Making Memories (before and afters) Is there such a word as afters?
It's no secret that I love to take pictures. It is very fun to me.. It is also challenging, frustrating, perplexing at times, and tedious in the editing phase. (And expensive.) Hard work, but fun hard work. Is there such a thing? ;) I have always loved looking at photographs too... It's exciting to me. I start wondering what could have been going on at the very moment it was snapped... was I happy? Was I having the time of my life like the smile on my face says I was having? Or, what on earth was I thinking wearing that blue mascara and perming the crap out of my hair, then letting my mom take a picture?
When you look at a snapshot of yourself, I promise you, it will conjure up some sort of memory. Kind of like when you hear an old song on the radio. For these reasons, and many more, I love photography. Those still moments in time, frozen and documented forever. I have loved it ever since I received a polaroid camera for my 10th birthday (or somewhere around that age). Pretty much every year thereafter, I asked for a new camera. Ask my mom! I would put those hard rolls of 35mm film in the envelope at moto-photo and be in suspense until they came back as 3x5 glossies.
I never actually realized how hard it was to achieve a beautiful photo however. Until this last year, when I really got serious about taking them. You professionals make it look so easy! It is not. There are so many factors, so much to learn! And I am loving this learning process.
Perhaps the most rewarding part is staring at your computer screen and looking at a beautiful memory you have captured for someone. It is satisfying. It is hard work. And when you get that one great shot you were looking for, you just know it. You feel it in your bones. Could be a family sitting in front of you, and you capture just the right smile, an endearing look, a shared love. Bam! You got it! And you get really excited about it! You can hardly wait to upload those babies on the computer! Then the hard part! Editing. Whew! Talk about lots of information... Photoshop blows my mind every time I open it. Still. And everyone's taste is so different. I'm learning, I guess to create what it beautiful to me and go from there...
Here are few simple edits I made on some pics I took of a gorgeous subject! I took the pictures that looked "funky" to me pre-edit, then posted the edited look. Edited version is first, then the SOOC version. (straight out of camera). Final is first because I like to start with a pretty one... :) Of course, with this darling little model, it's hard to go wrong!
In all of these I took the same steps in Photoshop Elements 10:
1. Crop
2. Lighten shadows
3. Run a plug-in called Neat Image to lose the noise
4. Warm Up (I use an action by Peta Mazey)
5. Slight vignette to pull focus to the cute little punkin'
6. Sharpen to taste
And there you go! Memories to have forever! Have a good weekend, friends! Love ya! MUAH!!!! Thanks to my bestie, for letting me snap these photos of your sweet WC!
When you look at a snapshot of yourself, I promise you, it will conjure up some sort of memory. Kind of like when you hear an old song on the radio. For these reasons, and many more, I love photography. Those still moments in time, frozen and documented forever. I have loved it ever since I received a polaroid camera for my 10th birthday (or somewhere around that age). Pretty much every year thereafter, I asked for a new camera. Ask my mom! I would put those hard rolls of 35mm film in the envelope at moto-photo and be in suspense until they came back as 3x5 glossies.
I never actually realized how hard it was to achieve a beautiful photo however. Until this last year, when I really got serious about taking them. You professionals make it look so easy! It is not. There are so many factors, so much to learn! And I am loving this learning process.
Perhaps the most rewarding part is staring at your computer screen and looking at a beautiful memory you have captured for someone. It is satisfying. It is hard work. And when you get that one great shot you were looking for, you just know it. You feel it in your bones. Could be a family sitting in front of you, and you capture just the right smile, an endearing look, a shared love. Bam! You got it! And you get really excited about it! You can hardly wait to upload those babies on the computer! Then the hard part! Editing. Whew! Talk about lots of information... Photoshop blows my mind every time I open it. Still. And everyone's taste is so different. I'm learning, I guess to create what it beautiful to me and go from there...
Here are few simple edits I made on some pics I took of a gorgeous subject! I took the pictures that looked "funky" to me pre-edit, then posted the edited look. Edited version is first, then the SOOC version. (straight out of camera). Final is first because I like to start with a pretty one... :) Of course, with this darling little model, it's hard to go wrong!
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| after |
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| SOOC |
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| after |
 |
| SOOC |
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| after |
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| SOOC |
1. Crop
2. Lighten shadows
3. Run a plug-in called Neat Image to lose the noise
4. Warm Up (I use an action by Peta Mazey)
5. Slight vignette to pull focus to the cute little punkin'
6. Sharpen to taste
And there you go! Memories to have forever! Have a good weekend, friends! Love ya! MUAH!!!! Thanks to my bestie, for letting me snap these photos of your sweet WC!
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