A bit about Photography

I've been getting a lot of questions lately about how I do things!  It is funny to me as I was always so curious myself...and it's really surreal having people ask little ol' ME!  Some of the most popular questions I've had lately are:  What kind of camera do you use?  What programs do you edit with?  How do you watermark your photos?  Who builds your website?  How does a studio shoot compare to an outdoor shoot? 

Well, I use a Canon 7D camera and LOVE it...minus it's weight.  It's heavy!  Kills my neck!  I started off with a Canon Rebel and that is the camera that got me hooked on taking photos!

I used to edit with Aperature...and have recently been schooling myself in Photoshop!  At first we weren't good friends, but we've grown to love each other.  I don't even touch photos in other programs other than Photoshop now.  That was something I thought I'd never be able to conquer.  And I am still learning...every day.

I watermark my photos in photoshop.  My darling husband actually created a 'brush' for me with a logo and I've never altered or changed it.  I just basically 'stamp' the photo with a brush.

Trevor and I built, alter, update, and change my website ourselves.  It's actually just a wordpress account that I've used and I find it very user friendly as I've been blogging for a bit now and it's quite similar.  I like that we only rely on ourselves and don't need to send away everytime we want a change to occur.

In terms of photo shoots...I will always prefer outdoors.  You cannot beat natural lighting and a natural setting.  It offers more variety to the shoot.  Outdoor shoots are FAR EASIER to edit photos from as well.  That being said, sometimes you just have to go with the studio!  I currently have two backgrounds, black and white - but am dying to expand my collection!  I favor black.  It is far more flattering (in my opinion) and I prefer black and white photos done with the black backdrop.  It is also more forgiving and easier to edit with, although still takes some work!   I find I either have to burn or paint the background to get the look I want.  I shoot with two studio lights and and am still learning on what the best placement and voltage to use is!  I'm ALWAYS learning! Often times I look at the SOTC (straight off the camera) shots from a studio shoot and think 'Delete'!  But I always play around with them to make adjustments.  Sometimes, I need to do very little as the lighting, angels, and pose made it all work...others need work!  When working with children (especially babies) I just keep shooting and use post-editing to get the look I want because if I were to stop each click and check the photo to make all the adjustments, chances are the moments have passed, babies are unhappy, or you won't get the same vibe you just had.  You can't pose special moments, you just have to be ready to capture them (that's how I think anyways).

Here is an example using a photo from this weekend...

You can see that their clothing isn't smooth and has lint and you can see a couple of the wrinkles in my backdrop.  Also, their skin tones aren't as smooth and complimenting as they could be.  Few people have that perfect glow!  I also find it far more 'dull' than it could be.

This is the first edit I always create.  The enhanced color version.  Not only to I make adjustment to the black, I enhance them...their skin is even and glows, their hair color pops and has a nice shine, etc.  Then I sharpen the image to crisp it up.  This is definitely noticed when clients print...they have nice clean, sharp images.

I then take that above photo and I convert it to black and white.  I sometimes need to make it 'lighter' or 'darker' depending on the image.

My new favorite look is a lightened color version of a photo.  I think it is so soft and pretty and is a nice compromise between full color and the nice impact of black and white.  I create this image from my black and white version.  I dial down the black and white until I get just the right amount of color I'm looking for.

 Some of you may find this boring and some of you have been dying to know!  A lot of the questions lately have come from my 'friends' which is why I decided to post this here :)  Like I said, I am ALWAYS learning.  I am completely self-taught in all aspects of photography - and I don't hide that fact.  I am who I am.  I would love to take both a photography course and a photoshop course and maybe one day I will find the time and opportunity to squeeze those in!