Brenda Landrum Photographer

I wanted to share with everyone some before and after images of retouched files.  This is something that most clients or people in general do not even notice because you don’t see the images side by side.  Some images need a lot of retouching and some do not.  The biggest factor is light, how it is hiting my subject.  Light can be quite harsh on our appearance and because I shoot everything on location I do not always have complete control over the light, especially at weddings.  So I wanted to show you what I do to an image after it is taken.

The Before (left or top) and the After (right or bottom)

I just read an article on Seattle Bride magazine’s website about how one of their writers shot along side a pro at a wedding.  She is also a bride planning her wedding and after spending the day photographing has a new found respect for professional wedding photographers.  She has had some experience photographing for the magazine but not a full time wedding photographer.

I think sometimes many think that if you have a nice camera that you are a professional photographer.  This is not true!  We spend countless hours with our equipment and computers learning everything we possibly can until they almost become part of us.  It becomes second nature to set shutter speeds, apertures, lights, and lenses.  Aside from that it is also the details of what is going on and capturing them in a moments notice.  Our investment is high as well, anyone that calls it a hobby knows that it is an expensive one.  It’s not just the camera but all the accessories that are needed to get the shot!

It is a great aricle and you can find it here:

This is a great turtorial on how to shoot fireworks this Saturday!!!  Give it a try this weekend!

PopPhoto.com – How to Photograph Fireworks

Photo taken July 2008

In this digital world where we go from camera to monitor to printer/lab we are always trying to make sure our color and tone look just the way our eye would like for it to be.  That is right, each person see’s things differently!  In the film days there wasn’t much latitude to play with, as my daughter would say “Take what you get and don’t throw a fit!”.  That was pretty much the way it was with film  Different types of film gave you different color and tones and so each person used the film that was ‘right’ for them.  Well with our digital files we can adjust to our hearts content and have it ‘perfect’ but then you send it to a lab who then adjusts to their ‘perfect’.  Yes, I have had this happen many times when I used a lab that automatically adjusted my files to what they thought was ‘right’.  (sorry about all the quotes but I hope it stresses what I am trying to say)  I now use a lab that doesn’t touch my digital files so when I send them I need to make sure that what I see on my screen is what I am going to get back in print.

Monitor Calibration!  It is so important to calibrate your monitor for your lighting situation around your work area.  I try to make sure my lighting is somewhat consistent by using the same light on while I work and I have some window light coming in from my left and behind me.  My work area is in the basement so it is much darker and the window light is always bouncing off my neighbors white house so it doesn’t vary a whole lot.  Well of course when it gets DARK!

I purchased a very inexpensive calibration unit for my iMac and it has worked wonderfully for me.  I hardly ever have to have prints redone because of color!  The unit I use is the ColorVision Spyder Express2.  I try to calibrate once a month and the software reminds me when it is time again.  I have gone a few months between but I wouldn’t recommend this for an older monitor.  You simply hang the devise on your monitor and let it run!  I love this because with a 4 yo I can be doing something with her while my monitor is being made ‘perfect’.  So if you do a lot of photography and having troubles with your prints……click the link above and buy this little guy!

It seems everywhere we turn these days someone is ‘Going Green’.  Today for instance I drove by a car dealership and they had all of their scooters out on display, every color combination you could think of, and a huge banner saying ‘GO GREEN’.  I have not been on the Green bandwagon 100% (who can really) but there are a few things that I have gone Green with.  The first huge change that I made was not printing out a big Products Price Card.  I use to do this every time my products or prices would change and then always ended up with copies that would not get used.  Sure I can recycle them but even that seemed wasteful, especially of the ink involved.  I then decided to create an entire website dedicated to my prices and products where I can direct prospective clients and current clients to.  This website has everything a client could ever want to know.  It just might have to much information on it but it is all there!  It enables me to get information to clients without mailing a large packet prior to them booking their session.  Then after their session they receive a small packet with information on what to expect and to help them put their order together.  So far it has been working wonderfully and I hope my clients find it helpful!

Another area of my business that is ‘Green’ is my proofing system.  I do not print out paper proofs which has cut back on unused prints.  I average 90 images per session shown to my portrait clients.  Nobody has all those images printed, for obvious reasons!  There would be many prints that would just be ‘wasted’ away.  I can attest for this because I have boxes of prints that are never seen!  I wish instead of having all these 4×6 prints boxed away that I would have one large print hanging on my wall or a book of several favorite images.  I want this for my clients as well so I provide digital proofs that can be looked at anywhere from a computer and then only the favorites are printed for wall portraits or custom books.  Now that’s going green!

Then on a more personal note, the plastic bags everywhere drive me nuts!  They have bothered me way before every store started offering reusable bags.  I have always kept them and used them in our small trash cans in the bathrooms but I get way more then what I can go through.  I have purchased the Safeway black bags but they are not easy to carry around.  Last week I found what just might be a great solution!  Envirosax!  I have not purchased an Envirosax YET but I am about to very soon!  Look at all these great colors!  The only thing I wish was that they were made in the USA instead of China, then they would be perfect.  I also noticed how a few of these bags go perfectly with my branding…might look for a way to incorporate these into my business.  Thinking!!!

This is how small these bags fold up so they fit inside a perse and can be taken out whenever you make a purchase at your favorite store.

What are some things that you do to ‘Go Green’?