I’ve been using Adobe Photo Shop for around 2 years now. I started with PSE-Photo Shop Elements and am now using CS4 Adobe Creative Suite 4. There are so many fun ways to edit your photos ranging from simple to crazy and I’m going to share a few of my favorite tips with you.

1. Get rid of that pimple (or other blotchiness on the face)! This is a pretty simple one, but one worth going over. There are two ways I like to do this depending on the size of the pimple, food smear, etc. The first way is with the Spot Healing Brush. I use this for one or two little spots that need repairing. You can adjust the brush size and it will do the rest for you by using proximity match. Now if I’m doing a photo session where a child is supposed to remain clean and they end up with food or dirt all over their face I will use a soft brush to eliminate anything that doesn’t belong. I simply match the color of the skin with my dropper tool closest to where the food appears and then go over with a soft brush at 10-15% opacity. I also use this method with dark under eye circles. See the image below, I took out dark circles and couple small blemishes, but it still remains natural looking.

2. Remove an unwanted object. The easiest and quickest way is by using your Spot Healing Brush, Clone Brush or in some instances your Soft Brush you can remove most unwanted objects. In some cases where the object is larger or in an awkward spot you may have to use a copy and paste method. When you choose your Spot Healing you simply paint over the unwanted area and let Photo Shop work for you or if you choose your clone brush you right click on the area you want a particular area to look like and then you paint over the said area. You have the ability to choose the opacity and brush size depending on what you’re cloning out. If you look at the image below you will see in the top left corner where there is a house peeking above the trees that I cloned out.

3. Turn your photos into your personal style. What might make one photographer stand out among another is their style. Some of this is done right out of the camera and some of it is in the processing. Someone might prefer a more vintage feel and another might prefer their images a little brighter. With Photo Shop Elements you can make your style stand out by trying different black and white techniques, adjusting the brightness, contrast and more.

4. Bump up those curves. I prefer to change my brightness in most cases by using curves instead of the brightening slider. In Photoshop Elements you can achieve this by going to Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust Color Curves. From there I raise my midtone curves. See the image below for a photo brightened with curves instead of brightness.

5. Brighten your eyes and teeth. This is something you don’t want to get too carried away with by risking an unnatural look. For the eyes I find it easiest to select the eye area with your quick selection brush and then to brighten and contrast that area just a smidge. After reaching the desired look I apply a gaussian blur while the eyes are still selected to make it all blend together. For the teeth you can choose your dodge tool at a very light opacity, about 10 and brush over them once. Personally, I rarely touch the teeth, but you can see in the image below how I adjusted the eyes.

These are just a few of many many ways to adjust and enhance your very own images. I encourage you to use the free trial Adobe offers because I promise you will be hooked after a few short days.

I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Adobe blogging program, making me eligible to receive a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

I can’t put my finger on it, but as a mother of a little girl I have to admit there is something very magical almost about our relationship. We butt heads because she is so much like me, yet we are bound tight and will be forever because we share what no boy possibly could. I love that she loves pretty things, likes to dress up and get her hair done. Most of the time. I look forward to each season so I can dress her accordingly and throw in the one type of prettiness that lasts all year long, her Pettiskirts and Tutus. They are just too much fun to mix and match with seasonal clothing, one could be worn by itself in the summer with a tank top and then over legging in the fall and winter. Not to mention how stinkin’ adorable they are for photo sessions.

Now it seems like there are a lot of different places to purchase the mentioned Pettiskirts and Tutus. I’ve heard the occasional story of someone spending a pretty penny on something with questionable quality.  I’m so excited to share Baby Dog Style with you all as you need to look no further.  Each Pettiskirt and Tutu is custom made, so it will fit your child perfectly. The quality is absolutely un-questionable. The Pettiskirts are full, beautiful and so so soft. The colors are vibrant and there are so many to choose from. You are, hands down, getting everything you paid for and more.

Olivia slides into hers several times a week, sometimes for a few minutes at a time, sometimes a few hours. Depends on her mood. What I’m getting at here is that even though these are made of delicate, soft material, it has been proven to be quite indestructible. With that said, I do not let her eat messy foods with it on or get too crazy outside as I don’t want it to snag on the wooden play set. After each use we hang it back in her closet with a pants style hanger and it is still just as beautiful as ever.

In addition to our delicious Pettiskirt, Rebecca from Baby Dog Style has a lot more to offer as you can probably imagine from the title of my post. For little girls there are incredible bows with hats and headbands to place the bows on. For the doggies in your life there are costumes, tutus, football jerseys, beds, cookies and way more than I could even list here. So many amazing gifts for little girls and your furry family members.

Black Friday through Cyber Monday: FREE shipping on Tutus and Pettiskirts!