Re-editing Old Images with New Techniques and Tricks

From time-to-time, I like to go back to old work and look at them differently. Between the day I shot them and the day I opt to consider a re-edit, I've learned new editing techniques, gained more experience with them, and possibly have new products (i.e templates, actions, textures etc) to use on them that I might not have had during the original editing phase.

I thought I'd share some of these re-edits with you all.

Original Edit Image #1

Re-Edit

In this example, I decided to try out two things that I hadn't considered during the previous edit even though both were known and at my disposal. I hadn't tried either technique before.

1) creating a matte look by adding a low-opacity white layer on top of the image.

2) creating fireflies using a brush from Meg Bitton Photography. 

Original Edit Image #2

 Re-edit

This re-edit revolved strictly around the addition of "smoke". To accomplish this, I turned a simple cloud/sky image into a black and white image, placed it over the original image, and changed it's layer mode to 'screen" so that only the white of the clouds was visible. Changed the opacity, stretched/rotated etc where needed, and removed from face and upper torso using a layer mask and black brush.

Original Edits Images #3 and 4

Re-Edit Images #3 and 4

 This would be a post-edit version of a phenomenon called, "light leak" that typically occurs when light gets in through a gap in the camera body, distorting the film. This is normally considered a problem but with a movement called "lomography" it is seen as a positive because it "gives a photo more character".  I do not operate a film camera so this will always be done in post for my images.