Highlighting the creative magic behind post-processed photos
Welcome to ABFriday! As a reminder, next week’s ABF post will reveal the photo for April’s One Photo Focus that all participants will be editing, so be sure to check back if you want to participate. And if you want to help decide which photo will be edited, head on over and visit Cee Neuner at Cee’s Photography. Cee is the next photographer to submit a photo for One Photo Focus and she’s asking for help from her readers to decide between 5 different photos. Great idea, Cee 🙂 So head on over, take a look, and vote! For all the details on ABFriday and One Photo Focus, visit the After-Before Friday Forum page. And now, on to this week’s galleries of submissions!
My submission: Taken at Christmastime, this is my faithful sidekick, Brandy, taking up residence in my desk chair. Guess she got tired of me sitting in front of my computer! The original photo was underexposed, but I’ve employed Lightroom 5, using basic adjustments and a combination of gradient filters, radial filters, and adjustment brushes to bring it to the end result.
Submitted by Klara — Sliku svoju ljubim II
Klara says: The photo was taken a few years ago during a 20 km in Brussels.
Submitted by Katie Prior — Drawing with Light
Katie says: This shot was taken on a recent visit to RHS Harlow Carr, these beautiful hellebores, were in flower everywhere, with their delicate white flowers. I wanted to convert this to monochrome to emphasise the whites of the petals and their beautifully simple form.
Submitted by Lynne Ayers — Beyond the Brush Photography
Lynne says: I went with an easy straightforward edit this week – the beauty and impact of The Crop to provide a focus and interesting composition.
Submitted by Loré Dombaj — Snow’s Fissures and Fractures
Loré says: I used the same image for this week’s Monochrome Madness, where I went more for the atmosphere than the actual improvement. I was curious to see how much I can improve on the original, if any.
Submitted by Benjamin Rowe — Aperture64
Ben says: This week I saw the first signs of spring with these snowdrops and set up for a HDR shot. You can catch my post here.
Submitted by Michelle Lunato — Michelle Lunato Photography
Submitted by Mary Hone — Tales from the Backroad
Submitted by Janice Meyers Foreman — jmeyersforeman photography
Janice says: I wanted something that was simple, it doesn’t always have to be complicated processing, magic can happen in the camera!
Submitted by Nancy Merrill – nancy merrill photography
Nancy says: I wanted to do something completely different with this image, and was so excited when I found the Polar Coordinates filter in PhotoShop. Then I had fun with a gradient layer to soften the edges. Hope you like it!
Please click on the links of those who contributed this week, to read about their post-processing steps and/or to see what other treasures they have on their blogs. They’d love to have you visit!
So what do you think of the ABFriday forum?
Feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comment section. And don’t forget to view the guidelines if you want to participate. I’d love to have you onboard!
I feel so bad that I missed this week but I’m here in spirit. I love what you did to improve the original image. And your finished product is so subtle. Just beautiful. And what a subject! Lucky dog!
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We missed having you here, Emilio! Glad you liked the transformation 🙂 Have you visited Cee’s post yet? You can vote on which photo she’ll be submitting for April’s 1PF! Go, go, go!
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great example of example of the power of shooting RAW and being able to overcome difficult lighting! thanks so much for working so hard to provide a forum for us to share our work.
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Thanks, Janice, and you’re so very welcome!
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Thanks for the pingback and write up Stacy!!! 🙂
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My pleasure, Cee. Wish I had made the connection earlier!
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I do love seeing how other people edit their photos. I do love Brandy.
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Awww, thanks, Raewyn. She really is a dear ❤️
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Ah, she looks so cute! You did a great job with this picture Stacy, the editing has really made the image come to life! I love the christmas tree lights in the background too 🙂
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Thanks, Katie. Had to do my puppy justice 😉 As for the xmas tree, that was a nice circumstance – I had to keep the lens wide open because of being indoors, which of course created that nice bokeh 🙂
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What a cute pup! I agree that she’s telling you that you need to get out of that chair and play with her. 😀 She looks like an older pup, how old is she? Mine is about 11 years old. Your edits really bring out the image, great job. 😀 I’ll watch to video soon.
Everyone has great submissions this week! I’ll have to go around to everyone’s blog soon. I got sick this past weekend and then got way behind on everything, sorry I missed out this week. Hopefully I can get caught up and submit next week.
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Thanks, Nic. She’s 15-1/2, and since that photo, she has become totally blind and totally deaf. The blindness happened so quickly that she didn’t have time to adjust. We have to move her from place to place and, of course, can’t leave her unattended in a room. Very sad 😦
Hope you’re feeling better …
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Aww, I’m sorry to hear that. 😦 Well she’s a total cutie, give her a hug for me.
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Done ❤️
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I really like your use of selective adjustments Stacy it has really made the image alive.
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Thanks, Ben. Love LR’s simple fixes 🙂
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How cute is that! And you did some magic stuff with what was a dark and dreary photo.
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Thank goodness for the availability of that magic stuff, right, Mary? 😉 Thanks!
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Nice job on Brandy, Stacy. You turned it into a nice portrait.
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Thanks, Lynne. I actually went back this afternoon and toned down the saturation – she seemed a bit more orange to me than she really is 😉 Fresh eyes …
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Good morning, Stacy. Again, I enjoy reading this After-Before section a lot. I didn’t comment every week to say so because I don’t want to bore you 😉 Thanks for doing this.
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Brandy is soooo cute! What a great collection of edit. Love this group:)
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Awww, thanks, Michelle. And love having you a part of it 😃
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Big smiles 🙂
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Great dog shot.
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Thanks, Max. She’s a great model 😉
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I like ALL of these — although my fav would have to be your pups ~ adorable! xx
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❤️ Thanks, West!
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