Figuring out how to edit!!!

I met with my friend and her adorable kids to take pictures of them yesterday. And I stayed up ridiculously late trying to figure out new editing tricks.

Don't get me wrong, the pictures were pretty awesome to start off with, but I wanted to figure out how to use layers better. I needed to learn sooner or later anyways, why not super late at night?

I'm pretty happy with the results so far. Here's a really quick before and after.

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I used a luminosity mask with a creamy color to brighten it up a little bit. The first picture on it's own doesn't really seem harsh at all, but I feel the mask really softens her face and brightens it up a lot. I'm totally in love with this picture.

Here are a some others that I took:

And lastly, my favorite :)