365 Project - Day 150

I'm always fascinated with how photoshop can help to change a simple snap shot into a relatively professional looking picture. The family picture above was taken on Christmas Eve using a tripod with the camera set on timer mode. My family was anxious to open presents and were not prepared to wait while I kept checking the camera and wanting to take another picture because of someone not looking at the camera (which btw is hard to accomplish with a toddler and no one behind the camera!). I took 4 pictures on timer one after another and hoped for the best.

After looking at the 4 pictures, I choose this picture as the one I liked the best:

BUT there was another picture that actually had Niklas looking at the camera. The only problem was that Joshua was looking through his hair in that picture so I didn't want to use it:

Mirko also said that he liked the way he looked better in the second picture than in the first one. So, using photoshop I took the first picture and just switched Niklas's and Mirko's faces with those in the second picture. I also cloned the background to take out the pictures and other distracting things behind us, brightened the picture a bit and got this:

Then added a vignette which I put a plaid pattern overlay onto and added a small inset border to get the picture at the top of the post.

I really do love how photoshop and photography go hand in hand to make fantastic pictures!!