{Summer} Donna

Here's Maddy at the community pool in the late afternoon. I especially love the shadow!

Camera: Canon 5D
Mode: Pattern
Focal Length: 55mm
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/6.3
Shutter: 1/125 sec.

Overlay/frame from: http://tempusfug.blogspot.com/
Polkadot flower from: http://nanas-attic.blogspot.com/
Most other flowers from: http://simplytiffany.squarespace.com/
Swirlie doodles: swirlies3_28 (website unknown)
Breezy Hearts: http://imaginebyfran.blogspot.com/

{summer} Sarah

When I read Rebecca's post tonight about this month's theme, I knew right away what photo I wanted to post. I used Rebecca's Chocolate Cream Lightroom Preset, and then opened it up into Photoshop for sharpening some details and working on the selective coloring.

Hannah and I enjoy our popsicles together outside on the back porch right before her evening bath. I strip her down to her diaper and just let her go at it. It drip drip drips all over the place, and our little dog eagerly awaits the droppings underneath the table.

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
Mode (Auto, Manual, Av, Tv): Tv
Lens 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length: 51mm
ISO 500
Aperture f/6.3
Shutter 1/1000

theme winners, and july 2009's theme!

Like Cindy, I too am screeching in here at the last minute. :) Summer is such a busy time!! For that reason I've decided to take a bit of a break in July. We're going to call July's theme {summer} and ladies, you are under no obligation to participate this month if you don't have time - but if you catch a great photo or two that speaks "summer" to you, post away! The site will remain open for you to share your captures. We will not be hosting a contest in July or putting up Mr. Linky, but will resume our theme contests in August. And for those who enjoy the contests, we will be offering our first PRIZE (at an $84 value) for the 1st place winner!! So stay tuned next month for details on that.

We had some beautiful contributions to our before/after theme in June - which made it very difficult for us to choose only 2 for our winner and runner-up. We loved so many of your entries and enjoyed viewing them, not only to appreciate the great photography but the creative editing that many of you used to enhance your photo. Thank you so much to everyone who participated!

Here were our picks:

Theme Winner: Hana Lynch

Before:

After:

To read about Hana's editing process, click here.
About Hana:I've had a passion for photography since my first was born 6 years ago, however, I just bought my first dSLR less than three months ago! I love photographing children and capturing those priceless moments that you might not think to photograph. I love using natural light and very rarely use a flash in my "real" photos. There's just something beautiful about natural sunlight that cannot be reproduced with a synthetic flash. I'm still a newbie to photography and I am learning new things about my camera and photo composition every day. When I'm not taking pictures (which doesn't happen often), you can find me sewing boutique children's clothing and baby gear for my kids, local boutiques, and my online Etsy shops. I am a SAHM to my son (6) and two daughters (3yrs and 14mos). I am also the wife to my wonderful firefighter husband!

Hana's blog is Sew Inspiring, and she can also be found at her 2 Etsy shops, MaeBelle Originals and PeanutButter and Ella Baby. You can also see more of her photography on her Flickr page.

Congratulations Hana!

Theme Runner-Up: Sarah (The Animator's Wife)

Before:

After:

To read about Sarah's editing process, click here.

About Sarah:
Sarah is married to a Hollywood animator, the mother of 4 busy children (1 adopted SPECIAL needs child and 3 biological children) and keeper of a home outside of Los Angeles. Her interest in photography began just 8 months ago when her husband gave her a DSLR camera for Christmas. That interest has bloomed into a full-fledged passion for capturing life as it happens. She has always loved words and the power of storytelling and brings that same purpose to her photography-- to tell a story as only a picture can.

Congratulations Sarah!

{Before and After} Cindy

Reclaiming my title as "Most Likely to Post Last", here I am with my {Before and After} contribution. I've actually had it picked out for weeks, but I honestly don't know where the month of June went! I took photos of my oldest daughter, Mindy, just before leaving for her first prom in May. It was easy to pick a favorite from among them. I edited it in PSE 5.0...adjusted the exposure levels and cleaned it up a bit with the spot healing tool, then started experiementing with filters. I really loved the way Diffuse Glow gave this image a romantic, elegant look.

Original image SOC:

Nikon D50...Focal Length 50mm...Aperture f/1.8...Exposure 1/4000 (-0.65)...ISO 400...no flash

I mostly use Aperture Priority mode on my camera because the D50 does not allow me to adjust my ISO in manual mode.

I just downloaded the 30-day trial of Lightroom this weekend, and I am stumbling around in the dark (pardon the pun) trying to figure it out. I had to do some googling just to learn how to export my Lightroom edit! Anyway, I took the original image, with those few initial PSE adjustments, and applied the Antique Grayscale preset. I also used the Tone Curve - Strong Contrast preset and gave it a vignette. I know I have a LOT to learn about using Lightroom, but I'm pleased with my initial efforts.

If I could change one thing about this photo, I would lighten the shadow on Alex's face. I don't notice it as much in the Lightroom version, but it bothers me a little in the PSE version. Does anyone know how to do this without affecting the entire image?

Before and After {Jessica}

The weekend before last I took a few wedding photos as a favor for this couple. Weddings are so intimidating to me but I pushed through being bundle of nerves and captured a few shots I adored. This photo is one of my favorites from the day.

I have been shooting in RAW and it's my preferred format for many reasons but most of all for the white balance adjustments. I cropped this in camera and tend to do that often but have been trying to shoot a bit wider recently for more room to 'play'. I uploaded into Lightroom and applied Rebecca's Vintage Wash Preset. I had to make a few adjustment for this photo; pulled back the vignette(len's correction), pulled back some of the black and adjusted my highlight and shadow tones more towards the red (the tones are set more towards green but I already had plenty of green cast from all the trees and grass). Next I opened it up in Photoshop CS4 and ran the Boost action from Pioneer Woman (masking out some of the areas that had to much 'Boost'. Then ran Skin Magic Action from Eye Candy Actions again masking out some areas that became to bright or shadowed. Finally, I applied the Cherry Pop Overlay (10%), Burn (85%) and Rounded Corners for the web from Eye Candy actions. After looking at it one last time I felt I wanted it a little more crisp so I applied Define and Sharpen (15%) from Pioneer Woman.

I think I could have avoided some of the actions had I adjusted my settings appropriately when I took the photo, my shutter speed was dragging for sure. I think the nerves had control for a bit :) Hope your all having a great summer!

{Before}



Camera: Canon 5D
Lens: 24-70mm f/2.8
Mode: Manual
Exposure: 1/40 (??)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal length: 55mm
ISO: 100


{After}

Before & After {Shannon}

Okay, nothing like coming in at the last minute...
We have had terrible computer issues in this house for weeks. I do not have LS or PS installed yet on our computers either, so I did the best I could with the tools I had! I have only recently dusted off my camera (shame, I know), but took some quick pics of my little girl as she sat in her chair reading books. Once she saw me get the camera, I had a chance to get 3 shots and no time for further adjustments before she toddled off to chase the dog. So, pp came in handy for this one. I have enjoyed seeing all of the creative pp this month. I have learned so much from all of you!

Before:

Camera: Canon XTi Lens:50mm f/1.8 Mode: Manual Exposure: 1/640 Aperture:f/1.8 Focal Length: 50mm ISO: 800

After: I cropped, sharpened, adjusted the color temp

Before & After {Shana}

.
.

..............................................{After}



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 85mm
Mode: Manual
Exposure: 1/2000
Aperture: f/2.0
Focal length: 85mm
ISO: 320

Post Processed in Photoshop CS4: After cropping the photo, I duplicated the background layer and used the clone stamp tool even out the background. Then I used my Florabella Textures: "Bombay" at 29% (overlay blending mode), "Bombay" "Ginger" at 11% (linear burn), "Ginger" again but at 21% (screen), and "Milk & Honey" 15% (screen). On the Bombay layer, I used a layer mask at opacity 35% to lightly erase the textures from the focal point areas. Basically, just cropping & textures! :)
.

.................................................{After}



.................................................{Before}


Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 85mm
Mode: Manual
Exposure: 1/1600
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal length: 85mm
ISO: 320

Post Processed in Photoshop CS4: First I duplicated the background layer and used the clone stamp tool to fill in missing parts of the background. Then I duplicated the layer again and desaturated a bit to make the colors less bright. I duplicated the layer yet again and changed the blending mode to "screen" and changed the opacity to 60%. Then I used my Florabella Textures: "Patina" at 18% (linear light blending mode), "White Linen" at 16% (screen), and "Milk & Honey" 35% (normal). On the Patina and White Linen layers, I used a layer mask at opacity 35% to lightly erase the textures from the focal point areas. Voila! :)

before and after {Stefanie}

I wanted to find a photo that I'd really messed up, and see what I could do with it. I still have not downloaded Aperture 2, so I just used the iPhoto application that comes standard on Macs.

Here is the before. We were at the zoo and I had moved from taking pics in the shade to the sun and snapped a few before I realized how overexposed they were. But I love her expression in this one so I figured I'd mess with it a bit.



Nikon d90
Manual
50mm focal length
2.8 aperture
1/640 shutter speed

Here is the after. I increased the saturation and temperature to warm up her face a bit. I downed the brightness and contrast to help with the shadows. I blurred the edges, cropped it and upped the sharpness, and that's it! I kinda liked the blown out quality of it, so I didn't want to darken it too much.

I would love any constructive criticism... and if anyone has and uses Aperture 2, I'd love your opinion on it :)

Before And After (Sharla)

So, I hope everyone is ok with this, but I ran it by Rebecca and she said it would be fine, s0 I deleted my first post and since there seems to be a lull in posting right now, I'm going to try again. Y'all have inspired me so much that I have been working, working to learn to do post processing and I am so excited about the results, I wanted you to see how you had inspired me! And thanks Michelle for the suggestion to download the free trial of Lightroom, I am totally addicted! What a wonderful program!!

On Monday, we didn't have anything to do, so Abby agreed to get dressed up and we headed out to the gardens at our local University... This is one of my favorites...

So here is my Before...



Nikon D90
My new (yea!) 18-55 Nikon lens
Manual
ISO 800
f/9 at 1/160

And now the after...



I cropped it and applied Rebecca's vintage wash preset but then made some adjustments...

I pushed up the highlight recovery to bring back some of the details in her dress and adjusted the magenta to get more of the salmon color, instead of the pink in her dress. It's just a little too orange, but adding red brought too much red to her face, so I was willing to sacrifice on the color in her dress a little (I don't know how to balance those independently).

I also added back some of the green of the plants... I applied a little more vignetting and then I used the brush to add just a little bit more exposure to her face and her arm... I decreased the clarity a little to soften the look of the photo...

I would love any suggestions or ideas for things to try! Thanks again for all of your inspiration!!