Elizabeth Halford Photography » Reader Photo Friday

Reader Photo Friday – How to repair a wrinkly background {video tut}

elizabethhalford — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 06:55:27 +0000

I had a reader question last wednesday about the best material to use for a backdrop. I encouraged the reader to send me her shot which she claimed was the victim of a horrible fabric background. It certainly was, but it was also a great challenge for me and lots of fun to transform. I used Lightroom & Photoshop. Watch the video tutorial below to watch me edit this photo:

{CLICK HERE} for the video tutorial

EVERYONE KEEP THOSE SHOTS COMIN. SEND YOUR PHOTOS TO EH@ELIZABETHHALFORD.COM

If your photo has been featured on Reader Photo Friday and you would like to purchase digital copies for printing yourself, please get in touch. Digital files are only $25 each and 100% of these monies goes to Compassion International to help us edit out poverty for our little guy Victor.

Reader Photo Friday – Melissa Culvers

elizabethhalford — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:04:00 +0000

So funny. I loved this shot I saw from Melissa recently (can’t remember if it was FB or Flickr or somewhere else). And then she emailed it to me for Reader Photo Friday! I was thrilled to get to work on it.

{Recipe}

First, I sharpened the edges with MCP’s ‘crackle’ action from The Quickie Collection. This set isn’t compatible with PS Elements.

Then, I used MCP’s ‘Eye Doctor’ which IS compatible with PSE (yayy!)

I then went into the MCP set called ‘Cover Model’ and ran the ‘Cover Model’ action (there’s also one called Urban Cover Model). I tweaked the resulting layers to customise it for this photo.

I then used the finger paint action from the Quickie Collection to make the yellow line more bold

Lastly, I ran an action from Totally Rad’s set called ‘The Revenge’ called ‘Select-o-Pop’ which I used to paint on pop on the road, his bike and his plaid shirt.

THANKS, MELISSA! EVERYONE KEEP THOSE SHOTS COMIN. SEND YOUR PHOTOS TO EH@ELIZABETHHALFORD.COM

Reader Photo Friday – {Kristi W.)

elizabethhalford — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 08:12:10 +0000

Kristi W. sent me this photo and said, “Hello! I am a big fan of your blog and couldn’t resist sending a photo to see how you’d edit it for Reader Photo Friday. I know it’s too dark, so I’m very curious as to how you would fix it.”

It was quite dark and because I couldn’t open the raw file, I just edited the JPG and it came out great!

{Recipe}

I ran MCP’s ‘under exposure fixer’ from The Quickie Collection. You could also use an adjustment layer.

I burned the background with MCP’s free ‘Touch of Light/Touch of Darkness’ action. Also available in The Quickie Collection. Also available for PSE.

The also from The Quickie Collection, I ran the color fixer and toned down the yellows (his skin was looking very yellow)

I used Totally Rad’s Pro Retouch skin retouching brush on his skin

MCP’s Eye Doctor to sharpen and juice up those baby blues

Then lastly, from MCP’s Quickie Collection, I ran ‘color flair’

THANKS, KRISTI! EVERYONE KEEP THOSE SHOTS COMIN. SEND YOUR PHOTOS TO EH@ELIZABETHHALFORD.COM

Reader Photo Friday – Karina {removing a subject & texturising}

elizabethhalford — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:23:57 +0000

Today’s reader photo is from Karina. I really struggled over whether I should edit out the person fishing in this shot because this would completely change the type of image from a portrait to a landscape. I tried a few different methods of dodging and lightening him so he would stand out a little more but that area simply wouldn’t lighten. It was so truly black that the information just wasn’t there to work with. It may have been more successful had the image been in RAW. In the end, I just thought that he ended up blending in way too much. So much in some places that he wasn’t even a silhouette. So I straightened it, edited the fisher out with the healing brush on ‘replace’ mode and applied some texture to make it a supercool, supermoody landscape.

THANKS, KARINA! EVERYONE KEEP THOSE SHOTS COMIN. SEND YOUR PHOTOS TO EH@ELIZABETHHALFORD.COM

READER PHOTO FRIDAY – 23RD JULY {SARAH W}

elizabethhalford — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:17:15 +0000

I was planning on taking a night off from editing, but then I got this absolutely stunning photo from Sarah and I just had to have a play. I love everything about it. The point of view with slightly up-angle. The bokeh is dreamy, the light on his face is perfect. And of course, his expression is adorable and the positioning of his body shows great movement and action.

{RECIPE}

MCP Actions‘ ‘eye doctor’ (available for PSE)

MCP Actions’ ‘snap’ sharpening action from the ‘quickie collection’

Totally Rad’s ‘pro retouch’ action which gives you layers for painting on skin

Totally Rad’s ‘contrast +luma’ action from the ‘daily grind’ set

Totally Rad’s ‘green with envy’ from the ‘daily grind’ set. With it, you paint on green places to brighten, add luminosity, contrast and sharpen

From the NEW Florabella Luxe actions set, I used ‘Mademoiselle’. This is the action which made the most drastic difference in the photo. Because this was a JPG and those actions are made for RAW, I simply took the opacity down by half to lessen the extreme results. (these actions are now also available for PSE)

Also from the Florabella Luxe set, I ran ‘light haze’ and ‘highlight hero’

THANKS, SARAH. EVERYONE KEEP THOSE SHOTS COMIN! SEND YOUR PHOTOS TO EH@ELIZABETHHALFORD.COM

Reader Photo Friday – 16th July

elizabethhalford — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 09:57:53 +0000

Really loved the challenge posed by this photo from Heidi and it had a story to go with it. Heidi said:

“There is a story that goes along with these pics. I actually scratched my cornea during this shoot on a reedy weed. I had to go to the doctor today and have my pupil dialated and a bandage contact put in my left eye. But the pictures turned out beautiful. I just kept shooting. Didn’t realize how bad my eye hurt until I got home.”

Heidi sent me a few shots, but I loved the feel of this one. I really wish she had her eyes open that would have made it absolutely perfect for me! Initial thoughts were that the vignette was overdone and I’m quite impressed with how I managed to nix that vignette in a really raw and inventive way. So here’s the B&A and below is the post production recipe.

First, I used MCP Actions‘ ‘Colour’ action from the ‘All in the Details’ actions set
Then, I used MCP Actions’ FREE ‘Touch of Light/Touch of Darkness’ action to dodge (lighten) the corners of the photo where I felt the vignette was a bit extreme. I did this with a very low opacity brush. {this action is available for PSE btw}
Next, I used the healing brush tool on ‘replace’ mode with a very soft edged brush (as soft as you can get it) to literally replace the darkened edges with grass from the middle of the photo.
Next, I used MCP’s ‘Magic Skin’ skin retouching action to retouch all of her skin with one click. I lowered the opacity because I thought the result was too extreme.
I then used that free ‘Touch of Light’ action mentioned above to lighten under her eyes with an extremely low opacity, soft brush
The last thing I did was apply Florabella’s new ‘Glam’ action from her new set called Luxe. I masked it all off of her skin and lowered the overall opacity down to 50%

THANKS, HEIDI! EVERYONE KEEP THOSE SHOTS COMIN. SEND YOUR PHOTOS TO EH@ELIZABETHHALFORD.COM

Reader Photo Friday – 9th July

elizabethhalford — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:58:44 +0000

I loved the feel of this photo from Jamie.

Jamie was concerned about the lack of focus which I sharpened. At 100%, this photo really isn’t printable. But it’s adorable for the web in a smaller size. See it at 100% below:

I edited it using MCP Actions’: Sharp as a tack, Details {Color} and eye doctor.

THANKS, JAMIE! EVERYONE KEEP THOSE SHOTS COMIN. SEND YOUR PHOTOS TO EH@ELIZABETHHALFORD.COM

Reader Photo Friday – 2nd July {DeeDee G.}

elizabethhalford — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 08:26:19 +0000

Just lovin’ the eyes on this little guy sent to be by DeeDee G.

{Recipe}

I mostly used actions on this one. In PS4.

MCP Actions:

Under exposure fixer
Snap
Color Flair
Contrast boost

I. LaFrance texture:

Free ‘Organic’ texture. Overlay mode. 48%. Masked away from his face.

THANKS, DEEDEE! EVERYONE KEEP THOSE SHOTS COMIN. SEND YOUR PHOTOS TO EH@ELIZABETHHALFORD.COM

Reader Photo Friday – 25th June

elizabethhalford — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:25:13 +0000

Oh the wonders of social media. A couple hours ago, I complained that I didn’t have anything inspiring for Reader Photo Friday and voila – I get some right away! Please keep sending your stuff.

On another note – I am SUCH a lucky girl. When Shana from Florabella decides to try out her new actions and textures, she sends them to me to preview before anyone else! Eeek! I got a surprise this morning when she sent me her in-progress new set called ‘Luxe’. And it’s so different from what we’re used to seeing from Florabella. Instead of light, airy, ethereal pastels, this set is full of deep, rich jewel tones perfect for the feel I like to go for.

So lucky me and lucky Julie – this is the first photo I’ve had a play with Florabella’s soon-to-be new actions called ‘Luxe’.

THANKS, JULIE! EVERYONE KEEP THOSE SHOTS COMIN. SEND YOUR PHOTOS TO EH@ELIZABETHHALFORD.COM

Edit out poverty one Friday at a time

elizabethhalford — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:22:32 +0000

I’m so proud to announce that we’ve added a new member to our family and I didn’t even have to give birth this time!

Elizabeth Halford Photography has adopted one child through Compassion International. Compassion is a Christian aid organisation dedicated to operating with the utmost financial accountability and integrity so when we sponsor these children, they really do get their needs. And after a year of faithful sponsorship, we will even get a chance to travel and meet our new little guy!

Compassion works to support children throughout their lives by opening ‘projects’ in regions where the children go daily for school, meals, bathing, clothing, healthcare, etc. The money Elizabeth Halford Photography sends pays for the needs of Victor in Equador so he can grow up with the advantage of education and health. {CLICK HERE} to see a video about the life of a sponsored child in India.

The thing I love the most about Compassion is that when the children are grown and they graduate out of their project, they regularly turn around and begin sponsoring children of their own because they have jobs and careers thanks to education. I recently met a woman from Kenya who grew up in a Compassion project. She made it to London and received her Master’s Degree and she is now returning to her home to save children just like her from the clutches of poverty, prostitution, hunger, AIDS and certain death.

{How Can we Work Together?}

The best way to support a child through Compassion is to adopt one. Or you can partner with Elizabeth Halford Photography. One of my favourite days here on the blog is Reader Photo Friday where you can email me your photo and I edit it for you. As always, this is completely free and I greatly enjoy the community with my readers. Feel free to copy the finished product to post on Facebook or email to your friends and family. If you would like the full resolution finished product emailed to you so you can print it as big and as many as you’d like, the cost is $25 and 100% of these monies go straight to Victor in Equador. The more popular Fridays become, the more children we can help so spread the word to your friends who enjoy photography.

If you’ve previously had a photo in Reader Photo Friday, I’ve still got them so please feel free to order if you’d like.

{Meet Victor}

This is Victor. He lives in Equador. His birthday is September 2005 (he’s exactly the same age at my Jack). He lives with his parents who are extremely poor. When he can find work, his dad makes the equivalent of only £40 per MONTH which is what I spend on my mobile phone alone. At the very young age of 4, he washes clothes, fetches water and gathers wood. He has 4 brothers and sisters. Daily, he attends school at the Compassion project where he gets schooling, medical care and a hearty dinner before returning home to his family. Elijah is already writing Victor letters.

Please sponsor a child or partner with Elizabeth Halford Photography to help Victor.