Cup of Joe Photo

Dynamic Light

I captured this image last summer, and it's one of my favorites from 2007. I wanted to share the before image too. Have a great weekend and stay true to your vision.

straight out of the camera

Before and after wall

While I began shooting at this super cool temporary wall, I had a vision of the couple without the sidewalk or construction in the background. After tweaking the original, I had my completed vision. I like the before shot and it would be fine, but I like the after shot better. It seems more idealistic and clean to me. That appeals to my style. There is no right answer to which is better. It's just which shot you prefer.

Uncle Photo

The reason I sometimes refer to myself as Uncle Photo is because of these three, sweet kids. Two of them are my God-Children too:) (You'll have to guess which ones). Anyway, I photographed my sister Lisa's kids the other day for a Christmas card image. She wanted one with all three of the kids together. As you know, working with kids is much harder than shooting weddings.... I thought I'd show you the before and after images from one of my favs. Happy Tuesday.

Before and After Engagement

Here's a recent image I felt would be enhanced with some some warm toning to the color and vignetting, as well as a little blur too. I'm interested to find out your thoughts.

Another Before and After

Erik's comments on my last post got me thinking about peoples preferences and the decision "to tweak or not to tweak". These "before and after" images are a bit more subtle. I'd love to know which one you like better and why. Thanks for the comments and have a great weekend!

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Before and After

I am happy to be an artist. Sometimes, while working on images, I achieve a result that was better than I even imagined it to be in my head. This was the case with this image of the little girl lying on the bed. The moment was spontaneous, but in that instant I saw her face lit up with expression and very little else. So that is what I sought to show in the final image. Have a blast in Photoshop and be don't worry - be happy.

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Old School, baby

Here's 4 Photoshop techniques I used to make this image look vintage. Selective focus, grain, brown tone, and edge darkening. Pretty cool huh? I've had so much fun playing with images lately. Who votes for the old school version, raise your hand.

Before and After Mountains Images

The process of refining the final image is incorporated into my workflow procedures. For the blog, I pick my favorites right away and then I tweak them. The "before and after" category is the most viewed on the blog. Here's a few more to look at and be inspired. Have a great weekend!

Elaine and Jeff

Good morning friends! I'm so happy with all the responses and emails I've been getting from all of you. Please know that I read them all. I laugh and sometimes cry at your kind blessings for me. I apologize for not responding back to so many of you. I hope to manage my time better in the future and stay in touch. After all, that's why this has become so important to me. Building a community of mutual admiration among the brotherhood (and sisterhood).
Many of you have commented on how you enjoy the before and after images. Well, every Thursday I plan to show you more. As I've said before, this approach makes the good images great, and the great images, extraordinary. Sometimes the differences are subtle and sometimes they're dramatic.
These are images from my friends Elaine and Jeff's wedding last summer. I've been friends with with Jeff for 18 years. Enjoy the images!

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Emily and Stephen

These images of Emily and Stephen were photographed at the beautiful Montage Resort and Spa. I like to think of my tweaking the originals as an exercise in beauty. I hope you'll agree. Enjoy!

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