i ♥ faces: fix-it Friday #39

Here are my edits for the fix-it photo this week at i ♥ faces.

 

                                                                                                   Here’s the original photo.

    

                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                         Here’s my first fix.

                                                                                             This was my original first fix, thanks to Laura for suggesting it might be too sharp.

The first thing I did was to open the picture as a camera RAW file in PSE7 and adjust the exposure and brightness until I found something I liked. Then I cropped the photo to a 5x7 to get closer to the action. Next I added a Soft light filter on the entire picture to make it more vibrant. I also added  a High pass filter around the cowboy and steer only. My next stop was to burn and dodge. I burned around the edges and background and dodged the cowboy and steer to make them stand out more. And of course, I sharpened the photo using the Unsharp mask.

                                                                                                                 Here’s my second fix.

It's the same photo with all the changes from above, the only difference is I added a selective Gaussian Blur filter over everything except the cowboy and steer.  I like the way this fix puts the focus on the cowboy and steer and adds to the sense of motion.

                                                                                                                      Here’s my third fix.

                                                       This was my original third fix, thanks to Danielle for suggesting I remove more texture.

Time for some texture! I’m not sure if I like this fix or not. Again, it’s the same as the first fix, but this time I added some texture.  I used a photo I had taken of some rough wood and layered it over the original photo and reduced the layer opacity.  I then used the erase tool at about 30% strength to highlight the subject of the picture.

                                                                                                        Here’s my fourth fix.

I think this fix is my favorite. I love the gritty and old feel to it. It is also the same as my first fix, except I added a Sepia filter and again used the wood texture. In this photo I erased the texture so it kind of bordered the photo. I also reduced the opacity of the texture layer. I also used the burn and dodge tools to further emphasize the cowboy and steer.

                                                                                               Which fix do you like the best?

                                                                                             Click on the above image to see more great fixes!