The Evolution of a photo... Part 1

Now I am NO photo expert. By ANY means. I use a plain jane point and shoot camera.
 (That is currently broken... insert sad face here)

But I've been working on trying to edit my photos to make them look a little better and thought I would share the little tips that I've learned along the way...

ALL EDITS AND DIRECTIONS ARE DONE THROUGH PICNIK.

Here is the original picture that I started with. I took this a couple of months back on our Shamrock Trip.

Step 1. Erase those ugly electric wires.

Upload your picture into Picnik.

In the Create tab click on Advanced.

Select Clone and erase those wires.

Step 2.  Shed a Little Light!

In the Edit Tab Choose Exposure.

Once there click on the Advanced button to your right.

Bump up the Highlights to +15 and the Brightness +8

Step 3. Let's Add Some Effects

In the Create Tab Select Effects.

Choose Vignette.

I reduced the size to 45.

Step 4. Black and White Anyone?

In the Create Tab Select Effects.

Top of the list? Black and White. Click it.

Next I faded it 20% So that a little color would show through.

Step 5. Add Some Layers.

In the Create Tab scroll to Texture.

I don't know the name of this texture but it's on the bottom row second from the left.

Step 6. Some More Layers.

Next I added the same effect as in Step 5 but I rotated it to the right 3 times and faded it 55%.

Here's a before and after shot. I love how it turned out. Much more rustic and it kinda looks like an old post card if you ask me. Now these are the step I took to get from point B to A (Before and After- get it Before to After... Okay Carry on.) Your picture may require more or less tweaking and you can fiddle with things to make your photo look just how you want it to. I hope this helps some! And if you have any questions at all feel free to shoot me an e-mail I'll do my best to try and answer them!

20SomethingDesigns(AT)Gmail(DOT)Com




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P.S. I won't be here Monday... I'll be visiting a special blog friend of mine! Come back on Monday and I'll tell you where!!!