A lot of photography now a days is about the post processing. I remember in the days of film, if I wanted a certain effect, I had to decide before hand and put that type of film in the camera, decide whether I was going to over or under expose the images, and then decide on which chemicals to process the film in to get the desired effect. Today, although it can be frustrating to have to spend so much time on the computer, even just to get simple images to look the way regular film processing looked, I do love that with the same image, I can do a a variation of styles to the same image. I do not have to marry myself to black and white, sepia, cross process or the like. The options are limitless and it is such fun to make a selection of processing options for the Collection, depending on the theme and lighting conditions. I just thought I would share some before and afters to show how much effort goes into the production of an image, and this is where the bulk of my time is spent. As lovely as it would be to be on location shooting all the time, todays digital photography world has a whole other side which film did not have, unless you had your own dark room. I love that I can turn a bright sunny image into something dark and haunting, or rescue a grey day image into something a lot brighter than it was originally. It takes the art of photography to a whole new level and puts more art into the craft and that is what I love.
The photo above is the original (Straight Out Of Camera - SOOC). The image below is just with my regular edits to make an image a little more crispy and punchy.
These three below and the first one featured at the top of the post are the different manipulations I did for this shoot - it was a Sacha Surprise session. I often find one version feeds into the next as I just push a process a little further for more drama.
Below left is SOOC, and right is one of my fave processes which gives it the softness of film that I miss with digital.
Left is a sort of olden day antique wash which I find romantic, and I love the richness of this sepia manipulation on the right.
Below is one of my fave looks when I try to turn day into night - just something haunting about this look - love the blues and coldness of the light.
This bride was utterly beautiful to start with, and if I had had perfect light on the day of their shoot, I would have barely needed to do a thing to the images. But is was heavily over cast so I needed to soften the hard shadows and brighten and soften her skin and the light.
This bridal couple came to my house on the day of their wedding for some photos in my garden which they had fallen in love with from what they had seen on my blog. Unfortunately, we were in the middle of a serious drought and all my grass had died so the left image is SOOC, and the right image is my effort to rescue the grass and surrounding garden scene.
I also gave then the twilight option which adds a little romance and mystery to an otherwise very sunny image.
This antique wash below helps brighten and warm up the shadows of a very grey day of shooting.
Below is another example of taking the red and shine out of skin to show how gorgeous the subject really is.
I consider myself a lifestyle photographer and so like to capture real life. Although I love to create a mood and improve a photo, I do not believe in making changes that alter the reality. I do not make people thinner or more voluptuous, or change eye or remove scars and moles. I do of course try to lessen things that are not permanent, like temporary skin blemishes or sun damage. I aim to tell a story with my images and make my clients feel as beautiful as possible using subtle techniques. I love what I do, the magic I am allowed to create with photography and am thankful for the artistic creativity that modern technology affords me. Thank you to all my gorgeous clients who trust me to share my vision in telling the story of their lives. xxx
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