photo friday--"editing photos" & link party!

welcome to photo friday, friends! (link party at the bottom of this post)

i'm excited to bring you a guest post all the way from jolly ole' england!  michelle, from momma bird and momma bird photography, is with us today to share some fun insights into photo editing.
thanks, michelle!


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Well, this is my FIRST guest post!
I'm not going to lie - I'm SUPER nervous!
Andi & I's history:
Andi and I actually met in college.
She lived with two of my former roommates/friends.
And then she ended up marrying a high school friend of mine!
Such a small world.
We actually lost touch for a while until the blogging world brought us back together.
Andi is such a sweetheart - but I don't have to tell her readers that - you already know she is!
Thank you so much for allowing me to guest post on your blog!

Andi has been doing a great series on Photo Friday and since it's Friday I thought it was only fitting to talk about:
photography

I have always been BIG into taking pictures, but it wasn't until the last few years that I really took a more serious interest in it. My hubs bought me our first DSLR before our trip to Maui last summer and I was thrilled! But even with that fancy new camera there were still times where I took a picture that just was 'off'.
Insert the power of editing! I had been using the program that came with my computer (iphoto) to edit my pictures and it did do a great job, but I wanted more. I uploaded the photoshop elements and so far I'm sold!

Today I'm going to help you out a little with some editing tips and photoshop tricks!

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These lily photos were edited using iphoto.

{a photo editing software that comes with macs}

 {original}

{edited}

What I did to this photo {using iphoto}:

• I turned on the b&w
• I boosted the color.
• I lightened the exposer. {this adjusts the lightness of an image}
• I increased the shadows. {this increases detail by lightening shadows}
• I increased the saturation. {this changes saturation intensity}

I absolutely love black and white photos. I feel like they really show off the details of a picture. Pictures that seem too busy can be toned down by using b&w and help you focus in on the subjects.
In  my edits I increase the shadows and increase saturation. I feel like these two typically go hand in hand. If you increase the shadows, the colors seem to disappear so you want to bring some of that back in. When I take pictures of my kiddos their eyes seem to always darken up and I want to show off their baby blues - this editing tip helps with that!

{original}

{edited}

{all I did was lighten the shadows}

I'm still trying to learn the ropes with photoshop elements - but there are some simple ways to improve your pictures. They have lots of brushes to lighten images, increase color, brush up portraits, and that's just the beginning! They also have lots of fun tools to change up your picture - adding in lighting effects, blurring images, swirling your photos, wave effects - pretty much lots of fun stuff!

{original}

{edited}

In this image I used a brush to make the skies more blue, I lightened the image. 

Then I added lighting effect. 

{original}

{edited}

I cropped this image.
I used the brush on the skies - nature - blue skies.
I used the brush on the grass - nature - greenery.
I used the brush to lighten the entire image.
I then used the eraser to take the power lines away.

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I hope I have helped in some way! 

Editing pictures can make a normal picture turn GREAT! 

I would love it if you showed me some of your edits using these tips. 

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If you have photoshop - I found some 'actions' that are a free download:

Pure Photoshop Actions

Pioneer Woman's Photoshop Actions

100 Free Photoshop Actions & How to Make Your Own
http://www.thecoffeeshopblog.com/

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♥

thanks again, michelle, for the really useful tips and tricks and also the links to the actions.  actions are my friend~!

please check out michelle's blogs (momma bird, SAHM confessions) and photography blog----she always has so many great insights and tips on photography, living life, and motherhood.

now onto our weekly photo friday link party:




only a few guidelines to help us all have a fun party:1.  please link to your specific photo post (and not your home blog page)
2.  add my button to the post or your sidebar so we can keep this party growing





<center><a href="http:milesandmems.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc383/dreamrdo/photofridaybuttoncopy.jpg"/></a></center>
3.  and visit some of the other linker-uppers and give them some comment love

remember:  this can be any photography-related post from this week~

thanks for participating!