before & after - photographer in orlando

Recently I shot my sons' four year old photographs.

FOUR.  I can't believe that my last baby is no longer a baby anymore!!!

Here's a fun little before and after from our session!

I love this one.  It really shows his fun loving personality at one of my favorite locations near our home.  But I wanted it to POP, and kick up the vintage feel a little bit.

I used Imagination Color Base, Amelia Bedelia, Giant Peach and Butternut Vignette from Greater Than Gatsby's Innocence Collection.

children photography processing - what the heck takes so long anyway!?

You've decided to hire me to photograph your children.  {Thank you!  I am super stoked at the opportunity!!!}

You are so excited to see the final images...but you can't imagine...what takes so long!?  I mean, doesn't she just, take the photos, upload them to her computer, and just send me a link or something?!

My background started in my college photography lab, developing film and processing the images myself on the film enlargers.  Even though I have evolved over the years to work solely in digital, I take my processing just as seriously.

I thought it would be fun to show a little before and after of an image from a recent session to help explain what goes on in the process of editing each image.

Here we have two of my favorite buddies, Caitlyn and Ryan.  Super cute all on their own, right?

But as part of being a professional photographer, it is my job to take this super cute image to the next level.

Just to name a few things: lighten dark circles under the eyes; brighten eyes; brighten shadows; whiten teeth a smidgen; and soften skin.  Unless I am doing more of an art piece, I try really hard not to do anything that isn't natural looking - I just enhance what is naturally already there with your child, but may need a tweak or two due to color cast from the surroundings.  For instance, in this photo of Caitlyn and Ryan, the whites on their bodies (eyes and teeth) had bit of a orangy cast to them because the ground behind me was mulch, and was casting orange on the light part of their bodies.

Once I do all of that, I come out with this:

This particular image was pretty easy, but sometimes color casting can be quite the booger!

Any image can take between 5-30 minutes in editing time.  Yep.  Each image.

Don't feel bad - I do love every part of my job - start to finish!  I only ask that you give this photog lady {and whoops! let's not forget mama to three!} a little patience.

Thank you Kristin for allowing me to use my favorite peeps as an example!

before, mid and after. the holden man at 3!

As artists' careers are just like any other career, we too must learn and grow.

Because of this, styles tend to change: due to trends and due to knowledge.

Here is the Holden man over two years ago, straight out of camera.

Here is the same photo edited right after the session.

And here is how I have re-edited it recently.

stephanie wind photography, before + after, luci, winter garden, fl, orlando, fl children photographer

So, i started out with this:

Pretty nice image I think.  :)

But I really wanted Luci to pop.

She had the cutest little vintage-y cream dress on - so I really wanted to run with that for all of the images.  I love taking a photograph, and giving it an emotion, turning it into a work of art.

and there you have it!  using actions from little lusker, I created the creamy-dreamy feel I was going for.  ;)

orlando winter garden children photographer...before and after

a couple of weeks ago, i had the honor of photographing this sweet little girl and her mama, to celebrate her first birthday.  we shot in a beautiful park in winter park...but all of that beauty came with some tricky lighting!

here is this image out of camera:

my main goal was trying to get her skin as correct as possible in camera, as i knew i could tweak other areas later on the computer.

next, i brought the image into adobe RAW and corrected the highlighted areas and dark spots.

my final steps are taken in photoshop.  i am in love with actions from little lusker.  in this photo, i used sweet dream, lovely light and deep matte from their elements of the sea collection.

and there you have it! a beautiful moment captured and turned into art, that this sweet mama, and daughter, can cherish for a lifetime!

before. during. after.

i shot this very lovely image this weekend.

but i really wanted to see the little guys whole body.  you know, to make it about the whole family.  so i did a little magic.

then i added the drama*

i have been addicted to little lusker for the past 6 months or so.  clean editing, great color.  l.o.v.e.

with this one i used, stellar, lovely light, jewel and warm tints from elements of the sea.

my 5 favorite places to find texture

i love texture.  i love it in real life, and i love it in photographs.

i wrote a tutorial on how to apply textures to photographs, that you can find here.

here are my top 5 places that i find some really awesome textures.

1. Flora Bella Collection - she puts together some of the most beautiful textures.  just one set comes with so many different looks that suite an array of styles for your phtoographs.  but it's really hard to just buy one set.  :)

2. Shadowhouse Creations - jerry has come up with some really dramatic textures.  and he is kind enough to have them available for free.

3. Paint the Moon - annie has some beautiful and delicate textures, that i find give my photos a very peaceful look.

4. Regularjane - i just recently found these and so far love what i have used.  lots of great bokah.

5. web treats - another new one to me, but have enjoyed looking through all of the work.

and now, for a little texture love...

this one is shot out of camera, of my son playing in the grass

and this one i used an action from paint the moon and a texture from flora bella.

a how-to with creating a story - orlando photographer

i love a good traditional family portrait as much as the next person.  it's a great way of taking a snapshot of one moment in time to remember someone's looks.  but what about their personality?  what about their character?

when i am with my clients for a photography session, my goal is to capture moments that can be transformed into a story.  i want the family to be able to see these photos many years from now, and remember exactly what their children were like at that moment.

so, what type of techniques can be used to tell a story?  i have put together a few key elements and some examples to demonstrate...

shoot from your hip - or from the ground.

in this photo, i was laying down on the ground, looking up.  it gives some really nice angles on the train, and also gives a sense of superiority with the subject.

this one was also shot low to the ground, and from a side angle.

another example of shooting from the ground.  in this one, i was laying across from katie, and her face was toward the light.

you don't necessarily have to see a face to make a portrait - or - not everyone in the image has to be in focus.

my son had his first haircut at the magic kingdom.  something that they do to keep the kids entertained, is completely cover them in mickey stickers.  i didn't want to forget that.

this is one of my very favorite lifestyle family portraits, and the parents are not even the focal point.  but, you can truly see how much fun they have together, and i think that's an important thing to remember.

my main focus in this shot is of course the sunset.  but, choosing to keep it out of focus and more or less part of the background, gives it a sense of mystery.

sometimes, it's best to get up really close.

i love close ups that show such great detail.  jack is very proud of his freckle.

and sometimes, it's good to take a step back.

there are so many great places in this world to take a portrait.  use what you have around you.

and lastly, using light.

about 9 times out of 10, it's best to have the subject facing the light.  however, using the light in a different way can create a really neat silhouette.

i hope these little tips can help you create a story for your family.

a how-to with storyboards

two things led to this post: one is that i have been asked if i make my own storyboards, and two i had some snapshots of jack that i wanted on a storyboard.  so, i thought while i was putting it together, i would write this up!

hope this helps for those that are interested!

the first thing that i do is open all the images that i want on the board.

then i open a new document.  the dimensions will vary depending on the images that i am using.  this one is going to have three images that are each a square, so these are the dimensions that i chose.

next, i crop each image to be a square.

after doing this for each image, i drag each one onto the storyboard document and resize it to fit.

then I use the line tool in white to draw a line between the images.

now, if i want to use these on the internet, then i do a couple of things to get them web-ready.  the first thing would be to resize the document to 700px wide.

and then, with each image, i use the unsharp mask tool, with these settings.

and that's really it!

a how-to with textures

if you would have asked me a couple months ago what i thought about textures, i would have said, i really like how other photographers are using them, but they just aren't for me.  then i bought some from florabella.  i also have become a fan of shadownhouse creations.  now ask me what i think about textures...
i think they are an amazing way to transform a photo into a work of art.
recently, i have changed my facebook profile picture to a self portrait, that i had enhanced with some textures.  i have been asked what i used to achieve this look, so i thought i would write a little tutorial for those that may not be as comfortable with textures, as i once was.  this is also my first tutorial - so bare with me!

first, i uploaded the image into camera raw, and made any white balance adjustments and got rid of any blemishes.  then, i opened the image into photoshop.

then, i opened up the two textures that i planned on using.  mai tai from florabella and viewfinder from shadowhouse.

the next step is to lay those textures on top of the original image.  i started with mai tai, and made viewfinder invisible for now.  i changed the blending mode on mai tai to multiple.

for that layer, i also changed the opacity to 76%.  next, i added a layer mask to the mai tai layer.  using the brush, i painted over my face, changing the opacity of the brush, so that most of the face came through, but that you could still see a little of the texture on my face.

next, i brought the viewfinder layer into view.  for that layer, i changed the blending mode to overlay, and changed the opacity to 59%.  i then added a layer mask and ran the brush over my face again, changing the opacity a little on the brush, so my face becomes brighter.

and here you have the final product!  you can see in comparison from the original, the texture did wonders for the background, and really added an over all "wow" factor to the color of the photograph.

i encourage you to go out and experiment with textures!  it can be a lot of fun and add so much drama to your photos.

before & after - fairfield children photographer

today i will be revealing some of the actions that i use to achieve some of the looks that i love most for my portraits.

let's start with this image as it comes up from shooting:

my first step, was to crop the image to make it more aesthetically pleasing:

next, i used a presetopia action that i love called warm apple pie:

as, much as i like it more already, i like to play with the levels a bit to get a better contrast:

lastly, i add a vignette to frame it out nicely:

and, there you have it!

Fix - It Friday

Here are my two versions of the picture of Emma for iheartfaces' weekly fun contest.

For this one, I first did some color correcting in RAW, and then decided to try out some of my new textures from Flora Bella Collection.  I used Ocean Heiress and Peaches and Cream.  LOVE the collection from Flora Bella.  The textures just take the photos to that extra step up.

For the second one, same thing, did some correcting in RAW, and then I used a filter from Topaz Labs  called Portrait Drama - one of my all time faves.

Check out what other photographers did at iheartfaces.