Sarah Before & After… and a sneak peek!

I’ve got at least three sneak previews to catch up on, and this is one of them!

Also – I’m doing something I don’t usually do   Posting before & after pics.  Most people, Sarah included I’m sure, really only care about seeing their finished pictures… all beautified up, even if I do let them peek into my camera during a shoot!  But, I thought it would be neat once in a while to show you guys exactly what kind of transformation occurs between the picture being taken & it coming to you!  And prove once and for all, it’s not just the camera – it’s the photographer behind the camera, and our photoshop skills that often consume hours upon hours of time to make a final product!  (In other words, thank your mother AND your photographer for your good looks! wink, wink).

Now, Sarah is a beautiful girl before as you can see, but we just (sing along) “accentuate the positive” and “eliminate the negative” (which really the only negatives here are some slight shadows & skin dullness from the grey walls).

Here’s another:

One thing I do to all images is a little skin smoothing, it gets rid of unflattering shadows, skin imperfections, lighten highlights, darken lowlights, boost colors, brighten eyes, and richen the skin tones.  Sounds simple huh?  If only it were!

Now, that is one of my favorites because of the colors.  I really like punchy dramatic colors & consider that kind of my “flavor” in editing.  I really like accentuating the eyes, and bringing out the contrast.  I darken up the eyelashes & use some creative highlighting/lowlighting to bring more attention to the eyes & add sparkle.  In hindsight, the only other thing I’d do is maybe add a little more sparkle & contrast to her lips, but then again, that might take away from her eyes, which really demand attention in these pictures.

Another thing I did, not so much in editing, but while actually taking the picture, is adjust the aperture which creates depth.  Notice how her eyes are the sharpest part of the image.  The natural light we had creeping into the warehouse we took these pictures created a nice even light that was really quite nice.

So – voila, there you have it.  Before & After!  I’m sure Sarah won’t mind, she was a great model, and hopefully has more modeling ahead of her!