I think it’s safe to say that most people who hire a professional photographer to do portraits of their loved ones are a bit in the dark as to what goes on behind the scenes.  This blog post is just a small sneak peek into what goes on AFTER your photos are taken.  :)

In general, people believe that I just come in for a few hours, take some snaps, and call it a day, right?  So, so wrong!  There is so much work that goes on behind the scenes.  90% of the time I spend working on someone’s portrait session is done right here on my computer, where I carefully and artistically touch up and edit each and every proof that I show them.  Some photos just need minor adjustments to lighting, contrast, or white balance and can be done rather quickly.  Others need a lot of in depth work to reach an artistic vision I have in mind for the photo.  Your photos won’t get this kind of attention at Wal-mart or Kiddie Candids. :)  Small details are also given careful attention.  Any acne, bruises, dark circles under the eyes, etc will be carefully fixed in post processing, so that you will look your absolute best in your portraits.

The ultimate goal of any good professional photographer is to get a photo right off of the camera with the exposure, lighting, and white balance just right to minimize the time spent in the editing ‘darkroom’.  This is where the skill and knowledge of ones’ equipment and photography in general comes into play.  Editing is a whole other ball of wax, and requires a completely different skill set to do well.

Without further ado, here are a few before vs. after examples so you can see the work and artistic vision that goes into each and every session.  *This* is a big part of the reason they call it custom photography. :)

For reference, SOOC = ‘straight out of the camera’ and the photos labeled with this are exactly as they came off of my camera, before I did any editing.

First, a recent newborn.  I envisioned this as a dramatic black and white.  Here is the before and after…

Next, we have an adorable baby girl.  Aside from the obvious adjustment to the white balance, I did a lot of artistic editing to this photo…from filling in open areas on the canvas, to contrast, to major color adjustments (just check out her hat and nappy!)

Up next is a photo of my own daughter.  I had wanted a colorful, urban look to these pictures.  This one definitely needed some spicing up!

Lastly, here is a beautiful senior girl that I did.  Again, an urban session that needed some more pop!

Are you guys getting sick of seeing Octavia yet?  I like to  keep my skills in tune during the slow season, and she’s still immobile, so she’ll probably be making a lot of appearances here this winter!  I got a new ‘floor’ for my studio work and had to test it out today.  I really like it so far!  Who would know that it’s a giant rubber mat?

And a pullback for my photographer friends!  One day, I would *love* to have a real natural light studio, but for now, I’m thankful that I get excellent light in my garage.  Whatever works, right? Anyways, this was my setup for the above shots!  Sorry for the lack of a cute smiling baby, but she had had enough by the time I thought to take this.  She’d had enough by the time I thought throwing cool dried leaves all over the floor would look cool too…darn it!

Coming back to this one to add just *one* more…I drug her out again today because the leaf shot was eluding me! Haha!  She’s such a good girl, it was COLD and windy today, and not one complaint out of her!  Just more smiles!