Thumbs -UP!

A quick one.

Taking pictures with kids... oh we love it right? Especially when the oldest is the hardest one to get to cooperate. Oh wait maybe that's just me and my kids. Here is a quick edit of a son who thought it would be awesome to put his Thumbs-up on his mom's head on the best shot of the day. Oh, character shots. :)

 So I put his arm down. Mom's happy. :)

I had to love the thumbs up though for another reason. It reminds me of my son, who gives thumbs up all the time, during a choir number when he's on the stand at church, under water when he's got his snorkels on, when I try to take a picture of  him, but he puts it directly in front of his face etc.

Family Picture

I am always weary about paying a photographer to take a family picture for us...
Why?
My kids are such pests about taking pictures. Even after an awesome photo session I end up doing editing. Are we really that un-photogenic? or just that much of a pain...

So here we are in all our edited together glory.

and the source to get us there:

Now that the Deal is Sealed...

Now that the couple is Married and on their life's way I am happy to show you their announcements and special invitation cards. :)

The mini cards were designed on a template so they could print them at home.
The bride wanted the announcement to match her wedding colors so that was fun for me to be able to play with. I also pulled her shirt down over her tummy photo-editing style.

It's always nice to start with awesome photography.
Utah Valley will be gifted with the photographer in a few short weeks.

Best wishes to the young couple!

Mexican Ancestor

Here is an edit of an old painting that had been folded into half and then three times down the length. Folding old paintings is never a good idea, in case you were wondering. If you ever must transport a painting any way but flat, rolling it loosely is the only way to do it, but even that should be avoided since the canvas treatment tends to be brittle and can flake off as you see happened when this one was folded.
(The photographer had to pin it down to keep it from folding in on itself while he took the picture)
Click on the image to enlarge it so you can really see.
Before the image was edited After

Anyway after some tender loving care she's ready to see the world again!
Oh, and she's not my Ancestor in case you were wondering.

Not your color?

When taking pics of my own kids, lets just say they aren't all that cooperative.

But I can make things work thanks to the after the fact editing I can do.
The purple background was nice for the girls... Not so much for the little guy. I had to do some facial edits to the little man since he had some scratches and such on his face (he's a boy after all)

Before

After

and the matching set looks smashing on the wall!

Baby face

These classic family shots were taken by Brina Vance from Vance Photography you can contact her for your own Fabulously priced family session by emailing her at BrinaVance@yahoo.com.

It's a classic

Picture with text overlay is a classic announcement style.
Looks simple right? But there are at least 6 major changes that made this Classic Picture announcement work. I'm not talking about the text either.
Lets play a game shall we? and see if you can spot them all.
Click on image below to see what I started with and the end result.


Congratulations to Marie and Ryan. Thanks for letting me be a part of this awesome time.

Simple adjustments

I had some fun shots of the two older kids and wanted to just spice them up a bit.
before and afters

I have my brother to thank for this shot, and of course my poser daughter... poser as in posing...

Family octagon

One of my favorite edits...
a family picture... from three different pictures. while the pictures of us each individually were cool, I thought it would be neato to capture us all together... so I worked that out.

5 heads

A cute batch of grandchildren needed 5 switches and I also removed the baby's binki and the cookie on the little boy's face in the bottom right corner as well as cropping out the lady on the left and centering the picture a bit more... (more space on the bottom).

Fun Idea

I recently finished this project via Etsy Alchemy. The client wanted it as an engagement gift for her two friends. She wanted it to be black and white and photographic looking. She said, "This is going to be a gift and the idea behind it is that I was walking along and "happened" to see two intersecting street signs with the two specific names." I thought it was a fun idea and a fun project. However, just to keep things a surprise... (the odds of the friends coming across my blog I find rather low but it is the web) I have inserted false names. Well, okay they aren't false. They are mine and my husband's. Though they might as well be false. :)

Family picture

They didn't want the neighbor's house in the background. We had quite a few options but the source option chosen is presented here. I took the photo and it didn't need any head switching. YAY! This one was put together to hang in their front room. If you look close you will see some of the obvious differences... like baby binki, green box and sunlight on the dad's hair.

Getting that Christmas card photo...

We don't always have the coinage to go to a really great custom/professional photographer (though I know a few who are GREAT)... and so that's where I put myself to work. This time of year it seems rather important to all of us to get a good family picture. I have done quite a few fam pic edits the last few weeks. I am only posting the more dramatic. Most recent was my own family. Talk about a multiple source compilation. And we are all happy with the end result. With a few snapshots, a nice family picture can be created given the right touch and attention.

Bridals

Over Thanksgiving I took some bridals for the most recent announcement design job. This was fun. This is just a collage of some of them. There was editing on every photo because of a blemish on the bride's face. We all get them... and we all don't want them to stay forever on a picture. She'd had pictures taken by a studio professional but wasn't happy with the results since they didn't look like her or show her personality. They also were rather awkward looking as the poses and settings she was put in were not right for her. I dare say she has plenty to choose from now. :) Thanks for the fun Kendra! It was a win win since I don't claim to be a photographer and she got the pics for free. :)

Creative head switching

Looking at Source Pictures and the Photo Edit is like a game of "what's different" between the pictures. See how many differences you can find. :)
Some photo edits are easier than others. This one was very involved. Click picture to enlarge. There were two head switches and significant color changing and matching. Each picture source had very different color profiles and to make them all one cohesive, believable picture takes a critical eye. Softening, blending, skin work, etc. After I finish a project I like to overlay the original picture and edited picture and shut off and on the layers and watch the heads move. This one was significantly humorous to watch because of the baby head switch since it looks like he is turning his head.

Family Photo Edit

Here is one I just did tonight. Each photo had one side or the other focused (can't really tell when they are this small, but it's true and that's why they wanted it edited). Top two are the originals. So a combo of the two and a little red spot editing on the father, as well as brightening up the whole picture.

Matching

This is something I get a kick out of... I may not be a trained photographer (other than what I learned from my dad and a photo class in High School. However, what I learned from my dad should actually be worth something... he is a trained photographer), but what I don't get the first time I can usually fix by computer. This has come in handy quite often, when working on Wedding announcements, design projects and just general photo touch-up. Especially since I am not always the photographer. This is really where I can add to your design needs because you don't have to have a professional photographer. I do this kind of thing so often. I also do a lot of head switching which is sometimes quite a challenge but with the right photos it works well. The first time I had to seriously do a head switch was my own wedding announcement. I don't have the original file that I used, I need to find someone who develops square format film so I can scan the original files so I can show a comparison. Recently I fixed this image to match another image since the two would be hung side by side. As you can see the original image is rather washed, and lacking contrast. The one that I matched it to had a vignette that I added as well.
Original














Edited set

ProPay

I recently just completed a free-lance job for a mailer. This was fun. It was mailed in green velum envelopes which fit the idea that they have transparent transaction processing, so you could see the very fancy stapler through the envelope. The stapler was fun to dress up. It originally was just your regular stapler. The mailer used VDP (variable data printing) which incorporated the font I designed: STAPLES SQ. The recipient's first name was written out in staples. The font was also used on the website or PURL (personalized URL) which the mailer called out to. VDP in and of itself isn't all that new but what can now be done to make it even more personalized and fun is getting cooler all the time.

Growing Poles, Wore the Wrong Color?

Good picture except for the pole, and I want the invitation blue, not green.... Don’t worry! We can fix that.
The right background can be hard to find, especially if you don’t want to hire a professional photographer for engagement photos. Save the moola for the wedding! Color schemes can be worked with, in this case their clothes and background clashed with the blue that was chosen for the invitation. So I just changed their clothes... Changing the background from the lovely fall colors to the grey helped carry the blue and white theme and brought our attention to the couple's faces and the information, not the landscape.

Head Switching

He looks good in this one and I look good in this one.... Don’t worry! We can fix that.


The best picture of the bride and groom were actually on two separate photos, instead of settling for one to have a better representation than the other the best of both was combined in the final invitation. It may be subtle but makes a difference, plus the tilt of his head makes the couple seem cozier. Color, brightness, pixel softening makes faces look warmer and more inviting. Background edits were included to ease the reading of the text while still capturing the background that was descriptive of this couple’s hobbies and personalities and adding attention to the real focus, the couple. I've done more dramatic head switches but this is just an example so you get an idea. The source images I used are on an abnormal negative format and I am having trouble finding someone who will make prints off it.

I really enjoy putting together photos and having no one be the wiser, and yet all being happy.