52 Weeks of Me: Week 1 (Traditional Portrait)

Well, another year has passed and it's time to make some new resolutions. Other than trying to exercise more, here are some of my 2011 goals:

1) Maintain a positive attitude...see the best in people.
2) Try to think of new activities/crafts to try with the kids to spend extra time together
3) Become a better (and faster) Photoshop user.
4) Keep taking photos on a regular basis to continually improve my skills.

I started early on my photography goals by deciding to participate in the 52 Weeks of Me Project started by Cara and Jessie. Now I can't think of anything a loathe more than self-portraits, but I promised Cara I would give it a whirl. If nothing else, I will get a few new Facebook profile pics to use! :) Below is my "Week 1" self portrait shot. This week's theme was "traditional portrait."

I also decided to start a 52 Week project called 52 Weeks of Photoshop Fun. I use Photoshop regularly to edit my photos, but I know I am spending way to much time each one because my Photoshop editing skills are lacking. There are some areas that I have become fairly good at using, but there are so many existing tools that I have spotted and have never even attempted to use. I'm going to try to choose a Photoshop tool/function each week and edit one of my weekly shots using that tool. Then I will post a before and after to demonstrate. Who knows how good the edit shots will turn out, but I'm hoping this project will help me become an overall better Photoshop user. Feel free to join the group, even if you don't want to commit to posting weekly. It would be great to see other before and after example shots to see the tools in action! For the theme for Week 1, I decided to choose Photoshop's "liquify" tool. After all, it's the New Year and many people will once again attain to be more healthy. Well until those pounds can be shed, I thought it was appropriate to give this tool a whirl since many people refer to it as the "digital diet." :)