Fix-It-Friday...on Tuesday :)

So...last Friday was Fix-It-Friday for the I Heart Faces community.  And I actually downloaded the given image & edited it ...on Friday...

But...we've been crazy here, so I'm just now linking it up.  Here's the original image, given to us by (Caroline - Frogmum).


SOOC: 

 I absolutely love their facial expressions in this photo.  To me the story is reading something like this:

Girl in the foreground:  "I can't get this swing thing to work, can you??"
Girl in the background:  "Wait, wait...I think I might have gotten it!"
Girl in the  foreground: "Oh no!  Someone's watching us, tehehe.  I think they might have just taken a picture of us!!"  (Insert more giggles)

I have no idea what the actual story was...probably not that, but that's what my imagination was saying :)

Here are my edits:

1. Color

For me, this photo seemed to have a tiny bit of haze already captured in it, so I tried to edit to enhance that look.  First, I cloned out the wall/steps from the bottom of the photo.  Then, I adjusted my basics like the levels...increased the blacks a teeny bit & decreased the mid-tones.  I also added a little contrast & bumped up the brightness quite a bit.  I did a fill layer (Overlay @ 20%) in a nice peachy tone to warm it up a tad, then 2 gradient exclusion layers @ around 20% (one at the top right corner & one at the bottom left corner) at a really light lavender for a bit more haze.  Went back & bumped the brightness down a little & cropped.  Finished with sharpening.

2. BW-Gray

For this photo, I started with the original & decreased the saturation (well, actually I cloned out the wall/steps first).  From there, I made it a little brighter & I actually decreased the contrast this time.  I darkened the blacks & lightened the mid-tones...and also increased the output # to 12.  I did a fill layer in a light gray (overlay @ 47%), another in a smoky gray (screen @ 24%), and finally another in a chocolate brown (normal @ 10%)...this was to get the gray color I really wanted.

Finally, I used Florabella's (center fill light) to brighten up the center of the pic.  Last steps: crop & sharpen.  

Thanks so much to (Caroline - Frogmum) for letting us use your photo!  For more cool edits or to join in on the fun, go to Fix-It-Friday!  

PS:  Happy Tuesday :)