Patiently watching

[TwinANJ]

Sandra....I forgot to add that I added the dandelion! I had the same idea of the blown look and found a picture on the web but could not get the detail on the small pieces.

Jean

[tyeise]

I know others have added to this picture, and I wanted to give him a friend as well.

Tyeise

[DannyRaphael]

Jennifer:

An adorable picture. My son turned 5 today, so this one really tugged at my heartstrings. How quickly the years pass.

- - - - -
Chuck:

The introduction of Kaiya was inspired. Nice job interlacing the fingers. That really sold it.

- - - - -
Sanda:

Well placed touches. Again, inspired.

- - - - -
Jean:

The dandelion was perfect.
- - - - -

Quick recap of the layers palette (top to bottom).

* BW (copy), Luminosity, 10% - layer masked in a little detail
* Paint and clone - used this layer to paint and clone over some areas that had "gone white" + airbrush a little color into his jumper
* BW (copy) + Find Edges, Darken, 40% - layer masked for selective blending
* BW (copy), Color Dodge, Inverted + GBlur (radius about 8)
* BW=Merge of 2 layers below
* Channel Mixer adjustment layer (monochrome) 50,50,0,4
* Original background

Happy weekend everyone.
~Danny~

[Sanda]

Jean : great minds think alike.

[ArtistColumbus]

Jean, I love the photo. I need to try that VG out myself. The dandelion was a perfect touch. With those bulging cheeks of his, how can you not think he was blowing on the dandelion!

Tyiese, that looks so sweet too. Our neighbor has a horse and whenever I take Cameron over to her so that he can see her, he just squeals and giggles -- especially when her whiskers tickle his hand.

Danny, congrats on your son's birthday. I cannot believe how fast this first year went. It's been a complete blur! I love the B/W version. I tried a couple of ideas, but never could get it quite right. Yours is very nice.

PM, thanks for the compliment again on the photo. It's such a hit-and-miss luck with me to get a decent shot. Hopefully, I'll get the hang of it someday!

[DannyRaphael]

Sanda: RE great minds -- you got that right!

PM: Thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated.

Jennifer:
* The trick. Take LOTS of pics (and video). The years definitely FLY by.

- - - - - - - - -
I was experimenting with a technique I picked up (of all places) on a Wacom tablet promotional CD. It used the Water Paper filter as a basis. Never being one to leave a tutorial alone, I messed with it quite a bit. In case you're curious, the tutorial stopped after layer A.

See the post following this one for a screen shot of the Layers Palette.

Off to Birthday Party II.

Danny

[DannyRaphael]

Layers palette screenshot for pic in the previous post.