Editing Photos

I am no photographer!

Just a mom trying to capture beautiful pictures of my daughter, so I just bought my first DSLR!! a

Canon Eos Rebel T2i

I am still learning all about the camera, lenses and how to take great photographs.

I sell crochet hats online and needed to have good pictures to show my work. I also wanted to be able to take great pictures of my family and friends, knowing how expensive a professional can cost. So I choose a beginner camera and I must say I love it! It is easy to understand and fits comfortably in my hands:)

I don't know anything about editing in photo shop or any other expensive program, so when I came across

Picnik I was quite thrilled! It's only $25.00 a year and is super easy to work with. Like I said I have never done anything like this before, so I am learning new things everyday!

Here is one of the ways I edit my photos

First Crop, then I play with the exposure to lighten it up a little bit.

I click on advance then curves. I use the cross process (my favorite) option to yellow it up a bit to make it look like its sunny (it was super cloudy outside) play with the curves a bit until you get the right shade you are looking for. The top dot will brighten the photo and the bottom dot will darken it.

*Sorry for making you photogs cringe because I don't know any of the technical terms*

I then fade it to about 50% or more to give it just a subtle glow.

Depending on the person (or how much my tot slept) I play around with the touch up options. There is wrinkle remover (which is good for fading the dark circles under eyes) and airbrushing, but I fade it to about 80% so my child doesn't look "fake"

There are so many awesome options to play around with. I basically just sat there for hours editing one picture until I figured out what each option does and how it affects the picture.

Here is the before and after, just a little bit of editing made a HUGE difference!

If your a mom like me or just learning you don't need some expensive fancy shmancy program to edit. I love how simple and affordable this site is.

Hope I helped just a little;)

Have fun!!