Yep, I said 5 kids!  Doesn’t she look AMAZING?  This is my good friend JoAnn…we went to my new favorite spot the other day and had so much fun!

JoAnn, I really hope you like these!  You look fabulous!!!

Color or b&w?  Love ‘em both!

I’ve always loved the urban style of processing, but don’t think I’ve ever pushed my colors/edits quite to where I wanted them.  I was totally inspired by the wonderful Tiffany of Follow Your Art Photography to really work that processing.

We have an *amazing* location nearby, that is a real treasure trove of old rusty cars, old coke machines, ancient machinery, old buildings and nick knacks…a real photographer’s paradise!  I have no idea why it’s taken me so long to get my butt back out there, but I thought it would be the perfect spot to take some pictures to play around with in the digital darkroom.  As always, it’s best to start with a properly exposed, focused, composed (yes, I SO should have moved the trash can :P ), white balanced photo, and then let the artist in you take over from there.

Just one of Miss C today…I think I’ll be back at this place often in the future!

SOOC = straight out of the camera

And the edit…

And just for the heck of it, the b&w version.  I don’t really think b&w can compete with color in a shot like this, but here it is anyways. :)

One more example…

SOOC…

And the edit…

Just the edits this time. :)

My 3 year old son recently got a little cowboy outfit.  He hasn’t removed the outfit except for washings since he got it.  He LOVES being a little cowboy!  At night, we can manage to get him out of his jeans and shirt, but he goes to bed, I kid you not, in his undies, belt, hat, AND boots.  Yes, even the boots.  I *will* get a picture of this very very soon as it’s about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!

Here are a few shots of my little cowboy. :)

And now, to completely change gears, my sweet baby girl Octavia is now 9 months old!  I can’t believe her first birthday is sneaking up so quickly!  She is the most laid back, lovable, expressive little gal…I love her top pieces!  She can just pull you in with her big, bright eyes and sweet little grin. :)

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!

I had the pleasure of photographing the most beautiful baby girl this morning!  She is so sweet, and did a GREAT job as a little supermodel today!  Enjoy your sneak peek guys!

I got some seriously CUTE knit hats and cocoons from Flower Girl Designs (check out her shop!) and it was finally warm enough outside in my garage to do a test run with one of the hats yesterday!  My little gal is SO full of personality!  I love all her little faces!

Calista celebrated her 11th birthday just a few weeks ago, so I decided that we needed to do a fun urban shoot for her 11 year old pictures (as if I don’t have tons of pictures of my girl already). lol  I really wanted to incorporate some fun colors and try some new locations out…and I love how these came out!  Can’t believe how grown up she is looking!

Going for a Twilight look here…something different!

And because life isn’t all serious, my favorites from out session…these are definitely her!

One last shot to add…this was taken in a dry lake bed near our town that had actually flooded with all of the rain we’ve been having.  Love the sense of solitude from this one.  As a side note, this cost me $5 and a large bag of skittles…I mean really, who wants to lay in the mud in a sundress in February?  She’s SUCH a good sport!