♥ Guest Blogger ♥

Well this week we have a visit back from a past guest blogger. Actually, Rebekah from Potholes and Pantyhose will be bringing us great posts once a month. YEAH! She has such great talent, we are so glad to have her here. So let's welcome Rebekah back!

~ She is posting a fantastic tutorial on how to make your photo POP. Sorry little pun there. There is a bubble in the photo. LOL On to Rebekah's great post~

I am more than happy to be a guest blogger at Trendy Treehouse! I just love Tara for allowing my weirdness on her site. I’m Rebekah from www.potholesandpantyhose.com and I blog about my life on the road with my musician hubby, my remodeling projects, my photography, and the arts and crap that I enjoy making from cast-offs. I try to maintain a somewhat normal life, however, normalcy keeps escaping me.

Let me give you a disclaimer on this tutorial-I am not a professional photographer. I just

enjoy sharing the knowledge that I do have with people that might appreciate a tip here or there.

Today, I would like to show you how to take and edit an unconventional photo.

Let’s get started! Making your subject at ease can be tough. I like to put the client in a familiar setting or position to help them relax. My subject was most at ease doing this-blowing a bubble.

Isn’t he just the cutest?

I liked the photo, but there were a few things that needed a fixin’. (That’s Okie talk...)

I didn’t like the chair sticking into the frame. I made a copy of the background and then cropped out the offender.

His skin looked a little flat, so I used the ‘diffuse glow’ function. It’s very flattering to skin tones-boys and girls alike.

He looks so darn purty now. But don’t tell him. He is very macho.

The overall color was too brown for me. I adjusted the levels using ‘color balance’ (found under the tab ‘Image’ and scrolling down to ‘adjustments’).

His eyes needed to pop a little more, so I lassoed both of those cute little suckers and clicked on the ‘Filter’ tab. Scroll down to ‘Sharpen’ and then choose ‘unsharp mask’ and adjust the amount, the radius and the threshold to your liking.

I learned this from Pioneer Woman. I like her. And her photo tricks.

Next, I wanted the bubble gum to stand out a bit more. I lassoed it and then clicked on the ‘Image’ tab and scrolled down to ‘Hue and Saturation’. I brought out the pink in the gum a little more.

Here is the cute finished product. I just love this little guy. However, he is my nephew after all, and I am a little biased.

Come on by www.potholesandpanythose.com to see other basic tutorials on photography, arts and crap, remodeling or many other weirdo things that I am into. I would love to hear from you!

Thanks again Tara for letting me guest blog today!

-Rebekah