Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Fun Before and After Pictures

So, I have been doing a lot of reading about photography and a lot of Photoshop tutorials. It seems like every one has a cool different way to make pictures pop, smooth skin, lighten dark exposure, or just sharpen your image. There are actions out there everywhere. And it's hard to choose between them all. I have tried many different ones. A lot of them are great, because they take a lot of time out of your work flow.

But I found a really cool plug-in for CS4 that I am so very excited about. It look about 20 minutes off my editing time! I just wanted to show a quick before and after picture of a Senior portrait shoot I did the other day. Here is my before picture. It is straight out of the camera. It's dull and her skin is a bit splotchy. And the angle I had her hat made her cheeks look a bit full. I should have asked her to push her chin out a bit. I am a beginner and I do make a lot of mistakes. But anyway, enough about all my mistakes. So, I ran a plug-in in Photoshop and this is what I came out with. I am so excited! Do you wanna know why? Because my after picture took all of four minutes to create!! When before I got my plug-in it would have taken me a good 25 minutes to brush her skin, then sharpen her eyes, then do a color boost. Now, I click about three buttons and I am done!! I am so very excited I just had to tell everyone!! Plus before and after pictures are fun to look at! It always amazes me how different they look. Oh, and I also made her cheeks a bit smaller in the After picture, which is a trick I am LOVING!!

12 comments:

TjandMark/AKA PearlandHawkeye said...

Would you be interested in doing some touch up work on digitized photos I could send you? For pay, of course. It is like plastic surgery without the surgery! LOL. Great work.

KaNdRa and JaReD said...

Hey could you take a picture of me and then make my butt smaller?!?!?! haha It does look great!

The Wife said...

I'm still a photoshop weiner. I only have elements but it just takes too much time to figure out. Or maybe I don't have the patience to try to figure it out. I do love the plug-in though.

Carroll Farm said...

What an amazing difference. If I were closer, I would SO call you!

Danielle Michelle said...

Ok - what plug in? That is awesome!

The Wades said...

I have had Photoshop for some time but never use it. I even signed up for an expensive class on line but didn't have time to take it. (It was during pumpkin stand time.) I need plug-ins and to figure out how to do them!!

Gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

I came to check in and see how you all are doing. I went to your photo blog and the photos are wonderful Andrea. I don't know how you git in everything that you have to do and then take beautiful photos too. .. Michelle

Jennifer said...

Wow..the difference is amazing. I just got a new SLR camera and am trying to figure it all. I had NO IDEA there was so much to know. What are the best resources you've found? Looooking gooood!

Unknown said...

VERY cool! Would you be willing to share which plug-in that is?? To a fellow photographer that is no where near you geologically and therefore can't possibly compete with you??

Paula said...

I think it's fabulous! I love it!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Wow! What a huge difference! The yes freak me out just a little bit, though. Maybe they could be sharpened just a little bit less?
Otherwise it looks awesome!

I've never used Photoshop. Too pricey for me, but I have played around with Picnik, which is free, easy and fun to use. :)


~Lisa

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

the EYES....not the yes. lol! Weird.


~Lisa