Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Colleen has got it going on with Photoshop actions

This is a picture of my lovely niece, Colleen. She's a natural model and always has been since she was but a wee little thing. Colleen, if you're reading this, you are a total ham! And that's in a good way, honey.

I took this picture over the holidays while at my in-laws home in NJ. Colleen was trying to incorporate all the accoutrements from the gift wrappings onto her person, if I remember correctly. I thought, at the time, that she had done a splendid job of it!

This picture was accomplished with Pioneer Woman's free actions again. I used her Action Set #1. But before that, I got the picture to where I wanted it to be. That included making Colleen's eyes sparkle. Check out Pioneer Woman's site right here to find out how to make eyes pop. It's quite simple, actually, and lends a big impact to the final result.

After I had the picture where I wanted it, I ran the "B&W Beauty" action and flattened it and then ran the "Soft & Faded" action. I love how it looks in the end and only wished that I cropped it further out. Here is the original photo, and honestly, it looks awful. (Sorry, Colleen). But Photoshop is magic. It's wonderful. And it took this awful photo and turned it into something so much better. Well, I think so, at least.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice conversion!!

I got crazy and bought the 52 action set from Itty Bitty Actions. I love Miz Booshay uses it among others. OMGosh! I love this set. Look at the result of just a 1/2 hour fooling around:
http://photoblog.hoguechronicle.com/index.php?showimage=106

Amazing how these actions can really help out, huh. Makes post-processing fun!

Pony Girl said...

Wow, what a beautiful girl. The new photo sure looks amazing, like it belongs in the pages of a magazine! I hope I can dabble in photography a little more someday. Sigh....

Anonymous said...

Wow Kate, what a wonderful post. The picture is beautiful. You never stop amazing us!!! Thanks!!

Mental P Mama said...

Beautiful! The subject and the actions....

Trailboss said...

Note to self......download free version from P-Dub.

dlyn said...

I agree, it made the photo really special. I only have Elements though so they would not work for me. I use Paint Shop Pro X2 most of the time and I can pick through what PW is doing and duplicate it pretty well. I think she is planning to release some actions that will work for Elements and then I will get to play.

abb said...

WOW! Colleen's beautiful in the before, but does she every POP in the after!

I can't find sparkle eyes....Would you let me know where it is?
Thanks Kate!

abb

Country Girl said...

Hey, Annie. I changed the post to reflect the link. Here it is, as well:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/2007/10/before_and_after_photoshop_fun_making_eyes_pop.html

It's fun. Just don't sharpen too much. They tend to look like cyborgs if you do!

~ C.G.

Leslie: said...

Such a naturally pretty girl, but I do indeed agree with you that your final photo is splendid!

Egghead said...

This turned out wonderful. I really need to spend more time on this stuff.