More Photoshop: It's a miracle! (Or at least a 30-day free trial)

I had thought of joining the Adobe Creative Cloud community for some time.  The seed was planted when my instructor, Brady Poirier, urged me and all of the other students to continue to work on Photoshop at home to reinforce certain lessons he taught in the classroom.  But I had only two options: buy the full version of the program at about $200 (which of course I am far from being able to afford) or buy a subscription to CC at $50 a month.

But I learned of a third option - a 30-day free trial.  That's what I have right now, and at this point I am leaning toward the monthly subscription, which is being offered to me at a discounted price of a little under $30 a month.   That's a savings of $240 a year!

I started it on Monday and since then here is some of my work.  And there's more to come!

First is a second version of the MacKnight triplets "publicity photo" from last month.  This time, I was able to make the accurate selections of Barbara Barber's body and violin, put in Brittany MacWilliams' head, and "paint in" a matching dress portion.  All other elements are the same.

Next is my second "business card" from B.W.'s extended family.  This time, it's that of one of his aunts, Ola, who is also one of 20 children from Allene "The Baby Machine."  I have Ola as owner of a photography and video studio that works in the southern Johnston County, NC area.  An interesting quirk is that Ola's age was reset upon resurrection from 37 years old to 12, but she was allowed to keep her business.  (Oops!  I thought the picture on the card was that of Ola as she would look after resurrection, but it's actually her sister Lollie, played by local Dae Barefoot.  Oh, well, that makes it an error card, which as collectors know make it quite valuable.:)

In her past life, she may well have looked like this (Brenda Barefoot, a real person not connected to my character, who was teacher Kim Blitchington).

Finally, I have a photo of Brittany Spears and her daughter Blanton Elizabeth, who everyone calls "Lizzie."  It's similar to this "publicity photo" for a fake TV show, but I improved on it by giving Brittany a more natural pose and recoloring the original subject's hair.  (The actual picture on which it is based is that of Lindsay Barefoot, another real local in Johnston County, and her son.  Hopefully, Lizzie is young enough so that gender is not easily distinguishable just by looking.)