The wonders of digital photo processing

I am really starting to dive into Photoshop (Elements 6) and Lightroom. The more I learn, the more it becomes a playground for creativity.

Here's a photo I took of Alex SOOC (straight out of the camera)...

It's just a snapshot I took of him while I was goofing around with my settings, working on my focusing issues. We were sitting outside on the front porch and Alex was laying on a blanket. You can see the blanket and wood in the background. Overall just an eh picture, but it had good eye contact and focus so I played around with it.

Here it is after adjusting in Lightroom...

I adjusted all of the levels to my liking and added a vignette. This now allows focus on Alex's face instead of being lost in the background. It's a little bit on the warm side, but I needed it for the end effect you'll see in a moment.

Next I opened up the image in Photoshop and added a soft effect for his face, sharpened & dodged his eyes, and added a texture layer. I then took it back into Lightroom to adjust the vignette and deepen the details in the texture.

Here is the final result...


Here's another take with texture on Ben...


I love how you can take a so-so image and turn it into something interesting. I still have a lot to learn. It can all be a bit overwhelming at first, there are so many levels to photography. I am really enjoying the process though!