July Photography Challenge

Happy July, friends! Hard to believe we're more than half way through 2016 - seems like we were just fully immersed in our MOC festivities, and before you know it, we'll be gearing up and starting all over again! Craziness! But let's get back to July, shall we? So, I've become just a little bit obsessed lately with photo processing, and all the amazing things that can be done with Lightroom, Photoshop and all of the various presets and actions that are out there. It has freed me up to capture the shot without worrying about getting a perfect out-of-the-camera photo, and simply getting a photo I might otherwise have missed. So your challenge this month is to play with processing - alter your photo in some way to improve or change it. It could be as simple as running filter to create an embossed or texturized effect, or change a color photo to black and white. You can edit the photo with filters on your phone if you want. Or, you can manually process your photo in Lightroom or an equivalent program to get the effect you want. It's totally up to you! I would love to see your original photo as well, so please post that along with your new page!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Aspen. I absolutely love the expression in her eyes. And frankly, I think its a pretty decent photo straight out of the camera.



But for this page, I wanted to really focus on her eyes, so I did a bunch of manual processing in Lightroom - I adjusted the overall exposure and bumped up the contrast quite a bit, and then I did some spot adjustments to her eyes and the area around her nose to try and really make her eyes pop. And here's the finished result:



REMEMBER: You do not need to edit your photo in Lightroom or Photoshop, or with pre-purchased actions. You can use the filters on your phone if that's your preference. But, if you like the idea of understanding Lightroom and being able to control your processing, but you're either new and don't know where to start, or you've had Lightroom for a while but haven't had a chance to really dig into it and play, we have a fun surprise! Starting July 7, our very own Cheryl (aka gonewiththewind) is going to host a series of chats on tips and tricks using Lightroom. July 7 will focus on the beginner Lightroom user, so this is a perfect opportunity to kick start your Lightroom use! So stay tuned for more information on this!

Please remember the monthly challenge rules: Your page must contain at least 75% Lilypad product. Your page should be posted to the Lilypad Gallery and then linked to the Challenge Layouts thread so it can be tracked, and to this thread.

The Lilypad uses a percent system for our challenges; the number of challenges you participate in determines the store discount you will receive at the end of the month:

2 challenges = 10% off
4 challenges = 20% off
6 challenges = 30% off

If you complete 7 challenges, you will receive a coupon for 30% off, plus you will be entered to win a guest spot on the Lilypad Creative Team! The first seven challenges will be posted on the first of the month; the eighth challenge is the BYOC challenge, which is posted on BYOC release day. Each page counts for one challenge (you cannot use one layout for multiple challenges).

Now, show me how you like to adjust your photos!