fix-It Friday #8

It's fix-it Friday at {i heart faces} and I had to do this one with a sick, clingy baby attached to my chest.  Not my best work but the best under the circumstances.  :-)

I started with the RAW file in lightroom to do some color and clarity adjustments and then switched to Photoshop for cloning out of all the signs.

Here's my fix:

And here's the original:

Want to have a play?   Head on over to:

It's Fix-It Friday!

Yes, that's right my blog friends...it's Fix-It Friday over at i heart faces again!

Today's pictures was a doozy!   But I did my best and used the opportunity to try a couple different things...

Here is the before:

Can you see the little cutie hidden in there?     Ok, so here's my first edit:

I started in lightroom and did most of my lightening and brightening in there but then I moved into Photoshop and used the cloning tool to eliminate some of the background distraction.  Because there was such a huge amount of brightening required and it was a jpg file, there was quite a bit of noise so I ran the dust and speckle as a mask so it only applied to her skin and the background.

I think it turned out ok.  But, I decided that the background had a bit of an artsy feel to me now I decided to add a canvas look to it:

Finally, I decided to eliminate the pinball aspect all together and also go B&W to just focus on the little girl.  I used the lemondrops creamy b&w action to get this:

Ok, I'm off to check what others did with this gal!   Wanna have a play?  It's great practice!!   Just go to:



Thanks for stopping by!!

Hands On - {i heart faces} week 8 challenge

The challenge at {i heart faces} this week is called Hands On.  Well, I edited some hands last week that really stood out to me!  In this shot, this lovely 9 year old girl was sitting on a hospital bed reading "Guess How Much I Love You?" to her 2 year old brother just after her new baby sister was born.  It was a really special moment and one I won't soon forget.

Check out more "hands" or play along by going to:

Fix It Friday....A Day Early, A Couple Weeks Late. Texture

The iheartfaces website runs a series called Fix-It Fridays.  They post a photo and then anyone can play with it to make edits as they see fit.  This was the last one they did but I decided to try it because they were encouraging the use of Textures.  Something I've never worked with before.  To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about them, generally speaking or in my use of it.   At least I know how now and I'll keep it in mind but don't think it'll be something I use too often....   I need some good urban shots so I can really play with it....

Anyway, here is the photo as it was given to us:

And here is my edit:

Wanna have a play yourself?  Just go to:



Let me know what you come up with!!