Ordinary to Extraordinary

There are so many truly wonderful aspects of photography - one of those being your own personal passion and imagination. Almost any ordinary picture can be made into an extraordinary photo, with just a few simple editing techniques. Each photographer has his or her favorites, and below are some examples of my favorites...

Original Wedding Photo Below

Levels Adjusted and More

Obviously the color is brighter, but if you look closely, the sky is an entirely different color. I selected only the skyline with the magnetic lasso tool and used the hue/saturation tool (with colorize selected) to brighten up the entire scene.

Cropped

And that personal touch came with the cropping. In any other picture, I woudn't have dared to take such a very small portion of the original. But it was for a slide-show and quality wasn't of vast importance.
Lesson: inspiration often comes unexpectedly;
don't knock it til you try it.

Original Photo Below

A grandfather went on and on about how his "little angel" seemed to only be an angel in his eyes... Never cooperating for pictures, not even allowing her hair to be professionally done.

A stubborn little girl & her refusal to look at the camera was actually a blessing in disguise...

As she looks so sweet & innocent - almost angelic - after editing.

The levels were adjusted & the photo cropped. Then a sepia effect was added, and the edges were burned. What a difference those quick changes made.

More to come soon on turning ordinary into extraordinary...!