Unique photoshoot

Did you ever think you would see a family of 6 with matching motorcycles? The baby is only 9 months. Too cute and cool! I love winter grass in AZ. It's the perfect color of green. I met them at the neighborhood park and they brought a tall ladder that I climbed up and kept snapping. Too fun!

My excuse.

So I've been taking more photos and posting less. I've also been editing in photoshop and am still torn about it. I KNOW it makes better photos, I just feel like I'm cheating. So are you hiring a photographer or a photoshop expert?

Here's an example-

Here's the photo I took. Lighting not the best. It's taken in the shade because the sun was out, but I noticed it was getting some "catch lights" in his eyes and he was smiling so well I was excited.

So I lightened and upped the contrast. Changed the curves and sharpened the image and this is what happens:

Then I tried saturating the photo, lightened up his eyes with the dodge/burn tool and look what happens with his eyes.