I'm Kind of Addicted.

... to my camera. And Photoshop. Good thing the two of those go hand in hand.

As in... I can use my camera to take pictures of other people in order to keep feeding my PS addiction. Good thing I have friends with cute babies who humor me (even if their husbands don't... cough, cough, PETER... cough).

I think we got some good shots, though! At the top are the edits, and then underneath I put together some before and afters (because I like to see how far my editing skills have come).

For this edit, I removed the truck from the back of Peter's shirt and changed the trees on the left hand side of the building. 

For this edit, I moved Katie over to the far right side of the photo and added sand. 

For this edit, I removed most of the background (it was kind of an eye-sore). 

I wish I'd saved some of the "before" shots from my maternity pictures, because the editing that went into those was pretty awesome, and I was really proud of myself. Oh, well. I'll just have to remember to always keep originals from now on! 

Maybe someday I'll show you some of my old edits, and you all can laugh at my horrible judgement from days gone by. ;)

He's Good at Taking Pictures.

Happy Monday! 

I know I've totally slacked on Sunday Confessions the past few weeks, and I will try to get back in the swing of things, I promise!! Anyway, my wonderful husband took some photos of me since I'm WAY too cheap to pay someone to take maternity pictures. Besides, I REALLY like to do all of my own photo editing (since I know exactly what I like/don't like), so this was a win-win. Without further ado, I give you my 36 week (okay, 35 weeks 6 days) maternity pictures.

And the Winner is.... Plus the Cutest Kid on the Block.

Happy Tuesday! 

Just dropping in to let you all know that the book for this month is...

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER. 

And this is where I leave you with some photos that I took of a really adorable kid this weekend. I tell you what, those baby blues are killer. 

Isn't he a darling? 

Lately.

Hey girl, hey!! 


Okay, so lately... life's been a little crazy (okay, not really, but it makes me feel better to pretend I'm super busy like the rest of you). So instead of putting an emphasis on crazy, maybe I should put it on little (as in slightly/tiny/not really crazy at all).

Right. So where was I? Oh, yeah. I was going to tell you all what I've been up to lately. What's that? You want pictures? Okay. 

Well... 


I've gotten a few blog designs finished (almost done with 2 more)

Made some business cards for Stesha at Classic and Bubbly

Wore shorts for the first time in months

 Edited some photos (because I figured out how to replace a blown-out sky in Photoshop)

& won a giveaway from Lori's blog! $50 to this amazing Etsy shop, yo! I'm thinking one of these two... for a little rugrat's nursery someday. No, I'm not pregnant. Yes, I'm preparing well in advance.

Hope you all are having a great start to your weekend!!! 


There's still time to enter the giveaway here. 

The Do's and Don'ts of Photo Editing: Part 3 [Favorite Things Friday]

Hi there! 

So. I know it's Favorite Things Friday, so I thought I'd combine this with my "do's and don'ts of photo editing." Since all I have left to do is the "do's," I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite things about good ole Photoshop with you, my lovely readers.

[I've already said that I'm not a professional, so you can take my advice or leave it.]

1. Free Actions. Guys, you can download some amazing (and free!) actions from DeviantArt. There are so many fun options, and your photos will love you. 

2. Blemish Removal. I've put together a quick little tutorial on how to remove blemishes in less than two minutes on photoshop. Check it out! 

3. Brushes. Dudes. I have a brush problem. Once again, you can download a bajillion from DeviantArt for free. These puppies are my best friends. If you're planning on using them commercially, though, make sure you read the "readme" files when you download. 
4. Smoothing Skin. It is possible to smooth your skin after removing blemishes without making yourself look plastic. Plus side: It takes less than five minutes. I made another tutorial for your viewing pleasure. 5. Lighten shadows quickly. And I don't mean by just upping your exposure. I recently learned a nifty little trick that I'll show you... Sorry, another tutorial!! 
There you go! Hope you guys learned something new today! If you have questions, just leave them in the comments section! 
Have you entered the group giveaway yet? No? Do it here. 

Free alternative to Picnik (a better program)

Hey guys! 
I'll be back in a couple of hours with a real post, but I had something that I thought I'd share with you. 
I know many of you are upset about Picnik closing, and as much as I hate that dumb program, it makes me sad to see fellow bloggers sad! So... I just wanted to let you guys know about PicMonkey. It's a free, no registration required, online photo-editing program that is actually made by the makers of picnik. 
It's got a lot of the same features, and it's a lot more user friendly I think! 
Be aware though, that you are not allowed to pull any of my photo-editing don'ts just because this program exists. :)
So... try it out, let me know what you think. 
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The Do's and Don'ts of Photo Editing: Part 2

Howdy, folks! 


Last week, I gave you a list of 5 "don'ts" of photo editing. Well... guess what?! I have more. This post will be the rest of my "don'ts," and next time I do a list, it will be all the good stuff you can do (and, of course, the list will probably be a lot shorter).

So. To continue from last week....

6. Over-exposure. No, your photo does not look good when it's over-exposed. Sure, that over-exposure may hide your blemishes, but it also makes your nose look like Lord Voldemort's (for all you non-Harry Potter fans out there, that's not a good thing).

7. Over-saturation. Are you noticing a trend here? Over-anything is bad. Very bad. You don't want to look like a freakin' oompa loompa, people, and over-saturating your picture will do just that. You'll look like you spent too much time in a tanning booth. Plus, if you have yellow teeth... ugh. You don't want to know what that will look like.

8. Too much eyes. No, I'm not talking about you grabbing the paint tool and drawing googly eyes all over your photos. I'm talking about you trying too hard to make your eyes pop. Bright eyes are a great thing, but when you go too far... the results are terrifying.

9. Too much vignette. I personally hate large vignettes. I don't think they look professional at all. I think they just scream, "Look at me! I'm a novice at editing my photos and vignette is the only thing I know how to use!" 

10. Color Filters. These are actually a love-hate thing with me. I hate it when they're used incorrectly, I love it when they're used correctly. This technique can also be used to make you look like an oompa loompa, strawberry, or alien. I'm thinkin' I did a pretty good job of making myself look like a cherry tomato here.

There you have it. Ten things NOT to do when you're editing your photos. Stay tuned for tutorials on things TO do. 


PS: Don't forget to enter the giveaway here. 

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The Do's and Don'ts of Photo Editing: Part 1

Whudup. Yo. A-deezy in the heezy fa sheezy. 


Gangster moment over.

Oh, the totally made-up word from yesterday is basically the word for the vehicle that a soccer mom uses to tote all her kids around and run errands. 

via

Okay, so I've been asked to do some Photoshop (which will be known from here on out as PS) tutorials, but I am to lazy to  can't figure out how to get my computer to record what I'm doing. This may be a good thing, because I don't want to accidentally post videos of myself looking up pictures of pokemon and have you guys wonder what the heck I do in my free time.

Until I stop being so dumb figure out how to use my computer, I have compiled a list (complete with pictures) of do's and don'ts in photo editing. Note: I'm not a professional photographer, I'm not a professional editor. I am, however, pretty skilled where PS is concerned. No, I don't have a degree in it. I taught myself everything I know. If that discredits me as a resource in your eyes, go ahead and stop reading. Thanks!

DON'TS

1. Spot Color. UGH. Please - this makes me cringe. Yes, I am guilty of it - long, long ago in my "Picnik" days. You may think that this "enhances" your photo. Umm no. Maybe it enhances my fear of or disgust with your photo, but no. It does not make your photo better. Having only your eyes blue or brown looks stupid. Having a random blotch of your photo colored looks stupid.
I'm sure there are 1 or 2 cases out of every 1,000,000,000 where spot color works, but generally it's just a bad idea that should be flushed down your brain toilet the second it pops into your head.

all of the above images via

2. Random cut and pastes. This one can't be done in Picnik (thank goodness), so it's not as common, but once you learn how to use PS, please promise me that you will never do this. Please. 

all photos above via

3. Too much airbrush. We've all seen it, and we've all probably been guilty of it at one point or another. You know, the second you saw the airbrush tool on Picnik. You thought, Great! Now I can get rid of all my fine lines, wrinkles, and blemishes! Getting rid of that stuff is fine, but there is a point where it's just too much. I mean, faces have line, people!! That too much - it's about the point where you no longer have pores or any sign of aging. Oh, and your face looks drawn on and totally not even real.

4. Over-editing (specifically the over-use of actions). See, in PS there are these things called actions. In Picnik, they are the little pre-made edits like cross-process, vibrance, etc. Those things are fine. Great, even. But once you can't see the picture, you've gone a little overboard. (Edit: After Megan's comment, I had to re-over-edit this photo... I hadn't over-edited enough! haha, shows you how much I hate it.)

5. Over-use of textures. Textures are freakin' cool, and they can make a great photo even more rockin'. The fact is, though... that if you over-use them, your photos will look silly. People. There is a place where you cross the line and "too much" happens.

That's all for now! I think I will have to have another post with more "don'ts," because I have quite a few that I didn't touch on at all!!