i heart faces: smirk!

I haven't entered a photo in the i heart faces contest recently- summer seems to have slipped away from me!

But when I heard about this week's theme, I thought of this photo I took of my daughter on her first day of preschool. I love her expression! She loves preschool and it's fun to see a 4 year old in action meeting new friends...

I even converted this from a color photo to black and white- I'm trying to learn a bit more about photoshop and the i heart faces website is a great resource.

Check out other smirk photos this week at http://www.iheartfaces.com.

i heart faces: collages

The challenge at i heart faces this week is to create a photo collage. I had a lot of different ideas for this project, but settled on these older photos because they are some of my favorites. I actually took them with my film camera (just added a bit more contrast with PS). Lillie was acting silly and I remember feeling frustrated because she wasn't cooperating with my agenda- but in the end it made for some great candid shots.

I was excited to use my new Compositor to make this collage- once I figured out how to install it on my computer (well, I guess my husband did it for me), it was very easy to use. I will use this new tool a lot!

Check out other entries this week (and tips for creating collages) at: http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

Black and White Conversion

Here is my first attempt at converting a color photo to black and white. I think the photo is not very crisp to begin with, but this is what I did using the Channel Mixer function in my CS4 program.

I like the contrast between her light dress and the dark floor- but now I need to figure out how to lighten her skin tones to give her face a bit more brightness.

Photoshop!

Hey-

I made my first collage with Photoshop!

I have finally downloaded the program to my computer, read a few online tutorials and am signed up for a community ed class. I think I have a lot to learn!

Some goals for the next few months:

Take more photos using manual mode

Create fun collages (I am kind of tempted to get that compositor tool I read about on i heart faces)

Learn how to edit my black and white photos so they don't look so gray.

I hear it's a pretty steep learning curve!

i heart faces: angles

This week's theme at i heart faces is angles...it will be very fun to see how this is interpreted by all of the creative photographers out there!

I took this photo of Emily in her baptism dress- the dress looked so pretty that I thought I'd see what it looked like from above. I took it with my digital camera and have not added any post-processing to it (I have CS4 in the box still- just not very much extra time on my hands these days with 3 under 4). I probably also used the Normal Program mode since I've only just begun to experiment with Manual. I have a lot to learn!

Check out other photos this week at: http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

i heart faces: bundled up!

We spend a lot of time bundled up here in Minnesota...we were "up north" at Grandma and Grandpa's house in this photo and it was snowing a bit. Sam enjoyed tractor rides in the snow this week and Lillie tried out her new snowshoes. When you live in Minnesota we embrace winter because it tends to last for quite a few months!

Check out other fun "bundled" entries at: http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

i heart faces: i wanna dance

i heart faces: i wanna dance

This week's theme at i heart faces is dancing...I took this photo of Lillie with her new tutu (a Christmas gift), boots and Superman shirt. We had lots of fun dancing, although my favorite shot is of her back. I think we've entered a phase of not liking to have our picture taken- it's either that or a cheesy smile most of the time these days. But she was digging her new outfit here and we had fun. We also like having "naked dance parties" and I made a CD for us. Lillie likes the "fast" songs (think OutKast "Hey Ya" and Justin Timberlake "SexyBack"). Little brother gets in on the action, too.

Check out other great photos at: http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

i heart faces: texture

This is a photo of my daughter when she was 3 months old...I have not added any texture to it, as I do not have Photoshop (plan to buy it soon!).

BUT, if you look closely you can actually see some "texture" in the rolls of fat on her tummy.

This girl has always been a lover of food and a hearty eater. We are thankful for that and her healthy constitution.

Check out some great photos using texture at i heart faces: http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

i heart faces: family

The theme for this week at i heart faces is family...I took this photo of my Grandma Ruth meeting her great-granddaughter (Lillie Ruth) for the first time. I've had 2 more children since this was taken (we've had a busy 3 years), but this photo is special to me. My grandma's health has failed recently and she is less able to enjoy the little ones. She has always loved babies and despite years of working as a nanny, she always says to me "Am I holding her okay?"...

I took this photo before I had a digital camera...I kind of wish it was in sepia (there is just something special about deep wrinkles and sepia tones), but it's sentimental nonetheless.

Check out other photos of families at http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/.

happy birthday i heart faces!

i heart faces is celebrating their first birthday! it's been fun to check out lots of beautiful photos each week and i am amazed and motivated to keep taking more pictures.

this week we were asked to submit a favorite "best face photo". here's my little guy- about to turn 2 this week. i'm feeling sentimental so wanted to submit a picture of him (taken during our christmas photo shoot)- i love his wispy hair and big eyes. it's quite an accomplishment to catch him still for even a few seconds!

check out more face photos at: http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

and happy birthday i heart faces!