I Heart Photo Contest | Pet Faces

It's 'Pet's Week' over on I Heart Faces, and this one was a bit hard to decide on!  Having two cats of my own, and my sister having two, as well, I decided to have a pet photo session with all four of them, to see what I might come up with.  I was able to catch a couple that we all liked ... one of my male cat, and one of her female cat.  I finally decided between the two, and my sister will be quite happy to know that her cat, affectionately named, Miss November, was chosen for this week's challenge!  I just couldn't resist her little face in this image!  She was adopted from a local Pet Smart, as was mine, and has been with my sister's family for quite a few years now.  She's sweet, quiet, and shy, running to hide when we visit, so, I was very happy that she sat still long enough for me to snap this particular pose ... can't you just see her tapping her paw in agitation at the camera! Lol!  And my boy, well, I may post the one of him, soon ... just so he doesn't feel so left out! :)

If you'd like to see more adorable pet faces, or, if you'd like to join in on the fun and share one of your own, click on the logo below, and enjoy! 

I Heart Faces | Fix it Friday #80

I absolutely adored this image when I first saw it on the page describing the Dream Big Photography Workshop!  Oh, how I wish I could have been there!  I'm hoping, someday, they'll bring one a bit closer to home!  This particular image, taken by the extremely talented Jessica Paige, spoke to me of family togetherness, and love of sisters!  I loved everything about this image, so it was difficult to decide how to make any changes to it.  I worked on my usual four ... so here is what I came up with for this week's 'fix' from I Heart Faces!

On the first edit I started with brightening the eyes, adjusting color, contrast, and sharpness.  I then converted it to b/w, then to enhance it even more, I added a b/w gradient layer at 100% opacity ... adjusting sharpness and levels again.  I added a diffused glow, and finally an amazing texture layer from Shadow House Creations, setting that layer to multiply, and masking it off their faces, only a little. I love the result ... for some reason it reminded me of a picture someone, far from home, possibly in the military, would have had folded in his pocket, to pull out and look at when he was homesick!  

On the second edit, I used the first one keeping the color, adjusting to bring out more warmth.  Added the textured sky background, (another one by Shadow House Creations) masking it from the ground, faces, and frame.  Adjusted color levels, adding even more warmth, sharpening it up a bit, and finishing it off with a slight vignette.   

On the third edit I adjusted brightness, cropped it to bring those sweet faces in closer, adjusted color, and levels. I then wanted to brighten the sunlight even more behind them to see what that would look like, so I duplicated the image, added a 105mm prime lens flair, and lowered opacity to 68%.  Flattened, adjusted levels, adding a warm filter, then softened it with a diffused glow layer.  Not quite satisfied, I tried a monotone sepia layer, with opacity set at 60%.  Adjusted contrast a bit more, and this is my final result. Not full of the original color, but I liked the more muted tones to this one.

On the fourth, and final, edit ... same as the third, only converted it to black and white, adjusting brightness, contrast, and levels.  These are the results done using PSE7.

 SOOC
Image by Jessica Paige

 #1 - B/W with added texture
by Shadow House Creations

 #2 - Warm and full of color featuring
another texture from Shadow House Creations

 #3 - Toned down, and close up

#4 b/w

Would love your thoughts and comments on any of these edits!  It's great being able to practice like this, and if you'd like to see more of these adorable girls, or, try your hand at it, just click on the link below!  Have a blessed, and warm weekend, y'all!  Any of you getting snow right now?!  We have a cold rain ... and, snow is on the way!  Time to snuggle in, and head for for some hot cocoa, and popcorn! :)

I Heart Faces Photo Contest . 'Scenic' Black and White

Country, cornfields, and a camera!  Last minute I know ... and unfortunately, I missed the deadline by about 15 minutes, but still, I wanted to share something for this week!  I simply adore black and white images, and this is the one I had chosen for the contest.   Here we have Tim ... the one I spoke about last week ... the 'newlywed'!  (And thank you again, Angie, and Amy for picking my image as one of your favorites!)  Back to this week ... Tim is hard at work here, at a very special, outdoor, country event ... it was a beautiful warm day.  I know the scenery isn't quite in focus on this one, but trust me, it was beautiful!  To check out all the other amazing black and white scenic images, click here on I Heart Faces, or, their logo below!  I'm on my way there now!