I love photojojo.com seriously. They have the most awesome ideas and tips and tricks! Yesterday’s email/post about water and bokah was SO FUN! If you haven’t checked them out, then go, feast your eyes (it’s free!) and enjoy some of the fun silly tips they offer. I’m thinking about getting the book, it’s got some fun ideas in it. I have kids, I have tons of photos, I bet we would have a blast! If you have the book already, what do you think? Should I spring for it? I love the tips and ideas on their blog. And for the skeptical out there, I am in no way affiliated with Photojojo (aside from liking them, cuz they’re SUPER!).

My photoshop tip of the day: You can easily change your layer mask from black to white (also known as showing to hiding) by inverting the mask. Make sure that the masking layer is highlighted, and just hit Control + I (Command + I on Mac) and voila hidden masking layer, ready for you to do your stuff

I’m so excited!! I have been working hard to change things up.

Soon, the whole site is getting a little makeover! YAY!! And there’s even MORE goodies in store!

Also, there is still room in the workshop for Tomorrow and Friday. So go sign up!! I can’t wait, the first workshop was so much fun!!

Do you want to learn how to edit your photos with a more natural crisp look?  Then these are the workshops for you.   I have added dates for both Photoshop and for Elements users!

Due to Popular Demand: I went ahead and added some new workshop dates!

Basic Workflow for Natural, Clean Images  $75.00

Next Workshop Date: Wednesday, March 3 11am or for the evening crowd Monday, March 8th 9pm.

This workshop will show you my step by step process from a RAW image through ACR (these steps will also work for lightroom) and then the finished product in photoshop.   We will discuss color correcting, watermarking, and other concerns that come with basic editing.  Included will be a step by step pdf tutorial guide of the techniques shown during the workshop.

Skin Retouching Workshop $75.00

Next Workshop Date: Friday, February 26th at 11am and for the evening crowd, Monday, March 1st at 9pm.  Please specify which date works best for you.

This workshop will show you the techniques used in my skin action set, you will see how to remove blemishes or skin imperfections, smooth the skin, and make the end result look natural. The workshop will last approximately an hour, with the first half hour being instruction and the second half hour being question answer. I am limiting the number of people per workshop to 5, keeping it small and intimate. And when you sign up you will receive my skin action set.

Elements Workshops

We will go over the same skills only in Photoshop Elements instead of the full version of Photoshop.

Skin Retouching Workshop
Thursday February 25th at 9pm

Basic Workflow Workshop
Thursday March 4th at 9pm

Why hire someone else to edit your photos?

You want the control?

That’s the beauty of my photo retouching service.  We work together to make sure that the end result looks exactly like your editing style before I begin.  Then as I am editing your images, the process is seamless between my edits and yours.

Using our photo retouching services will:

• Save you time
• Save you the headache
• Ultimately save yourself some money because you can focus on other tasks

And the best part? Nobody will be able to tell the difference.

There are several options for editing services:

• Individual image edits
• Quick Session Edits (leaving the artistic stuff to you)
• Full Session Edits (including the artistic stuff)
• Wedding Edits (for the busy wedding photographer)
• Glitz Glamor Image Edits (for those pageant photos!)
• And more!

Wondering how it works?  It’s easy!  Just email me your images, I’ll give you a price quote, you can check out through paypal right on this site, and I edit and email the images back.  As my daughter says, easy peasy lemon squeasy!

So contact me today!  You won’t be disappointed!!

Hello Everyone!!

I realize that dinner is a far cry from photo editing.  BUT we all have seen the posts on forums, blogs, and even facebook.  How do you manage to work at home, have children, and keep it all together??

This is one of those little things that has made my life easier.  And since it’s helped me so much, I decided I should share the love, and the website.

It’s Relish! It’s a meal planning site, but with a twist.  Each Thursday morning, they put up 10 different recipe options for the week.  And they are labeled (kid-friendly, crockpot, etc.) and you pick 5 for the week, then they produce a nice PDF with a grocery list (broken into catagories) and the recipes.  Even better, they have an iphone ap.  So I don’t have to waste paper!  Meal planning and I’m feeling green.

The meals are yummy, and surprisingly easy to make.  And overall I’ve been happy with the results.  It’s saving me time in hunting up a menu for the week, grocery shopping, and money in the long run because I’m not going to the store everyday for “something for dinner”.

If you decide to join, would you please mention me (Laura Mitchum)?  You get a $50 gift certificate to Crate and Barrel for every 5 people that sign up using you.  And I’d really like to get a new cookware set

And let me know what you think of it!  I’m so happy with the site, I had to share!!

As I have gotten busier, both with editing and with workshops/tutorials…I want to make sure that everyone gets the most possible from the blog. There are several directions that I can take this blog, and as I sit here, on the crossroads, I thought I’d ask your opinion!

The new tutorials are more than just a pdf, they are interactive and flash based, and really really awesome.

Thank you so much for your input! I cannot wait for the workshops!!!

Laura

Good Morning!  My week has started with a BANG.  Ok, really it was a scorpion.  I was thankfully holding my son’s shoe at the time, getting ready to hand it off to him.  He shouted “skorkian!  Mom KILL it!!” and I screamed and held the shoe like a weapon.  Of course, the rest of the kids had to come see what the fuss was about.  And soon “SKORKIAN” rang throughout my house.  Thankfully, he is now fully dead and hanging out with my coffee grinds in the garbage.  Sure got my adrenaline going first thing!

In other news, my workshops (see the link at the top of the page!) are a HUGE hit.  I cannot wait until the first one!  If you haven’t already, go sign up!  We’re going to go over skin smoothing, and even a touch of color correction all to make the skin look as gorgeous and natural as possible!  (and there’s a workshop for you elements folks too!)

And my Monday Morning Cool Web Finds:

Bloom Workshops start today!

Photo Jojo posted an really fun looking Tennis Ball Frame Tutorial.  (I’ve got to try this one out, my son loves tennis!)
Have a great day!

First, a reminder:  the discounted rate on the Photoshop Skin Retouching Actions ends at midnight (Atlantic) tonight!

Photoshop Elements Users, after I slept on it… and tossed and turned, LOL.  I decided that I wanted to share the tutorial I wrote on how to smooth skin using Photoshop Elements 8 (these steps also work in Elements 6).

The workshop will go more into depth, and you would get the benefit of talking to me directly about it.  This tutorial (including the extra steps for workshop attendees only)  will be the included pdf if you purchase the workshop.  Go sign up for the workshop today!

Skin Retouching in Photoshop Elements 8

A Dress It Up: Photo Retouching Tutorial

1. Open your image in Elements.

2. Add a blank layer.  Layer – New Layer.
3. Using the paint bucket, fill that new layer in with a solid color.  It doesn’t matter what color, it will just help you see where you’ve erased.  We will delete this layer in a later step.
4. Click on the background layer, then go to layers – duplicate layer.  Move the “blue” layer below your copy.

5. Blur the background copy layer.  Make sure you are on the background copy layer.  Go to Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur.  Set the blur radius low, I used 2.0 px.

6. Add noise.  This will make the skin look more real and less plasticky.  Go to Filter – Noise – Add Noise.  Check Gaussian and make it 1% then click ok.

7. Erase all areas EXCEPT the skin you want to correct.  Choose the eraser tool and go to town erasing.  In photoshop, you would use a mask and paint back in only the areas where you wanted the skin smoothed, but since elements doesn’t allow for masks, we’re doing it with the changes “exposed”.

8. Click on the blue layer and delete it.

9. Lower the opacity of the skin layer to suit your image.  Then flatten.  And voila, smoothed skin in Photoshop Elements in 9 easy steps!

As I wanted to leave something extra for those who choose to join the workshop, there are more steps that will perfect the skin and give it a glow, but I’m stopping here as this will give you a nice basic skin smoothing.

This technique also easily works in photoshop, but this is not the technique I used for the skin retouching action set or for that workshop.  There is another method, one that I like MUCH better, but sadly the options are not available on Elements.

Are you looking for the Photoshop Workshop Information?  I’m so excited that the first workshop only has 1 space left!  And just a reminder: the discounted rate on the Photoshop Skin Retouching Actions ends at midnight (Atlantic) tonight!

After having my arm twisted… I’m happy to say that I’ve worked hard to come up with a way to share my skin techniques with anyone that uses Elements. I have both Elements 6 and 8, so I’m confident that if you have any version from 6-8, you will be fine taking the workshop!

Come, join me in editing bliss!

$50.00

The first workshop will be Monday 2/15 and I’ll set up the time so that it works best for everyone attending.

The before (yes, I need a new before image, lol!)

And edited with Photoshop Elements 8:

As with the photoshop workshops, I’m limited the number of people per workshop to 5, I think it’s just more intimate that way!  It will be a one hour workshop, showing you how to achieve a nice smooth skin and also a pdf tutorial of the steps used for skin smoothing.

And, drumroll please…

I’m adding two more workshops for elements users!

How to make teeth whiter (but still look normal) and how to make the eyes brighter (but still look human).
How to come up with your basic workflow so you don’t want to pull your hair out!

Photoshop users…are you interested too?  Let me know, and I’ll add dates/times for those workshops!

I’m SO excited, I love sharing techniques!

PS.  If you feel sorry for my poor sister for being my example, send me a new one!!  LOL!!!

The Skin Retouching Workshop is $75 per person. It will be Monday, February 15th. I will set it at a time mutually beneficial for everyone who signs up.

This workshop will show you the techniques used in my skin action set, you will see how to remove blemishes or skin imperfections, smooth the skin, and make the end result look natural. The workshop will last approximately an hour, with the first half hour being instruction and the second half hour being question answer. I am limiting the number of people per workshop to 5, keeping it small and intimate. And when you sign up you will receive my skin action set.

The workshop will be hosted via skype, as that way I can talk and share my screen at the same time. You will need a skype account and I will email further instructions after you sign up. You can type message through skype, so you do not need to have a microphone, but you will need speakers so you can hear me.

Before:

After: