Something Old...

Clara at The Bean & Grape Cafe

 Let's talk about my first "big" photo shoot...

Eight years ago, I had a lot of ambition and attempted networking. I contacted some service providers I saw via Facebook groups and asked if they’d be interested in collaborating in a photoshoot in exchange for free images. 

A Lake Wales businesswoman, named Mary Walkup, was searching for a way to get her hand made fascinators, hair pieces, & hats advertised. She reached out looking for a photographer & so I searched for others to join our voyage. We found two other local business agreeing to work with us. One of the businesses was a great little hair salon, now called Hair by Whitney & Co., in Winter Haven; she also had makeup artists on staff, which was fantastic. Another was a wine & coffee bar, close to the hair salon called The Bean & Grape Cafe (they closed in 2015). 

Still needing models, I gathered a handful of beautiful girls that I know, -Sharon Gray, Jaime Messaros, Christina Govea, and Clara Sanchez. Bless those girls; they came from Port Charlotte, Arcadia, & Bartow to work with us. We met at my house & headed to the beauty salon, with my baby & mother (baby sitter) in tow. The ladies had their hair & make up done, got dressed & immediately headed a couple of blocks to the cafe.

Christina getting her make-up done

The cafe owners were very accommodating; they opened a couple of bottles of wine for the girls so we could begin our shoot while enjoying a brief education in wine. The place was beautiful & the girls looked amazing. 

Looking back, it's funny how a person can change over time. I was so confident and excited. I took a million pictures or more. That was definitely an experience for me. It was dark, my girls were not professional models, and I'm not sure that our outfits and mood were perfectly coordinated with the hair pieces.

As I flip through the pictures, I see my many mistakes. I still like some of the images, but I see a lot of room for improvement in my photography. It was a good thing the girls were photogenic. My knowledge on light & composition needed a bit of work. The place was dark and there were color casts. I shot from low angles, used the wrong lenses, didn't bring reflector, or know enough about fill light.

Jaime in her formal attire.

Below, I decided to show you an original image I took of Sharon that day. The angle is bad because it’s shot below the eye level, doing nothing for the jaw line and neck. I should have corrected her posture, which I could have done by giving her something to rest her elbow/arm on to sit her up really straight. Her hair needed more light & to be shot from the opposite side to showcase the hair styling and hair piece. I also needed a lot more light on her eyes, because without good light reflecting in the eye (called a catch light), the image really fails to come to life. But live and learn, right? Nobody complained. Not one time before, during, or after the entire process, -which consumed most an entire day.

The one thing I wish I carried forward in time with me was that ambition and confidence! I am so quiet and shy that it makes meeting new people very difficult and seems to get harder the older I get.

My unedited image of Sharon at the Bean & Grape Cafe in 2011.

Anyhow, here is my original of Sharon (in the red velvet gown). I decided to take this less than stellar image to show you my growth & rework it with my current editing skills to lesson the mistakes I made that day. 

You can see, when looking at the second version of this picture (beneath the original), I altered the crop for a better frame. Then I warped her back, abdomen, her left shoulder, & neck very slightly to correct some of my posture mistakes, so I could make it appear like she & I were both sitting a little taller. I added a dodge & burn layer, which accentuated the highlights and shadows on her to really contour her shape more. Then I toned it in another software application to give her skin a little glow and give more depth to the environment. I finished it off by brightening her eyes and the lightening the shadows in her hair. 

Sharon with my current edit.

Hopefully you can take away some useful information from this post & apply it to your own life. Maybe you aren't wanting to be a photographer, but it might help train your eye for hiring one for your next family photos. Feel free to leave me some love, comments, and questions. I'd love some feedback!

To return my my website, click here: Eye Candy by Karmen