Skin smoothing

I found some instructions on smoothing skin in paint shop pro. Ok so technically its a cheat but I really don't care if people don't feel comfortable in there own skin and want to do a little post-processing. Here's how to do it:

Layer merging

I was tinkering about trying to merge some layers at the weekend. I really loved this effect and especially how it contrasted very well with the eyes. I'm not very impressed with the effect around the mouth and chin area but I am quite sure this is due to insufficient light in this area and should be easily solved. I am pretty smitten by the eyes though.

In the second picture I deliberately placed the subject in front of the light as I wanted to get a thin strip of light running down the profile of the face. The weather was really quite miserable that day and when I viewed the photos it looked as though somebody was looking longingly out of a window. Maybe hoping for better weather? So I photographed the rain on the window and then merged the 2 images together.

I think you are sooooo funny

I found some old photos of my nephew today - taken at his first birthday party. I was never so fond of the them from a creative point of view (of course the subject was lovely but they were a bit dull creativity wise). I had a tinker about with them today and came up with these 2.

My nephew

My nephew

Layer it on

I've been playing about with layers in Photo Shop elements. I find Paint Shop Pro sooooooo much easier to use and am not a fan of elements at all but think I *should* really try and figure it out. I have discovered though after all this tinkering that the result was exactly the same as with Paint Shop Pro. So guess what? I'm sticking with Paint Shop Pro for layer work :)

Highlight Mid Tones

I discovered how to get the kind of look I've been trying to get. I discovered that in Paint Shop Pro I can highlight mid-tones to achieve the effect. I've been playing about with it a bit recently. Have a look.