We spent three hours together yesterday

I actually wrote this post a week ago or so...so it wasn't yesterday we hung out, I just don't feel like reversing it all.  ;)

I have to confess.
In a million years I never thought I'd use photoshop.  I actually rather poo-poo'ed it.
I wouldn't read the threads
I'd ignore the hype
did
not
enter
my
world

I'm not sure at what point the wall I had built started to come down, but it did.  I was paying a bit of attention to what the Pioneer Woman was saying about it, I was listening and looking more at what running an action can do.

It was starting to occur to me that as a photographer, it can be a mighty handy thing to have in the ol' back pocket, whether one uses it regularly or not...just the fact that it's there is a safety net.

At least that's how I now see it.

Posed photography is not my favorite.  Never has been.  The actual setting up of people, I don't mind that so much...but senior head shots, that type of thing.  Not my favorite.  Probably because I have lights that I don't have room to set up so my photos are weak from the get go.

Probably because I just prefer natural and candid.
Even when I get calls to do senior photos I always say that I prefer the outdoor candid shots.  Most of my clients end up picking a headshot from those.

But many people still enjoy the backdrop shot

   

This is Stephanie
When Stephanie was about two or three, she used to often sit by me in Bible Class and giggle and wiggle and hop on my lap and down again, on my lap and down again and then she'd giggle some more.  In fact, she reminds me very much of my niece Rebecca.  Same gene.  Stephanie is my cousins second oldest. I did this headshot as a favor because the ones that she had done didn't have a good headshot for the wall in the bunch.

So I said send her over.  Even with headshots, I like to take them outside.  I'm all about natural light whenever I can get it.  It was a beautiful day and I set up a backdrop against the abandoned house next door and took test shots on my kids.  All was well.

And then the wind picked up.

We ended up moving the whole kit and kaboodle into our garage - a place I had forgotten about as we normally had a boat in there but had just gotten rid of that the week prior.

And we tried it in there.  And it's okay - but not exactly what my cousin or I wanted and she also has a lot of stray fine hair floating around.  I kept trying to pank it (total yooper word) down but it just wasn't happening.

So we spent three hours together yesterday.  Only she doesn't know it.

I learned a lot. I still have tons to learn.  Speaking of which...I've had Scott Kelby's CS3 book in my cart over there at Amazon for a few days now...has anyone used/looked at that one?  Tell me to just buy it.

I removed most of her stray hair and just cleaned it up a bit.
   

I also learned that I should step back one step when taking a headshot - the problem came when trying to print and 8 x 10.  Pictures are pretty much set up for a 2:3 ratio as in a 4 x 6.  So when you go to print an 8 x 10, that ratio is off so it cuts of either the top or bottom or both ends of the photo.  In this case, it was really tight.  The 8 x 10 hits just below the button on her sweater and just a little bit above her head.  So so close. 

So I'm learning a lot

And I no longer poo-poo photoshop.   

Comments

[tania]

woweeeeeeeee! i LOVE the photoshopped version. the burnt edges and deep brown color to the background. beautiful! now hurry up and learn it all so you can teach me, k?

[suetreiber]

what a transformation! Learn it all. I need help too.
I notied your watermark right away. Very cute. Very you.

[eliz]

I used to poo-poo it too. I wanted to learn to *take* that fabulous photo, not how to make a photo fabulous. And I still do - want to take that fabulous shot, that is.

But it does make a good backup, especially for someone who does not seem to be able to take a shot where the horizon is perfectly straight. Not me, of course, but "a friend". ;-) And it is a blast to play around with - as will be evidenced by this evening's blog post ..

I love the photoshopped version, btw.

[Kelley Popp]

The photoshopped version is wonderful-time well spent! I so want to master Photoshop as well-but get so confused and lost while trying to do so...I have one of Kelby's books for Elements and it is invaluable.

[Jan C]

Another really useful tool is "remove color cast." I think it's under Enhance>Adjust color>remove color cast (somewhere in that vicinity, anyway). You can use the eyedropper tool to click on something in the photo that should be white, and the entire picture will brighten up. It works wonders on older photos that have taken on a yellowish cast. You can combine it with the magnetic lasso tool to outline someone's teeth (I do this on photos of my mom sometimes) and remove the color cast just from the teeth so that they look whiter but still natural. It's pretty cool!

[Beatle]

Pretty cool Sharyn! I'm totally lost in that program! Steph is such a cutie!

[Lisa]

Pioneer Woman swears by the Kelby book...

[G'ma]

How could you not take a beautiful pic of such a beautiful gitl. Love her. G'ma

[melissa diekema]

hey - cool logo - love it!!!
yep - PSCS is awesome.... email if you want to know some of my favorite actions!

you did a great job with this shot!

[Auntie Barb]

A loveable neice, indeed. Nice work, Sharyn.

[Greta]

You better be careful posting such a picture - you'll have way more requests for pictures than you'll have time for! It looks great!

[Steph H]

I have Scott Kelby's CS2 book and I think the binding is going to fall apart soon. We use it ALL the time. Very helpful and very easy to understand.

[Amanda H]

Very cute picture of Stephanie. She is one of my kitchen girls!

[~ Junkyard jennifer]

Love the Photoshop version! Stephanie's such a cutie! :)