Like many things in post processing, there is an easy way and a hard way.. the easy way usually involves parting with some hard earned cash and this is no exception!  On freckly/sun damaged skin like mine, I could spend hours using the spot healing brush tool… or I can run a photoshop plugin called Portraiture and be done in about 2 seconds!

To demonstrate, I am going to use the images of me modeling my mom’s jewelry for her new etsy shop because it strikes me as a bit unkind to use a female client of mine to demonstrate someone who needs skin retouching!

Ok, so here is the before picture (can you see me cringing and covering my eyes with my hand??)

and here is after using portraiture on a separate layer and reducing the opacity to about 75%

Pretty fantastic no?

What portraiture does is look for skin colored areas and smooths them and then adds that adjustment to a new layer so you can reduce the opacity and erase back areas that you don’t want smoothed.  You can completely tweak to taste and necessity.   Like most things, moderation is key: I see some people totally abusing portraiture to the point where children look like plastic dolls – I don’t recommend going for that look, it’s rather creepy actually!

To further “perfect” this portrait I would use the patch or the spot healing brush tool to get rid of that deep furrow above my brow – (I think botox may be in my future!)  I went over that technique in the second part of my newborn processing tutorial so I’m not going to repeat myself, but if you aren’t familiar with these tools, it’s totally worth the time to play around with them.

Lastly,  close up portraits really require a subtle hand when output sharpening.  I usually sharpen all of my images for web viewing using Unsharp Mask at an amount of 100-400% and a radius of .2 and a threshold of 0 and adjust to taste.  But global sharpening can do nasty things to skin, particularly when you’ve taken so much time and care to smooth the skin out -why introduce harshness in the sharpening step?

That’s where edge sharpening comes in.

Jodi from MCP actions has an EXCELLENT edge sharpening tutorial and FREE action on her blog. I highly, highly recommend it.

So, here’s the final result, portraiture, some “healing brush” and some edge sharpening which mostly applied it to my eyes, lips  and some bits of hair:

One more thing: Imagenomic offers a free 15 day trial of Portraiture so you can try it before you decide if it’s worth the $200. I apologize in advance for adding something more to your photography wishlist, but hey, I also linked you to an awesome free action right? :)

Jasper eating muffins

Back when Jasper’s diet consisted of about three foods  I was desperate to sneak in some vegetables.  My mom helped me scour the internet for a carrot zucchini muffin recipe that would fit the bill.  Still, there was no guarantee that mister pickypants would be convinced, so we were thrilled when Jasper gave him his stamp of approval ..you know if Jasper likes them, they MUST be good!

Now they are the first thing he asks for in the morning so I carefully keep my eye on the muffin stash and make sure to make a new batch before the previous one disappears.  These are so good it’s hard to not eat them myself!

The recipe calls for 1 cup of all-purpose whole wheat flour and 3/4 cups of  all-purpose flour, so 1 and 3/4 cups of flour in total, but one night while I was distracted by the TV I forgot the second 3/4 cups and only used 1 cup and they came out even MORE moist and delicious, so I recommend doing the same.

One other tip: The recipe says to fill to the very top of the muffin cups but I do a little less for an ideal toddler size portion.. maybe 3/4 or so.

Ingredients

* 1/4 c. canola oil
* 1/2 c. brown sugar
* 1 egg
* 3/4 c. applesauce
* 1 c. grated carrots (approximately 2 medium size carrots)
* 1 c. grated zucchini (approximately 1 medium zucchini)
* 1 c. all-purpose whole wheat flour
* 3/4 c. all-purpose flour (optional – leave out for super moist muffins!)
* 2 t. baking powder
* 1 t. cinnamon
* 1/2 t. ground nutmeg
* 1/2 t. salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. In a large bowl, whisk together oil and sugar.
3. Beat in egg, then applesauce.
4. Stir in carrots and zucchini.
5. In another large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
6. Fold dry ingredients into wet, until just mixed.
7. Spoon batter to the very top of sprayed, paper-lined muffin cups and bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in a muffin.

NUTRITION DATA: (per muffin)
Calories 162
Amount Per Serving
Total Fat 5.3g
Saturated Fat 0.8g
Polyunsat. Fat 2.7g
Monounsat. Fat 1.4g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 17mg
Sodium 179mg
Potassium 153mg
Total Carbohydrate 27g
Dietary Fiber 2.1g
Sugars 9.5g
Protein 3g
Vitamin A 1585mcg
Vitamin B6 0.1mg
Vitamin B12 0.1mcg
Vitamin C 2mg
Vitamin E 1mcg
Calcium 78mg
Magnesium 22mg
Iron 1mg

Recipe adapted from: http://www.grouprecipes.com/2737/healthy-carrot-zucchini-muffins.html

Let me know how your little one likes them if you try the recipe!

Two weeks ago or so the back of his neck went from blotchy raised red bumps to a large angry red area that looked like a chemical burn. I picked him up from daycare and brought him to the pediatrician so he could see the rash while it was at it’s worst.

The pedi’s theory was that it was more likely caused by a surface irritant than a food because it was in such a localized area.  Jasper had been wearing a wool sweater that had some mohair in it so we figured he could be allergic to the mohair (he wears other wool without problems) and the back of his neck HAS been better since we took that sweater out of his wardrobe.

But the rash on his face is still there, some days worse than others making it pretty difficult to pinpoint what if any food triggers it.

So two days ago Jasper demanded to eat a “mato”  (tomato) which I sliced up for him, looked away and looked back about 5 seconds later and saw this:

and this:

(please excuse the poor quality of the iphone photos!)

:(

At first I thought he had a tomato “allergy” but since reading up on it realized that this sort of reaction is common in toddlers with sensitive skin when it comes into contact with acidic foods like tomato.  This reaction is a bit extreme because I don’t think he smeared it all over his face or anything, but still the tomato didn’t cause any internal problems so it’s obviously not an allergy – more like an inconvenient reaction.

It also makes me realize that his beloved guacamole which is made with vinegar is probably an irritant as well, and lastly his own drool which is acidic trapped and rubbed under his paci is probably what keeps the raised red patches on the sides of his mouth constantly irritated.

So the good news is that I don’t think he is ‘allergic’ to any foods and so don’t need to cut anything out, which is such a relief!

As far as treatment, for particularly bad reactions I apply the 2.5% cortisone the pedi prescribed.  Also, on the recommendation of one of my nutritionist friends I ordered a  bee balm salve with propolis that when applied liberally last night seemed to almost completely clear up even the stubborn patches around his mouth!

Of course I don’t know why his skin is so sensitive or reactive to begin with, but I think that’s fairly common in babies so I’m just assuming it’s one of those things he’ll grow out of eventually.

Now, onto cuter and more fun things..

I apologize if you already saw this posted on facebook, but it’s so cute I have to share it again:

A few nights ago we were playing with Jasper’s before bed and all of the sudden out of nowhere he said “Yoga!” and did this:

It took us totally by surprise, I guess the yoga they do with the toddlers at daycare actually made an impression!

Hope you all had a nice weekend..

So we will cover how to go from blue blotchy baby:

to gorgeous warm creamy skin!

This video is in two parts because it’s a bit long.. the first part covers how I use a digital grey kard while I’m shooting , how I use it to adjust white balance in LR (or ACR it would be the same) and then how I use an inverted highlights selection to brighten everything but the highlights:

The second part covers using the spot healing and patch tools to get rid of blotches and blemishes and also how to use a levels adjustment layer mask to get rid of any remaining dark magenta areas:

Let me know if you have any questions!

PS, I did this on a different monitor that hasn’t been calibrated for quite some time, so my skin tones may be look  a tad off, but the principles are the same :)

Tea too for watching!

Meet baby Sihanna.  She was a good sleeper and not quite as difficult to pose as Drew. Actually, technically Drew slept more, but Sihanna slept deeper so she was easier to pose when sleeping!

How beautiful are mom and baby together??

and dad was such a natural with Sihanna, you would really never know this was their first baby!

Let me know if you have any questions about newborns and I’ll try to help.. as far as props and things I brought, I filled an entire SUV as I mentioned yesterday. Here is just some of what I brought:

1. Beanbag and boppy for posing (this is what baby lays on under the blankets)

2. Lots of blankets

3. Hospital pad to go under blankets and protect beanbag and boppy from pee

4. Small space heater that blows hot air on baby to keep baby warm while naked

5. baby crack machine for white noise (the Homedics Lullaby Sound Machine from BB&B)

6. Lots of hats and props

7. Savage paper and backdrop stand

8. Barnwood floor

9. Ikea Doll Bed (Duktig)

10. Large white scarfs I got from Marshalls to wrap mom and baby in

11. Clamps from Loews/Home Depot to clip blankets to backdrop stand or dining room chairs.

I think that’s it, but I’m sure I’m forgetting something because there was just so much!!  Photographing newborns is almost as exhausting as HAVING them.. but almost as rewarding too :)

As luck would have it, all three of the newborns that I had lined up to shoot (that sounds very bad doesn’t it?) were all born within days of eachother, which meant that if I wanted to photograph them before the 14th day, I had to schedule two this past weekend.

My shoot on Saturday was 4 hours, and yesterday’s marathon session was 5 hours long. That plus loading and unloading an entire SUV of props etc. and Jasper deciding that his new wake up time is 6:30 am and I feel like a sleep deprived new mom all over again!

But, it was sooooo worth it.

Here are a few of Baby Drew from yesterday:

Can you believe that hair???? Jasper still doesn’t even have that much hair :)

And look how radiant and in love with him mom and dad are..

See more, bigger, better of baby Drew on my photography website.  You can also see the settings I used for each image on my Flickr set if you are curious. Mostly I used my 50mm 1.4 lens and occasionally when I needed a wider angle I used the Tamron 28-75.  It was a tricky shoot light wise because we had a big sliding glass door and the sun kept coming in and out, I had to change my settings a LOT.

The target baby doll came in very handy as Drew’s “stunt double” as I called her.. invaluable for testing positioning and getting my settings/exposure correct before putting the baby into position.

I haven’t posted a sneak peak of Saturday’s newborn yet (a girl!).. stay tuned for pics from her session tomorrow!

PS, the adorable bed in the first photo is the Duktig doll bed from Ikea (that I painted white).

“teatoo for the dental floss mommy!”

This is too funny not to share..

There really aren’t any words that Jasper says regularly that I don’t understand, so imagine my surprise when he started saying what sounded like “boobies” when asking for things recently. I could NOT for the life of me figure this one out. No one says boobies to him (that I’m aware of!) so I just couldn’t imagine what he was saying or why he was saying it.

This morning I finally deciphered his code: Boobies = “more please!”

Why he says some complicated words with perfect diction (including the word more and please) but others he just totally botches is beyond me, I’m just glad I finally figured it out!

Phew.

The funny thing is, at the same time that this “more please” appeared he also started saying “teetoo” (thank you) whenever you give him anything.   Who is this polite little toddler and what has he done with Jasper?

I’m taking the fact that I haven’t gone particularly out of my way to stress manners but he’s still picking them up on his own as a very good sign.  I may just produce a productive, contributing little member of society after all!  Just not sure I can take credit for any of it :)

I’ve blogged about this before, but I’m using the excuse  that Clickinmoms is having a membership sale to reinforce the point!

If you enter code “Friend” when you join, you’ll get 10% off your subscription.  In the interest of full disclosure, as an “affiliate” I get 10% for every member that I refer, but I hope ya’ll know I wouldn’t EVER recommend it if I didn’t feel it was well worth the $8 a month!

Now, I’ve also blogged about ilovephotography.com before and this is a free site that is so full of good info that it will have your head spinning.  But I also want to point you to a few great B&W actions created by members there that I regularly use (you will only be able to follow these links if you are a registered member).

Lemondrop’s B&W action

My new favorite “DSR’s Warm B&W action”

Also, there is an entire forum called “Share a Square” devoted entirely to free actions and templates, including many gorgeous page layouts, announcements, storyboards etc. An amazing resource! (Clickenmom’s also has an amazing free actions & templates area called “Pay it Forward“.)

Since I last blogged about message boards, the Bump.com (finally!) created a photography board that is also a nice resource. One of the members even started a blog that addressed some of the FAQs about processing and shooting, equipment etc. that is pretty helpful, particularly because it’s difficult to search the bump. http://punkfictionphoto.blogspot.com/

A lot of girls on the bump have spoken highly of the Two Peas photo messageboard “classes” (also free) and there are some great ones referenced in this thread http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&forum_id=21&thread_id=2953908, I particularly loved Amy Wenzel’s post about interacting with kids, as that is such an important and challenging part of children’s portraiture!

Lastly, if you join ILP or clickinmoms please friend me so I can see your photos!

Clickinmom’s profile

ILP Profile

Hope to see you there.. :)

Ever since, I’ve been on a hunt for the perfect baby doll.  This was surprisingly difficult because of my strict criterion : Cheap, close to lifesize in length and also head circumference. The head circumference was important to me because I have started making up my own hat patterns and wanted a lifesize head to check my sizing.

Last weekend I went to Toys R Us, measuring tape in hand and started measuring the heads of various dolls… yes, I was that psycho lady measuring dolls heads in the aisles of TRU!  Strangely enough, all the dolls that were close to the correct length (18-20 inches) had disproportionately large heads or vice versa so I headed over to target and struck gold with the Circo Feed and Sleep Baby Doll.  It was 18″ (close enough) and had the exact average newborn head circumference (13.5) and was under $20. Score!

Here she is modeling on of my new hats:

My plan B was to buy something off of ebay, but that would have taken forever to get here, plus most of the “lifesize” dolls were those reborn type of dolls that have always really creeped me out.  I’ve never understand the whole reborn treating a doll like a real child phenomenon, though I know sometimes these are grieving mothers and there is no way for me to even attempt to understand the depths of that sadness and what behavior it has the potential to bring out.   I tried not to judge, but I admit I did a little…

And then, Jasper started playing with the doll.  I wasn’t prepared for how watching him feed a doll its bottle would flood me with emotions just thinking about how if things were different Jasper could have a little sibling right now..

Seeing Jasper interact with this doll I could just so clearly see him as a big brother and my heart just ached with sadness for me and him that in all likelihood it will never come to pass.   It’s been a lot on my mind lately, both because I’m approaching my 37th birthday and also because a huge percentage of women on the bump toddler and even SAIF messageboards are pregnant again or have already given birth to their second.    I feel guilty even feeling this way, knowing how incredibly lucky I am to have Jasper, but I can’t help myself.

I’m so glad I have a creative outlet to drive these thoughts out of my mind, and one that even allows me to be around newborns every once in a while..