I took this photo while I was on a hike in Wayland early this month. I edited this image using adjustment layers. I ended up adding three different adjustment layers to it, the first being a brightness and contrast layer to increase the brightness of the photo. Additionally, I added a vibrance layer to make the colors on the trees and in the reflection a little brighter. Finally, I used a color balance layer in order to make the reds and yellows stand out and cause the leaves to pop.

This photo was taken of an open field in Wayland earlier this month. Using photoshop and the adjustments panel I was able to retouch this image. I made four different adjustments, using the adjustments panel, in order to create the final image. First of all, I slightly increased the contrast. Next, I changed the curves property of the image. I also increased the saturation of the photo in order to make the different colors really stand out. Lastly I played with the color balance. I increased the red colors and decreased both the green and the blue colors. This resulted in an image with warmer tones throughout.

I took both of these photos at Niagara Falls this summer. The first photo is a picture of the actual waterfall while the second photo captured a rainbow that was created from the mist of the falls. To create the final product I first had to edit the picture of the rainbow. I used the patch tool to get rid of some of the whitecaps in the background of the image. After the background was relatively clear I was able to blend the two photos using the soft light blending mode. This resulted in one image with the rainbow over the waterfall. The soft light mode allowed both of the images to be seen completely.

This photo was taken while I was on a walk in Natick this fall. I thought that this leaf was very beautiful and decided to take a picture of it. However, the original image has a very large shadow across the entire picture and covering half of the leaf. With the highlights and shadows panel in photoshop I was able to get rid of this shadow. To do this I increased the shadows tone to 48% and the highlights tone to 55%. I also increased the highlights amount, as well as the pixel radius for both the shadows and highlights. Finally I increased the color and midtones of the image. This allowed for the same image but with no large shadow taking away from the beauty of the leaf.

I took this photo while I was on a hike in Wayland this month. When the photo was taken the sky was not bright and sunny but instead was sort of gray. This created an overall gloomy atmosphere in the picture. To change this I used the brushes in photoshop. I first selected a very small brush and a light sky blue color. I then changed the opacity of the brush to 38% and the brush mode to overlay. With all of these details in place I was able to paint the sky a realistic blue.

I took this photo in Saint Lucia this summer. It shows one of their two mountains, as well as a palm tree. To edit this photo I used the filter gallery. I chose the graphic pen filter because I thought that it did a great job of making the image look like a print of a drawing.

I took this photo at a forest in Wayland this month. Originally the photo had two people and a dog in it. To get them out I first used the patch tool. Then I went back in and touched it up with the spot healing brush tool. With this tool I was able to fix the small areas that the patch tool had filled with a background that did not look realistic in that spot. This resulted in an image with no people or dogs to distract from the beauty of the nature in the shot and the mystery of where the path leads.

I took this photo of my dog at Wellesley College this fall. To make the final product I first selected my dog using the magnetic lasso tool. Since this did not produce a perfect selection I then used the quick mask tool to fix it up and perfect it. After this I made a few adjustments to the selection of my dog in order to brighten her up and make her stand out more. Finally, I selected the inverse of the selection and made it black and white. This caused my dog to really stand out against the background, whereas before she sort of blended in and was hard to pick out quickly.

I took this photo at a botanical garden in Saint Lucia this summer. To make the final image I first selected the flower using the magnetic lasso tool. As there was a lot of contrast between the flower and the background this tool worked well to get a selection. Next I selected the inverse and, using image adjustments, changed the selection to black and white. Since the color of the flower was very beautiful, changing the background to black and white really draws the viewer’s eyes to the magnificent color and flower.

I took this photo this summer at the Wayland Town Beach, which is a part of Lake Cochituate. In the original photograph there was a boundary rope in the water in the background. This distracted from the sunset and the overall photo. To edit this I used the clone tool to get rid of the rope. In addition, my friend’s hair was slightly messy in the original photo. I decided to use the clone tool again in order to smooth down her hair.

This photo was taken at my house in Natick this summer. The original photo had one wire that ran vertical. As all of the other wires in the image ran horizontal, it disrupted the flow. To get rid of this wire I first selected different parts using the lasso tool. Then I filled in these selections with the content aware tool. Next I used the smudge tool in order to perfect these changes and make it look more coherent. Finally I changed the color balance of the image to bring out the reds, pinks, and yellows of the image.