Photoshop Apps

I'm trying to make use of the fancy DSLR and have been incredibly inspired by the blogger-nets (I kind of hate the term blogosphere. I don't know why). Some major favorites are Under the Sycamore, Meg's Whatever blog  which totally captures kids and Kansas for me. It reminds me of my summers when I was growing up. On the flip side, the city pics on Sweet Fine Day are a different kind of greatness. Urban playgrounds and city kids are fun to see. Finally, the food porn, plus kid, plus island pics and other awesomeness of Gluten Free Girl's blog gets me through the crazy Texas heat. Day dreaming of picnics on an island in the Pacific Northwest... sigh. BUT, I did see the sign for the Texas State Fair so fall really IS almost here!

This is a tiny subset of the blogs I read with lots gorgeous photos and decorating/beauty shots. However, these stand out for me as they capture everyday moments. Making them magical, particularly with kids. Sophy is growing at a crazy rate and she's at school while we're at work so I have less of an opportunity to see her everyday interactions with world. I want to have a record of this time when she's exploring, learning and finds everything pretty nifty. This is what I will hold on to when she's slamming her door and screaming "I hate you". She can even watch me weep over the pics after I remove her door for slamming it but that's an entirely different thing. Let's not dwell. Not ready, not ready!

I've waxed poetic~ish about my love of apps on my phone and really, really wanted something similar for Photoshop. Turns out, there kind of is! I read about Totally Rad Lab on Ashley's blog but couldn't quite figure it out but found they had a free trial so I started playing with it. Now I'm hooked. It's a lot more of a commitment than my $1.99 phone apps but so far I think it's worth it. I hope I'm not spoiling anything for the family, but photo stuff is my new gift go to so I feel like I can justify the cost. Kinda. I hope my husband doesn't read this. :O

So here is an example of a "before and after" with Totally Rad.

Before

After

I cropped the poop out of it so you can get closer to the tiny toddler in the photo. I know there's a lot going on but I wanted to really get that feeling from the splash park. There may have been a little fixation on the rainbows. I don't want to talk about that either. Rainbows rule! Anyway, the super processed feel you see on phone apps is a favorite but this isn't a look for everyone. They have a lot of options for some subtle adjustments. I may have mentioned I'm not much of a "less is more" kind of girl.

The next set are from Pioneer Woman. I kind of have a love/hate relationship with PW in that I used to love her but after she turned into a giant marketing brand the "simple prairie girl" vibe was kind of lost. I do love her photos though. Recipes... eh.

Before

Ok, so this one has the tiny toddler making a break for it with Daddy's shadow at the bottom of the pic. I kind of love it which is why I end up keeping all of my photos in an "originals" folder taking up huge amounts of space. I'll figure out something with picture hoarding after I conquer my actual "stuff" hoarding. Anyway, back to the photo. And then it became...

After

This. I did want to crop it a little tighter though to get more of Sophy in the pic again. I also really modified the contrast and did a major sepia moment. I wish I would have rotated the image, you know, so that it's straight (OY!) but I didn't. I think on the whole most wouldn't find it a successful photo but I kind of love it. She's just on the edge of exploring on her own. Ready to break free and find adventure. That's a moment I want to have forever.