Appearances Aren't Everything

Here's a picture of the gorgeous model Kate Moss sans makeup. She still looks great, it's just that the bright flash and clear resolution of this picture can't be flattering on anybody.

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I drudged this photo up from some corner of the internet because I really wanted to try airbrushing techniques. I got a skin texture brush set for Photoshop from this site, hoping that I could figure out how to use it. I think I did an okay job for a first-timer, but there are some CLEAR mistakes that I made, that I still see and cannot figure out how to fix. Anyway, here are the results!

The forehead and smile lines look a little strange, but this brush set is really cool and I'd love to keep using it. When I zoomed into the picture, the texture created was porous and natural, even though my blending techniques weren't too great. If you'd like to try it out, I suggest you download it, since it's free anyway! I really want to get better at it over the year because I'd like to do photoshoots with friends that look legitimate... especially if I'm doing them for the shop.

However, here's an interesting thing to think about: If I as an amateur can take this photo of someone looking natural and make it even remotely look "better" with the help of a kit, imagine what the media is doing right now to alter the faces and bodies of women all over magazines... Food for thought.

<3 Linda

Checking In and Checking Out

Whoa-- I haven't been on here in a while and everything looks different!

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I've come back to blogging (albeit still sporadically) because 1. I miss writing a lot and 2. I miss some of the people I've gotten to know on here. I also love being able to look at something years later, even if only to cringe at my horrid affinity for abbreviations. In order to feel like it's a fresh start, I'm probably going to change my blog layout in the next couple of months. However, for now (in case you've been wondering why my shop is on vacation mode), I'm going to be out exploring the luscious lands of India and Dubai! It's mainly going to be all about visiting family, but you can be sure that I'm taking my camera with me. 

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I'll be posting about my travels if I get the chance to get on the computer, hence being back to sporadically posting. I'm also trying to juggle an online course for college, which is probably going to mean that I'm going from 0 (having nothing to do) to 60 (being suuuper busy) in a few days! I still can't wrap my mind around it, but hopefully it's going to be a good trip.

<3 Linda