New Blog Address!

If you're a follower, I have a new address and would LOVE for you to visit me there! This is going to be my permanent location!

http://www.michellehires.com

Hello Kitty - 105/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 105/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

I shall withhold the name of the innocent but Hello Kitty is beginning her invasion. Slowly but surely, she is taking over the world....

(PS - sorry that I'm a day late posting this - Thursday was a busy day :)

Hello Kitty - 106/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 106/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

Remember the days of old fashioned journaling?? Have you tried doing that lately? Well I did, and I got writer's cramp - go figure.

I ♥ Faces - Fix it Friday!

What a great photo they have for Fix It Friday this week!  Here's one of my takes on it (more to follow).  Head on over to http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/ if you want to play along or just see other renditions of the photo!

The biggest problem is underexposure. Here is the before.

Here is my 'regular' after.

Here are my steps!
Lightroom

Used eyedropper on white of eyes to adjust white balance.  This changed temp to +41, +48
Manual Adjustments to:
Exposure +75
Fill Light +21
Brightness +50

Did you know you can adjust luminance sliders of orange, red and yellow to remove ruddiness out of skin?  I didn't until about a month ago and it's been my new favorite thing.  SO easy!  The key is to move the saturation slider DOWN and the luminance slider UP. 

Red
Saturation -19
Luminance +23

Orange
Saturation -19
Luminance +23

My last step in Lightroom was to do a noise reduction of 50, there was inevitably going to be some noise from the underexposure and I like to touch that up in Lightroom.

Now off to Photoshop!

MCP Actions Magic Powder - opacity adjusted to 50.  I then masked it off her lips, I still wanted them to look dewy.  This step almost COMPLETELY fixes the face.  It's a godsend!

MCP Eye Doctor - I only used Sharp as a Tack and Enhance Catchlights on eyes - both at 50% opacity.  I then used the 'Darken Pupil' step on the LIPS at a 20% opacity :)

I then brightened up under the eyes and smoothed it out just a bit and spot removed some of the leftover blemishes and stray hair :)

Here is the same edit but with my FAVORITE 'Chocolate Covered Strawberries' from MCP

Creative Aged Preset in Lightroom

Here is the color one again but with a bit of a 'Boost' from Pioneer Woman and then I used Heavy Fog Fixer from MCP to clear up some of the haziness. :)

Hello Kitty - 104/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 104/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

This little girl had quite the adventure. She was lost at our local zoo for well over a week and after a recent return, we found her! She looks a little banged up, but I promise to clean her up. This is a tribute to my loving husband. We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary a few days ago and although we're a bit banged up (figuratively), there's SO much love between us because of our struggles and triumphs. I love you honey!

Hello Kitty - 103/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 102/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

Hello Kitty - 102/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 102/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

Hello Kitty - 101/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 101/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

So, I realized that I didn't get a photo of Hope and I together with Hello Kitty so we went back for day 2. We also wanted to bring my pal Tressa and her son Xaveir, who happens to be a Hello Kitty fan, to go see her.

Here are a few more photos of the Sanrio Cafe that opened. There are some yummy looking desserts. We didn't try any, but will probably head back for some soon.

Hello Kitty - 100/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 100/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

How fitting that the one hundredth (100!!) photo of my 365 project is the one where we got to meet Hello Kitty IN PERSON! It's divine intervention and was completely unplanned.

She didn't say much but boy was she cute! She posed for pictures and did all sorts of cute things...loved it!

It was a LOT of fun to be there at our local Sanrio store as they did a grand re-opening and the opening of a Sanrio Cafe right next door.

Hello Kitty - 99/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 99/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

I really like the effect this glass has on Hello Kitty - makes her look a bit trippy, don't you think? Have a great weekend everyone. I have a feeling I'm going to be pooped when all is said and done...

Hello Kitty - 98/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 98/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

So, I think I have a good idea but the execution leaves a bit to be desired. You'll probably see this shot again, but hopefully better as I work out some of my 'creative vision' :)

Hello Kitty - 97/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 97/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

My finger is feeling a bit better today (thanks so much for those of you that inquired :). I still have the band-aid on but it'll probably come off tomorrow.

Hello Kitty decided to turn the tables on me a bit. I didn't have the heart to tell her that her camera isn't real....

Hello Kitty - 96/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 96/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

I know I've done a band-aid one before but I HAD to post this one today. I got a horrible cardboard (yes from cardboard!) paper-cut yesterday and I haven't been able to take the band-aid off. The only thing making it slightly better is the HK band-aid!

Click here to view the other Hello Kitty photos from my 365 project.

Here is the Flickr Page for my 365 project.

Hello Kitty - 95/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 95/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

So, a trip to our new and improved Sanrio store proved to be quite prosperous for Hope. I picked up this darling pair of HK earrings for Hope that are a bit more her size than ones previously bought.

The good news? We will get to meet Hello Kitty in PERSON this weekend.

I had to grab a pic of the earrings while she was sleeping. I'm pretty impressed with the way my camera handled an ISO of 2200 :)

Hello Kitty - 94/365 and Easter!

We had a fantastic Easter!  The only thing that would have made it better would have been for Brian to be home to enjoy it with us.  There's always next year for that, right?  Love ya Brian!

Hello Kitty was very prominent this holiday as you can expect she will be until my 365 project is over.  

Hope loved everything the Easter Bunny left her and she just could not believe that the Easter Bunny was here in our house and she wanted all of the details on how he got in.  She doesn't miss a beat, that's for sure.  Here are a few of my photos from the day.








She was telling me some sort of story in this one....




Yes, she is wearing her Christmas Hello Kitty T-Shirt here....I couldn't find an Easter one and I HAD to have some Hello Kitty shots in case I didn't get to set any up ;)


Oh how I wish I had flipped my camera for this one...but look at those CUTE earrings!

Hello Kitty - 93/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 93/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

A little fantasy for Hello Kitty today...

Hello Kitty - 92/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 92/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

I'm totally not sure if one of these exists for real but what a fantastic idea, don't you think???! I wonder if I can license a patent and make millions? ;) It sure would be pretty darn cool!

I ♥ Faces - Fix it Friday!

I'm a bit late because we spent the day having fun and riding horsies! Was a pretty good day but I just could not resist adding some edits to the Fix It Friday mix.

Here is the 'Before'. This photo really did not need much touching up. It's a great shot from the getgo - good exposure, good composition, great expression. Here are a couple of my edits.

Before:

After - my 'straight' edit.
I adjusted white balance just a bit.   I then used a few of my MCP Actions.  I used the 'Extreme Fill Flash' action to take out some of the shadow from the left side of her face (her right).  I then used the 'Pop' action to bump up the contrast.  I then played around with MCP Dreamy Color action.   I also used the 'Eye Doctor' actions to bring out the eyes a bit. 

Straight edit with a bit of a crop.  As much as I love the original, I think I like the crop version just a bit better.

One of my favorites - Chocolate Covered Strawberries (from MCP Actions)

 MCP Actions - Throwback Vintage

Hello Kitty - 90/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 90/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

Some where along the line I got my numbers mixed up, but I should be back on track now. We're working on 'contrasts' in my visualization class and so all I can think about is contrasts. What could be more of a contrast than cute, adorable little HK and hard, not cute rocks and cement?

Hello Kitty - 89/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 88/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

We live in Hawaii but just got news that we're shipping out at the end of the year. Boo! Hiss! We might be playing 'Where in the world is Hello Kitty in a few months'

Hello Kitty - 88/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 87/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

Ok, there is seriously TOO much cute Easter Hello Kitty stuff. I ordered an Easter basket off of eBay because I got nervous when our local Target sold out of the HK baskets early. They don't usually get more than 1 holiday shipment. Anyway, they did end up getting more baskets but I already ordered mine off of ebay. The basket I ordered was SUPER though because it came with these adorable Hello Kitty plastic refillable/reusable eggs. I know Hope is going to LOVE them!

Hello Kitty - 87/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 86/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

We had such a fun weekend that all we really want to do is cuddle in bed, so that's what we're going to do. Happy Sunday all - see you Monday!

I ♥ Faces - Dramatic B&W

This is a photo I took of my good friend Rachel for one of my classes this semester and I think it really fits into this weeks theme. I've titled it 'Isolation'.  I must admit that I've never really been a fan of B&W but I'm definitely getting when it fits a photo better than color and I think this is definitely one of them.  I'm learning to like it, a lot.

Please make sure you stop by http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/ to check out all of the other fabulous entries.  I'm sure this week is going to be a big one.

Hello Kitty - 86/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 85/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

Hello Kitty - 85/365 Photo

Hello Kitty - 84/365 Photo, originally uploaded by Photography by Michelle Hires.

Just a bit of Hello Kitty art to share with you today. She looks huge, but she really is only like an inch tall. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

I ♥ Faces - Fix it Friday!

What a great photo they have for Fix It Friday this week!  Here's one of my takes on it (more to follow).  Head on over to http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/ if you want to play along or just see other renditions of the photo!

Before:

After:

1. Imported to Lightroom and adjusted temperature a tad to warm up the photo a bit.   I used the dropper on the white of the eyes as my basis for the adjustment.

2.  Still in Lightroom, I adjusted the brightness just a bit (+40).  I took a free online class recently on Lightroom and the instructor suggested that it is more beneficial to adjust the brightness instead of exposure so that highlights and shadows don't blow out.

3. Then I used the adjustment brush at a +75 exposure to bring out the catch lights in the eyes and then a new brush with a +100 clarity to sharpen the eyes.

4.  Then I hit the 'Punch' preset to just pop the photo a bit.

5. I imported the photo to Photoshop and cloned out some of the spots/blemishes on her face.

6. Ran MCP Actions 'Powder Your Nose' to smooth out some of the roughness of the skin and work on some of the blotchiness around the eyes and mouth. 

7. Ran MCP Actions 'Magic Skin'.  Because I had just done the powder your nose, I reduced the opacity on the layer to 23% - I didn't want it to look like too much.

8.  Almost done!  I ran the MCP Action 'Crystal Clear Resize and Sharpen and then masked out the sharpness of the skin, kept the clarity on the eyes for sure and the rest of the image.

Pioneer Woman's B&W and MCP Actions Burnt Edges

MCP Actions - Chocolate Covered Strawberries (I think this one is my favorite)

MCP Actions - Throwback Vintage (at 65% opacity)

and finally...one with a Texture!  It's called Cream Bokeh Swirls and the creator is  Pareeerica on Flickr.  There are so many textures in his free set and they're all gorgeous!