Flashback Friday

Happy Friday!

I'm back with another photo from last year.

This shot was taken up near Table Mountain on May 4, 2012.

Brian took the photo; I edited it...and edited it...and edited it.

You'll see what I mean below.

For years, I've processed my photos in Photoshop Elements, but recently, I've begun dabbling in Photoshop as part of a class I'm taking online.

Anyway, here's a look at the BEFORE photo:



To enhance this image, I started out in Camera Raw adjusting the temperature, tint, contrast, etc.

Once I opened the image in Photoshop, I used the crop tool, played around with levels and curves, and tried out the healing brush.

But I also thought it would be fun to "airbrush" myself.  You know, all in the name of learning Photoshop...wink, wink.

I used a handful of actions from Pro Retouch 2.0 to retouch my face.  I reduced the wrinkles around my eyes and the size of the pores on my cheeks.  I also whitened my teeth.  Ever so slightly.  (I love that after you run an action, you can change the opacity so it doesn't look too fake.)

Noah's face remains untouched, as it should be.

Here's a look at the AFTER photo again:

I was having so much fun "playing" in Photoshop that I just kept editing.

I opened up my favorite Photoshop plug-in, RadLab, and within minutes, the two images below were created.   

Three things I know for sure...
I am in love with photography.
I am in love with Noah.
And I'm in love with these processed images.

I'm so putting one of these photos up on the wall in our family room.

But which one should it be?!  The after photo?  The RL photo?  Or the b+w photo?