Anatomy of....Black & White Pretty Girl

In case you haven't noticed, I enjoy cropping.


I'm pretty sure the professionals advise to "get it right in the camera"...but I seem to have fun finding the little hidden gems within photographs...kinda like a treasure hunt!


Here's one of my latest finds...this pretty little girl was running around at a fun Anniversary party I just shot but of course she wouldn't even slow down for a photo op.  I ended up getting a profile that barely even shows her eye.  I almost trashed it but at the last second I took a closer look...


I opened my original in photoshop elements 6 for mac:

Next I cropped in close on just the face and used Pioneer Woman Sharpen This action to extreme 

sharpen her eyelashes, nose & mouth plus the hair around her face and the curl in the back.  Here's my screenshot, the parts in white show where I sharpened with a soft brush at 100%.

Then I softened the skin and defined the lashes in Coffeeshop Baby PowderRoom.

Then I ran Pioneer Woman Black & White action.  After that I decided to add a texture.

I used a texture from the new Supernatural collection...they're so great!  (giveaway coming soon!!)

I erased the texture primarily off her face but kept pretty heavy on the outer edges.

Finally I ran mcp actions Touch of Light/Darkness and lightened the curls by her neck and barely darkened the corner.

Here's my final:

I love this image ~ 

So the next time you're going thru your photos and thinking of keeping only the "perfect" ones,

take another look.  Never know what you'll find!