Yes, I have photos to share – I’ve done two more sessions since my last post. However, I’m hard at work on them and can’t post peeks just yet, so I’m going to do a little something different. In honor of my ongoing effort (I know, I have promised and promised – it has been TOO long in coming, but a GAMU is coming. Really. SERIOUSLY. It’s nailing down a location that is giving me trouble – but I’m NOT KIDDING, I’m working on it!) to provide a camera class, and in anticipation of the many more of you who are receiving digital cameras for the holidays – a few before and after shots! Sound good? I know – I LOVE seeing these myself, so hopefully you get something out of this.
I’m using the younger set …mostly because there’s not much touch-up involved (I don’t really do a lot of touch-ups besides to fix blemishes and sharpen and brighten up a bit – as you’ll see. Artistic photos with textures and things of that nature – I do that occasionally, but if I did those on every photo it would take me a month to edit each shoot.) and because as an …ahem… thirty-something myself, I know I don’t want my unedted mug on the Internet for all to see, so I won’t do that to my fellow moms. 
Here’s Lia…she’s gorgeous. I’m going to write this and I know it won’t be the last time. It is so key to get it as right as you can in your CAMERA…as my wonderful boss in San Diego used to say, “You can’t polish a turd.” This is “straight out of camera” (SOOC) just resized for web. My settings on my camera are all at ZERO. I do not sharpen, enhance, or in any way “fix” the photos in-camera. For those who know what it means, ISO 200, 35mm (focal length), f1.8.
Look at her! GORGEOUS! Not much needed here at all. Here’s the after:
I cropped it just a tiny bit (you can see a little bit less photo on the right and above her head), I smoothed out her skin a little in Photoshop (didn’t take much) and warmed up the photo a little. I vignetted the photo a bit (made the outer edges a little darker). And I sharpened. That’s it! It’s subtle…but in my opinion, the difference makes it better. It is not my style nor is it my desire to make people look different. It is my style and my goal to make sure you see yourself at your best. My clients are beautiful! Blemishes and wrinkles can be smoothed, but when you overdo it, it’s obvious. And people should look like people, not airbrushed overworked alien versions of themselves. I hope that’s what I accomplish.
I also want to note that I usually don’t have to crop too much. I try to crop in the camera because you do lose quality when you crop photos a lot. That being said, on wider photos I like to leave plenty of room so that if I need to crop it, the arms and legs won’t get cut off!
Photo #2 (We’ll do the Lia ones first.): HI, cutie! Again – love this spot. (Even though Lia will tell you there was a stinky smell and trash on the other side of that wall – but we suffer for our art, right?) ISO 200, 35mm, f2.5.
Again – not much needed here! After:
Here I bumped up the exposure just a little bit, smoothed the skin just a tad, enhanced the color saturation a tiny bit, and sharpened. Again, a little vignette was added, but not much. Less is more!
Here’s Nikki! The LIGHT was so gorgeous that day (that’s a biggie – use light to your advantage, and not to make your subject squint) – and her eyes are striking. She also has freckles – nobody messes with freckles! Shot at ISO 200, 68mm, f2.8.
After!
Warming up this photo made her hair and eyes POP didn’t it? I do always sharpen. That was pretty much it on this one, fantastic SOOC.
This last shot is another one that made me gasp the moment I saw it on the little LCD on the back of my camera – Holly. Sitting in the weeds against a garage gate near the Sunabe Sea Wall. (Yeah, you’d think she was in a field somewhere or something, right? Early morning light is behind her here.)
SOOC: ISO 100, 85mm (probably my favorite portrait lens), f1.4. Again – not much is going to be needed here.
After:
Holly also has freckles, so I didn’t do much with her skin. Not that I needed to, she’s like a porcelain doll! I bumped up the exposure a bit on this one, and warmed it up just a hair. Sharpened and boom. Done!
I’m not going to tell you that it doesn’t take time to edit photos. I usually take 200-300 photos at a shoot, depending on the circumstances. I narrow it down to 35-50 and edit those choices to present to my clients. What I’m trying to illustrate here is that it takes a good photo to start with, camera know-how, and software know-how to get it right. An artistic eye and a unique style never hurts. Neither does inspiration or passion – I love what I do so much and I’m blessed to have found photography to express myself.
There is a reason that good portrait photography is an investment – but if you love your photos – if you get that piece of art for your wall – that family portrait that literally stops time – it’s priceless.
(Did you guys like this? Leave some comment love if you have more questions or if you want to see stuff like this in the future!)
I’ll be back soon with some family photos and a group of high school seniors. Happy Hanukkah!
