opacity just a bit - to around 86%
6. Ran eye pop action and adjusted to 86% opacity as well (I don't like eyes to look freaky!)

7. Vignette by Child's Play
8. Resized for web using Heidi's resize action.

I timed it, I did this image is just over 4 minutes, and that was with a squirmy toddler in my lap!! :)


Variations on After :)
For each of these, I began with my 'after' image from above

Used Jess' Warm Honey Action


Indie Actions Subtle Color & 1/2 kick


Purplish b&w from Child's Play