Kiss n' Tell: Hannah "Golden Hour"

The same evening I took the previous image of the squirrel, I had a few friends coming by to get a quicky family shot for his website (will post soon).  I wanted to test the light in this one spot so I grabbed my son first (but honestly, a teen boy in a field of flowers isn't exactly what I was going for), took a few shots, then my big girl drove up from work and I hauled her over there.  The light was to DIE for and I made her sit for about 5 minutes so I could get some settings on her.  Unfortunately my sweet friends didn't make it in time for that golden glow in that particular spot, but I'm sooooo glad I snagged a few of Hannah.  That is my dream spot now!!!

(I don't know why, but this looks grayish compared to the after below, they are the SAME image!!!
The one below is the true tone of the image. WEIRD!  Anyone else see it?  Anyone else have this same problem?)

I was only going to post the finished image and then I had an idea...  I haven't done a "kiss n' tell" for a while so I thought I'd share a teeny overview of the process.  I figure that most people out there don't realize just how fantastic our eyes and minds were created and how hard it is to get the camera to replicate what we see.  Here's the B and A
.

I've broken this down into three sections.

First is the image, as taken... "Straight Out Of Camera" or SOOC as we like to say.  This was taken in RAW so I was able to clean it up a bit before my final edit.  The second image is the "clean edit".  As you can tell, the image was a bit under exposed and the white balance was off.  I leave the WB on auto but it's only a camera... it's known to make mistakes.

Now comes the fun part :)  The clean edit is a wonderful shot of my girl but it's amazing what a difference a special touch can make.  I used "Paint the Moon's" action, Fairy Floss Pop.  I did some adjusting on a few layers and "VOILA!".

So, in short, I LOVE to create the images I see in my head.  The camera helps but I like to take it a bit farther and really make each image special.  This is one reason why custom photography costs more than a chain store.  Hope this blesses someone out there as you get a little peek into my world :)

Golden Squirrels and Fluffy Hours

Things have been so topsy turvy with my schedule.  I've even started walking with a friend and despite some occasional missed joint walks, God has faithfully encouraged me to take my kids and go if she can't.  Going just for a few days has been such a blessing, I'm seeing the benefits everywhere.  Joy, peace, better sleep, better mood, better eating choices, even more productive work.  Any weight loss would be an added benefit.  Everything else is just such a fabulous boost for me, if nothing else, those make it worth it.

The other evening, the kids and I went out and just enjoyed the beautiful spring weather we'd had.  I haven't been walking with my camera much but I did take it this time.

There is nothing better than fluffy squirrels and that GORGEOUS golden hour!  I declare, I think God gave me the best little place ever.  The way that sun hits and disperses into the evening sky, in my neighborhood, is so stunning it takes my breath away.

So here's to golden squirrels and fluffy hours and everything turned right from a topsy turvy world.Thank you Jesus for Your creation, Your joy and Your peace :)

Marble Falls, TX: Amanda ~ senior session

Her determined spirit, thorough nature and ADORABLE freckles are just a few of the things
that make this girl special :)

Soon Amanda will be heading off to become a neo-natal nurse, a job for the gentle yet NOT faint of heart.  Amanda, my prayers will be with you as you persevere through this next stage in life.  What a joy it is of mine to say I got to know you!  Luv ya gurl!

(Amanda's hair and makeup was done by
Stephanie Gutierrez  of  CrossHairs Salone Apothetique   in  Marble Falls.
FANTASTIC work gurl!)

Marble Falls, Tx; Amanda ~ sneak peek

OMGOODNESS!!!!  I LOVE my job :D  What a FUNTABULOUS time I got to have today!  Wonderful session with a GORGEOUS teen!  Couldn't wait to get a peek up for her, Amanda...

YOU WERE AMAZING!

Marble Falls, TX: Pilibosian Family

This session is sorta kinda top secret, so I've only been cleared to post one for the blog and after Christmas cards go out, the rest may come then ;)  Let's just say this family has to be the most real, down to earth crew I've photographed yet!  What fun!  I just LOVE to laugh and they had me ROLLING!  Yes, ROFL would be a good term to insert here.  Really, I'm NOT just saying that!

They own Treadworks Tire and Auto in Horseshoe Bay and since some of what we did is for the biz, I MIGHT get to share those :)  At least we can get a sneak peek right?

Anyhoo, they TOTALLY  rock, so if you need tires???  GO THERE!!!

Marble Falls, TX; Courtney and Seth ~ engagement

It's not often I get to do an engagement session with such a FUN family!  Courtney, Seth and Payton had me giggling the whole time we were shooting!  Payton... a FULL-OF-LIFE little boy, FULL-OF-KISSES bundle of energy; Courtney... soft, sweet, STUNNING, a smile that could blast away a gray cloudy sky in seconds; Seth... just as full of energy as his son, hunter extraordinare, strong and the daddy of ALL daddy's :D

Courtney, Seth... I can't WAIT to see you in November!!!!

Sneak Peek: Courtney and Seth

Just HAD to send out a little sneak peek of these two!  Aren't they FANTASTIC?!?!

Shooting their wedding soon at Spicewood Vineyards :D  YAHOO!!!!!!

Horseshoe Bay, TX: Means Family (mini-reunion)

I love those moments when you just KNOW God has dipped His hand into the kettle of time, sprinkled in a few festive ingredients, stirred a little, simmered and tasted His amazing creation.  The fragrance of His sovereignty is a powerful thing and I love relishing it.

It was by His design that this session came to fruition.  A friend of a friend, of a friend, the right place, the perfectly right time and voila!  A gorgeous family, amazing grans (one of which is in military school and was actually able to be there!), a blast of a grandma, and a view to die for!  What a scrumptious combination!

Kiss & Tell: Golden Hour....

Ok, so I promised you another Kiss & Tell and this time it was on one of my FAVORITE images I've done yet!  As you may recall, I posted a senior session a little while back and indicated that I had a ton of fun playing with a certain image.  Well, here it is.  If you guessed the sunglow one, either you are ingeniously smart, or you know me too well, haha :D

This is my FAV FAV FAV for several reasons!  I have been after that elusive "golden hour" glow/sun flare for two years now (I started photoging in 2009).  Gorgeous light and sunflare were some of the primary qualities I have been yearning for and have cried tears over.  Often wondering if I really could do this whole photography thing because I just couldn't seem to grab hold of that gorgeous glow like others had.  When you are self-taught, sometimes you are blessed to find a tutorial on some technique, and if you are REALLY blessed you may find another photoger willing to share their "secrets".  In the area of sunflare and glorious glow, I haven't been so lucky.  It's been try, try again, CRY, try, try again, CRY.... you get the picture, (haha, I love puns!)  This time, I got to cry for joy!  :D

We LITERALLY went out as the sun was going down.  The Rebel would have NEVER let me get this image.  The ISO range is lousy and my shutter would have had to compensate.  Not good when there is wind or people that breath, lol!  The 5D however.... :D gave me what I needed.  SO!  When people tell you that you don't need "better gear" they are only telling you part of the story.  The photographer makes the image, yes.... BUT you can be severally handicapped by limited means.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news peeps.  I'm bummered and sorry but it's the truth.

When we got the shot I was jumping up and down (literally, just ask Alyssa.... she wasn't sure who was more excited, she or me!)!!!  I couldn't believe I caught flare and SUN GLOW!!!!!  Fast forward to uploading and I was saddened to see that it wasn't quite to my standards... yet.  I knew I had good bones to work with though and was thrilled beyond belief when I got the final result!

I can't list out my exact steps (sorry, didn't even think about writing it all down, I was just sooo excited to play, lol!) but I'll give a sorta, kinda overview.

First things first, I had to deal with the lighting issue... she was WAY underexposed!  Adjusting contrast, lighting, basic stuff then the fun began.  I hated the road beside her :(  And that dad-gum power line!!!!  That HAD to go.  So OFF with it's head :)  Content aware, as always.... I LOVE YOU!!!!!!  Fantastic on cleaning up those temporary blemishes and unsightlys ;)  Little skin smoothing, then the BAM factor!  I copied the image as a layer.  Flipped it horizontally, did a layer mask and took off where she was.  This took some time to get the right opacity on brushes, etc but eventually I got it to work.  I didn't want it to be tell-tale so I took some of the extra leaves off the right side, took a reed out on the lower left (content aware!) and adjusted a few other spots accordingly.  NOW, yes.... I didn't fix the top of the image.  I know that you can see the "duplicity" of the image but I loved the "ray" affect it had and decided to leave it.  Who knows, I may look back on this and think, "good grief!!!" but for now, I LOVE it and that's what matters, lol!  I used an action to increase the vibrancy of the color around her, and then tried several different "sunlight" actions.  I played for HOURS!  The sun glow was my favorite so that's the one I posted :)  Maybe I'll post the others at another time so you can see the difference actions can make.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the fun that goes on behind the scenes :)

XOXOXO