On Building a Better Blog... Brent Riggs » Blog Photos http://www.mcklinkyblog.com Building a Better Blog.... Wed, 16 Jun 2010 04:31:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Photo Enhancement – Garth Photo Guest Bloggers http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/201005/photo-enhancement-garth-photo-guest-bloggers/ http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/201005/photo-enhancement-garth-photo-guest-bloggers/#comments Wed, 26 May 2010 14:18:44 +0000 brentriggs http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/?p=411

Well, I have just allowed life to get way to busy, and forgot about both my photo enhancement winners and my blog critique (which I’ll do today or tomorrow too).

Here are the guest posts from our last photo enhancement.

http://throwingourarmsopenwide.blogspot.com/2010/05/honor.html

Remember sweet Abby that we have been praying for? Her Dad hosted a photo editing contest recently. While Abby was last in the hospital she got to meet Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood and Troy Aikman. Brent provided this photo for people to play around with:

I love photography and have just started learning about photo editing on Picassa so I thought I’d give it a try!
For me, the beauty of this photo is the story behind it. A Daddy getting some time with his daughter outside of the hospital room, away from leukemia and in the midst of some pretty cool celebrities. The first thing I thought of was the phrase “Lost in the moment”. At the time of this picture Brent got to be a proud Daddy holding his little girl.
So, with that in mind, I started to tinker.
CROP
The photo felt busy to me so I cropped it down closer to the group. I toyed around with taking out the OU logos but in the end felt like they told part of the story.
COLOR CHANGE
The people seemed a bit washed out so I played for awhile with different settings but landed on changing the photo to Sepia.
SHARPEN
The people seemed to get washed out so I sharpened the image.

FOCUS
Finally, I wanted to really focus on Brent and Abby, that the moment was about them and their joy. I wanted someone looking at the picture to see them first. So I softened the photo.
Viola!
I really enjoyed doing this, mainly as a gift to Brent and Abby. If you do not know about their story you can read about it Here. Brent is the creator and owner of Mr. Linky (which is a really cool blogging tool). He also hosts a radio show, ‘The Mind of Brent’ and publishes Serious Life Magazine. This photo will be in the next issue of Serious Life!
Be blessed Riggs family because you are a blessing to me!

And now the other guest post:

http://hopestudios.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-build-better-blog-photo-contest.html

Guess what? I was one of the winners of the Linky Tools Blog photo improvement contest this week! Woot! Brent asked me to guest post so, I said yes…of course. So here is my guest post:

Brent’s challenge this week was to improve a photograph. We all know that photos can make or break a blog, and really great photos can take your blog to the next level. Can’t afford a really great camera to take those really great photos? Never fear – I have a simple Nikon point and shoot camera. This is why digital editing was invented, people!

Let’s do this thing Juniper style! (translation: easy AND inexpensive). Here is the photo we were given to work with.


I am not able to afford Photoshop software, so I depend on the best thing at my disposal Picnik. You’ve heard me talk about Picnik before, this editing website is user friendly and inexpensive (they don’t pay me to say this). In fact, many of the tools are free. Yep, free. That’s right in my price range.

I uploaded the photo into Picnik and went right to the editing tools. This is the order of my edit:

1. Exposure: Many photos can be saved with brightening or toning down the exposure. Too dark photos is a pet peeve of mine on blogs.(I have been known to lift photos and brighten them and email them back to the blog author (if it’s a friend) because it bugs me so much.) I brightened the photo and then I hit the contrast. I love the look of amped up contrast, and I admit I sometimes go overboard, but it’s my favorite editing tool. It helps your subject avoid fading into the background.

2. Colors: Next, I had to warm up the pale faces that were staring back at me after the brightening treatment. I wanted them to have a warm glow, so I warmed up their faces using the Saturation and Temperature slide button. Easy peasy!

3. Crop: Please, please, please take 10 seconds to crop your pictures! It puts the focus where it belongs, it directs our attention, it makes me so happy! I really don’t care what pants Brent is wearing…let’s get a good look at Garth’s 10 gallon hat. For real! Bring it in using the cropping tool and you will be so glad you did.

4. Sharpen: Sometimes, after a drastic crop, I need to clean up the edges and use the Sharpen slide button to avoid blurriness.

So, this is what I did with Brent’s photo of his family just hangin’ out with all their famous friends. Thanks for taking the time to read all about it.

To learn more about me, you can find me at my blog, Hope Studios hanging out, providing tutorials, hosting linky parties, giving away prizes, decorating my home, and blabbing about my boys. If this sounds like your cup of tea, then this is your personal invitation to come on over and check me out! I’d love to have you.

I would be very grateful if you
would share this with someone,
or put it on one of the social sites:

Bookmark and Share

Related Articles:

]]> http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/201005/photo-enhancement-garth-photo-guest-bloggers/feed/ 2 Basic Post Processing (Image Editing) To Make Your Pics GREAT! http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/201001/basic-post-processing-image-editing-to-make-your-pics-great/ http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/201001/basic-post-processing-image-editing-to-make-your-pics-great/#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 01:23:11 +0000 brentriggs http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/?p=359

Well, I have just allowed life to get way to busy, and forgot about both my photo enhancement winners and my blog critique (which I’ll do today or tomorrow too).

Here are the guest posts from our last photo enhancement.

http://throwingourarmsopenwide.blogspot.com/2010/05/honor.html

Remember sweet Abby that we have been praying for? Her Dad hosted a photo editing contest recently. While Abby was last in the hospital she got to meet Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood and Troy Aikman. Brent provided this photo for people to play around with:

I love photography and have just started learning about photo editing on Picassa so I thought I’d give it a try!
For me, the beauty of this photo is the story behind it. A Daddy getting some time with his daughter outside of the hospital room, away from leukemia and in the midst of some pretty cool celebrities. The first thing I thought of was the phrase “Lost in the moment”. At the time of this picture Brent got to be a proud Daddy holding his little girl.
So, with that in mind, I started to tinker.
CROP
The photo felt busy to me so I cropped it down closer to the group. I toyed around with taking out the OU logos but in the end felt like they told part of the story.
COLOR CHANGE
The people seemed a bit washed out so I played for awhile with different settings but landed on changing the photo to Sepia.
SHARPEN
The people seemed to get washed out so I sharpened the image.

FOCUS
Finally, I wanted to really focus on Brent and Abby, that the moment was about them and their joy. I wanted someone looking at the picture to see them first. So I softened the photo.
Viola!
I really enjoyed doing this, mainly as a gift to Brent and Abby. If you do not know about their story you can read about it Here. Brent is the creator and owner of Mr. Linky (which is a really cool blogging tool). He also hosts a radio show, ‘The Mind of Brent’ and publishes Serious Life Magazine. This photo will be in the next issue of Serious Life!
Be blessed Riggs family because you are a blessing to me!

And now the other guest post:

http://hopestudios.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-build-better-blog-photo-contest.html

Guess what? I was one of the winners of the Linky Tools Blog photo improvement contest this week! Woot! Brent asked me to guest post so, I said yes…of course. So here is my guest post:

Brent’s challenge this week was to improve a photograph. We all know that photos can make or break a blog, and really great photos can take your blog to the next level. Can’t afford a really great camera to take those really great photos? Never fear – I have a simple Nikon point and shoot camera. This is why digital editing was invented, people!

Let’s do this thing Juniper style! (translation: easy AND inexpensive). Here is the photo we were given to work with.


I am not able to afford Photoshop software, so I depend on the best thing at my disposal Picnik. You’ve heard me talk about Picnik before, this editing website is user friendly and inexpensive (they don’t pay me to say this). In fact, many of the tools are free. Yep, free. That’s right in my price range.

I uploaded the photo into Picnik and went right to the editing tools. This is the order of my edit:

1. Exposure: Many photos can be saved with brightening or toning down the exposure. Too dark photos is a pet peeve of mine on blogs.(I have been known to lift photos and brighten them and email them back to the blog author (if it’s a friend) because it bugs me so much.) I brightened the photo and then I hit the contrast. I love the look of amped up contrast, and I admit I sometimes go overboard, but it’s my favorite editing tool. It helps your subject avoid fading into the background.

2. Colors: Next, I had to warm up the pale faces that were staring back at me after the brightening treatment. I wanted them to have a warm glow, so I warmed up their faces using the Saturation and Temperature slide button. Easy peasy!

3. Crop: Please, please, please take 10 seconds to crop your pictures! It puts the focus where it belongs, it directs our attention, it makes me so happy! I really don’t care what pants Brent is wearing…let’s get a good look at Garth’s 10 gallon hat. For real! Bring it in using the cropping tool and you will be so glad you did.

4. Sharpen: Sometimes, after a drastic crop, I need to clean up the edges and use the Sharpen slide button to avoid blurriness.

So, this is what I did with Brent’s photo of his family just hangin’ out with all their famous friends. Thanks for taking the time to read all about it.

To learn more about me, you can find me at my blog, Hope Studios hanging out, providing tutorials, hosting linky parties, giving away prizes, decorating my home, and blabbing about my boys. If this sounds like your cup of tea, then this is your personal invitation to come on over and check me out! I’d love to have you.

I would be very grateful if you
would share this with someone,
or put it on one of the social sites:

Bookmark and Share

Related Articles:

]]> http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/201005/photo-enhancement-garth-photo-guest-bloggers/feed/ 2 Basic Image Editing (Post Processing) of Your Photos http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/200912/basic-image-editing-post-processing-of-your-photos/ http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/200912/basic-image-editing-post-processing-of-your-photos/#comments Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:50:27 +0000 brentriggs http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/?p=322

Well, I have just allowed life to get way to busy, and forgot about both my photo enhancement winners and my blog critique (which I’ll do today or tomorrow too).

Here are the guest posts from our last photo enhancement.

http://throwingourarmsopenwide.blogspot.com/2010/05/honor.html

Remember sweet Abby that we have been praying for? Her Dad hosted a photo editing contest recently. While Abby was last in the hospital she got to meet Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood and Troy Aikman. Brent provided this photo for people to play around with:

I love photography and have just started learning about photo editing on Picassa so I thought I’d give it a try!
For me, the beauty of this photo is the story behind it. A Daddy getting some time with his daughter outside of the hospital room, away from leukemia and in the midst of some pretty cool celebrities. The first thing I thought of was the phrase “Lost in the moment”. At the time of this picture Brent got to be a proud Daddy holding his little girl.
So, with that in mind, I started to tinker.
CROP
The photo felt busy to me so I cropped it down closer to the group. I toyed around with taking out the OU logos but in the end felt like they told part of the story.
COLOR CHANGE
The people seemed a bit washed out so I played for awhile with different settings but landed on changing the photo to Sepia.
SHARPEN
The people seemed to get washed out so I sharpened the image.

FOCUS
Finally, I wanted to really focus on Brent and Abby, that the moment was about them and their joy. I wanted someone looking at the picture to see them first. So I softened the photo.
Viola!
I really enjoyed doing this, mainly as a gift to Brent and Abby. If you do not know about their story you can read about it Here. Brent is the creator and owner of Mr. Linky (which is a really cool blogging tool). He also hosts a radio show, ‘The Mind of Brent’ and publishes Serious Life Magazine. This photo will be in the next issue of Serious Life!
Be blessed Riggs family because you are a blessing to me!

And now the other guest post:

http://hopestudios.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-build-better-blog-photo-contest.html

Guess what? I was one of the winners of the Linky Tools Blog photo improvement contest this week! Woot! Brent asked me to guest post so, I said yes…of course. So here is my guest post:

Brent’s challenge this week was to improve a photograph. We all know that photos can make or break a blog, and really great photos can take your blog to the next level. Can’t afford a really great camera to take those really great photos? Never fear – I have a simple Nikon point and shoot camera. This is why digital editing was invented, people!

Let’s do this thing Juniper style! (translation: easy AND inexpensive). Here is the photo we were given to work with.


I am not able to afford Photoshop software, so I depend on the best thing at my disposal Picnik. You’ve heard me talk about Picnik before, this editing website is user friendly and inexpensive (they don’t pay me to say this). In fact, many of the tools are free. Yep, free. That’s right in my price range.

I uploaded the photo into Picnik and went right to the editing tools. This is the order of my edit:

1. Exposure: Many photos can be saved with brightening or toning down the exposure. Too dark photos is a pet peeve of mine on blogs.(I have been known to lift photos and brighten them and email them back to the blog author (if it’s a friend) because it bugs me so much.) I brightened the photo and then I hit the contrast. I love the look of amped up contrast, and I admit I sometimes go overboard, but it’s my favorite editing tool. It helps your subject avoid fading into the background.

2. Colors: Next, I had to warm up the pale faces that were staring back at me after the brightening treatment. I wanted them to have a warm glow, so I warmed up their faces using the Saturation and Temperature slide button. Easy peasy!

3. Crop: Please, please, please take 10 seconds to crop your pictures! It puts the focus where it belongs, it directs our attention, it makes me so happy! I really don’t care what pants Brent is wearing…let’s get a good look at Garth’s 10 gallon hat. For real! Bring it in using the cropping tool and you will be so glad you did.

4. Sharpen: Sometimes, after a drastic crop, I need to clean up the edges and use the Sharpen slide button to avoid blurriness.

So, this is what I did with Brent’s photo of his family just hangin’ out with all their famous friends. Thanks for taking the time to read all about it.

To learn more about me, you can find me at my blog, Hope Studios hanging out, providing tutorials, hosting linky parties, giving away prizes, decorating my home, and blabbing about my boys. If this sounds like your cup of tea, then this is your personal invitation to come on over and check me out! I’d love to have you.

I would be very grateful if you
would share this with someone,
or put it on one of the social sites:

Bookmark and Share

Related Articles:

]]> http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/201005/photo-enhancement-garth-photo-guest-bloggers/feed/ 2 YOU Can Have Great Photos For Christmas! http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/200912/you-can-have-great-photos-for-christmas/ http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/200912/you-can-have-great-photos-for-christmas/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:55:52 +0000 brentriggs http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/200912/you-can-have-great-photos-for-christmas/

Well, I have just allowed life to get way to busy, and forgot about both my photo enhancement winners and my blog critique (which I’ll do today or tomorrow too).

Here are the guest posts from our last photo enhancement.

http://throwingourarmsopenwide.blogspot.com/2010/05/honor.html

Remember sweet Abby that we have been praying for? Her Dad hosted a photo editing contest recently. While Abby was last in the hospital she got to meet Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood and Troy Aikman. Brent provided this photo for people to play around with:

I love photography and have just started learning about photo editing on Picassa so I thought I’d give it a try!
For me, the beauty of this photo is the story behind it. A Daddy getting some time with his daughter outside of the hospital room, away from leukemia and in the midst of some pretty cool celebrities. The first thing I thought of was the phrase “Lost in the moment”. At the time of this picture Brent got to be a proud Daddy holding his little girl.
So, with that in mind, I started to tinker.
CROP
The photo felt busy to me so I cropped it down closer to the group. I toyed around with taking out the OU logos but in the end felt like they told part of the story.
COLOR CHANGE
The people seemed a bit washed out so I played for awhile with different settings but landed on changing the photo to Sepia.
SHARPEN
The people seemed to get washed out so I sharpened the image.

FOCUS
Finally, I wanted to really focus on Brent and Abby, that the moment was about them and their joy. I wanted someone looking at the picture to see them first. So I softened the photo.
Viola!
I really enjoyed doing this, mainly as a gift to Brent and Abby. If you do not know about their story you can read about it Here. Brent is the creator and owner of Mr. Linky (which is a really cool blogging tool). He also hosts a radio show, ‘The Mind of Brent’ and publishes Serious Life Magazine. This photo will be in the next issue of Serious Life!
Be blessed Riggs family because you are a blessing to me!

And now the other guest post:

http://hopestudios.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-build-better-blog-photo-contest.html

Guess what? I was one of the winners of the Linky Tools Blog photo improvement contest this week! Woot! Brent asked me to guest post so, I said yes…of course. So here is my guest post:

Brent’s challenge this week was to improve a photograph. We all know that photos can make or break a blog, and really great photos can take your blog to the next level. Can’t afford a really great camera to take those really great photos? Never fear – I have a simple Nikon point and shoot camera. This is why digital editing was invented, people!

Let’s do this thing Juniper style! (translation: easy AND inexpensive). Here is the photo we were given to work with.


I am not able to afford Photoshop software, so I depend on the best thing at my disposal Picnik. You’ve heard me talk about Picnik before, this editing website is user friendly and inexpensive (they don’t pay me to say this). In fact, many of the tools are free. Yep, free. That’s right in my price range.

I uploaded the photo into Picnik and went right to the editing tools. This is the order of my edit:

1. Exposure: Many photos can be saved with brightening or toning down the exposure. Too dark photos is a pet peeve of mine on blogs.(I have been known to lift photos and brighten them and email them back to the blog author (if it’s a friend) because it bugs me so much.) I brightened the photo and then I hit the contrast. I love the look of amped up contrast, and I admit I sometimes go overboard, but it’s my favorite editing tool. It helps your subject avoid fading into the background.

2. Colors: Next, I had to warm up the pale faces that were staring back at me after the brightening treatment. I wanted them to have a warm glow, so I warmed up their faces using the Saturation and Temperature slide button. Easy peasy!

3. Crop: Please, please, please take 10 seconds to crop your pictures! It puts the focus where it belongs, it directs our attention, it makes me so happy! I really don’t care what pants Brent is wearing…let’s get a good look at Garth’s 10 gallon hat. For real! Bring it in using the cropping tool and you will be so glad you did.

4. Sharpen: Sometimes, after a drastic crop, I need to clean up the edges and use the Sharpen slide button to avoid blurriness.

So, this is what I did with Brent’s photo of his family just hangin’ out with all their famous friends. Thanks for taking the time to read all about it.

To learn more about me, you can find me at my blog, Hope Studios hanging out, providing tutorials, hosting linky parties, giving away prizes, decorating my home, and blabbing about my boys. If this sounds like your cup of tea, then this is your personal invitation to come on over and check me out! I’d love to have you.

I would be very grateful if you
would share this with someone,
or put it on one of the social sites:

Bookmark and Share

Related Articles:

]]> http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/201005/photo-enhancement-garth-photo-guest-bloggers/feed/ 2 Example: Photo Enhancement – Portrait http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/200912/example-photo-enhancement-portrait/ http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/200912/example-photo-enhancement-portrait/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:38:43 +0000 brentriggs http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/?p=303

Well, I have just allowed life to get way to busy, and forgot about both my photo enhancement winners and my blog critique (which I’ll do today or tomorrow too).

Here are the guest posts from our last photo enhancement.

http://throwingourarmsopenwide.blogspot.com/2010/05/honor.html

Remember sweet Abby that we have been praying for? Her Dad hosted a photo editing contest recently. While Abby was last in the hospital she got to meet Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood and Troy Aikman. Brent provided this photo for people to play around with:

I love photography and have just started learning about photo editing on Picassa so I thought I’d give it a try!
For me, the beauty of this photo is the story behind it. A Daddy getting some time with his daughter outside of the hospital room, away from leukemia and in the midst of some pretty cool celebrities. The first thing I thought of was the phrase “Lost in the moment”. At the time of this picture Brent got to be a proud Daddy holding his little girl.
So, with that in mind, I started to tinker.
CROP
The photo felt busy to me so I cropped it down closer to the group. I toyed around with taking out the OU logos but in the end felt like they told part of the story.
COLOR CHANGE
The people seemed a bit washed out so I played for awhile with different settings but landed on changing the photo to Sepia.
SHARPEN
The people seemed to get washed out so I sharpened the image.

FOCUS
Finally, I wanted to really focus on Brent and Abby, that the moment was about them and their joy. I wanted someone looking at the picture to see them first. So I softened the photo.
Viola!
I really enjoyed doing this, mainly as a gift to Brent and Abby. If you do not know about their story you can read about it Here. Brent is the creator and owner of Mr. Linky (which is a really cool blogging tool). He also hosts a radio show, ‘The Mind of Brent’ and publishes Serious Life Magazine. This photo will be in the next issue of Serious Life!
Be blessed Riggs family because you are a blessing to me!

And now the other guest post:

http://hopestudios.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-build-better-blog-photo-contest.html

Guess what? I was one of the winners of the Linky Tools Blog photo improvement contest this week! Woot! Brent asked me to guest post so, I said yes…of course. So here is my guest post:

Brent’s challenge this week was to improve a photograph. We all know that photos can make or break a blog, and really great photos can take your blog to the next level. Can’t afford a really great camera to take those really great photos? Never fear – I have a simple Nikon point and shoot camera. This is why digital editing was invented, people!

Let’s do this thing Juniper style! (translation: easy AND inexpensive). Here is the photo we were given to work with.


I am not able to afford Photoshop software, so I depend on the best thing at my disposal Picnik. You’ve heard me talk about Picnik before, this editing website is user friendly and inexpensive (they don’t pay me to say this). In fact, many of the tools are free. Yep, free. That’s right in my price range.

I uploaded the photo into Picnik and went right to the editing tools. This is the order of my edit:

1. Exposure: Many photos can be saved with brightening or toning down the exposure. Too dark photos is a pet peeve of mine on blogs.(I have been known to lift photos and brighten them and email them back to the blog author (if it’s a friend) because it bugs me so much.) I brightened the photo and then I hit the contrast. I love the look of amped up contrast, and I admit I sometimes go overboard, but it’s my favorite editing tool. It helps your subject avoid fading into the background.

2. Colors: Next, I had to warm up the pale faces that were staring back at me after the brightening treatment. I wanted them to have a warm glow, so I warmed up their faces using the Saturation and Temperature slide button. Easy peasy!

3. Crop: Please, please, please take 10 seconds to crop your pictures! It puts the focus where it belongs, it directs our attention, it makes me so happy! I really don’t care what pants Brent is wearing…let’s get a good look at Garth’s 10 gallon hat. For real! Bring it in using the cropping tool and you will be so glad you did.

4. Sharpen: Sometimes, after a drastic crop, I need to clean up the edges and use the Sharpen slide button to avoid blurriness.

So, this is what I did with Brent’s photo of his family just hangin’ out with all their famous friends. Thanks for taking the time to read all about it.

To learn more about me, you can find me at my blog, Hope Studios hanging out, providing tutorials, hosting linky parties, giving away prizes, decorating my home, and blabbing about my boys. If this sounds like your cup of tea, then this is your personal invitation to come on over and check me out! I’d love to have you.

I would be very grateful if you
would share this with someone,
or put it on one of the social sites:

Bookmark and Share

Related Articles:

]]> http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/201005/photo-enhancement-garth-photo-guest-bloggers/feed/ 2 Great Photos & A Photo Mag Issue http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/200912/great-photos-a-photo-mag-issue/ http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/200912/great-photos-a-photo-mag-issue/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:09:21 +0000 brentriggs http://www.mcklinkyblog.com/?p=276

Well, I have just allowed life to get way to busy, and forgot about both my photo enhancement winners and my blog critique (which I’ll do today or tomorrow too).

Here are the guest posts from our last photo enhancement.

http://throwingourarmsopenwide.blogspot.com/2010/05/honor.html

Remember sweet Abby that we have been praying for? Her Dad hosted a photo editing contest recently. While Abby was last in the hospital she got to meet Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood and Troy Aikman. Brent provided this photo for people to play around with:

I love photography and have just started learning about photo editing on Picassa so I thought I’d give it a try!
For me, the beauty of this photo is the story behind it. A Daddy getting some time with his daughter outside of the hospital room, away from leukemia and in the midst of some pretty cool celebrities. The first thing I thought of was the phrase “Lost in the moment”. At the time of this picture Brent got to be a proud Daddy holding his little girl.
So, with that in mind, I started to tinker.
CROP
The photo felt busy to me so I cropped it down closer to the group. I toyed around with taking out the OU logos but in the end felt like they told part of the story.
COLOR CHANGE
The people seemed a bit washed out so I played for awhile with different settings but landed on changing the photo to Sepia.
SHARPEN
The people seemed to get washed out so I sharpened the image.

FOCUS
Finally, I wanted to really focus on Brent and Abby, that the moment was about them and their joy. I wanted someone looking at the picture to see them first. So I softened the photo.
Viola!
I really enjoyed doing this, mainly as a gift to Brent and Abby. If you do not know about their story you can read about it Here. Brent is the creator and owner of Mr. Linky (which is a really cool blogging tool). He also hosts a radio show, ‘The Mind of Brent’ and publishes Serious Life Magazine. This photo will be in the next issue of Serious Life!
Be blessed Riggs family because you are a blessing to me!

And now the other guest post:

http://hopestudios.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-build-better-blog-photo-contest.html

Guess what? I was one of the winners of the Linky Tools Blog photo improvement contest this week! Woot! Brent asked me to guest post so, I said yes…of course. So here is my guest post:

Brent’s challenge this week was to improve a photograph. We all know that photos can make or break a blog, and really great photos can take your blog to the next level. Can’t afford a really great camera to take those really great photos? Never fear – I have a simple Nikon point and shoot camera. This is why digital editing was invented, people!

Let’s do this thing Juniper style! (translation: easy AND inexpensive). Here is the photo we were given to work with.


I am not able to afford Photoshop software, so I depend on the best thing at my disposal Picnik. You’ve heard me talk about Picnik before, this editing website is user friendly and inexpensive (they don’t pay me to say this). In fact, many of the tools are free. Yep, free. That’s right in my price range.

I uploaded the photo into Picnik and went right to the editing tools. This is the order of my edit:

1. Exposure: Many photos can be saved with brightening or toning down the exposure. Too dark photos is a pet peeve of mine on blogs.(I have been known to lift photos and brighten them and email them back to the blog author (if it’s a friend) because it bugs me so much.) I brightened the photo and then I hit the contrast. I love the look of amped up contrast, and I admit I sometimes go overboard, but it’s my favorite editing tool. It helps your subject avoid fading into the background.

2. Colors: Next, I had to warm up the pale faces that were staring back at me after the brightening treatment. I wanted them to have a warm glow, so I warmed up their faces using the Saturation and Temperature slide button. Easy peasy!

3. Crop: Please, please, please take 10 seconds to crop your pictures! It puts the focus where it belongs, it directs our attention, it makes me so happy! I really don’t care what pants Brent is wearing…let’s get a good look at Garth’s 10 gallon hat. For real! Bring it in using the cropping tool and you will be so glad you did.

4. Sharpen: Sometimes, after a drastic crop, I need to clean up the edges and use the Sharpen slide button to avoid blurriness.

So, this is what I did with Brent’s photo of his family just hangin’ out with all their famous friends. Thanks for taking the time to read all about it.

To learn more about me, you can find me at my blog, Hope Studios hanging out, providing tutorials, hosting linky parties, giving away prizes, decorating my home, and blabbing about my boys. If this sounds like your cup of tea, then this is your personal invitation to come on over and check me out! I’d love to have you.

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