Aiming higher

The foyer....

So...  For the longest time, my foyer looked like this.

 Notice it?  That one frame?  Mocking me.  The unfinished project that I just never seemed to get to?  It was embarassing.  I joked with people that this was the frame waiting for their photo....  Not funny.

 Well.  After shaming myself every time I'd go past it, I FINALLY stepped up and actually did something about it.  Now the foyer has all new photos and all new mats and best of all....

All nine frames have photos in them.  It's about time!!!  Geeeesh!!!!  As ridiculous as it sounds, I am so proud of myself for this small accomplishment.  Now...  I'll go finish something else in this house.  :)

Before and After

Whenever I meet with couples, the question of retouching comes up. "Do you do retouching?" The answer is always yes. I want you to have a storybook image to match the romantic memories in your head. So. Basic retouching is included. I thought I would show you a couple of examples of some basic retouching. The Before photos shown are exactly as they were photographed. The after photos are after a few simple corrections.

Natalie

In our first photo, I think Natalie looks incredibly natural and happy. But... we were in the room where she was getting ready and the chairs behind her were a bit distracting. Voila! They are gone. (Ok. That's not a basic move but was necessary for this photo.) I bumped up the color, softened any flaws (very few), and bumped up the contrast. Adding contrast helped accentuate the detail on her dress. Finally, I added a very slight vignette to the edges of the photo. I thought that by darkening the outer edges, it made the eyes draw in to the bride more.

For Micki's photo, I knew I'd be changing it to black and white before I even clicked the shutter. I loved the greenery behind her but wanted her expression to stand out. I told Micki to play with her veil. I told her to get flirty. She was having fun. I thought I wanted her wedding ring in the shot but after seeing it, I knew I needed to crop in tight on her face. Again, I softened any flaws and bumped up the contrast. I also lighted the upper left corner of the black & white image so it wasn't darker than the rest of the photo. Putting this photo in black and white really made it POP! Let me know what you think. I'll show you some more complicated before and after photos in another post.

In the meantime, stay dry. A nasty storm just blew through Dublin and I'm glad I'm inside today. I was hoping to have fun Cleveland engagement photos to show you but the weather didn't cooperate yesterday either. So, Sara and Jay, we'll hook up another day! Talk to you soon!

dk