What's wrong with these pictures?

Last week I posted a set of pictures straight out of the camera (s-o-o-c) because I was too hungry and tired to process them. Slacker. But I promised to post the befores and afters this week to show you the steps I go through to make my pictures look their best.

Some of you commented that the photos looked fine s-o-o-c. And I agree. But fine is not perfect, and I like perfect. And if there's something about a particular photo that would bug the crap out of me if it were hanging on my wall, I'm going to fix it.

So let's look at this one of Smooch first:

Here is the fixed version:
Now that's better. The colors in the Photoshopped version more closely resemble what Smooch looked like when I took the picture, and that pesky whisker won't haunt me in my dreams.

For the Photoshop nerds amongst us, here is what I did:
1. removed distracting whisker using the clone tool
2. lightened the iris of Smooch's eye using MCP's free Touch of Lightness/Touch of Darkness action
3. warmed up the overall color using PW's free Warmer action
4. applied Auto Contrast - most digital photos have what I can only describe as a "dull film" over them when they're s-o-o-c. There are a pile of ways to get rid of it in Photoshop - my favorites are Auto Contrast or PW's Boost action applied at a very low percentage.


This photo of Hank needs some help before I would ever hang it on one of my walls.


Unintentionally crooked lines, like the roof in the s-o-o-c version, make me freakin' nuts. If I did nothing else to Hank's photo, I would have to straighten it. And remove the bit of traffic cone behind him that looks like a neon orange pimple.

Here is the fixed version:
I will sleep much better tonight knowing that my roof is not crooked. Whew. Here is what I did:
1. Straightened the image using Photoshop's ruler tool, then arbitrary rotate function.
2. Cropped the image so that is was more of an equine waist-up shot.
3. Removed the bit of traffic cone with the clone tool.
4. Applied PW's Warmer action at 47%
5. Applied PW's Boost action at 34%
6. Darkened the left and right edges of the image with MCP's Touch of Lightness/Darkness action so that Hank would stand out better against the background.

Let's stop right here to give a gigantic shout-out to Pioneer Woman and Jodi at MCP for sharing free downloadable actions with the rest of us photo geeks. Actions are an automated series of steps in Photoshop – press one button and voila! You've got yourself a better picture and saved yourself a heckuva lot of time. Not all actions are created equal, but the ones these ladies offer are magnificent.

Now it's Alan's turn:

I wavered about removing the distracting bits of sand on Alan's whiskers, so I asked myself, "what is this photo about?" I answered, "the reddish sand on Alan's exquisite muzzle." I talk to myself alot. Those tiny bits of white sand drew my eye away from his exquisite muzzle, so away they went. Have I ever told you I'm a perfectionist? It's a chronic disease and there is no cure.

Here's what I did:
1. Removed the distracting grains of sand with Photoshop's spot healing brush and clone tool.
2. Applied PW's Warmer action at 38%
3. Applied MCP's High Definition Sharpening action at 75%


Ok, purists, this one's for you. Here is the straight-out-of-the-camera version of George:
It is also the final version of George. I'm not going to do one darned thing to it because I think it's perfect just the way it is.


Now what can possibly be wrong with this much adorableness?

The exposure on this shot was tricky because George and Alan are standing in the shade and the background is brightly lit by the sun. When you take candid pictures of animals, it's not like you can say, "could you guys please move over here where the light is better?" You've got to take what you can get and make the best of it.

Here's what I did:
1. Applied PW's Warmer action at 28%
2. Used MCP's Touch of Lightness action on George's and Deets' eyes and Deets' fur to bring out the highlights.
3. Used PW's Sharpen This action on George's and Deets' eyes.
4. Used MCP's Touch of Darkness action on the sky
5. Applied PW's Boost action at 22%.

I like to use Photoshop to make good photographs better - rarely will it make a bad photograph good. But sometimes when a bad photograph is all I've got, it's fun to try to salvage it with Photoshop. I'll show you some examples of that tomorrow.