Fix-it Friday ~ "No Limits"

Here is this week's submission, a very handsome young guy (love the freckles and deep blue eyes) from Alesha at "Snapshots of Us." :




I know I have many stolen moment photos like this of my son. Something about being a tween/teen makes these natural, unposed captures so precious.

The photo is a bit underexposed and the composition needs a boost, but the bokeh is so lovely and his expression so serene.

For this image I ran an adjustment layer to correct the brightness (boosted way up) and the contrast (tweaked it down a bit). Next, a duplicate layer, auto sharpen at 33% opacity and then ran the trusty and fabulous Powder Room 2 action from CoffeeShop Actions. I then adjusted for skin tones, added a wee bit of vignetting and dodged in some subtle midtones in the background. My final steps were to hide the photographer's reflection a bit and to add a touch more catch-lighting to his right eye. I think it helped to balance his gaze a bit, which was not at camera yet not away from camera either.

Okay enough rambling ... here are my fixes ~ in color ...



... and since I always like a b&w option ...



... enjoy your weekend.