Hello everyone,
I've run across this style several times now but it doesn't seem to be one I can quite nail down.
http://www.jessicarstrickland.com/blog/?cat=4&paged=2
I can't say I love all the angles but I love the colors.
The closest I've been able to come is with a duped overlay layer with some desat and bringing up the contrast. But then again It does appear to have a cross processed look to the reds as well.
I don't know, but I'm hoping someone here can help. What do you guys think?

I tried to recreat the look you were after.

First I copied the layer and did a Gaussian blur on it at about 6, then I put a mask over it and brushed back in what I wanted in focus.

Then to brighten up the colors and give that high key look, I added a curves adjustment layer and then brushed in what was a bright on the faces, and also darkened the top and bottom with a gradient.

I then added a selective color adjustment layer, I changed the cyan color the most. +57, +81, +40, 0. I also played some of the other colors.

lastly I added a color balance adjustment layer and added some red, to balance the skin tones.

I hope this helps.
cathy

I looks really close. I can't tell if the blur is right for it or not. I think I've been looking at it so long I'm going buggy!.
The adjustment layer looks right though.
Any other ideas. I found a thread through dpreview that talks about it and indicates that it may be an action as all of the images contain the same basic adjustments.

The blur seems to vary in the link you provided. Some are more blurred than others. Some are blurred farther away then it is when closer up. This can be done with an adjustment layer to the blurred image with the gradent tool. (tutorial: Simulating Depth of Field using Photoshop Lens Blur Filter)

I'm sure you can make an action, that is not hard either.

ahh,
I see what you mean, don't know why I didn't think of that.
Thanks for the ideas kathy!.

The blur in the pictures comes from using a DSLR. Other than that, looks great colorwise.

well I guess it's just shot at like f 1.4 or 1.8 but it looks a little more. What I'm really after is the color/contrast I guess.

For the color, try steepening the A & B channel curves in lab. For the contrast, you can blow out the highlights with an intense L channel curve.