The magic of Photoshop

More about the whens, wheres, and whys of this picture later . . . but in the meantime, check out the transformation.

The original:

After processing:

Let’s examine them side by side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No more underexposure. And no more electrical pole coming out of my husband’s head.

It’s the power of my BFF, Photoshop. And it is not to be underestimated.

27 thoughts on “The magic of Photoshop

  1. Candace

    You are a beautiful couple and the new photo does not change that; however, it is an amazing transformation with the lighting and the deletion of the telephone pole! I am imagining how much better my photos would be if I had Photoshop. I might not have to trash a lot of the photos that I take.

    1. Jenna

      Thanks Wendi. I have only harnessed a small amount of Photoshop’s powers–I in awe of how much I stll don’t know. Love that program.

  2. Diane

    Will you come over and teach me some tricks and teach me how to use my software? I have had it for a long time, but can figure out how to use it?

    1. Jenna

      Hi Diane! I’d be glad to teach you some tricks! Also, if I were you, I’d do some reading online. That’s how I learned pretty much everything I know–that, a book from the library, and just experimentation. I love the Pioneer Woman’s tutorials because she’s so straightforward (thepioneerwoman.com under her photography section).

  3. Twinky

    Lovely, lovely. Any way Photoshop can maintain the light airy you AND keep the amazing sky (sans telephone pole) behind you???

    1. Jenna

      Hah! I knew you were going to ask that. =) Yes, there is a way, and it’s not too complicated. It just involves making a layer with the original sky and ‘erasing’ that part of the picture. A the time, I just didn’t feel like bothering though. =)

      1. giselle

        I was wondering that same thing!! The sky in the first one is so beautiful! Also – why did your husband’s hand become all blurry in the second one?

      2. Jenna

        The blurry hand is carelessness on my part (I did a layer of blur that I ‘erased’ on the parts I wanted to look sharper). You’re quite perceptive!

  4. sweetridgesisters

    Jenna, you look incredibly gorgeous. Really stunning, and with great hair. Looks like your comfort level with the camera is slowly coming along… and/or that picture was taken by a sister, and you were comfortable making intense eyes at her, before bursting out laughing. Anyway beautiful picture, and you’re a lovely couple. But I’m still not a total photoshop convert. I like the moody original shot, and the beatific hollywood heaven photoshop perfection effect kind of makes me squirm, in general. Or maybe I am just using principles as an excuse for my massive laziness. Who knows….

    1. Jenna

      Thanks Kate! And yes, I went for a little more of the ‘beatific glow,’ but in other edits I love going grainy and more raw. I’m sure there is a way to keep the moodiness of the original, I just didn’t go that route. It’s not Photoshop’s fault! =) It’s a great program, and if you know enough (which I don’t yet) you can achieve any look you want.

  5. Veronica

    That is awesome that you can erase a stake through someone’s head! lol! I SO need photoshop–the free program I use is very slow, very frustrating, and I hardly ever get where I want to with it. I definitely can not remove stakes from people’s heads with it and if I tried to brighten a photo that much, it would look awful. Great job with this–it’s a beautiful photo of you guys even before the editing, but def benefited from it!

  6. cmirvin

    How do you fix the exposure without things looking so grainy? I have an older version of photoshop elements and I have yet to figure out everything it has to offer.

    1. Jenna

      Hmmm–I’m not familiar with Photoshop Elements, but usually fixing exposure doesn’t affect graininess at all. It will highlight it though if the picture in question was already grainy (which happens if the environment was dark and your ISO was set high on your camera). For example, this picture does have a little grain to it, because the original did too. You just couldn’t see the graininess as much in the original because it was so shadowy. Does that make sense?
      In Photoshop you can alter exposure a ton of ways, but I like to use Levels or Curves and just increase the brightness. I do that for a lot of my food shots, and I don’t think it’s been adding grain. Hope that helps!

  7. Kimby

    That’s such an intriguing picture of you two. Your hubby looks like he’s thinking what an incredibly smart and lucky guy he is to have such a beautiful, intelligent wife. (I’m sure he appreciates having the telephone pole out of his head, too.) 🙂

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