A Photo A Day To Take Your Breath Away

So if you have been reading the ol' blog, I have now finished my 30 Challenge and am now starting another personal challenge of.... 

a photo a day to take your breath away

I am both a professional and personal photographer and truly love photography, but I have found my self avoiding pulling out my camera when I am not being paid to do so. And I hate it. There are so many moments I miss out on because I simply don't feel like pulling out my camera. And I know there are plenty of other photographers who feel similarly, missing out on adorable moments with their children because they feel too burnt out capturing other peoples moments to worry about capturing their own. 


So I invite you to join with me in this challenge of taking a photo a day. This challenge doesn't have a strict set of rules because I don't want it to be something stressful. Simply take a picture every day and work hard to......


1  Make it something involving your daily life. Don't feel like you have to make big amazing props and get together gorgeous models. This is to help you find the beauty in your daily life, and in your family. Something small and simple can be beautiful.
2 Work hard to include a story behind the image; a landscape of the area you live in, the first sign of snow for the winter, your children quietly playing with each other, the yummy meal your husband so sweetly made for you.
3 Shoot for yourself. Get your creative energies out. Sometimes it's hard to be as creative as you would like in a session. Take the time to put together a photo shoot where you are creating a piece of art for yourself at least once a month. Creating handmade props, finding unique locations... Whatever is art to you. That session you have been dreaming of but just haven't taken the time to do.
4 Don't stress. If you miss a day, that's okay. Your human. This is for fun, if it's too much of a burden to you, than don't do this challenge. 


I am not setting a specific amount of time I want to do this challenge for because I want to work on capturing something beautiful every day. You can do it just for 30 days, 60, 90, 365, but that is up to you.


Please share with me if you choose to start doing this, I would love to follow you! 


And for day 1.....


Little Henry. I get to shoot little Henry every month. I am so grateful I met him and his family! His mom is so willing to let me be creative with their sessions and I love her for that. I'll be honest, there were a few times this year I thought about stopping with my business, it's stressful! But each month little Henry is just a breath of fresh air and he is just one of the many clients I am so grateful to meet and be able to work with. 

I will be posting my daily posts at my Other Blog, please follow there!

Henry ~ December

Happy almost Christmas! I am so excited for Christmas! I love this time of year. I don't do much shooting, and after the busy season I'm always ready for a break, but I have done a few wonderful sessions, most recently being my favorite little bug, Henry.

I love the photo's I got from this session. Love. So perfect, simple and lovely.

Sorry It's Been a While....

Sorry I have not blogged here in such a long time. I have been blogging on my other blog Cheapskate Tales. I am currently doing a 30 day challenge so I have been posting every day! Plus I try and share lots of crafts and recipes.

I shot this little guy shortly after Thanksgiving. So much hair!

Little Henry ~ November

I can't even begin to tell you how much of a treat it is to work with this family each month! I get so excited each time their session date come around!

A Few Easy, but Effective Photoshop Tips

Photoshop is amazing, it really truly is, and just like your camera, it's a tool. You must learn how to use it first, and for some, that will take time. I am (mostly) self taught in Photoshop, but there is still plenty I don't know about it.

For most photographers I know who are Photoshop magicians, they are also self taught and had spent lots of time reading the Photoshop manual and experimenting. There are also plenty of online videos and tutorials with step by step tips on getting the most out of Photoshop.

One of the most important things to remember is that it's best to get a photo done right in camera. Don't start a session with the thought in mind, "I can just fix this in Photoshop later." Do you want to spend hours upon hours glued to your computer?

Extensive Photoshop will not fix a poorly done session.

Also avoid over editing. Please.

Here are some Photo shop techniques I often use when editing sessions.

I usually do the same things each time I edit a session.

Here is a before and after of how I handle a normal session.

I first open the photo in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) I adjust brightness, contrast, and temperature. In Photoshop I then do a Hard Layer at about 40% opacity. On most sessions I have been using MCP Fusion Actions. They have so many amazing, easy to use actions that make editing a breeze.

I then do an unsharpen mask to sharpen up the photo, and then do a surface blur to soften the skin.

In way of sharpening the photo I use a Unsharpen Mask (found under Filters) amount set to 75, radius set to 6 and threshold set to 6.

Here is close up of the before and after:

Be careful to not OVER edit eyes. This is very easy, and very common. Eyes do not give off a creepy glow. Never. On the above photo, I did nothing fancy to sharpen the eyes other then the unsharpen mask, which I do for every photo. The lighting on this session was absolutely perfect, creating perfect lighting in the eyes.

In editing black and whites -- for each session I give both color and black and white files of each photo to the client.

In how I edit the black and whites fully depends on the session and the subject. I have two black and white styles that I use.

The first is what I call a "rusty" black and white. It's an action I downloaded ages and ages ago for free. I had gone on a searching spree and found tons of free actions. Some were not so great, but this one was one of my faves. Sadly I don't remember where exactly I downloaded it, but thank you to whoever made it! I have downloaded lots of black and white actions, but this is my favorite.

My other black and white edit I do is just a classic black and white. Like I said, I have looked for lots of other actions for black and white's but I have found few I really love, so unless I am using the rusty black and white, I do this one, which is a creation of my own.
After doing my usual edits in Photoshop, I turn the photo black and white
(I am all about the hot keys = alt+ctrl+shift+b= black and white)
I then boost the contrast, usually by about 55 or 65, depending on the photo. And that's it! Super simple, but classic.