Before & After | Hendersonville TN Custom Portrait Photographer

I know I've been missing for the past week or so. We just returned home from a family vacation to Disney World! Now I've come home to another week of spring break, so there isn't much work getting done around here. While I'm trying to catch up, I thought I'd share a few before and afters from Sidney's session from a few weeks ago. At one time, I was petrified to share a straight out of camera (SOOC) shot, but now I love it. My goal is to get a well exposed shot initially, so that I can spend my editing time making an image pop rather than "fixing" it.

Before & After | Hendersonville TN Custom Portrait Photographer

I love before and afters! I'm working on a list of things to do in 2012, and sharing more before & afters is one of them. One of my photography forums, Rock the Shot, has everyone brushing up on their clean editing skills. So this is my take on the photo.

I love watching a picture transform.

While I'm chatting, I thought I'd let you know that it's going to be quiet around here for the rest of the year. I am taking the next 3 weeks off of work and photo sessions to bake cookies, watch movies, play, and snuggle with my babies. They aren't going to be this little much longer, so I'm going to take full advantage of it now! I hope you do the same! Don't worry, I'll be back in full swing in January!

Before & After | Hendersonville TN Custom Portrait Photographer

You would not believe this... My new and amazing camera arrived last week. I had 8 sessions scheduled, and the rain came at such strategic times, that every. single. one. had to be rescheduled. It left me a little frustrated, but also gave me lots of time to catch up on editing and orders.

Now that I'm caught up, I thought I'd share something new, my first before and after. I love editing. I get a yummy mug of coffee, turn on Pandora, snuggle up with a blanket at my desk, and get going. The house is always calm and quiet, and I feel like I could sit there forever. I love it. When you choose a photographer, you are not choosing one because they have a "good" camera. You are choosing them because the way their pictures look and how they make you feel. Editing is one important detail that should be in that decision. I know it was important to me when I selected our family photographer this summer.

I've never shared a SOOC image on my blog before, but I thought it would be something fun to do every now and then. I try to get all of my images as close to perfect in camera as I can, but every image still needs a little somethin' somethin' to make it pop. I love clean, simple edits, and here is an example. The first image is SOOC (straight out of camera), and the second image is my final edit.