Our Colorado Springs senior portrait rep ad went live this week. We are looking for Senior Portrait Reps that are graduating in 2009 (current juniors who will be seniors this fall) at Colorado Springs, Falcon, and Peyton high schools.

If you made your way here from the ad, welcome! Our senior rep program has a bunch of great benefits:

high school senior portrait

If you’re interested, please email me (traci@realphotography.com) or call 719.495.8820.

Posted in NewsSenior Portrait Photographer

 

One of my favorite brides-to-be hired me to shoot her grandparent’s 50th wedding anniversary party this weekend as her gift to them.

Talk about a thoughtful gift!

It became quickly apparent that Bernadette gets her infectious good humor and lovable personality from her family! They were a wonderful group to spend the afternoon with, and it makes me even more excited for the wedding–I already know the important players!

I want to begin the sneak peek with my favorite shot of the day (which was actually my last). I was all packed up to leave when they announced a special grandfather-granddaughter dance, and I unpacked my camera and ran to capture a few shots. I am so glad I did, because when I saw this photo this morning, I admit to choking up a little (which Bernadette will no doubt find fitting for her family)! :D

grandfather granddaughter dance

I was very close to my grandpa and lost him as a teenager–first to a stroke, and then when he passed away a few years later. I would give anything to have a picture like this with my Poppa, and I know both Bernadette and Bob will treasure this one…that is, until September when it will no doubt be replaced with one where Bernadette is in her wedding dress! :)

Bernadette and Haydn’s engagement shoot is coming up in a few weeks, but we had to get a little practice in:

colorado springs engagement portrait

Poor Haydn was incredibly sick, but managed to make it to the party anyway. I kept telling him that if they are this photogenic when he is ill, I can’t even imagine how awesome their engagement portrait shoot will go!

I adore expressive people, and as a photographer, I love them even more. Nothing is better than people that show their emotions so vividly–it makes it easy to capture the excitement and happiness of an event:

wedding anniversary party grand entrance

When the guests of honor Bernie and Bob heard music announcing their arrival, they started dancing in the foyer! (I was in heaven–that kind of impromptu photo op is a photographer’s dream!)

dancing at Colorado Springs party

And then it was time to reveal that the beautiful singing was not a cd, but rather Colorado Springs’ own entertainer Randy Rodriguez.

See what I mean? Bernie and Bob make being a photographer easy!

The party was filled with a ton of emotion–from hysterical laughter to happy tears:

We did a few quick formal group shots:

The party was held at the beautiful house of a family friend. I used this flower arrangement to test my exposure before everyone arrived, and ended up loving the photo:

colorado springs party

A huge thank you to Bernadette (the youngest) for asking me to photograph the party, to Haydn for doing his best not to look green in the pictures, to Bernadette (the second) for throwing such a fabulous party, to Sharon and Scott for hosting it at their beautiful home, and to Bernadette (the original) and Bob for sharing their wonderful family with me and shining with such fun and love in their photos. I can’t wait to see you all at the wedding!

Posted in Family PhotographerGrown-ups

 

Here’s the final edited picture that I’m using today (from a Colorado Springs high school senior portrait shoot–thanks Ashleigh for being the model today)!

colorado springs high school senior portrait

Here is the SOOC version (stands for “straight out of camera” with no adjustments):

The healing brush in Photoshop is often turned to when skin correction is needed. However, I sort of hate the healing brush. It certainly has its uses, but many times the blemish or under-eye circles are near dark areas of the photo (like hair) and it turns the skin grey.

The way around that is my preferred method of spot correcting skin, and that’s to use the clone tool on a separate layer, and then knock back the opacity.

Here are the step by step instructions:

With your photo open, go to LAYERS>DUPLICATE LAYER.

With that top layer selected, use the cloning tool at 50% softness, sample an area directly below the under eye circles (by holding down the control key and clicking on the sample area), and then paint over the darkness.

Then adjust the opacity on that top layer to make it all blend together. This method is great because it leaves a little of the lines/darkness so that your subject will recognize themselves, but just see a newer, better rested self.

Colorado Springs final portrait

Posted in Photoshop TipsSenior Portrait Photographer