before & after - part 1

I always talk to my clients about how all of their images are "digitally enhanced" or "artistically post-processed" or "subtle-ly awesomated". I figured it was about time I explained what the heck that means.

First of all, I have to scream from the mountaintops that it's really important to take a well-exposed, well-composed shot. Otherwise, all the fancy trickery won't get you very far. With that said, there are some very minor tweaks and even some more extreme changes that can be done to take an image to the next level.

In the shot below, I did a little cropping and wanted the bride (the lovely Amanda) and her white dress to really stand out so I added a little omni light just around her.



I used a more "extreme" technique below. First I lightened the image a bit. Then, I decided to blur the background to put the emphasis on just the cake (instead of the dude hangin out in back). This is a technique I would only use occasionally since it's a very "processed" kind of effect.



Here's a pic of good ol' Atlanta. Even though the before and after look really different, all I did was adjust the curves (contrast) and the color since it was a little hazy that night.



Here's an example of subtle editing. All I did was add a little contrast and make the colors pop a bit more.



Here's a shot of gorgeous Kelly that I altered to look more like an "aged" photo. I thought it just helped accentuate the mood of the moment.



So now hopefully folks will have an idea of what I'm talking about when go into my totally geeked-out photo speak.