Photo Challenge Week 41 - I Heart Beef

The word over at I Heart Faces this week, is BEEF!!  One of my favorite things to cook, and, in so many ways!  It's hard for some people to pass up a nice juicy steak, though, especially, my husband!  When I think of this challenge, I'm also reminded of the little lady they used in the Wendy's commercials ... remember her?  She'd shout out, "Where's the beef?" :)  Well, for my entry, you'll not see steaks, or burgers, meat loaf, or shish-ka-bob, instead, we have our local 'beef' hot dog connoisseur ... absolutely no pork here, and you should see all the fixin's he uses once that dog reaches the well-done stage!  

Recently, we were with some good friends, on a cool fall evening, around a glowing campfire, roasting those dogs ... and yes, there were s'mores for dessert, too, made with those extra-extra large marshmallows!  Now, I realize there is no face in this image, there aren't in many of the entries, but it's all about the beef ... at least, for this challenge, right?!  You can head on over to see more hearty entries by clicking on the link below this photo!  

Beef ... in any form ... it's what's for dinner!!

Love Your Shot ... Favorite Faces

This week, over on Love That Shot, is a new contest with the theme of 'Your Favorite Faces'. There are some pretty amazing entries over there, all good enough to win this week's prize of a $100 gift card to Florabella's Actions and Textures! I certainly wouldn't want to be Angie or, Amy, the guest judges from I Heart Faces, trying to pick the winner of this one!!  Florabella is definitely one of my favorites when it comes to enhancing any image!

Here is my 'favorite face' photo for this theme ... my adorable niece, Rylie.  She's such a joy to be around, always brings a smile to my face, and so fun to capture with all her expressive moods. She also has the prettiest blond curls, and I love catching them in the natural sunlight. I extracted all color in this image, added a taupe layer, tweaked the brightness, and contrast, along with adding a slight diffused glow, to give her somewhat of a halo ... all serves to give it a soft and dreamy feel.  Currently my editing program is PSE7, but, I am hoping to upgrade soon.  You just have to head on over to Love That Shot, scroll down to the bottom of the page and check out all the fantastic faces ... just click on their button below!

Fix it Friday #73

It's Fix-it-Friday, again ... and, I'm one day late! 

Check out more edits by clicking on this button:

Once there, be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page,
and click on any one, or more, of the links,
and if so inclined, join in with us ... it's great practice!

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This week's image comes from Keli Hoskins.
This adorable little girl had such a cute expression on her face,

and the prettiest eyes!

I enjoyed playing around with this, and, making a few changes to the original.
I used PSE7, which, I might add, I am still learning about.

. original .

On the first, edit, below, I adjusted the levels, contrast, and colors, changing those up a bit ...
layered it with a hint of green using the photo filter ...
notice the flip-flops are now green.
Then I brightened up her eyes to make them pop, and added a light vignette.

Fix #1

On the second edit below, I stripped it of color, overlayed it with a solid taupe color, 

adjusting the opacity, brightness, and contrast, darkening the upper left hand corner, 

finally, adding a little lens flair in the upper right hand corner, dialing the opacity back about half way.

Fix #2

On the third, and final, edit ... I did basically the same as what I did to #2, 

only adding a texture, then masking it off of her. 

I then adjusted the brightness, and contrast a bit more before adding a light vignette.  

Not too sure about this one. Would love your thoughts on these! 

I need to improve on explaining all of my steps! =\

Until next week ... Happy October!
Ciao'

Fix #3