Such a Cheater

A couple weeks ago, a friend came over with her 2 week old so I could take some newborn pics for her. I had made her promise when she was still pregnant that she'd let me. I think I was more excited than she was. I set up a little studio in my back room next to the only big windows in our house. This sweet baby would NOT go to sleep, but I did catch her in a blink. This picture was straight from the camera.

Then I jazzed it up a bit in Photoshop. Isn't she a pretty baby? And the pink!! Oh so fun. But it needed something more. A banner. So I decided to play with it.

I took digital scrapbooking paper from my collection from when I used to digital scrapbook (I'll get back to it when Jack moves out). I "cut" triangles out and arranged them how I wanted them to "hang". (I've recreated what I did just for you.)

Then I used glaussian blur on my banner at about 25 to make it look further in the background and less like digital paper. Chris (my artistic consultant) said they were too blurred, but I didn't want them to be obviously digital. I also lowered the opacity of the banner to about 80% to soften it even more.

Then I erased the banner where her bottom is sticking up. And Voila! Does it look real?

This is my original banner. I like it more. Probably because I spent a little more time being extra detailed.

 I love taking newborn pictures. They are just so sweet and innocent. My friend came back the next day and we took her outside in the wild flowers and got some of her sleeping. YAH!!