I [heart] faces challenge: Focusing on Angles

I've done the I [heart] faces contest a few times, and it's really a lot of fun. I would encourage any of you with a blog to head over there and consider entering your photos... or taking a look at other people's entries. I typically enter if I read the category and immediately a photo comes to mind. That DEFINITELY happened this time.

This photo was actually taken during a recent boudoir session, but I absolutely love the unique angle and the fact that you can see her eyelashes so clearly. Have I mentioned that I love eyelashes? Because I do. I really do.

Anyway... here is my take on the Different Angles category.

I ♥ Australia!

It's true... I really really do!
I was soooo fortunate to take the trip of a lifetime to Australia with my dad only a few short summers ago. We had a fabulous time! It was when I was first getting into photography, and I had a BLAST taking pictures of anything and everything that would stand still for me. And I chased a few things that wouldn't :)

I was looking back and realized that I never blogged the photos from that trip, as I wasn't even blogging at that point in my life! Can you believe it? A time when there was no blog? I know, crazy, right?

Well, this weeks I [heart] faces challenge was animal faces... and even though I LOVE my pups... I decided to go for the unusual. I had a chance to take LOTS of pictures of some AMAZING wild animals in their natural habitats while in Australia... and even though this photo was taken years ago when I was just starting out, I kind of love it. So here is my entry this week.

I have a couple more shoots this week that I am super excited about! I also did something totally crazy today that I cannot wait to share with you, and if you missed it, make sure you check out yesterday's blog... because it is maybe one of my favorites! Lots more coming soon!

I ♥ Sweet Dreams

When I read the theme for this week's I ♥ Faces contest, I knew right away that I wanted to enter. And I knew exactly which photo I wanted to enter. granted, I don't have a lot of photos of people sleeping, but this happens to be one of my favorite images. Not only that, but Justin and Mary Marantz are the guest judges and I ♥ THEM!

Here is this week's entry:

I ♥ Sun flare!

It's been a while since I entered the I [heart] faces contest. But this week, the guest judge is Becker and the topic is Sun Flare... and I [heart] sun flare... so how could I NOT enter??

This entry actually comes from a session that you'll be seeing here on the blog in the next few days.




I love the shape of the flare and how it came out... anyway, hope you enjoy this little sneak peak of the teaser :)

I ♥ Faces- "completely candid"

This week's contest was an easy one for me to pick. I have SOOOO many candid shots, most from different shoots I've done, where I've managed to catch someone off guard, but this is probably my very favorite picture I've taken. Ever.

This shoot was several months ago, and it was for my beautiful and talented friend, Erika. She's a model, so I was getting all kinds of fierce, awesome shots of her... but at this point in the shoot, I managed to catch her off guard (and still totally looking model-esque) and I absolutely ADORE this shot! I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I think it's just the fact that when I scroll through all of the awesome shots... this one just stands out because it is really candid and I totally caught her laughing. Most of the others were so serious and posed (because that's what we were going for!).

I think candid shots are my favorite.... the ones where you manage to catch actual interactions between people in the middle of posed shots. But this one definitely had to be entered this week!




Note to I ♥ Faces... I cant seem to get your logo on here. So I've just linked your site... hope that's okay!

I ♥ Faces "fix it Friday" and a FAQ!

It's another week of I ♥ Faces "fix-it-Friday". This week's picture was super cute and I couldn't resist. It also gives me an opportunity to talk a little about my post-processing which is one of the questions I get most from people.

Here is the original:



And here is my version:



I use photoshop CS4... and I am a HUGE fan of Totally Rad Actions. They have really helped me develop my style. I own both sets and usually use at least one Action on every photo you see on this blog. For this particular picture, here is what I did:

1. I used the clone tool to get rid of the tree trunk. It distracted me when I looked at the photo, and I wanted it to have a universal look. I thought about cropping it out, but I really like the little boy's hands on the rail and all the green in the background. When shooting... I keep this in mind and do my very best to keep objects like that out of my photos because cloning out every little thing can really take a lot of time.

2. I ran the TRA action "yin yang". Used the "yang" layer on the child at 77% to lighten him up a little without losing the background... and then I used the "yin" layer at 80% on the background to bring it out even a little more because I love the color! I use this action a lot because there are many times when you want to lighten or darken just one portion of a photo. That is hard to do manually.

3. I ran TRA action "pro-retouch" and used it on the child's skin at 76%. I also used the "eye bump" layer on his eyes at 25%. I love this action, because it just smooths out the skin and makes it look so milky. You just have to be careful about this one because it can also make it look very airbrushed and fake.

4. I used TRA "select-o-pop" at 100% on just the iris of his eye to pop the color a bit.

5. TRA "select-o-sharp" on his entire eye ball at 67% to sharpen up the eye and bring the focus there even more.

6. Next, I used TRA "Warm it up Kris!" at 44% just to warm up the tone of the picture a bit. I also love this action (and it's opposite, "cool as a cucumber") because it really gives it a nice color without changing the photo.

7. The finishing touch, which I use on many of my photos was TRA action "Oh Snap!" at 64%. This just kind of gives it a finished, sharp look.

I don't usually use that many actions on one photo, but for the sake of this post, I did. I also like to play around in photoshop and try new things. The more you use it, the less time it takes to acheive the look you're going for because you know what combinations you need to use.

I want to reiterate AGAIN that photoshop should be used to make an already good photo better... NOT to correct bad photos. You should be shooting consistantly (or working towards that) so that you don't have to spend a bunch of time in photoshop fixing your mistakes!

In other news... I will be heading up to Northern California tomorrow to second shoot a wedding for Muir Adams, and I'm pretty excited. I love second shooting, and I look forward to several weddings in the next month. I don't know if I'll blog while I'm gone, but I'll have tons to blog when I get back!

Happy Friday!

I ♥ Faces:fix it Friday

You may have seen the somewhat regular posts I've been posting from I ♥ Faces. Here is another cool thing they do... it's called "Fix-it Friday". A photo is submitted, and then the assignment is to use photoshop to make it even better.

I am a huge photoshop advocate, but the thing I love about this is that usually they start out with a photo that is decent... and our job is to make it better! That is what photoshop should be for... for making things better... not necessarily for fixing mistakes. So I thought I would jump on board and give my submission :)

So here's the original:




And here's my version:

I ♥ Faces- "Nostalgia"

This week's I ♥ Faces theme was the first one that I really had to think about. All of the other times I've entered, I've known right away which photo I wanted to use. But this week, I had to really think hard. After much consideration, I chose this one of my grandfather's hands holding one of my old cameras. I know I won't win, because there isn't a face. But I absolutely love this photo and it just brings me back to when I was a child... all of the things my Gramps used to do with me, and all of the things he taught me to do. And then the camera he's holding... it's one we found together at an antique show. When I look at this photo, I am taken back to so many different things, that I couldn't help but enter it, even though I know there is no face in the photo... but I ♥ the face that belongs to these hands... and every time I see this photo... that face appears in my mind.

I ♥ Faces - "Crazy, Silly, Funny Face"

I am so excited for this week's I ♥ Faces contest. The second that I read the topic I knew which picture I wanted to post. This shot is from a session I did a while back with 3 adorable kiddos... and Rodger (the middle child) was an absolute riot. I got all kinds of faces and reactions from him, but this was one of my favorite pictures from the session (he shot me this look right in the middle of a bunch of smiles). It has remained one of my favorite pictures... ever :)







On another note... I really think this is a cool weekly contest because you get to see a little bit of the behind the scenes... hear a little more about an individual shot. i hope you enjoy them too!



Happy Monday (almost Monday) :)

I ♥ Faces- "At the Beach" photo challenge

It's time once again, for the I ♥ Faces contest. There is a contest every week, but I have only entered once. I decided that I should do it more often. It was kind of fun! This week's theme is "At the beach" which you'd think would be a fairly easy one for me since I live near the beach and shoot there often. But that just made it harder. I have so many beach images that I LOVE that it was really difficult to pick just one! After scouring through them, I finally made a decision.

This is a shot that I took at a recent session with Sean and Emily. They were married not long ago, and we wanted to get some more shots of Emily in that beautiful dress that she designed! This is the spot where Sean proposed in Santa Barbara, and they thought it would be a perfect place. I couldn't have agreed more!

This particular picture was taken in the middle of the session, and I love it. They are so relaxed with each other, and comfortable. This one just makes me feel peaceful and I get such a sense of their love for each other.