This image was the culmination of many firsts today. It was the first time I went outside to shoot my self portrait persona. Teddy makes his debut as my companion. Many new and interesting mistakes were made for the first time shooting in a different environment.
Spring is happening all over the city, and trees are coming into blossom. I found this pink magnolia in the new Green Zone – a large area of the city that had all the houses demolished and returned to grass after the earthquakes. The nice thing is, they left all the mature trees so there is a large grassed area with many trees, perfect for taking the camera out into.
It was very windy and as a result I had trouble blending the top of the tree in. I also didn’t shoot enough filler images, so this is smaller than originally intended. Today was also freezing cold and windy but with lots of dull overcast light that made it perfect for shooting.
Just after I got setup and was starting my posing I was interrupted by a couple of women – turns out they were on a Father’s Day Scavenger hunt and needed an image for Spring, and they wanted a shot of me in a pose LOL! So I obliged and they went away and I carried on.
ORIGINAL BASE IMAGE
Processing Steps:
1. Edit images in LR
2. Bring images into PS and layer section of tree in and blend with masking
3. Crop to final size (after MUCH mucking about)
4. Change hair colour
5. Darken bear colour
6. Change colour of images using lots of different curves layers
7. Add a vignette
8. Add a layer from Topaz Impression and blend in slightly
9. Tweak curves and colours a bit more
10. Add a texture layer
I added more yellow to this image to give it a vintage feel, the overall pink tone to reflect the pink of the flowers. A very different style of processing for me.
Like it? Don’t like it? Got any ideas or tips to share? All feedback welcome 🙂
Just for DesleyJane – some other edit variations using some PS Actions – you can see them all here along with the original for comparison
Learning to See Light 
An amazing shot, Stacy. I like it…and Teddy, too!
Thanks Lois, Teddy is quite adorable 🙂
I love your editing. It really adds a nostalgic tone to the image. It has been rather warm up here, but yesterday afternoon it turned really cold. Hopefully today will be warmer.
Thankyou, nostalgia is the *perfect* word that I couldn’t think of yesterday. Yes its been quite warm down here, when its sunny and you are out of the wind.
Nostalgic is the perfect word for it. It’s a lovely shot. I’d love to see it with dreamy, creamy, ethereal tones.
I have some actions in PS that might do something interesting to it in that way, I forget I have them!
That’s understandable when you have a specific vision for a shot. Your hair is amazing in this pic.
Its a wig 🙂 and I changed the colour – its almost exactly the same colour as the bearh (he has been made more brown than blond)
Cool!
OK check the bottom of the post – I have added in some variations based on the Actions I had tucked away – FWIW the Marshmallow Action was pretty much my original colour choice but I moved away from the blue tone because I wanted it to be softer and pink and spring like. I really like the Cold White one myself!
Fabulous. I love the cold white one as well. And I LOVE your bloody fingers on the wall.
Yes the disembodied hand seems to be oddly popular LOL
I love it.