I’m so excited to bring you a whole week of posts about using those not-so-perfect photos on layouts! I’m not a photographer - I have no idea how to work my camera - and most of my photos are taken with my phone. So I’ve become pretty good at fixing them, or boosting them, or sharpening them, or cropping them in really sneaky ways. All in an effort to get those photos into our family books! Even though some photos aren’t the greatest quality, they’re important to us anyway, right?
Filters and Actions
Today, I’d like to talk about filters and photo actions. These are my life-savors, and can make a huge difference in the photos. All of my photos go through some sort of post-processing before going on a layout, but I wanted to make this post more about helping the photos that aren’t great to begin with.
For this layout, I used some photos of my daughter in her fabulous hat. I took the photos with my phone while we were watching a softball game. I wasn’t really worried about the best light or the best angle. I just wanted to hurry and take the pics before she decided to run off again.
Here they are, side by side, before and after applying Pioneer Woman’s photo actions for PSE -
A subtle difference for sure, but one that makes her face brighter, the hat sparkle, and the image crisper. And you can even see her little freckles!
This next photo was a mess. We were in a dark room with terrible lights that cast a yellow hue on everything. Blech. Plus it’s blurry. But out of three photos, this one was the best.
I used the Pic Tap Go app to help me –
It’s still not perfect, but you can see both eyes, and the black and white contrast makes it a little funky and cool. The way the photo turned out helped to inspire the colors, design, and even the title of my layout - which hopefully is a little bit funky and cool.
Laura used Pic Tap Go app to brighten up this adorable photo of her son.
What a difference a couple of filters can make!
I hope this will help you get started on the post-processing of all your photos – both the good photos and the not-so-good photos. Come back tomorrow for some tricks to help with the inevitable blurry photos.
