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I’ve had a lot of great feedback about Monday’s post and decided to just let that information sink in a little before featuring another photo session.  Thank you for all of your comments regarding my before and after blog!  It’s great to hear that my clients are happy with their images and willing to sit tight while I do what I do best!

 

Today I’m featuring Lindsay’s little girl who came in recently for her 6 month session and took advantage of the diva set that I had ready and waiting for mini sessions that weekend.  Nichole and I can’t help but laugh every time we see these photos because chubby little baby is so stinkin’ cute!

 

 

I have been getting a lot of emails and questions lately asking for CDs and when my editing will be finished and why I’m “taking so long” (two weeks) to get images from my camera to your hands.  As I’ve tried to figure out how best to answer these questions without writing a book on photography, I decided to do a blog post of some of my favorite recent images.  In this post I’ll walk you through my editing process, show you what happens to your images from the time you walk out the door and offer a little insight to why my timing and services are not necessarily the same as other photographers you may have heard about or even experienced.

Let’s start with sorting:

After a session, I sit with my camera and delete any photos that aren’t worth keeping.  This is generally where I get rid of closed eyes and goofy faces, before even sitting at my desk.  Once the obvious is weeded out, I’ll upload to my computer and evaluate each pose and set of the session.  I’ll pick my favorites, the images I see with the best potential for enhancement and toss the rest.  This portion of sorting includes deleting duplicates and similar poses.  Instead of presenting you with 6 images that are basically the same, I’ll pick the best one and save you the time and decision making process.  Once my favorites are chosen, I’ll start editing.  To me, editing is more than touching up minor blemishes…it’s about enhancing your photos and taking them from professional portraits to custom art.

Take a look at the three small photos below (which are straight from the camera).  While they are all basically the same, Baby’s expression changes a little in each picture.  In the first photo, she’s eating her pearls.  This is cute, but you can’t exactly see her face with her hand and necklace in the way.  Go to the third photo, and you can see that she doesn’t look as happy as she did in the other two images.  The middle image, however, gives us just a tiny,sweet smile with Baby’s pearls hanging gracefully from her wrist.  Image number two was chosen for editing.  You can see the final version at the end of the strip, slightly larger than the others.  The large image is what Mom will see on her CD.

What exactly is editing:

A great photographer is able to capture personality, judge a great angle, and compose the best lighting without really thinking twice.  When most people look at an image taken by a professional photographer, more times than not they would be willing to purchase that image and notice it’s practically flawless nature.  However, as a professional in the business of custom photography, I choose to not only take great photographs, but also to enhance each of my favorites before sending them your way.  While most of your images will look great directly from my camera, I know I can make them even better with the multiple enhancement options I have in my “digital dark room” (aka, my top of the line editing software).  While professional images come from an expert eye, the enhancement process can mean the biggest difference between professional wall art and a very talented mom with a great camera.

Let’s look at a few enhancement details from some recent sessions.

Remember, I’m sparing you the book on photography, so here’s the short version.  Aside from changes you see that look like color quality, brightness, and shadows, you can also make note that very little cropping was done to any of the images posted above.  I do as much of my cropping as possible “in camera”…which means I judge the frame of each shot as I take it.  I do this because cropping a photo during the editing process makes your image file smaller.  If you’ve ever asked me to change an image from horizontal to vertical, you’ve probably heard me say something about the change in file size.  A smaller image file affects how large you can print or what you can use your photo for when it comes to personalized gifts like calendars and coffee mugs.    Of course, to most rules, there is an exception.    In this case, the exception to my “no cropping during editing rule” is to crop if necessary to capture cuteness!  About 99% of the time if I break my “no cropping” rule, it’s because I’m editing a toddler!  Toddlers are BUSY!  Often times I’ll frame their shot and then they move…ten feet away!  So, when I get the images to my computer, sometimes zooming in on cute little faces is more important (and more in focus) than an image with a great background or setting.  Check out the little girl below.  I’m pretty sure you can look up the word “busy” in any dictionary and find this sweet little face!  She was moving around as fast as I could keep up!  Her facial expression in this image is so cute, that I really wanted to put my focus there.  But, to capture that little expression, I had to crop the image.

In addition to all this “crop” talk, notice that Busy Baby here has a scratch on her face.  Surely this is from all of her moving about!  Part of my editing process includes “healing” blemishes like this one as well as MANY other bumps, bruises, and boogers!  In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve digitally cleaned more faces on my computer than I ever have in real life during my 12 years of being a mom! Okay, so maybe that’s a little gross…but it’s the truth… and better to hear that I clean it up, then to see that I left it alone when you receive the final product!

So to wrap up my mini backstage tour, you can see that each original image shown straight from the camera is acceptable on its own.  The final product is a more complete version of an already great photo.  And while it’s fun to take images home the day of your session, you miss the opportunity to see what a little patience can do for the investment you’ve made in your portraits!

 

Photographers often hear things like, “Wow!  Your camera takes great pictures!”  But, I read something from another photographer whose response was that a statement like that is similar to hearing, “Wow!  Your fancy new oven bakes great cupcakes!”  Obviously, a great camera is a necessary tool, but a lot of time and know-how goes into the end result of a great image!

 

Can you believe it’s been a week and I’ve only missed a post for one day?!   I’m very excited about this!  Yesterday, I was so excited to be on top of my to-do list that I waltzed right out of my office and completely forgot to post my latest session!  But, I’m back today and showcasing Michelle’s family.  We met downtown for an outdoor, kids-only session.  Since two of her children are older, we opted for an urban feel with brick and buildings instead of the park.  This was my third time getting to photograph the little guy though…. look at those eyes and tell me he’s not adorable!

 

Okay.  Let me tell you a little story.  I had a little girl show up for a family session and insisted on showing her tongue in almost every single photo.  After the session, Mom emailed me and asked if we had any photos without Baileigh’s tongue.  Even though I told her yes, I was pretty sure I was gonna have to say no.  Tongue or no tongue, Baileigh was a cutie pie.  I couldn’t narrow these down and decided to show you a whole lot more than normal.  Try to look at these without laughing at how cute she is!:

Look at me!  I’m actually blogging about another session.  Thanks to Nichole getting my head above water, I have time to showcase my clients!  Since I’m such high volume, I can’t promise I’ll feature every session I photograph, but I’ll do what I can!  Today I’m featuring Kim’s family.  She came in with her hubby and their little girl and despite the heat that day, we finished with some cute images for me to play with.  The little denim outfit is adorable, and let’s not forget about Mom’s fab color choices.  I love the blue, green, coral combination.  The look is cool, clean and simple without losing the fun of Summer!  Way to go, Mom!

These little guys came into the studio for a session together full of smiles.  I love the green and white and you can’t beat half naked babies in neckties!

Katie met me for an outdoor engagement session that was fun and romantic to say the very least!  She was a little shy in front of the camera, but I love sessions like these where I can capture an adorable couple just being themselves.  Sometimes the images that aren’t captured on purpose end up being among the list of favorites.  Congratulations Katie and Andy!

It’s been a little crazy around here lately and I’m a BAD blogger!!  2011 is now completely booked for the year.  And yes I agree it’s CRAZY!!  I knew with our competitive pricing we would be booked in advance however I never imagined being booked out six plus months!!  At this time because it’s somewhat of a logistical nightmare to manage we do not have a waiting list, instead anytime we have a last minute opening we will post it on the facebook fan page.  We do realize that not everyone is on facebook however with over 4,000 fans that is the fastest way to reach the most people .  We’re tossing around some different ideas for next year so that we won’t be booked so far in advance but nothing is set in stone yet.  Most of all I just want to say thank you thank you thank you thank you for trusting me with recording your precious memories….and loving my pictures enough to book so far ahead with me!!  And as usual some eye candy because no post is complete without some cuties!!

A little note from my pricing page on bookings

2011 is now booked.    Exceptions to this are maternity, newborn and gift certificates. I do my best to fit in maternity however it is best to schedule as soon as you know you’ll be wanting a maternity session.  For newborns you MUST be on my “due date” list.  This allows me to make room in my schedule for newborns and then once baby arrives we schedule your actual day and time.

If you have a gift certificate please let me know and I will do my very best to fit you in (advance notice is best as that will give us more flexibility with the dates you need).  At this time gift certificates are only available for purchase for a session that has already been scheduled or a newborn already on my due date list.