Editing.

My goal with my photography is to take the best possible image in camera - meaning proper exposure & composure. The reason? To have a consistency in my photo's but the main reason - I hate editing.

Okay, okay, hate is a strong word. Strongly dislike.

I strongly dislike editing partly because I am just a little bit lazy but mainly because there are so many other things I would rather be doing with my time than stuck in front of the computer for hours. Like watching a movie with my hubby. Or reading. Or, you know, actually taking photo's!

Since I am not in love with editing, I have developed my own very minimal style of editing that I feel gives my photo's a natural, true to life, consistent, timeless look. Well, at least, that's what I'm aiming for! I do not use any actions or presets because I feel like they just take more time and I never love the result. I truly feel that editing is about refining your style not creating your style of photography.

And so, in the off chance it helps even one person, I thought I'd share my approach to editing. Plus, I just couldn't pass up another opportunity to share some of the photo's from Darren & Mallorey's e-session!

Step 1: Take the best possible image you can in camera.

Step 2: Upload to Lightroom. I rarely ever use Photoshop. It's just much too time consuming for me.

Step 3: Edit.

I usually start with up-ing the brightness of the image then move on to correcting the colour temperature. 97% of the time this means only warming it up a bit (more 'yellow' on the sliders). Then, up the contrast just a tiny bit and reduce the clarity (amount varies on the image - this softens up the subjects skin and takes out some of the harshness) and then sharpen AND that's it!

And, of course, some visual aids.

Straight Out Of Camera:


After:

Brightness +15, Temp +160, Contrast -5, Clarity -15, Sharpening +20

Nice & simple and it only took me 30 seconds!

Then, for my black & whites all I do is take my saturation all the way down before adjusting the brightness, contrast, clarity, & sharpness. Easy-peasy! I personally do not do sepia colouring only because I prefer black & white.

Straight Out Of Camera:


After:

Saturation -100, Brightness +15*, Contrast +5, Clarity -9, Sharpening +20. And, in only 32 seconds!

*My secret is to over brighten my b&w version just a bit - this gives the image a bit more POP*

I hope that this helps and if not then you at least got to see how I make the magic happen for my photo's ;)

Second Shooting.

A few months ago, I received the best email. An email asking if I would be interested in second shooting this summer.

I'm pretty sure they could hear me yell 'YES!!' all the way from Phoenix.

I feel so incredibly blessed that Mike & Lisa of Modern Pixel Photography found my name on a list of Winnipeg second shooters and liked my photography enough to ask me to work with them this summer.

Second shooting, essentially helping out the main photographer with ANYTHING at all that they need on a wedding day, is the best possible fit for me right now. We move so often and have such an uncertain future that I can't book many weddings of my own - I just can't promise I'll be in the same place 6, 9, 12 months from now!! This way, I get to do so much more photography and learn from and help out a fellow photographer while adding to my own portfolio and experience. If this isn't a WIN-WIN situation, I don't know what is.

Mike & Lisa, thank you SO much for trusting me enough to ask me to work with you. Thank you doesn't even begin to cover how grateful I am. It's been amazing so far and we're only 2 weddings in!


A photo from the first wedding I second shot with Mike - a movie & theatre themed wedding! Check out Modern Pixel's full post & I'll be posting more of my photo's from the day soon :)

Over the top.

When I chose my logo it wasn't just a random decision to use an elephant. I've loved them since I was 3 - like over the top loved them. When I was unpacking last month, I was reminded just how much elephant stuff I actually have.

It's almost over the top. Almost ;)

And so, I thought I would give you all a little visual of the many elephants that inhabit our home! Can you spot the one that inspired my logo?






The ridiculous part though - that I have even more elephant stuff packed away at my mom's place!!!

Shooting for Myself.

We were sitting on the couch the other night and Scott asked me how I was feeling about the first month of our third year back in Carman.

I told him I was happy. This was my favourite year yet....except, I haven't been taking as many photo's for me.

We've been so busy with life that I haven't made the time to take my camera out just because I want to. Lots of photographers talk about 'shooting for yourself' to keep your love, passion, and creativity flowing and for most photographers this means creative shoots of your friends or styled shoots with models.

But; for me, it's always been the little details in my life that I love to photograph - just for my own happiness.

I love to take my camera around the house or on walks or into my backyard just to see what I can capture. I love taking a little extra time to find the beauty in the things most people walk by every day. That little tiny leaf? One of millions? I can make it look like art - something that should be on your wall. I love looking at my surroundings differently. I haven't always had a ready supply of people to photograph to help me learn photography and so this was how I learned and practiced. On the little details in life - looking at them differently to capture the beauty.

All that to say, I made the time yesterday to shoot for myself. It was raining all afternoon - washing away the dust and making the greens so vibrantly beautiful. The clouds parted for half an hour and the light was perfect so I grabbed my camera and shot in my backyard for 10 minutes. This is what I captured....