fun with photoshop

You might remember this photo of Owen from last year--eating his first ice cream. I am trying to take better photos which is really hard with the crappy point and shoot I have. In an effort to help make some of the pictures I have already taken look better, I've been playing around with Photoshop. Although I have been a graphic designer for what feels like centuries now, I have never been very good at Photoshop (although I did teach a beginning class in it...shhh...don't tell everyone I am a fraud).

Click on the image to enlarge.

Anyway, with a little experience and some awesome help from others on the internet (like this lovely lady) I've been experimenting. I went a little overboard with this before and after, but I am pretty proud of it. What do you think?

What I did in a nutsell:

1. Warmed the overall colors with a warming filter

2. Intensified his eyes by using the dodge tool to bring out more of the color and the brush tool by painting in a little more white in the whites of his eyes.

3. I selected only the boy and the ice cream cup and blurred the background so those two images "popped" out a bit.

Pretty as a picture and suitable for framing...with the exception of the messy face...