Just a little ...

... before 'n after fun ...

Here's the before of gorgeous Miss Julianna:



And here's the after:



A little crop, a little cloning, a little soft light and multiply blending modes (masked off her face), some color poppin', and then several textures piled on. Um yeah. I was having fun. Always nice to take a break from the editing grind and just PLAY.

Before and After: Bridal Edition

A few weeks ago I had the fabulous opportunity to second-shoot a wedding with my friend Irene. What an eye-opener. Seriously, I have so much respect for wedding photographers. That is a lot of work and one very long day. Still it was fun to get my feet wet a bit and see just what it would be like to venture out of my nice comfort zone of portraits. I plan to share several of my favorites from this wedding soon, but this one screamed a "before and after" share. This photo had great potential, but there were definitely a few things that needed a little photoshop help ... starting with that unsightly telephone pole. Just a little lasso with my magic wand, a touch of content aware fill, and *poof* it was gone. Truly, it was that easy. Photoshop has come a long way since my first version (Photoshop 6 I think? About 9 versions ago?).



Then it was a simple matter of warming it up, brightening a bit, and adding in a few more clouds. I used some Florabella actions (Blush, Halo, and TeaTime from Luxe II) at a very low opacity and at the last minute threw in a little "lovely and ethereal" (a free action from The Pioneer Woman) to finish off the look I was going for. Whatcha think? Feedback welcome!

Before 'n After. 5.

I'm posting my favorites from this session on the blog tomorrow ... so check back ... but I thought it was time for another before 'n after. I just love how simple little things in Photoshop can make such a difference!

Here's the before ...

and here's the after ...

Before 'n After. 4.

Time for another "before and after". I'm working on the edits for another return client and got very excited when I saw this picture. Although my mom isn't a fan of pictures where children aren't smiling, I love that serious look. I could see a lot of potential in this photo and knew I wanted to do some special editing, beyond my usual stuff (which really isn't this dramatic ~ that's probably why I like these "before and afters"). ANYWAY. Here's the BEFORE of beautiful Kira:

And here's the AFTER:

Whatcha think? Comments are welcome! The rest from this session coming up in the next couple of weeks!

Before 'N After. 3.

Just a little before and after of one of my recent seniors:

The "before" picture is pretty good, I think ... but I was in a warm sort of mood the day I edited these photos and played around quite a bit to get my finished version, which I really love. I straightened the image a little, cropped it in tighter, then cloned out the cord that had been right behind the post. Then I ran a couple of Florabella actions (Musette from the Luxe set and Splendor from the Spring II set). This lightened the picture up considerably, so I brought the background back with a TRA action (Big Blue) that I use for all my burning and to add saturation. I'm really happy with the final product, but I certainly know that all photoshoppin' is subjective. So I would LOVE to hear what some of YOU think. Leave me a comment and let me know!

Before 'n After. 2.

I had a lot of fun sharing my last before 'n after ... 'specially 'cause some of you nice readers left such nice comments, which of course made my day. So I thought I would share another one from the session I'm in the middle of editing right now. I was going for just a good, clean edit on this one. Nothing too dramatic, but enough that the image would pop. And I'm happy with how it turned out:

Now I know the "details" behind the edit is mumbo-jumbo to a lot of my readers, but I still like to document it, even for just myself!

I started out with the "standards", which I run at the beginning of almost every picture: portraiture, contrast and levels adjustments, and {typically} "Musette" from Florabella's luxe collection that I love to run at a super low opacity. Just gives a little somethin' extra that I like.

Then I tried a couple of new things with this one that I just loved and think made a huge difference. I started with the high pass filter to really make the bricks pop out, followed up by the "select-o-sharp" action by TRA that I brushed on the bricks as well. I also burned the edges quite a bit to add dimension and used the "lights out" action and then masked back my subject who became too dark as a result of the action. To pull out the color in the shirt I used "MCP fingerpaint" from the MCP quickie collection. And that's pretty much it. Took a bit of time, but I was having so much fun seeing the picture emerge how I envisioned it!

In other news, the boys had great first days of school and I shot about 200 pictures documenting the day ... seeing that I'm still stuck in JUNE with personal edits, hopefully it won't take too long until I can share them. I'm getting anxious to clear out my backlog, though, and plan on editing like a madwoman for the next two days, especially because I leave on Sunday for AFTER DARK in PORTLAND!!! I'm so incredibly excited for this photography workshop and hope to come back just brimming with new ideas. And hopefully not incredibly overwhelmed!

Before 'n After

I love Photoshop. I love it even more since upgrading to CS5. I think I'm addicted to content aware fill. And I find myself wondering how I ever managed to properly crop a picture before when I didn't have the handy rule of thirds grid assisting me. And the updated ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) is fabulous.

Of course the goal of any photographer would be to get as close to perfect a picture in camera ... and my typical photoshop edits aren't usually very dramatic. But there are times when I fall in love with a picture that might typically be flagged as a reject due to poor lighting or composition or exposure and I just can't manage to let it go. That is when photoshop can really shine.

So where am I going with all this rambling? I just finished the edits last night on a senior session I recently did in Seattle and came across one of those photos that just begged for a makeover. And since I LOVE seeing befores and afters on other photography blogs, I thought I would do one myself!

So here ya go ...

I started with some basic Camera Raw adjustments, then ran it through my special combination of steps, which includes a curves adjustment, adding some contrast and color saturation, lightening and brightening and sharpening, as well as a slight tonal shift. Some of the steps are using my own know-how and some are actions from TRA and Florabella. Then I used the healing brush in photoshop to get rid of some of the specks on that lovely stadium turf. And then I decided the white sky was very distracting so I added in a lovely blue one with clouds. I had a lot of fun creating the finished product!