favorite photoshop fixes

Thought I would share my favorite photoshop tools for all you photo geeks out there that like to touch things up a bit. Below are my before and after, and here are the tools I used: Adjust Levels Under Enhance/Lighting/Levels (or Ctrl + L) you can bring the right and left arrows in toward the center, just a bit, and I usually move the middle arrow towards the left to achieve the optimal level of brightness...you can also use the Brightness/Contrast tools on top of this (or instead of), but I find this is more customizable. Adjust Color for Skin Tone (under Enhance/Adjust Color) This is on my 4.0 version, and does an awesome job warming up a picture that looks too cool in tone..I often take pictures in the shade since that lighting isn't too harsh like broad sunlight that casts shadows faces...usually I don't have to tweak it beyond the 1st step in that box, but there are other options, to make it warmer or coolor, + or - on blush or tan tones, etc. Hue/Saturation also under Enhance/Color menu (Ctrl + U if you like a shortcut)..you can tone it down if it's still too reddish, or saturated in general...sometimes I desaturate the whole thing a bit, or you can select red, green, etc and only desaturate those color tones, this is a very handy tool. ...this tool is also great for making those pastel-looking photos. Clone stamp tool on the side bar..this is SUCH an awesome tool. I've taken away wrinkles, acne, you name it...Calvin had peanut butter and some ever-present scratches on his face that I cloned out. Brightening Eyes This one I just learned to to...it isn't practical to use it all the time, but can make a big difference if you're wanting a special photo to frame or scrap. First lasso around the eyes just inside the eyelashes. Copy and paste these selections into a new layer. Select "screen" under the brightness dropdown menu on the top left of the layers palette. It will be ridiculously bright, so you have to temper it by adjusting the transparency of that new layer down...you have to be really careful with this one as it's easy to over-do it. You don't want your child looking like a cyborg. You don't need all these tools on every picture. And really, I only enhance ones that I'm using to frame or scrap. Here's the before and after: