Enchanting Twirl

Happy Twirl!

"Twirl me!," I still say at times when I walk past my husband. He gets that slight smile and obliges me.  Sigh.

As a little girl, twirling was the "test" of a new dress.  It could make me feel pretty and lift me away into my fairy world.  Mom worried about me a little :>) Anyway, that's the emotion I wanted to capture when I saw this little girl in her pretty dress and shoes!

This week's challenge comes from Andi at The Hollie Rogue. Any edit will be charming with this little beauty! Andi, you have a fun and delightful blog.  Stop in and have a read!  Here's a little bit about her:  "I am Andi--an elementary teacher turned SAHM to two little ones, a wife, follower of Christ, crafter, etsy shop owner, and lover of all things vintage. I am a self-taught wanna-be photographer who just loves to learn new things about the art of photography. I am on a journey to learn more about myself and my passions through this amazing avenue of blogging." 

My edit is below:

I just love the expression of this little girl.  Andi, you captured it so well!

My favorite parts of the edit:

• Cropping and tilting the scene - less arm on right, but with legs lined up to edge - accentuates her twirling, and I like the stronger diagonal line it creates, along with the sweeping movement of her hair.
• Adding ice crystals from a texture - creates a bit of fairy dust and sparkle, and adds to the swirling movement of her twirl.  Feel the air magically stir!
• Rendering an omni light effect - helps her glow, more magical - as far as fairies are concerned.
• Now you know why Mom was a bit concerned ;)

What I actually did using Photoshop CS4:

• Cropped and rotated the photo
• I clarified the colored photo first before converting to black and white:  Adjusted curves, levels, exposure brightness, contrast, vibrance - then applied a black and white adjustment layer, using sliders to blend tones. Then added another curves adjustment to clarify that.
• Added some gaussian blur, masking off her face, and most of it off her dress and arms/legs.
• After stamping the layers, added the ice crystals texture and used more adjustment layers - brightness, contrast, levels to brighten, curves again.
• Stamped those layers then added an omni light effect
• Touched up her dress smocking with a bit of brightness
• Sharpened and resized for the web using mcp actions

Enjoyed this edit!  I'm going to go find my husband and ask him for another twirl... just for fun.