i see his future self.

After I posted the link to Tuesday's post on FB, a friend commented and said, "He doesn't look like a little boy in that pic! I can see the future!" And she hit the nail on the head!
I see the future, older Max in these photos.
It makes this mom happy and sad all at the same time.
Anyway, I thought I'd post the rest and tell you what I did to the SOOC shot.

Here is the image SOOC:

Not too bad. I was smitten when I saw it - more for the look on his face and the light.
So, in Lightroom (recent purchase that was worth every.single.penny!) I cropped and then applied the following:

exposure +.33
contrast +10
whites +10
blacks +5
clarity +5
vibrance +5

I didn't do too much to the image...
Then using my VSCO presets I applied:
sharpen +
vignette +++
tone: kodak

That was it. I didn't want to do anything too drastic. I don't think the photo needed much editing.

Then I decided to try a black and white edit. I made one in LR, but I haven't been happy with my prints of black and whites I've created in LR (they look a little green to me.)  Still working on that. So, I opened in Elements and used Florabella B&W and this is what I got:

I really like the high contrast, but I wanted to see what a little haze would do, so I applied the Florabella BW Tints & Hazes and turned on the Milk Haze at 15%. I kinda like it. What do you think?... I think the haze brought out a little bit more detail.

Anyway, here are the rest of the photos from that day.

Someday I'll master making collages. It's just sometimes too much work for my lazy self. I'm lucky if I get photos posted at all!

Happy almost Friday, friends.
a.