Skin Smoothing....

I am trying to perfect my skin smoothing for child portraits. I decided to practice on a photo of myself since I have really awful skin. I figured if I can get mine smooth I can get anyone's smooth. 
This effect is not supposed to look "real" but more whimsical and "fairy tale" like.

Here goes...

Original: 

WAY over smooth edit ( I was seeing how far I could push it):

 It's just a smooth mess. You can't see where all of my chins meet my neck. :)

I'm thinking this would be about right although it still needs some work: 

Meet Stinky!

Hubby found this while cleaning up the yard for spring. 

He screamed like a girl. 

I decided to have an impromptu slithering mini-session.

(Hey, if the opportunity arises....)

Forever Holding My Baby's Hand

I took this photo this afternoon. It's an image of me holding a plaster cast of my hand holding my oldest daughters hand. She is now 10. I love this cast and plan on doing it with my other two children. 

This cast has taken a fall once or twice and in that time she has lost a finger, still worth cherishing though. 

I plan on taking a photo, (one with each child's hand in my hand, like the one below) and hanging them on the wall in a row. This will be good if the casts are ever destroyed later in life. The kids will always have the photo. I will do them all in b&w with a similar composition as in this photo. I may use both of my hands in the photos instead of just one. 

Bella

I'm not extremely fond of this image, it's just a bit flat for me but it was extremely dark sooc so this is a severe improvement. It's okay for web use but I won't be printing it.  

 

Playing with my lenses...

I got me wide angle and fish eye lens finally!

These are just random photos using them. :)

I used the wide angle for this but I got in real close so I'm not sure it even mattered it was the wide lens. I didn't feel like changing for this shot. It was windy and I was kneeling in mud...and I think trespassing. :)

 

Beautiful Miss Ella Grace

My Oma

This is my oma.

Oma = Grandmother in German.

About 6 or 7 years ago she lost all of her eyesight due to her diabetes. She spent her life taking care of my grandfather and his illnesses and never really took care of her own health. Shortly after his passing we found she was losing her eyesight. It was a rapid progression and a terribly sad one to witness. 

Losing her eyesight, however, has not slowed her down one bit. She moves around the house and yard extremely well. She is a strong woman and I love her with all of my heart.

These images were purposely shot sharp. I love the look of it and you can see the years of her life in her face. Something to be proud of for sure.   

Simple Snaps of my brother.

This is my little brother. He has come a very long way from a year ago. He was an extreme addict, weighing barely anything and just not looking like a healthy person at all. Bad choices landed him in jail and then rehab (thankfully). He is now 6 mos clean and I have never seen him looking so happy and healthy. 

 

It's a blessing for sure. 

It was a beautiful Sunday!