Light and frothy cinnamon

I'd really like to buy these sweet actions. My husband (the graphic designer) says I shouldn't. He says "We have Photoshop. You need to learn how to use it."

"Ha," I say.

"That's a lot easier said than done," I think.

So here I am, trying. Luckily, my daughter's friend is such beautiful, willing helper.

First, I shot in RAW so that I could retain all the info possible. Then I opened the image in photoshop (CS4) and adjusted the brightness, contrast, fill light, and sharpness.


Next, I use PW's BW at about 75%. I adjusted the light and edge burn. Then I flattened the layers.


For this one I duplicated the bw layer in "screen" mode. (this makes it quite a bit brighter) Then I added a sepia tone. I adjusted the color a bit to add a little red. I had the duplicated layer at about 65% opacity. I really like the effect. I think I will call it, "frothy cinnamon." eh? eh?


I also shot this image in RAW mode. I'm not sure if that's the correct way to say that, but hopefully you know what I mean. I opened it in photoshop and adjusted the brightness, contrast, exposure, recovery and sharpness.


Here, I desaturated the color and added PW "lovely and etheral" action at about 45%. I also sharpened up her eyes a bit. I took out the branch on the left with the clone stamping tool.


Here, I used the edit from above and then tried my "frothy cinnamon" effect and add a few textures on it. (I did buy those textures from here, and love them. But my graphic designer husband says I could have found some for free. Ha! For all the time it would have taken me, I think the price was worth it.) I used Forabella's linen texture at 17% and her milk & honey overlay at 35%. I used the eraser tool to clear up her face and finally cropped.

oo la la. I think I could do this all day. But hark! The children, laundry and empty dinner table calleth. So, guess what? I'm putting those sweet actions on my Christmas list. Tons easier.