If you have been following along, you know that I am not big on photoshopping my photos very much. Partially this is because I'm a purist and would rather get the "perfect" shot right with the camera, partially because I generally feel I do a bad job when trying to use Photoshop, and partially because I really hate poorly and obviously photoshopped images.

But the other day, I was able to take one of my all-time favorite photos I've ever taken and make it better with several small adjustments with Photoshop Elements.

The photo in question is one in a set of photos taken of a cool looking spider we had found in Kanawha State Forest near Charleston, WV. I debated saving this modified version to discuss sometime in the future when I needed a post to get me going, but between the good results I got and really liking the nice mouseover trick I found recently, I just couldn't wait.

	Original Image
	Auto Adjusted
	Spot Heal tool on thorax to remove hotspot. Darken highlights 50% on abdomen.
	Clone Stamp tool used to touch up leg that touched right edge of frame.

As you can see, the adjustments are very minor, and if you didn't know they happened, you probably couldn't even tell. Heck - some of them, you'll probably have to look very closely to see the difference between the two images when they're displayed even like they are here (I find myself sliding my mouse back and forth over the thumbnails to have the change flip back and forth on the larger image). But to me, that is a successfully photoshopped image - one where you can't even tell that photoshop was used.

I am submitting this photo to an upcoming Photographic Section digital projected image competition, so we'll see how my minor adjustments do. I with I could submit both photos and see which one scored better to see whether the edits were worthwhile.

Regardless, I managed to take one of my favorite photos and make it that much better. I'm glad I didn't have this one printed and framed yet, because it definitely would have to be redone with this new version!

- Bill