and the jpg: 

My best picture ended up being one I took over the weekend with my friend, and I thought I might be able to bring out the colors we tried to capture with the camera, through photoshop.

I first started by creating a new layer to do some retouching on, then used the clone stamp tool to edit out any facial blemishes.

Next, I created a histogram to mainly bring out the white in the picture and emphasize the darker areas.

Then, I set up a curves layer to bring the washed out areas into focus and make the hair and skin a bit warmer and darker.

After that came the channel mixer to make the colors pop. I used this mainly to really bring attention to the paint on her face and have the tan a bit more golden.

Next, I made another curves layer, and using the smart lasso tool, i outlined the teeth and brightened the area to make them seem whiter.

Finally, I used one last layer to use the dodge and burn tool on to whiten the whites of the eyes and the rest of the teeth.

In the future I’ll try to record the exact settings as well as the adjustments.  In this case I made all adjustments in Picnik.

The first 3 were all under Basic Edits:

1)  Cropped to 4 x 6 proportions – to obtain an image with one side of 8″.

2) Saturated the image slightly.

3) Increased the temperature setting slightly.

The last two were under Effects:

4) First I hit it with a big dose of Boost – to bring up the color of the bricks and the leaves.

5) Then I used the Focal Black and White – to hone in on the red bricks and green leaves while leaving the bikes out of the focal circle (of color) as much as possible.

That’s all, folks.

With this photo I used photoshop to alter the following aspects:

- I first adjusted the Levels bringing in both the light and the dark.

- I then adjusted the contrast and brightness, allowing the image to become sharper.

- Next I adjusted the curves, giving the picture more strength in its darks and lights.

- Finally I adjusted the color using the Channel Mixer, giving the picture a higher color and bringing out the color of the barrel in comparison to the stone wall.

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[View with PicLens]

1st image: Original Photo

2nd image: Original Photo cropped and tag removed using clone stamp

3rd image: Black and White

4th image: Adjusting Levels

5th image: Curves adjustment

6th image: Making images pop

7th image: All layers combined