Kennesaw family photographer {Before & After Friday}

 

I know it has been awhile but here I am bringing you another before and after. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask! 

This picture of this beautiful Indian prince was taken earlier this year. At the time, I was using ACR(Adobe Camera RAW) and CS3(Photoshop CS3) to edit. This shot is more of a studio set up but it is done with all natural light :) In ACR, I adjusted white balance using a custom white balance which I achieve using a gray kard. I then pulled this into CS3 where I first did a curves layer. I pulled the middle of my line up to get rid of the "fog" in the picture. The "fog" is usually more noticeable in outdoor shots but you can still see that it helped for this shot as well. Next, I added a Selective Color Layer and on the Neutrals, I upped the Blacks to +5. This gives a bit more definition to my subject. I then cropped my picture as you can see in the SOOC(straight out of camera) shot, there is a bit of the reflector showing on the side. Finally, I used the clone tool to remove the yellow flower out of his hand for a cleaner looking final image. If you have any questions, email me stephenie@daisykey.com

300 Liker Drawing Winner {Acworth Photographer}

Thank you to everyone that entered! The winner is....

Amy Longoria! Congrats Amy! Contact me at stephenie@daisykey.com to set up your *FREE* session! To everyone else that entered, you will all get a $25 gift certificate just for playing :0) Please also contact me at stephenie@daisykey.com to claim your gift certificate! You may gift your gift certificate to someone else, but it may not be used in conjuction with any other offers.

{Kennesaw, GA family photographer) *FREE* session drawing!

Make sure you enter my 300 "liker" drawing! This session would be PERFECT for photos for Christmas cards this year! To enter, you must click HERE and like my page first, then find the picture shown above on my facebook page and leave a comment there telling why you want to win. Make sure you share my PAGE as well and instruct your friends and family how to like your comment. Each like on your comment will get your name into that hat again and will better your odds of winning!

*this drawing is in no way connected or affiliated by facebook*

Christmas in July {Kennesaw, GA family photographer)

Kennesaw photographer {before and after Friday}

Hey there! It is again time for {before and after Friday}! Man, I cannot believe that it arrived so quickly! This week, I have a photo that was submitted to me by one of my readers for me to edit. If you would like to have a photo considered for next weeks {before and after Friday}, please send it to me at stephenie@daisykey.com by Thursday. In order to have your photo considered, you must like my business page here, and your photo must be straight out of your camera(the larger the better) and must be well exposed(not too dark or too light) and in focus. So here we go!

 

I pulled this photo straight into LR(lightroom) where I brightened it up a bit and warmed up the white balance. I also upped the blacks to define her from the background a little. From there, I opened it up in PS(photoshop). I used a curves layer to "defog" the picture and an adjustment layer to selectively add contrast to the blacks as well as the neutrals, and to whitened the whites. She had a hot spot(bright shiny circle) on her cheek from the flash that was used so I used the patch tool to get rid of it. I then used the burn tool with a small and soft brush on a low opacity to darken her lash line so her eyes would pop a little more. I also saturated the reds in her lips only so they wouldn't be as pale(flash tends to wash you out, especially for blue eyed blondes) I also lowered the brightness on her jersey only using a layer mask. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me! Remember to submit your {before and after Friday} pictures to me by this Thursday!

Kennesaw family photographer {before and after Friday}

Well, here it is....Friday again! Time again for before and after Friday :) I have chosen another outdoor shot since it is HOT and sunny here in Georgia right now. This is from a family session back in April. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

 

With every picture I take, I start out with my RAW file. For this picture, I opened it up in ACR(Adobe Camera RAW). There, I adjusted the white balance, and upped the blacks a bit since I wanted a bit more contrast and I wanted the colors to pop a bit. After my initial edits in ACR, I pulled it into CS3. Once there, I used a curves layer to further adjust the contrast and to "defog" my image. I used a selective color adjustment layer and bumped the neutral colors in the blacks a bit to pop the color a bit more. Then I used the burn tool to selectively burn the rocks and used the sponge tool to bring out some of the color in the rocks. I then used the burn tool around the edges of my subjects so they stood out some from the background. Finally, I ran this particular image through noiseware as it had some noise from using a higher ISO. I used an unsharp mask and saved. There you have it! Any questions? I will answer as best as I can without revealing my secrets ;)

Daisykey Photography {before and after Friday}

Happy Friday!

Ok, I am going to push myself to blog more ;) So, I will start what I will call {before and after Friday}. I will pull one of my pictures(or maybe even one of yours) and post my SOOC(straight out of camera) shot next to my edited shot. I will list a quick explanation of how I accomplished my edit. As always, it is VERY important to get your focus right in camera because even if you edit and out of focus shot, it will still be out of focus even after sharpening. If you want tips on how to achieve better focus, be on the lookout for my "momtography" class which I will host sometime this fall. This is from a before prom session that I had this spring.

I adjusted exposure and did a custom white balance in ACR(Adobe Camera RAW) using a picture of my gray kard. I also upped the blacks to add a bit of contrast. I then pulled it into Adobe Photoshop CS3. I used a curves layer to lift the "fog" off of the picture. I used the sponge tool to bring out some of the red in the bricks and used another curves layer to adjust here skin color so that it was more realistic and warm and matched the afternoon sun that we had. I selectively darkened around her so that she stood out from the wall a bit more. I also ran an unsharp mask on the entire photo to sharpen it a little. Voila!