Fingers and Toes

At the Paper Mama this week, she is looking for fingerprints. From the same set as the previous post, check out babe's first foray into the wonderful world of dessert, one fingerprint at a time:

for more fingerprints, visit:

Rather serendipitously, Perceptive Perspective has the theme of "toes". What's more delectable than toes covered in chocolate?:

And if that were not proof enough, check out this out-take, post shoot. Momma was hungry after all that fast shuttering!:

For more kissable toes, visit:

Editing Then and Now, Plus Flower Challenge

I was scouring some photos for the most recent Paper Mama Challenge and decided to try my hand at re-editing a photo I took in March. I liked the results and so thought I would share with you dear friends.
I have always stuck to the analogy that in photo editing, less is more, and the best thing to do is get the greatest shot as possible SOOC (straight out of the camera). Photoshop is a beautiful thing, but its also a lot of responsibility. When we first get our hands on it, we tend to go overboard - heavy vignettes, over saturation, oompa loompa babies. the works! As time passes, we train our eyes, and our editing style will change (we all hope!).
So as an example, here is a photo I took in March, my original edit back then, and my new edit now

Original:

SS: 1/125, Ap: f/2.8, ISO 200, 50mm
Now I blew the highlights in this, big time. The flower is practically 3D, the reds are so clipped. Notice the hotspots on her hands and pants. Its also really cool.

Back in March, this is all I did:

basically I cropped and probably brightened the midtones a bit (which it totally doesn't need)

And this is the edit I just did:

 I was able to tone down the highlights, and play more with the individual colour channels (red, green, blue) to get the ground and her skin to a more natural colour, plus tone down the flower some. It is still clipped, and ideally I would like to recover it even more, but my masking/layering skillz are so not ready for that.

Back in March, you can see what two editing gurus were able to do with a few other shots from this same session here. I am not there yet, but I feel like I am getting closer. Baby steps, baby steps.

Hope that was helpful for some. With all that said, I am also entering the last photo in Paper Mama's current challenge, which is Flower. Check it out here for other "sweet" shots:

Paper Mama: Orange and Thanks

The Paper Mama Challenge this week is Orange. Here is K in her lovely new orange dress:

ironically, pushing a stroller, just like last time. Though this time it is holding Penelope the Panda. Chelsey at Paper Mama is going to think that is all she ever does.

For more orange-liciousness (yes that can be a word), check out:

Secondly, I am super stoked to announce that last month, when I asked you all to vote on my "favourite toy" photo, boy did you deliver. I won the vote-off! Thank you all so much for helping me out. In addition to some fabu note-cards designed by Ms. Chelsey, I get to display this wonderful button:

thanks again Chelsey. I love playing along with you and Ruari :)

Paper Mama: Absolute Favourite

How on earth do you pick your absolute favourite photo of your child?

I tried and tried this morning to comb through my photos and find one I hadn't already AW'ed, but I kept coming back to this one. I used it last week in an I Heart Faces challenge, and its the blog banner for my blog about K. So even though you have already been subjected to it numerous times, here it is again, because clearly, its my Absolute Favourite:



For more favourite entries, visit the Paper Mama, here:

And so as not to make your visit completely worthless, here are a few others from that same photo shoot:

Paper Mama Challenge: Action

This week at the Paper Mama, the photo challenge is action. It just so happens this week that K started climbing the chain ladder on the playground by herself - 18 months! She is such a monkey.

Here she is, in action:

Exposure Time:	1/800
Aperture:	f/2.8
ISO:	200
Focal Length:	50mm (75mm in 35mm)

adjusted curves slightly in GIMP to increase contrast.

To see other kiddos in action, check out:

And I can't believe I forgot to share, but last week, The Paper Mama selected my picture of K with her doll Lulu as top pick for the challenge "favourite toy". Thank you Chelsea - I am extremely flattered! So I am proud to proclaim:

Paper Mamma Challenge: Fave Toy

This week at The Paper Mamma, the photo challenge is favourite toy. This is perfect because I happened to snap this over the weekend! I finally got a shot I am proud of with K and her favourite doll, Lulu. Best $5 I ever spent at a swap meet. She adores that thing and the stroller it rode in on.

Exposure Time:	1/1000
Aperture:	f/2.5
ISO:	400
Focal Length:	50mm (75mm in 35mm)

Again, I could have lowered my ISO and therefore dropped my SS. I get so paranoid I tend to leave the ISO higher then it needs to be. Still, what's not to love about a post dinner stroll in your pj's, rain boots and pushing a pram?

Check out more favourites at:

The Paper Mama: Yellow

Have an ADD toddler banging under my feet, so this will be short and sweet.
The Paper Mama's photo challenge this week is Yellow:

see more great entries here:

The Paper Mama: Talented

Paper Mama is holding a photo challenge and this week the theme is talented.
Here is K getting her brush on, at just over 12 months old. She is obsessed with clean teeth!

See more talented kids at: