Madison Vining Photography

One of the things I asked my husband for on Mother’s Day this year was that he make a conscious effort to get to know my camera and capture me with the kids. We have literally hundreds of thousands of photos of the kids alone and the kids with him, but virtually none (by comparison) of me with them, especially in the day-to-day. Last night when I had just got home from Bootcamp, he asked if he could have his first lesson. It is so like a man to ask if he can photograph you when you’re drenched in sweat ; ) But I was so happy to hear his eagerness and it was golden hour so out we went!

He captured this moment of me and my sweet boy on the trampoline and I am forever grateful. On the left is his original image and on the right is the finished product as edited by me.

>> I am not afraid to say that YES I made myself a little thinner  <<

I’m a mama of two and I need all the help that precious Photoshop has to give ; )

First up, I removed all distractions: stickers and tags from the trampoline, random straw, zipper door, etc. To do that, I used the clone tool as well as the paintbrush tool (for instance I used the dropper tool to select the exact blue and then painted it over the tag nearest the camera, then also cloned a bit of “good area” over top of the tag…)

I lightened things up a bit (especially my face) and ran a TG Photography Simplicity Set action at a low opacity for a little pop. I did a color adjustment layer (I prefer my shadows toward the magenta side) and I also sharpened things up a bit and added some haze to accentuate the already pretty golden hour light.

Then I liquified myself. If you are not familiar with liquify, get familiar with it ; ) Your clients will thank you! We all need a little nip and tuck now and then. You know that pesky area that bulges out near the arm pits, above the bra? Well you guys may not have that problem, but some of us totally do and liquify will fix it right up. Flat hair? Liquify can give that a little boost, too. I may be super nice and make a vlog post demonstrating for you next week!

ADVANCE attendees… you will be learning all of this and will also be going home with video tutorials to help you accomplish every single portion! I can’t wait to meet you all next month. For information on ADVANCE <—click! There are 2 spots remaining!

So there you have it. Check back next week for more Touch-up Tuesday goodness!

XOXO
Madison