Wednesday, June 04, 2008

before and after

I am going out of order posting here but what they hey! It's Wednesday! It's raining out!

On Monday the illustrious Mike Romano and I had a BLAST photographing our clients Paul and Jen on their engagement shoot, you may have seen my instant blog post of Mike...)

So this is just a teaser for them, sorry guys, I will do your full post tomorrow!

I wanted to show kind of how I see things from the general view that you all see to the finished image that I saw in my head while shooting. Sometimes the final image changes a little once I try some new things in post, which is always kind of a fun little surprise for me. I love when that happens!

Beach? Check! Sunset? Check! Lifeguard chair? Check! Awesome comfortable couple who totally trusts you? CHECK!
It's funny because while I was shooting this Mike said - 'um, you should try shooting the other way' Which was really pretty and he was right! But. I had something in my head that I had to try and see if I could make it work... so I resisted and tried something new.

So see here the chair, kind of general overview here...


This shot is direct out of camera, untouched etc.


I wasn't loving the place where poor Paul's face got cut in to; and the chair boards were actually working against things- I had originally saw the boards as a framing element... but once taken out of context I really didn't think that it worked- next time there are some things that I am going to try where you can get the idea that it is a life guard chair being shot through, but for now I just cropped it out totally and went with the panoramic crop that shooting thru it gave me.



For post I ran a few actions on the final image- in Light Room I cropped it, adjusted the exposure, deepened the blacks a bit. In Photoshop I ran Kubota's Star burst vignette and digital fill flash on Jen's face. I then added a texture I shot in New York City of a concrete wall- it gives a nice sandy feel. I dropped the opacity way down and erased it off of them.

I really like how the beach fence thing and dune grass are part of the shot and really give them a sense of place and a tiny bit of color.

8 comments:

dorelies said...

Thanks for the explanations to your work - it is great and helps me so much!!! Always a little workshop. I hope you will keep up in it.

Tony Spinelli Photography said...

Nice Carla. Its great to hear your thinking process. Great shot!

Val McCormick Photography said...

Your end result is beautiful. The beach fence is really nice in the backround. I am a huge fan of texture. My contractors must of thought I was crazy shooting spashed pain messes, old rotted wood and dirt, lol. Thanks for the details :-)

Mary Marantz said...

love it! starburst vignette eh??? gonna have to try that one OUT!

xoxo
M:)

Robin Dini Photography said...

ooooh....ditto on the starburst. i know i have it too but i hardly ever use it. i GOTTA do the textures thing! you have to show me a quick demo.

David Burke said...

Love the edit on that last shot! You are so much Fun Carla!!! Miss you.

Burke

Shannon said...

LOVE how you did the before and after!!! You should do these all of the time! Especially good for us wanna be photographers lol :) AWESOME PICTURE CARLA!!!

love said...

Nice blog and pictures. Keep going!Sherrlyn Borkgren
www.lovesimplyhappens.blogspot.com