Resolution '10

I hope you didn't come here thinking I had a great self-improvement plan for the new year. You should look for a more promising post by some other blogger on my sidebar if you want such a thing. I'm sorry to say, resolutions like that are just a recipe for failure on my part.

I do actually have a goal for the new year, though. I want to work on figuring out Photoshop. I've been following I Heart Faces in 2009, and have worked on some of their challenges. Recently, I posted this photo to ask for some suggestions on how to fix the background.

Thanks to Susan Keller, my photography guru, I got brave with my clone tool and cleaned up the lines and extended the paneling to fill in the remaining space. I just needed a little kick in the pants.

So while we've been on the road over the holidays, I decided to spend some car time tackling one of my favorite old photos of Bethany.

I adore my nephew Kyle, but he did not exactly enhance this picture. I figured if I could clone paneling into the other photo, I could recreate this background too. Maybe.

Not bad. I totally surprised myself. I added a little vintage look since she looked kind of old fashioned.

Then I remembered the post Kate (a.k.a. Givinya de Elba) did where she linked to a Photoshop tutorial on layers. I thought if the background were blurred, it might make my little hack editing job less noticeable.

After messing around with the background, the blur, the color and the shadows, I can't quite figure out which I like best. Too much? Too little? What do you think?

I'm looking forward to getting more of this stuff figured out this year. Do you have a goal for 2010? Whatever your heart's desire, may you find yourself blessed by its fulfillment, or by something else you never dreamed of. Happy New Year!

P.S. Mama Kat has an assignment for Writer's Workshop about New Year's Resolutions. You should be able to find some over there!