Today I thought it would be helpful to give a run-down of the post processing I give my images. Work isn't finished for me when the photoshoot is over! I've had many people ask what software/editing I use, and this should answer those questions and more.

After a session is finished, I upload the images to my computer and backup sources, and then it's time to get to processing.

I'll first cull the images down to the best of the best. Then it's time to work on the individual images. Let's start with an image straight out of the camera:

To prep the images for proofing in an online gallery, I'll make a few quick adjustments within Adobe Lightroom. Typically I am tweaking exposure, white balance, toning, sharpening and clarity. The wonderful thing about Lightroom is the ability to use presets. I've made a few of my own, but you can also purchase some- I would recommend these from Presetopia. After batch processing the images in Lightroom, I'll upload them to the online proofing gallery. So, here is the image after Lightroom tweaks.

Before an image gets to print form, I'll do a full edit on it. During this process, I'm using Adobe Photoshop with various actions- here, I used Totally Rad Actions.

First, I'll take out any blemishes/stray hairs with the clone tool or healing brush. With this image I also took out the distracting sun spot/shadow in the foreground.

Then I'll make local adjustments on the exposure (Yin/Yang), sharpness (Select-O-Sharp), and contrast (Select-O-Pop). 

Here I also used the Shadow Separator since it fit the mood of the image. 

That's pretty much it! Here's the finished image:

So, was that helpful? Want me to post more like this? Let me know what YOU would like to see here!

Casey was discussing the fact that 1) Her blog (as did mine) began as a means to share her personal self in pictures and writing, but 2) is also a great means to share her photography, which happens to be how she and her husband, Aric, put food on the table.

It's a tough place to be- when you want to be able to share what's going on when you're not behind the camera, but also need to make sure you are professional and keep your business flourishing. 

I love the conclusion that Casey came to as a fellow Jesus-lover. I have to keep reminding myself of my own conclusion from time to time, so I thought it worth the effort to write it here. 

I am not in the photography business. I am in the people business. And above that, I believe that I'm a part of something much, much bigger than myself and my world. I know that my business is not really my own.

There have been many times where I've worried myself out of sleep over the survival of my little business, only to be reminded the next day that the opportunities I've been given through photography are straight from the Lord. Regardless of my abilities or talents, God's gonna do what He wants to do, so I'd better be ready and willing. 

I enjoy writing and sharing my images with the people who read this blog, and although many days I care too much about the number of visitors/comments, I have the need (and the calling) to connect with people. God has promised me that He has a special purpose for my life, and I don't want to miss out on something that has eternal value because I'm afraid of losing something that will only last here on Earth.

Thank you to all the people who take the time to visit my little internet home. I would love to hear your perspective on this topic!

Just got the new Squarespace app for my iPhone. If this works, my life just got a whole lot more bloggable. :)

Here are some cute hair accessories I bought today.

I asked Kirby to model for me a while back. I needed it, personally...to get out and shoot what I really love. She obliged, and we had a slightly windy, slightly scary, but nonetheless fun photoshoot. Kirby was a fantastic model. 

After the photoshoot, I backed up the images, and then became consumed with other work. The longer I waited to work on the images, the more I worried I wouldn't like them after all. I had a really bad case of being comfortable. 

Today I opened them. And I have learned my lesson. Thanks, Kirby, for providing me with images that I really, really love- and helping me to remember why I do what I do. 

More than anything, I KNOW that I can't be comfortable with what I shoot. This means I have to push myself with every image, try things I an unsure of, and trust that what I make will be bigger and better than I expected. I hope you, my clients, will be up for the journey! There is so much out there that hasn't been done yet.

Go check out the music! Chris plays a lot of shows locally, so I hope you Lubbock readers will get to listen in sometime. 

Anyway- THIS Jillian was fantastic to work with. Thanks for trusting me when we pulled up to a La Quinta. :)

Beautiful, huh? LOVE this outfit.

This is Jeremy instructing us on posing...or talking about elevator music- I can't remember. :)

Some of my favorites.

I flew to Dallas. 

Met up with Stancy, and hung out with my sister for a bit.

We then drove to Norman, OK.

I got to second shoot a very fun wedding with Stancy. It was 4 degrees outside, but I totally enjoyed not being in the driver's seat and getting to experiment a bit.

Then, we headed back to Fort Worth.

I enjoyed many things there. The company of some great people (Josh + Lauren), Pappasitos, Redeemer Church Fort Worth, and Sprinkles! Oh yeah, and we went to a cool yarn shop.

Then we flew to Nashville.

Today we spent a couple hours at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel checking out the trade show at Imaging USA (huge nationwide photography conference). After that, we spent some time hanging out here, here, and here. 

Now we're about to head to a workshop with Jeremy Cowart. I'm excited!

On Thursday I'll fly to San Antonio to catch up with Shawn and the band at a Disciple Now. Should be lots of fun! 

I'll be "back in the office" on Monday. Until then, I hope you all had/have a great week!

I've hesitated because 1) I don't consider myself a technical expert, nor do I want to be one. I just know how to do what I do. 2) I don't want to give the impression that I will teach you exactly how to make the pictures that come out of my camera. For me, the whole point of working with other photographers is to collaborate and make something that I could never do on my own, so creativity and uniqueness are key.

There are so many different ways to do something like this, and I would LOVE to hear what type of things you guys are all interested in.

If you've got a second, would you mind filling out this short form for me? Thanks!