It is sad, but I have had some of my own hatched chicks not make that first day or two... And these chicks were shipped in freezing cold weather. I am amazed any of them made it.
I will post pics in a day or two of the remaining chicks. I can't tell you how exciting it is to pick up a small box full of peeping pooping fluffy chicks at the post office. I consider them my Valentine present from my husband. Who wants flowers, chocolates or jewelry when you can have baby chickens! I know, I am odd. ;-) The boys are crazy about them and are working on making them tame.
I am almost finished with my newest portrait action. It is meant to be used on an image that is already color/contrast adjusted. It has my normal eye define and eye bright layers, but this time I figured out a way for it to soften skin automatically! Yes, no painting on layer masks in most cases.
This took forever for me to figure out, because I could do it using Color Range in Photoshop, but then found out PSE does not have this adjustment. After hours I realized I could use Replace Color instead with a work-around. It was stressful but exciting figuring this out. I have this thing that everything I post must be able to work in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. I will explain what I did when I post the action for those of you who are nerds like me and want to know what is going on behind the scenes. I am really proud I figured this one out, without even googling.
This action will also brighten the skin automatically and add some contrast to everything else. Everything is adjustable of course. And like all actions, it won't work on all images, but the portraits I have against darker background have turned out great. I posted a before/after (taken in my barn "studio") below. I overdid the after so you could see the effect more, but you will probably want to have a more subtle effect.
So I need help naming this one. I already have PowderRoom
and Perfect Portrait. This one softens skin automatically, defines eyes, brightens skin and also adds a small contrast boost to non-skin areas. If you have a minute I would love for you to post name suggestions in the comments. Help me!
I am thinking of making two actions, one that has everything above and one version that just softens/brightens the skin. You can use the brighten skin layer on any color skin by simply adjusting the blending mode. What do you think, should I make two actions?
If you haven't already, go like my Facebook page. This is a great place to go ask questions, suggest actions/tutorials, post your before/afters, etc. I would love to see you there. :-)
And I also wanted to thank you for reading my blog, telling other people about it, and also giving such generous donations. You are what makes it possible for me to have this creative outlet and also earn some money doing it. My husband, my boys, and my sanity thank you.
