Why Photoshop will always be in my toolbox...

I had a two-year-old in the studio yesterday, and her mom brought along a baby boy she watches. So in the 'break' times (when said 2-y-o was not keen on being in front of my camera), I turned my lens to the little guy, who was very agreeable and all smiles. Mr. Handsome has itchy eczema pretty badly on his face and head, which did not in any way dampen that killer smile. However, my friend said she wasn't sure his mom had ever gotten 'real' photos done of him because of his skin.

So this morning I was sifting through the photos and couldn't help 'fiddling' with the photos of Mr. Handsome. This is why I love Photoshop (original on right, 'shopped version on left--click to see larger):

Such a handsome man

Okay, kinda fudging a bit. The purpose of my own NaBloPoMo challenge is to post good photos straight out of the camera. The first photo is straight out of the camera, but 'good' is debatable. This is a handsome little man I met today. He sat so patiently in his carseat while his mom helped with PTA stuff.

Aperture: f/4.0
Shutter Speed: 1/40
ISO: 1600
Focal Length: 47.0 mm
Lens: EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
Flash: none
White Balance: Auto


However... the color balance is way off, the overhead incandescents offered very little int the way of lighting, so the photo is more snapshot than photograph in my opinion. And since I'm a portrait photographer, I have a hard time posting photos of people that aren't fabulous.

So I spent two minutes in ACR and Photoshop and kicked it up a notch: