[LittleSwans]

I've done a search to see if this topic has been discussed before but I can't seem to find any. If indeed it has been posted before then please by all means point me to it.

I'm basically talking about colour punch/pop as you can see in Barb Uil's work,
Photography by Barb Uil - Australia. Commercial, Editorial, Baby Photographer, Children's Photographer, Family Photographer.

It looks good on children's portrait/photography but I'm not sure about others. Basically I'm wondering, for those of you who do childrens photography or photography children as a hobby like me (only my own children, really!), do you add some 'punch' to your photos or that's not your cup of tea and you like it 'natural'?

If you do, do you then have any free actions that you would like to share?

Thanks for reading!
LK

[Leya216]

In PS open photo > copy background layer > desaturated the copy > inverse the copy > use gaussien blur filter on copy (about 35 is usually right) > set layer's mode to "overlay" > play with layer's opacity (as long as it's an animal shot I find opacity to be correct between 80% and %100).
This usually makes colors pop- bluer skies and greener grass, and also saves blown areas are underexposed areas. I don't like the affect of it though on people photos- I use it on nature or animal photos like these:

[LittleSwans]

Thanks Leah for the tip! Yes, you are quite right about it not being very suitable on people.

By the way, those two photos are great. Beautiful dog!

[Kaimarx]

Free Photoshop Actions by Addicted to Design (A2D)

Try the lomo action, looks like the kinda thing your after....looks better on landscapes and architecture as mentioned above.

Have fun.

[LittleSwans]

Thanks for the link. I'd certainly check it out.