lights anyone

[kimspics]

here is my 10 yo daughter Kassidy holding a bunch of lightsticks. her friend took this shot but I like the composition and I played for a second in picasa- I sharpened it and added a wee bit of soft focus. Is soft focus a good thing and what do yall think.

[FocalFrenzy]

I like the soft focus effect on this shot. If you have an editing program that uses layering, (I don't think Picasa does), you could isolate the light-sticks and up the saturation level to really make them glow. By using the layer method, the extra saturation doesn't adversely affect the rest of your shot. Your daughter looks as though she is really having a good time. Overall, a very nice picture.
BTW, If you don't have Photoshop, I would reccomend "GIMP". It's a Free download from Google. It does almost everything PS does, but seems a bit complicated at first. There are tutorials online to help get you started. It's alot of fun to play with and can provide a chance to "Save" some pics that you thought were unsalvageable. I hope this helps, and look forward to seeing more of your work here on DPS.

[AmandaPfeiffer]

I agree with FocalFrenzy! Brightening up the sticks would make the picture really POP!! Nice pic!

If you can figure out the layer thing (which is kind of tricky to learn at first but WAYYYY worth it) I would also recommend doing something with the green carpet in the background. Yes, it does compliment her lovely red hair nicely, , but I think it is kind of distracting...so maybe it would look better with the background black and white? (what is that called? desaturating?)

(Oh, also, I bet the picture would look neat if you had the entire picture black and white except for the glow sticks after they have been brightened up a bit.)

[kimspics]

Great advice. How would I make the glow sticks by themselves glow more ? and how would I make all the pic black and white except for the light sticks ? what software would you reccommend ? I have only picasa and somewhere I do have photoshop elements that I can install in this computer.
this is great I have been sitting here for four hours now, I do not feel just as though I am learning some vital points but also that I am meeting some wonderful people giving me awesome advice- HUGE THANKS !!!!

[kimspics]

hey there is this any better than the first ?

[AmandaPfeiffer]

Yeah it looks better already! Her face looks a lot better in the second pic than the first...not as red as in the first.

You could install Elements and use the layers and then do what i was talking about. Basically you have to create another layer and then make that second layer black and white but then use the lasso tool to cut out the light sticks and then they would be still in color, sort of shining from underneath the black and white layer.

You can do a search online for tutorials on how to do this and actually there is probably someone on here that has made one. It's really fun once you figure out how to do it. good luck and be sure to post your results!

[FrankenPengie]

Unfortunately half of her face is colored and the other is not. You really need to isolate the colored sticks for the effect to work. I've used the free Gimp program before. Duplicate your original layer, convert it to B&W and erase the B&W sticks exposing the colored ones below.

[FocalFrenzy]

Much more eye catching. I'm not familliar with Photoshop Elements (others here are), but "GIMP" has a lasso tool you can use to select a particular item for editing. Like the lite-sticks. Layering is another option, but takes a little more time. As far as I know, layering is the only way to desaturate (make Black & white), the background only. I'm sure others here can offer easier tips. By the way, which edition of "Elements" do you have access to? I only ask as there are differences in how to perform different functions between each, and I thought that if we knew, someone with your edition could more easily help you learn. Thanks for posting your "fix", you did a great job with the program you have.

[kimspics]

thanks again yall. I tried to install photoshop[ elements today but could not complete installation. I did go to GIMP website and downloaded it ( thanks for suggesting) boy! does it seem hard, I fiqure by this time next year I'll have it down. seriously I will play around w/ it this evening and tonight - you guys are great !!!!!! thanks again.

[AmandaPfeiffer]

hey! so i played around with your pic a little...let me know if you are against people playing with your images and i can delete it ASAP. (P.S. I just started learning photoshop elements this WEEK so it's not as good as some of these photoshop guru's could do but it still looks pretty neat I think!)