Calling All Maniacs...

The price for a 6day pass to Six Flags only $49!

So, who's in?

Put A Fork In Me...

Cuz I'm cooked!

My eyes are crossed and my head hurts from editing photos...yet I can't stop.
Please, someone come pry this mouse from my hands....or maybe waive some Bluebell under my nose...you know, whatever works, LMBO!

But I won't tease, at least not tonight....a few more for your optical enjoyment.

Sneak Peek

I am pleased to introduce Baby "J", 10 days old.
He's so sweet and cuddly, dontchaya think?
These are far from perfect by technical means, but ya gotta start somewhere...and regardless, the subject is as perfect as can be!
Thanks again to the new Mommy & Daddy for putting up with the crazy lady and the unruly beanbag chair.

For Lexi

Today is her 1st birthday party....been meaning to make these letters for her since before she was born. Didn't turn out quite as good as I hoped. At 3:30 last night, in a fit of insomnia, it seemed like a good idea to ink the edges to make them extra shabbylicious. Which is a fine idea, just probably poorly executed by yours truly.

And can't you just hear him? ".....I feel pretty, oh so pretty...."
Paybacks...I dare him to sass talk me at the age of 16, no, I double dog dare him, *insert malicious laugh*

{FIF}

Oh shes a cutie!
{original}

{Soft & Sweet}

{Black-n-White}


Check out the other edits....I*HEART*FACES!

ETA: Thanks for the sweet comments everyone, you sure know how to make a girl blush.

Thought I'd share my general Photoshop Elements 7 workflow here.

Duplicate your layer.
Run defog (USM 20/60/0) Then I usually turn down the opacity on this layer a bit...75-80% usually....but it depends.
Check Threshold for the whitest/darkest points of the pics (remember these areas)
Open up layers, click the white dropper to the lightest, the black dropper to the darkest. This sets your white balance pretty accurately....play around as needed. The on the histogram slider, bump the midtones a bit....to what you like.
Next is IMPORTANT! Hold the ALT and click your mouse on the white slider under the histogram. This will reveal the color channels. Ideally, the image will be black indicating nothing is "blown". Any colors you see here are those that need to be adjusted. Make note which colors.
If there are colors to correct, open up a Hue/Saturation layer. Under the dropdown, select that color, then on the desaturate slider, reduce back a little at a time. The open a new levels layer and recheck the channel to see if color has disappeared and the image is now black. Do this for every color that need adjusting. The more you do this, the better you can eye it and know how much to pull back....

Once its all good, flatten image. Now if too dark, duplicate layer two times, so you should have 3 layers of the same image. One the middle image, over in the layers palette, change the blending mode to Overly, change the belnding mode of the top image to Screen. Now pull back the opacities of each of these layers until it looks good. Overlay will give you contrast/color pop. Screen will lighten. Flatten when done.

Now, eye pop. Sounds complicated, but it aint. Use Lasso tool to circle around one eye. Hold SHIFT down and circle around the other eye. Both eyes should now be selected. Go to the top menu, choose Select>Feather>5pxls
Now, Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V....to copy and paste the eyes to a new layer.
Go to Filter>Other>High Pass and then set the slider to the point that you just start to see the details of the eye be defined. Now change the blending mode of the layer to HARD LIGHT. Then you can lower the opacity as needed to soten the eyes....no over-doing eyes please. Major No-No!
Flatten when done.

Then on this photo, I ran thru the freeware version of Noiseware....I did the Portrait preset to give a nice smoothing.

Then I did some fine tuning. I touched up some midtones to brighten a tad. Duplicated my layer again and ran the Autosharpen under Enhance. I erased back the eyes and lowered the opacity. Didnt want super sharp but thats totally up to you.
The cropped and burned edges....I am a burnt edge junkie...I admit it.

Ok, so there you have it. Sorry if it sounds confusing. I've done these steps a million times so I can do it my sleep. Feel free to ask if you have questions or just to tell me I make no sense, lol.
And one more thing....if you really want to improve your PSE skills....go right now, this very second to your nearest bookstore and get the Scott Kelby book for whatever version you have. The man is a genius and speaks clear English with step by step instructions. Trust me.

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!

The itty-bitty baby I was waiting for arrived late last week so looks like I'll be taking pics Sunday afternoon. Ahhhh *knees shaking*
Murphy, please keep your Law far, far away....