I Heart Faces: Fix It Friday

The original photo in this week's I Heart Faces: Fix It Friday is already beautiful so I only really made some minor enhancements to it.

Original Version



All of my edits were done in Photoshop 8. My edits included enhancing the color, lightening and sharpening it a bit, and cropping it to a 5x7.

Edited Version







~AKO Photography

I Heart Faces: Pet Faces

This week's photo challenge over at I Heart Faces is all about our pets. I chose a photo of my kitty, Harley, this week since he is our good boy. Out of the three of our cats, he is the only one who we never have to scold or yell at. He always seems to be sitting off to the side watching the other two get into trouble.





Visit I Heart Faces to see other great pet photos!

I Heart Faces: Summer in Review

Summer 2010 went by way too fast...

My baby brother got married.



We visited the Iwo Jima, which docked in New York Harbor over Memorial Weekend.



We made it to a baseball game.



We visited the Mackinac Bridge and Upper Peninsula of Michigan.



All too soon, there will be a crisp bite in the air and we will be forced to close the windows and prepare the home for the winter chill...



...And our countryside will be covered in the beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows of Autumn...




To see other Summer in Review stories, visit I Heart Faces!

Introducing.... Mr. Callie Cat

Black and White Wednesday: Winter Dreams

I was going back through some photos from earlier this year and came across these from when the Northeast was hit by a number of blizzards within a week in early February. With the miserable heat we've been having, I miss the look of the neighborhood during and just after a couple of feet of snowfall. We'll be seeing the white stuff again soon!









Go see some more beautiful black and white photos over at The Long Road to China

I Heart Faces: “Got To Wear Shades” Challenge

This week's challenge over at I Heart Faces is "Got To Wear Shades". Since my family is never without their shades I had a lot to choose from. One photo that I kept going back to was this one from my brother's wedding in Key West. We all kept making fun of him because he wouldn't take off his sunglasses. Eventually we got him to take them off for the after ceremony photos :) My brother isn't much of a smiler in photos so it is always nice to catch him grinning every once in awhile.





Check out other fun summer photos in the challenge over at I Heart Faces!

Photoshop Elements

I finally had some time to start playing around with Photoshop Elements 8. I think I may purchase a reference guide so I don't waste my time wandering around the programs and options.

Here is my first attempt at editing a photo.


Unedited Version



Edited Version




Since I was just playing around with options I did not keep track of everything that I did. But I do know I lightened it up a bit, sharpened the features, and removed some of the flaws. In the future, as I get more comfortable with the program, I'll document the changes I made.

Cats

Some candid shots of my lovely kitties.

Photowalk: New York City - 02.14.10

On 2/14/2010, we took a Photowalk through Midtown Manhattan down to Chelsea.

I ♥ Faces: Week 7 "I Wanna Dance" Challenge

I don't have too many opportunities to photograph people so I don't have much opportunity to participate in the I ♥ Faces challenges. However, when I saw this weeks challenge I knew the exact photo that I wanted to use. This is a photo that I took of my husband at our second wedding reception last year in Michigan. I loved this shot because he was off to the side just doing his own thing. I believe Will Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy With It" was playing.





Visit the I ♥ Faces site for more "I Wanna Dance" photos.

Christmas Decor - 2009

A few shots of our Christmas Decorations...





~Photos by Mandy Kay