Another before and after

Hmmmmm.....I am really not satisfied with the final product. I need a different texture, but it is late and I didn't want to search anymore. Took this picture by mistake. I think that it would have some great potential. May have to work on it another day..... :)

Before


After: I think the background is too dark for the picture. Oh, well.

before and after.

So for this weeks challenge we get to post our before and after. I am so excited for this, but sad that the week is halfway over and I am just starting. It was such a warm day today, I took my girls downtown to find some fun urban areas (although we don't have the clothing to match the setting). They were very uncooperative. Here are some pictures that sums up our outing :)

Here are my camera settings for both pictures.
JPEG Image
ISO 200
1/320
f 5.6
natural light taken about 4:00 on overcast day.

I didn't do much to these pictures. It is getting late :) Enjoy and thanks for looking :)

Before:


After:
High pass sharpening, levels and curves adjustments, vignette.


Before:


After:
Same edits as above. Also dodged her face.

What a Mess!!

So my hubby bought me a new video card, hoping to enhance my pictures. Well I have finally gotten to the point that I am appreciating it (after tinkering with it and fretting over it all weekend). I am having the hardest time calibrating it. Either, my last calibration with the old card was way off or something is funky with this new calibration.

ANYWAY, please help me. For those with and without calibrated monitors how do these pictures look? I edited them, and on my screen they look good. So please tell me what you see. This is starting to sound like a beg.....pretty, pretty please help me out!

I am debating getting a calibration software. I would rather not if I can do it myself, but after this weekend I am exhausted with trying to fix this darn thing. And almost bought Spyder 2 today.

Thanks for listening and if you got this far in reading, congratulations! Here are my pictures from the other day. Let me know how they look.

One I edited with old card.


Here is a side by side comparison. First was edited with old card and old calibration. Second was with new. Which one looks better? Is either correct?




Here is my SOOC on this one. Please let me know how the exposure looks on this. I am so not trusting my computer right now.

JPEG image
ISO 400
1/200
f 2.2
Natural light coming from south window.



Here is the edit I did a few days ago with my old set up.


And this one I did a few minutes ago with my new set up.


Thank you for your help and honesty! You guys are the best!!

My poor Livvy

Here she is, so sick. Olivia does not sit still, so to see her out (and it not being bedtime) is unheard of. Unless she is really sick. Poor little girl! Thanks for all your get wells and warm wishes! You are all gems! Hope everyone is healthy :)


Aubrey wasn't near as sick, just a runny nose. So it didn't slow her down. This is the only picture I snapped of her yesterday. Not the greatest, but creative, right?! Don't know how I managed to get her eye in focus. Just a lucky shot!

Finally back

So my last post I wasn't feeling well and it only worsened over the week. So I am finally feeling good, but my little ones are now sick. The good news, I have time to put up a post. These pictures are from a few days ago, and I finally got around to posting them. When I didn't feel well Olivia and I had a Pretty Pretty Princess Party while Aubrey napped. We started with painting our nails, I even let Olivia paint mine all by herself. Don't they look lovely? By the way, my Pictures of the day are at the bottom. I just thought you would all love to see my lovely toes! :)







After, we played Pretty, Pretty Princess (the game) which Olivia won and was SO excited. When Aubrey woke up she wanted to join in the fun :)

And these are my photos for today. My two little sweeties, when they were nice and healthy :)



Aubrey's picture was a little washed out, I tried to save it :)

Also, here is the SOOC for the above picture. I was proud of the way it turned out. I think it is one of my better SOOC. I think I nailed the exposure. What do you think? Maybe I am still sick :)

JPEG Image
ISO 400
1/250
f2.2
Natural light coming from South Window, which she is facing.

Rub a Dub Dub...

Two little girls in the tub.


Today is a sick day, I am feeling a little under the weather. So I put the girls in the tub to entertain them. They always want me to make their hair 'really high' when I wash it. So I thought I would use this as my picture of the day. I do this everytime they are in the tub and have not taken a picture yet.

I have posted one SOOC, because all the picture were taken with the same settings. The rest have post processing.

JPEG Image
ISO 400
1/100
f 7.1
50 mm lens
used Nikon sb400 flash, bouncing it off the ceiling.

Picture seems to lack contrast. I find this a problem when I bounce my flash. Is this a normal problem?


Here are my edits:

I LOVE my husband

I love my husband for many reasons, but here is one of them:
This is what I came home to today. An early Valentine's present (along with my new 50mm lens). He also took me to dinner tonight, no kids. What a sweetheart! Tomorrow we will have a family Valentine with our girls. I am thinking heart shaped pizza, red bread stick, pink punch and a good movie :)