Hello Everyone!
So, since I've started taking more family pictures and I'm doing more editing, I thought I would make a quick post to explain the process and answer some questions that come up a lot.
First, A little background, when I take a picture I shoot in RAW format, which is a type of file, I then use an adobe software called light room to convert the raw into a normal everyday JPEG. This is what allows me to make simple changes to each picture, such as how light dark an entire photo is, and what colors stand out, vignettes and so on, as well as technical photographic stuff such as noise reduction, sharpening, and adjustments for chromatic aberrations. (big words, I know)
So, along those lines, there are some simple fixes to a picture I can make in a matter of seconds.
Common, normal questions or complaints that I can easily fix are:
- -my pants look too blue, can you make them lighter? - yes
- -I have a zit, some scarring, or my face looks a little wrinklier than normal, can you fix it? - yes
- -this picture looks more 'cool' or 'cold' or 'warm' than the rest, can you fix it? -yes
- -the colors are wierd/ my shirt isn't the same color as what's in the picture
other common and easy fixes:
-hair looks to dark or light, the whole picture is too dark or light, a certain part of the picture looks too dark or light, it's crooked, or simple things that need to be removed.
So, if anything along those lines comes up, just ask and I can make some quick changes, a matter of seconds.
Some other changes are possible, but I'm not the greatest at them and even if I was, they take forever to do and require expensive software that I don't yet have would be moving President Bush into the picture or someone has their eyes closed or someone's hand is in a weird place, or someone has fly-aways in their hair and I don't have my engagement ring yet, can you photoshop it in. These fixes are time consuming and difficult, but please, let me know and still ask, especially if it's your favorite picture and I'll see what I can do, just don't feel bad if I say sorry, that's too hard, president bush can't be in this picture.
And, even if you love the picture and love how it was processed, but would like to see other possibilities or versions, let me know. A lot of times, I do it anyway where I edit the same picture different ways. It's a matter of seconds for me to convert pictures into sepia, black and white or anything else. Especially for your favorite pictures, let me know and I'll try to show you some other cool options.
The easiest edit ever is if you tell me, "Can you make X picture that I like look the same as y picture, that I don't like as much, but has cool edits." It's a matter of seconds to copy the look of one picture to another. Just give me the IMG number that's part of the file name when referring to pictures.
now, as far as printing. I'm still learning, but as a general rule, 4 x 6's are fine to print anywhere like walmart, costco or wherever's cheap, bigger pictures, or pickier people might like a professional shop. I print everything I do for myself at professional shops because I'm picky. I will get you 2 disks, one disk will say RAW originals - not for printing. And the other disk will say Processed JPEG's for printing.
Good Shops for professional printing.
- -Pixels (www.pixelsfoto.com) 9000 S. State Street, Sandy, UT
- -Borg Anderson (www.borge.net) 234 South 200 East, Salt Lake City, UT
- -Nichols (www.nocholsphotolab.com) 3265 South 1100 East, Salt Lake City, UT, 84106
Again, for printing, ask me, I would prefer to do advanced editing and double check pictures before they're sent in for large prints, and please make sure you use the high res file rather than the compressed ones that are posted online for anything larger than a 8 x 10.
Now, as far as getting your pictures, as soon as they are processed through my computer, I will post them online, usually to one of my google Picasa accounts, when you refer to a picture for me to work on, make sure you look at the actual file name and not the number it is in picassa, that makes finding the picture a little quicker.
