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.