Still working on my photoshop skills ....

Well like I told you about here and here, I am really trying to get to know photoshop.  Check out these two pictures ....

The original ....

That is a picture of me and my youngest on the water taxi (or maybe even the "L" train ... I forget) in Chicago.  It's an okay picture, but I did not like my bra strap hanging out, my bumpy skin, and how the picture was a bit out of focus.  Plus the picture was too big ... so here is what I came up with after photoshopping it ....

Better, right?  I will tell you what I did to the picture.  First I cropped it just slightly and changed the image size to 550 pixels wide (my fave size for blogging).  I also brightened the picture, changed the tone and exposure.  I sharpened my face and Ryan's face, and blurred the background.  I also took out my bra strap using the patch tool.  The result of the strap removal is okay, but my arm looks a little blue and blurred now.  I tried many different ways to take my bra strap out (such as select+edit+content aware fill, spot healing brush, etc.), but this version was the best.  Guess I need to work on that skill some more .... or just wear a strapless bra next time, ha, ha!   Anyhow, I used the smudge tool to make my skin less bumpy looking.  I also selected the whites of my eyes ("sclera" to you science nerds out there!), and used the hue/color saturation option to lighten them.  I also selected my eyes and using the color adjustment features made my eyes more blue.

What do you think?  Progress, right?  All I used was this book too!!

Hugs,