A Much Needed Face Lift

So I am giving this blog a face lift. I recently got a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS5 and I'm working to learn its every nook and cranny. I hope to document that progress here, so I can see from where I start (complete crap) to hopefully, what I call, Moyo. [Keep in mind you can click on any of these pictures to see them in their full size.]

First thing I ever learned how to do on photoshop was to take a picture, desaturate it (make it black & white)  and extract only certain colors that I wanted from the photo. That was about...4 years ago. I hadn't made much progress since then, but NOW, things are going to change (insha'Allah) for the better.

Below is a recent example of a photo I edited using Adobe Photoshop CS5 with that one skill I perfected 4 years ago.

Before

After

Not bad. The rose is the focal point encapsulating the intense "brotherly love" between these guys. :-)
I did some contrast editing and shadow embellishments in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom after I finished extracting the red of the rose in Photoshop.

The next few shots are of a lovely friend of mine. I'm leaning the most basic methods for airbrushing a photo. I followed the method lain out here.

Before

After

Before

After

You can see that the photo was brightened, the shadows under her eyes were reduced and some of the blemishes on her face were softened. Best part is that it doesn't look incredibly fake, like she has no pores. :-)

Before

After

The natural red in her cheeks was brought out, and some lines around her mouth and under her eyes were softened. I also experimented a bit with this one, trying to see if I could get eyeliner on her. Out of the three, I think this is the one that looks the most tampered with. Please leave comments about why you might think it's a bit unreal. I can't pinpoint it.

End of 1st post! Whew!