Adam and his baby soother
May 26th, 2007 by DonnchaAdam is 5 weeks old today! Last Wednesday we saw his first smile, or perhaps it was trapped wind because he was just after feeding but it was a beautiful sight to behold. He has smiled since too, and was especially cheerful this morning!
Adam loves his baby soother though. He sucks on it like Maggie out of the Simpsons does. Non-stop and with feeling!
If a soother or dummy isn’t nearby and it’s available, a hair dryer works wonders for relaxing him. The sound soothes him and he can go from screaming the house down to docile and a gurgling baby in seconds when the hair dryer is switched on. It’s magic.
Technique: This is a high key portrait created using two layers.
1. Original image is the bottom layer.
2. Duplicate that layer.
3. Convert top layer to b/w using channel mixer.
4. Apply Gaussian blur to the top layer. I used a 75 pixel wide blur.
5. Change mode of top layer to screen.
6. Add white layer mask to top layer and reveal eyes from original image by painting over them with a black brush. Use an opacity of 10%.
7. Merge layers and save. Layers should be separate when resizing so you can unsharp mask the bottom layer.
Hope that is of use!
Tags: Adam, baby, baby-soother, Blarney, Canon 20D, Cork, Cork Photos, Gimp Tutorials, high-key-portrait, Ireland, Irish photos, irishblogs, People, Photos, Sigma 18-200, soother, TutorialsFurther Reading:
15 Responses to “Adam and his baby soother”
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May 26th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Great shot. What a cute kid.
May 26th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Thanks Anthony! I think I hear him crying again…
May 27th, 2007 at 2:46 am
A very handy technique. My Adobe Elements5 software has the capacity to do your method. Tried it on some flowers that are high key lit, it works a treat TY. Regards from a sunny late autumn Sunday afternoon in New Zealand.
May 27th, 2007 at 7:01 am
What a handsome boy you have there. Who does he favor?
You or Jacinta? My money goes on the mother. Pat & Linda
May 27th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Bless my cotton socks, my soft focus nephew!
Looking forward to seeing ye again soon.
Love Suz xx
May 28th, 2007 at 3:49 am
Congrats donnacha. are you getting any sleep?
May 28th, 2007 at 5:14 am
patio - hehe. I don’t really know! People say he looks like me but I can’t tell.
frenchsvilla - sleep? On Saturday night he was feeding every 2 hours but last night we did manage to get about 4 hours sleep in one go. It was heaven!
June 12th, 2007 at 7:41 am
[...] wurde diese Version von donncha an seinen Sohn Adam [...]
June 14th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
[...] main developer of WPMU, Donncha , dedicated this version to his new-born baby: Adam . Congratulations to Donncha! These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can [...]
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:49 am
That pictures is simply amazing. He looks like a little angel sent from heaven!
January 25th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Absolutely gorgeous! Mine is now 14 months, and she’s a little darling.
February 12th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Your baby looks gorgeous and the pic looks amazing. btw, thanks for the techniques sharing.
February 12th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
What an amazing picture - so cute!
.. and thanks for those tips on to recreate the effect.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Hey, your boy is really handsome, mine is 18 month old now
May 9th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
A little Angel from heaven? What a beatuful baby