Sally
by purpleflutterby13

Comment:
Like the other one, this is a good start. For a quick snapshot, this would be great as is.

If you want it to "pop," I agree with meyers - punch up the contrast a bit. Ever tried sharpening to increase contrast? Use a large radius, like 50, and a small amount, like 20 (leave threshhold at zero).

Also, as always, select the eyes and lips and sharpen a bit using normal settings (midrange amount, small radius) - try something like 50,1.5,0 AFTER resizing and go from there.

Finally, this is a great chance to play with the soft light layer you and I have discussed (we did, right?). With a very soft brush, select the background and darken it. I'd also reduce the saturation. You want her lovely red hair to stand out, and right now the background looks reddish, reducing the impact. Compare this shot to mine of my daugther's to see how you want contrasting colors:

Nick
by purpleflutterby13

Comment:
Very nice shot. I would try three subtle changes and see whether you like it better:
1) Crop to just a little bit above the hat.
2) Select his eyes and from his mouth to his chin, and sharpen some more
3) Darken just a bit on his right cheek (image's left side) - not too much; it's fine to be bright than the other side.

This would be a great time to use my favorite trick of a soft light layer, but painted in black to darken instead of white to lighten. I'd bet you would need a pretty low opacity to make it look good.

untitled
by krnodil

Comment:
Yup, a very cool shot. Keep experimenting since you're getting results like this!

Fluro Agave Curves.
by sherpet

Comment:
I love the curves and gradual shading from one color to another. I suggest two cleanups, though:
1) Save at a higher quality level. I can see JPG compression artifacts along all the borders with blue - see all that mess? That's from using too low a quality setting
2) There's a dark spot just above the middle yellow line, maybe 1/4 of the way down from the top. In such smoothly flowing colors, it stands out to me.

I'd also try blurring everything other than the borders with the blue section to smooth things out a bit.

Checkered Quilt
by sherpet

Comment:
That's very cool. I could stand in front of this as a poster for a long time.

IMG_2156-2.jpg
by Tajhad

Comment:
Obviously fake, not allowed in any but expert editing. And the waves crashing against the ship? Come on, you'll have to do better with the hand-drawn stuff.

*grin*

I just find boring stuff like shells and seaweed when I go to the beach.

Did they let you keep it? :)

A storm is brewing
by Elvis_L

Comment:
Wow, I'll say it's brewing! Nice shot, Elvis.

Crossed legs
by Melethia

Comment:
Well, looky there, Deb - ya broke 6. :) Told ya it was a cool shot!

Hiking through the valley
by Pano

Comment:
Spectacular, Fernando! Such rich colors and contrasts, and the view is amazing. Congrats!

The Warrior
by noraneko

Comment:
Congrats, Catherine! See, my lapse of suckage award curse continues unabated - ya beat me again. :)