I ♥ Faces - Fix It Friday #56

Yes it is Friday again, and besides the fact that I get two whole days off in a row now, it is Fix-It-Friday over at I ♥ Faces. I love to participate in these but don't always get to every week. This week's image is of the cutest little twins...well, they may not be the cutest anymore since my niece and nephew were born. ;) Here is the original image:

The submitter of this image loves the interaction of the twins, but thinks it's a bit dull. I agree...while I like the pattern of the background, I didn't care for the dingy gray tones it produces. Here is my fix:

Now for what I did, please keep in mind that I do not use Photoshop, but a program called PhotoImpact. If you wish to follow my steps I am sure that there is something compatable to the actions and such that I used to get these results.

First I went to Smart Curves as I usually do but I could not find a preset that worked well.

Having failed on Smart Curves I went to Brightness and Contrast and increased those to B +20 C +15.

I then went into Color Cast and added just a touch of green to diffuse the red in the image.

I applied a mask to the babies and the white cushion then cut them out.

I opened a picture I took a while back and cut out a little piece of the sky then pasted it to the original image.

I then returned the babies to the original.

I merged all the layers and used clone and blur tool to clean up the edges where I made the cuts.

Lastly I used a font called KRDecoFrames and added the frame to the image.

That's it...hope you enjoyed my fix and to see more click the I ♥ Faces logo below!

Been Pretty Busy

I apologize for not 'being here' much lately. I am working on quite a few things at the moment so my blog is being put on the back burner it seems. As you may have read in my Post #100 I will be moving to New York in early July. Therefore I am working on preparations for that, trying to find a buyer for my house, packing (well the kids have been packing), finishing projects before the move (such as completing my son's new dresser, pics to come soon), working on my business (feel free to visit my Gallery and help me out with that one! lol), and numerous other tasks. I have been trying to get someone hired at my job to take over as manager. I am leery about just anyone taking over that store as I and my employees have worked very hard to get it to where it is right now. I also want to make sure that whoever takes over doesn't turn into a crazed person with a God complex and end up driving my employees to point of quitting. It's a lot of work to make a move, especially one this far.

Here in the household, we are all doing well. The snakes are growing beautifully, the frog is...well sitting there cause that's about all he does. The cats just got bathed, treated for earmites and sprayed for fleas...needless to say they are not too happy with me right now. Obad-Hai, the water dragon, will be getting a new home. Not that we don't love him, but Kevin has no room for him where he is staying right now and he also needs the funds to help pay for the enormous vet bills that Bruno has been racking up. Which reminds me...anyone interested in buying a Quaker Parrot? He wants to find a good home for her as well as he has little time to give her the attention she requires. The kids are out of school and have been spending the days working on packing and doing there chores in the midst of playing and goofing off. But I didn't really expect them to do differently. They grow weary with the long time I am at work while they have nothing much to do here at home. This next week they will be with their fathers so perhaps they will not be so bored.

I guess that's all for now. I hope everyone who reads this has a wonderful day, weekend, week, month, etc. I will hopefully have some nice pics of the progress on Ashe's new dresser soon!

This Week's Featured Image Week 16

Another week has gone by and soon I'll be making the move from Texas to New York. Here is last week's featured image:

I took this image at the park of some racoon prints I found near the tank there. As I was playing with them, I wanted to make the prints stand out and red was the best choice. Thus the name, Caught Red Handed. This image is part of my ABS Photography Series. I hope you enjoyed this week's image, and that you will also enjoy next week's. Once again, remember that all the images you see on the Featured Image, and more are available to purchase as prints by visiting my Gallery. Also, I am still offering a discount on purchases at this time so be sure to take advantage of that.