I am going to show you how to “powder your nose” in Photoshop today.   Except it’s not just your nose, and it’s not you, and well frankly there’s no powder.  Have I lost you yet?  Cause I sure am confused!

Ok, seriously, it’s the subject of your photo, probably your kid(s), and this will soften their skin and give it a nice soft glow.   Remember, if you run into someone whose skin truly is naturally flawless, you could just give them a little kick in the shin, or competitively point out what awesome traits you were awarded as part of your genetic makeup, finishing up with a waving pointy finger and a sassy “Nahnny Nahnny Boo Boo” OR “SO there!” (My online “life” is so dreamy…. sigh..)

Not inspired by violence and/or name calling?  Just give ‘em a look like this one:

The following tips and tricks can be credited to a combination of my learning at UCSD extension Digital Photography courses and Scott Kelby, a Photoshop GURU.  He can be found online at www.scottkelby.com and has authored a fantastic book called The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers. I highly recommend adding it to your library.

I use Adobe Photoshop CS4, you can accomplish the same results with other versions, but keep in mind that the steps may be different. Camera Raw is not available in other versions such as Elements.

Scott Kelby promotes opening images with Camera Raw, so this is how I do it and I really like it.  In windows you can just use the Open As option, highlight the image you are trying to work with, change the selection to Camera Raw and click open.

Steps:

1. Click on the new radio button
2. Set the clarity amount to -100
3. Set the sharpness to +25
4. Using the size slider, increase the size of your brush
5. Paint over the skin to soften it generally avoiding areas with more detail, like the eyebrows for example.

Here is a before shot:

And after shot: (In this photo,in addition to some color adjustments,  I also brightened the whites of her eyes and sharpened some areas.)

You’re going to have to forgive this post in advance. I didn’t really sleep last night, but a deadline is a deadline.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but my son is not a good sleeper. The first four months of his life, he was only able to sleep if he was ON me. I spent every night of those first four months “sleeping” while sitting up on a cheap couch with my son laying across my chest.

Last night, he woke up a little before 1:00 am and didn’t really fall back asleep until 5:00, which is when I get up for work. I got to work on-time, but spent most of the day feeling a little bit like this.

I’m really, really, really tired.

Today, as I attempt to make sense in this drugless stupor, in seemed appropriate that we use this addition of Photoshop Friday to feature (creative vs. functional) filters! Hey, why is the bookshelf laughing at me?! After all, some of those filters are downright trippy.

Let’s get starajjjjjjjjjgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

Sorry about that, I must have fallen asleep on my keyboard. How rude of me!

OK, let’s try this again, let’s get started. We all know that in Photoshop, we can put our heads on Jessica Beal’s body, but believe it or not, there are other things we can do too. In regular photography, you can use a filter over your lens to create a different effect on your images. You can make your pictures greener or softer – Photoshop filters work the same way except in Photoshop, you can really crank up the fun factor.

Your filters can be found under the filter menu in Photoshop. I’m only going to focus on a few of them to give you an idea of the cool things you can do with this feature. Go ahead and open up the Filter Menu and let your funky chicken dance! Most filters have a preview window so that you can see how your image will look as you move the various sliders.

Here is my non-filtered image:

This first filter is called Fresco and it imitates the fresco painting style from the days of yore.

This next is called colored pencil

Enter the trippy factor! This next is called spherize and it’s included in a filter section called distort.

This next distortion filter is Shear.

This next filter is called cutout and it’s one of my favorites. You can alter the number of color levels that you want to apply to your image and then the filter converts the existing colors and shades into the levels. I’ve used this filter to create mix-cd (remember those kids!) covers.

Applying these filters can make your standard photos more visually interesting. As my son grows up, I can definatley see myself using one of these filters to create an image that I’ll have printed on a birthday cake, or even uploading to cafe press to create some neat customized clothing.

Using these filters won’t necessarily improve your photographic technique, but they will give you an opportunity to use your artistic flair and turn your images into creative masterpieces. You are only limited by your imagination!

Are you afraid of Photoshop? You are not alone.
Photoshop’s incredible depth and scope is matched only by its ability to intimidate.
Seriously, if Photoshop was a pair of shoes, it would look like this:

Ok, hold my hand, let’s put on the shoes together.

Welcome to Photoshop Friday! Each week, we’ll feature one teenie-tiny piece of the Photoshop jungle and make it easier to understand. As we’ve mentioned before, we are not pro-photographers and we are definitely not pro-Photoshop-ers. These aren’t full blown tutorials or elaborate instruction videos – Photoshop Fridays will just feature little tips we’ve picked up along the way to improve our photos.

The first piece we want to tackle is saturation. Saturation enhancement techniques will make your photos look more vivid.

Open a photo in photoshop. I’m going to go with this image because my son looks strangely pale. Honestly, looking at this picture, you’d think he was one of the Cullens! (Team Edward!)

Now, there are number of controls that can effect saturation, my favorite is the quick and easy Hue/Saturation slider in the Image > Adjustments menu. When you select that option from the drop down menu and this is what you’ll see:

Go ahead and slide the saturation dial – you’ll see the image change before your eyes. My personal limit is +10 on the Saturation. Go above that and you’re venturing into Pee-Wee’s playhouse territory. Don’t get me wrong – I’m sure Cowboy Curtis and Captain Carl are cool guys, but I don’t want them messing with my pictures.

I digress…

Hit the OK button when you’ve reached a balance that you like, save the image and you’re good to go!

Here’s the final product. Again, this step doesn’t create a drastic change, but it’s a really nice, quick, enhancement to the color balance of your image.

See folks! That wasn’t so bad – we’re ready for the runway!

Tune in next week for another edition of Photoshop Friday!