I just finished working on this movie poster baby announcement, and the final look is different enough from the original picture that I thought it might be interesting for you all to see.

It was a good picture before, but movie posters need a little extra “boost” to them, to make them stand out better.  In this case, constrast was the big key.

You can also go to the gallery to see a bigger version of the final announcement.

The big thing here (other than cloning out the jeans in the back, which were kind of distracting) was color adjustment.  I did a lot of burning in the background and at the bottom to darken them up, and adjusted the saturation on his skin color (as well as cleaning it up a bit).

So this is my first blog post.  Just wanted to layout some of the expectations I have for the blog up front.  These are the typical subjects that I expect to blog about:

1. The latest baby announcements (or wedding/graduation/birthday announcements and invitations) from the main site.  I plan on doing some before & after posts to show some of the process of putting these custom announcements together, so you’ll be able to see some views of the announcements that you wouldn’t be able to see in the main gallery.
2. Photoshop tips and tricks, as well as thoughts on the newest features.
3. Photography ideas. These tips will hopefully be useful to people who want to get better pictures of their kids, whether for use in announcements, or just to put on the wall.

So check back often, as I’ll try to post things at least weekly.  I look forward to hearing your comments and ideas, as that’s the way I can improve as well.