Digital Before and After

While my goal is to always get photos right in camera rather than relying on photo editing skills to save the day... I am a firm believer that editing skills are very important to taking your work to another level.

Here's a couple of before and after examples from yesterday's senior session....

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Mostly I use some Photoshop actions that I've managed to acquire through the years for my basic workflow.

I typically whiten a persons eyes/teeth, smooth out a persons skin (it's easy to overdo this part!), and boost the color.

For these I also dodged the white background to make it go completely white and I adjusted the hue saturation to slightly modify the color of Stephanie's hoodie. Oh, and I sharpened them a bit (I'm learning how necessary this is for digital pictures!) and I cropped.

I think the effort was well worth it!!!

Stephanie

Stephanie came over for some senior pictures last night. We were supposed to go to the Arboretum... but the weahter was not cooperating so I suggested we do the studio portraits and reschedule the location ones for another day. She has the most beautiful smile!!!! And she did a really GREAT job - studio can be tough sometimes!!!

Oh, and she has a pom too!!!!

Brothers

I'm having a tough time finding music for my videos....

$6000 fine for Christian Photographers...

Read article here.

The Apple Blossom Festival

Whew! What an EXHAUSTING weekend! But it was tons of fun. And sometimes a bit scary too! The weather was CRAZY! One minute we had sunshine and wonderfully warm weather, the next it was pouring rain, windy and downright COLD! My tent nearly blew away on more than one occassion until Brett figured out a way to secure our tent with weights.

I met sooo many wonderful people at the carnival and lots of friends stopped in to say, "Hi!" Which was a welcome treat!!! And of course many entered our drawing for a Portrait Session with 16x20 wall portrait.

The Grand Prize Winner is Mellissa Galloway from Williamson!!!! For those who entered - be sure to watch your mailbox for your opportunity to win a consolation prize. :)

Rather than my normal photos - I took several mini videos of the festival. So enjoy!!!!

PS I GOT A NEW LAPTOP!!!!!!

My Booth

The Commercial

My very first commercial!!!

Taffy Pull

What a workout!!!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Williamson Marching Band

The Lens Cap

This is what you get when you give the kids the camera to take videos of the parade. hahaha

It's a Jungle Out There

Diet Coke

Apple Blossom Festival

It's the Apple Blossom Festival!!

Tonight was the kiddie parade....

Tomorrow, I set up my booth.

I will be having a drawing for a free session and a 16x20 wall portrait!!!

Hope to see you there!!!!

Look Who's One!!

Happy Birthday Joy!!

Kim and Jason

What fun I had this morning with Kim and Jason. These two were troopers - scaling walls, climbing trees - just about anything I asked them to do!! Don't they make a cute couple?!

Just Ducky

What a month! Photo shoots galore! Last night was 'Date Night' and I took photos of approximately 30 couples. Tomorrow, an engagement session. When I'm not shooting, I'm processing pictures and trying to keep up with the rest of life. My poor house is in desperate need of attention. But today I had to run something out to my parents house.... So, I took Jessi and Teena over for a quick peek at the ducks and swans.... Teena wasn't quite so sure what to do with all the birds. Especially when a swan started hissing at her!! But we weren't sure who was more scared whom! I can't imagine bringing Romeo. Now that would be an adventure!!!

Christian

Meet Christian. Parker's adorable baby brother!!

Parker

I got the chance to photograph Parker and his baby brother, Christian today. Two very adorable little guys and lots of fun too! Parker just LOVES balls. And his dad is a big baseball fan so we had to do some baseball pictures!

Pictures of Christian coming soon....

And lot's more portrait sessions this week! So stay tuned!!!