Modern Engagement with a Vintage Feel

Today, I am highlighting one of my favorite photographers, Justin Greiman.
(He also happens to be my Hubby’s brother.)
Justin shoots bands, babies, weddings and everything in between. His patient and humble approach to his clients is earning him a reputation not only as a great photographer, but also as a great guy to work with.
Plus, his photos pretty much rule.

Justin recently shot this series for this couple’s engagement. I love the deep saturation of color, the vintage feel, the hat-tipping to a time when men mowed the grass in a tie and women wore heels while cooking.
My hubby is lucky to see me outside of lounge pants.

(Justin shot all of these with a Nikon D90 at ISO 400. He used 28mm and a 50mm lenses for this shoot. He used partially available light, with a little fill from one sb800 in a 15″ softbox. He edited them in Lightroom using Color Efex Pro 3.0, a plugin from Nik Software.)

Justin captured a story with these next three shots. They intrigue me and I want to know more.

She seems pretty upset about something.

Her anger turns to sass, which is what mine usually does as well.
I get her.

His arms crack me up. They sell the vintage feel of the shot, as does the yellowed effect.
She looks perfectly posed; just like a print ad from the 60’s.

Could they be any more cute? Doubt it.

This is one of my favorites from the entire shoot. The mood draws you in, the graininess of the portrait softening the shot. It seems intimate, as if you are seeing a small snippet of their life that no one else gets to see.
Thank you Beau and Chrissie for allowing me to show off your engagement pictures. And congrats on the upcoming wedding!
And thank you Justin Greiman for taking such wonderful pictures. Go check him out-he’ll blow your little socks off!

Unconventional Photos

Making your subject at ease can be tough. I like to put the client in a familiar setting or position to help them relax. My subject was most at ease doing this-blowing a bubble.
Isn’t he just the cutest?

I liked the photo, but there were a few things that needed a fixin’. (That’s Okie talk…)

I didn’t like the chair sticking into the frame. I made a copy of the background and then cropped out the offender.

His skin looked a little flat, so I used the ‘diffuse glow’ function. It’s very flattering to skin tones-boys and girls alike.

He looks so darn purty now. But don’t tell him. He is very macho.

The overall color was too brown for me. I adjusted the levels using ‘color balance’ (found under the tab ‘Image’ and scrolling down to ‘adjustments’).

His eyes needed to pop a little more, so I lassoed both of those cute little suckers and clicked on the ‘Filter’ tab. Scroll down to ‘Sharpen’ and then choose ‘unsharp mask’ and adjust the amount, the radius and the threshold to your liking.
I learned this from Pioneer Woman. I like her. And her photo tricks.

Next, I wanted the bubble gum to stand out a bit more. I lassoed it and then clicked on the ‘Image’ tab and scrolled down to ‘Hue and Saturation’. I brought out the pink in the gum a little more.

Here is the cute finished product. I just love this little guy. However, he is my nephew after all, and I am a little biased.

The Mothers and Women in our Lives

You may be overwhelmed with laundry, soccer games and PTA meetings. I want to encourage every mother out there about their invaluable impact on generations to come. YOU as a woman, mother or not, has a lasting affect on every life you touch.

This woman, Bicep’s Grandma, chose to be true to her husband and stuck it out even for 70 years until her husband passed away.
She raised her four boys to fear God, to be men of character and to love their wives with an unbending love.

Bicep’s father found a woman that is true, steadfast and kind. My mother-in-law raised her children to be considerate, righteous and patient. She is the most amazing mother-in-law a girl could hope for.
Because of her, I married the best man for me and have not once been disappointed in my decision. I love him with a crazy kind of love.
Thank you Connie-Mom!

Bicep’s sister is a tender and patient mother. She raised her son, my nephew, to be confident in his place in the world and to know that he is loved and valued.
I am praying for his wife even now. He deserves the best.

This entire family is a result of Bicep’s Grandma and her commitment to her marriage and her God. This family tells of strong and lasting marriages, well-adjusted children and a love that is unbreakable for each other.

My Grandmother is steadfast and consistent. She has been a member of the same church for over 50 years and raised her children to know God. She hasn’t ever met a stranger and is generous beyond belief. And she loves to party-that’s where I get it from!

Her son, my dad, set his standards high and found a woman to fit the bill-my mom. She raised us with tenderness, compassion and the stiff arm of the law. I always knew my boundaries and though I tried to stretch them, she wouldn’t have it. She kept me safe. Anytime I was tempted to drink, smoke or do naughty other things, I could hear her voice and feel her threatening gaze.
Thank you Mom for keeping me on the right path!

My oldest brother married this lady. She is the sweetest mother to her four boys-my four nephews. Her children will grow up knowing they are loved and that their parent’s marriage will last. Their wives will be lucky to have them and confident in their own marriages because of her.

My grandmother has impacted our entire family. Our bond as a family continues to grow. The generations after her are blessed because of her steadfast and generous spirit.
‘And her children will rise up and call her blessed…’
Thank you mothers that have stuck it out, dug in your heels, pulled yourselves up by the bootstraps and whipped us all into shape. We need you. There is nothing like the love of a mother.
Tell me about your mother. I would love to hear about her!

Flattering Portrait Effects-Lens Flare & Smoothing

This little angel was a downright blessing to shoot this past drizzly Saturday morning.
She was compliant, quiet and naturally beautiful.

The rain drew out of the vibrant greens in the English garden. I was in photography heaven.

I wanted to add a little visual interest to the photo with a lens flare. Under the filter tab, scroll down to render, then over to lens flare.

Move this cross to where you want the focus of the lens flare to be. Increase/decrease the brightness to what your little heart desires.

Here’s what the lens flare looks like once it’s applied to your picture. The flare inspired me to push the image to a more dreamy look. Let’s play with the ‘diffuse glow’ function again.

You’ll find this function under ‘filter’, scrolling down to ‘distort’ and then over to ‘diffuse glow’.

This will pull up a preview screen. You can adjust the graininess, the glow and the clear amount. The preview will adjust a portion of you image as you move the sliders around.

On the right hand side, where your layers are visible, you can adjust both the opacity and the fill of the diffuse glow. Move your sliders up & down until you are happy with your image.

This is how the diffuse glow looked once it was applied to my image. Isn’t she precious?

I wanted to smooth out the fly-aways in her hair. Using my magic lasso, I drew around both sections of her hair. You can lasso more than one area by holding down the shift key as you draw.
To blur her hair, click on the ‘filter’ tab, scroll down to ‘blur’ and then over to ‘gaussian blur’.

I chose a radius of 7.0 to ‘blur’ her hair. Goodbye fly-aways.

Here’s the final product that I sent off to the client.
Below is the ‘before’ photo for your comparing pleasures.