Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Before and After...Black eyed..



SUSAN!

Let's say it all together now...
This picture is muy feo!
Oh, you didn't know I spoke Spanish?
I don't.
I'm sorry Susan...but it's true.
You are not living up to your potential. 
blackeyebefore




May I recommend a little beauty shop down on the corner called
La Tienda de Fotografia?
blackeyeafter

They work wonders.


The recipe.
1. cropped the picture into oblivion.
2. Brightened by using a Level adjustment layer.
3. Desaturated using Hue/Saturation adjustment layer...I think I added a B/W gradient map and set it to soft light but one can not be sure of this.  My memory is failing me.
4. Applied a Kim Klausen texture called "break free" and set it to overlay and decreased the opacity to taste.
5. Flattened image.
6. But I was not happy.
7. I did not feel satisfied.
8. Therefore I added another layer of the same texture and set it to "lighten" and decreased the opacity to taste. I used a layer mask and painted off some of the texture.
9. I then made a duplicate copy of my flattened image from step 5 and put it on top of this second texture.  I set the blending mode to normal and reduced opacity to taste.
10.  I then flattened the image and sang the hallelujah chorus.

**Disclaimer**
There is no rhyme or reason as to why I do what I do.  I had 15 minutes to play with "Susan" and I just went with it.  




Check out more beautified wonders at Pixel Perfect.

42 comments:

Dana said...

That is so cool! I love what you do to your photos. You have so much patience to work with them. I am so lazy...I was just dreaming of a camera that took awesome pics and then sent them to my computer (blog) with just a push of a button. And didn't cost a bazillion dollars.

Seizing My Day said...

envy envy envy! ;) You are so talented Julie! love the set up and the end product!

Hope you had a lovely cumpleanos! ah ha... didn't know I spoke a tiny bit of Spanish either ~ did ya?

Stylist A said...

WOW!!!! What a great job. You made something that didn't really look link much and turned it into something so beautiful. Something I could see up on my walls.

xo,
Alysha

Love Letters To China said...

I love it! If it took you only 15 minutes to do this, I can only imagine what you'd be able to do in 30. Oh how I wish I would take the time out and learn a little more of Photoshop techniques. One of these days...

Melis said...

That's awesome! I hope she doesn't go back to her old look - the new one is WAY better!

Katharine said...

What?, huh?, pardon?, a gradient, opacity...oh never mind! It's gorgeous! I love this. I haven't a clue in a month of Sundays what you've done, but you make me want to learn! I love your before and after's!
Blessings!

Bethany said...

You're just brilliant!

Rach@In His Hands said...

Gorgeous.

Sassy said...

That is beautiful! I haven't worked with textures yet. Mainly because I don't know how and haven't had time to learn. But I love what you do with them!

Ashley Sisk said...

Beautiful. Thanks for your recipe.

Excellent Parent said...

ack I love it!

laney said...

Congratulations on winning last week's blog hop...you deserved it! That picture was awesome and so is this week. You are great with photoshop. I wish I had the patience to play around with PS ,but I always give up in about 5minutes.

koreen (aka: winn) said...

So nicely done! I love just playing with photoshop and seeing what happens. =)

Anonymous said...

May I say, wow! Doesn't even look like the same picture. Now I HAVE to do something with textures... thanks for the Kim Klaussen name! And thanks for visiting my blog today...

Katie said...

LOL! You crack me up! I love that you included the emotional steps for the process! Oh, and I like your edit, too! :)

SarahinSC said...

I would have never guessed that the second shot came from the first one. Amazing! I like your write up of how you accomplished the end product. That's just what I do too!

Anonymous said...

wonderful before and after! WOW!!! Didn't you win last week? Congrats! Enjoy the necklace!

Kristen Laudick said...

Love it!

Shannon K. said...

You're the master. What took you 15 minutes, would have taken me 15 days. I'm really not exaggerating.

Hope you had a good birthday??

He & Me + 3 said...

I think it turned out FAB! Great job again. You got the hang of this editing thing. So proud of you. Teach me please.

Liz said...

Oh, I love it! Your pictures always make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

Anonymous said...

I love your edit. This is beautiful!

Sonora said...

Love this!!! I am always so impressed with you. Someday I will figure out how to edit.

Tara said...

Amazing as usual!!!

CONGRATULATIONS on winning !!!

Carrie said...

You are so creative, Julie - I'm in awe!! ;)

TheFitHousewife said...

Tres Bien. Sorry, me no speaky the Spanish, just French!

Amy Sullivan said...

So "went with it" works! I always want to break out my camera every time I stop by... :)

LKP said...

ok, i'm now madly in love with susan.
Me Encantas = you amaze me!

Michelle said...

LOL! This is great! When I saw the SOOC I had no idea where you were going with it, but man....it's amazing!

Heidi said...

WOW, you lost me at step 5 :) Just LOVE your stuff here! I think I know how to edit a photo until you start showing off again! HUGS--
Heidi & Jack.

Courtney said...

Amazing, Julie! a beautiful work of art!

Lula Lola said...

You need to teach classes my friend! Lovely! Wish I had a Susan to practice on. I may have to settle for Queen Anne('s lace)!

Kim@stuffcould.... said...

Wow, what you do with a photo! Beautiful!
kim

Mrs. Chapman's 2nd Grade Class said...

WOW!! I love it! I need my own private tutoring class. You have an amazing talent!

Unknown said...

Julie,
This is grand! I'm a member of the photoshoptestkitchen too! Just getting to know the group!

Kristy

Manda said...

I love to see your before and afters... they are like magic before my eyes. xo

Jami said...

I can't think of any cool Spanish comments, but this is lovely. Wanna be my neighbor?

Stacey said...

Gorgeous! You make me actually want to try my hand at photo editing. Sadly, I have nothing with which to photo edit. There's always Christmas...

LindsayDianne said...

I love black eyes susans, and we're getting a great second crop of everything right now because it's been so warm here so far. I'm sure they'll kick the bucket soon, but in the meantime I'm enjoying the eye candy.

Liz said...

I love playing around with texture too this is great.

Dita said...

Don't know what I loved more...the picture re-do or the commentary!

Very cool and excellent (as my 11 year old would say!)

Laura@The Oily Cupboard said...

that turned out gorgeous!

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