Family portrait: Wenatchee siblings

Got to spend a few minutes (a 13 minute photo session anyone?) shooting these siblings this weekend. Met with them and their Dad (all of whom I've shot before), and it was raining. Not a full on pour but definitely more than a drizzle. Dad wanted to go ahead and we were all game so spent a few minutes getting some shots. He normally has an annual portrait taken at the local "mega-studio" (who shall remain nameless, but if you're from Wenatchee, you know who I'm referring to), but was so happy with the family portraits I did for them a year prior that he asked me instead. I'm thrilled to have another repeat client and they commented at the end that they wanted to do the family sessions annually and I would be hearing from them soon. Love that, getting to see, and document, a family grow and change over time. Thanks Smith family!

Before and after: Wenatchee portrait

Another before and after of a shot I made last night. Like always for portraits, I capture in RAW. This was aperture priority at f/5.6, 1/40, ISO 250, auto white balance. Important to note the +2 exposure compensation to help the matrix metering better account for the bright sky. Could have also used spot or center-weighted metering on his skin. Always more than one way to skin a cat, as the (oddly gross) saying goes.

In Adobe Camera RAW I cropped and straightened just a bit, adjusted the white balance for warmth (5550, -10) and to remove some of that redness Nikon seems prone to, took the exposure down 1/3 stop, recovered some of the highlights (53) and bumped up the contrast (+48).

Once in Photoshop I did a little standard noise reduction using Topaz DeNoise from within Topaz Adjust and added a bit more contrast and saturation. I ran three ColorShift (Jesh de Rox) actions: Color of summer (50%), Memory of a Friend (40%) and Rainforest (40%) which I then masked, leaving the warm tones on his skin and the cooler rainforest tone everywhere else. Sharpened to taste for screen presentation. Took about 5 minutes total. Not a huge transformation but a nice one I think.

 

Last minute Shade: Wenatchee senior portraits

She decided she wanted another senior session one week before she graduated so she had a few more photos to hand out (she didn't want to hand out the same shot to everyone) so we did a little impromptu shoot. Love, love how these came out, as did she, which was really my big goal for someone who doesn't like photos of herself. Gorgeous, if only she would see it! You can see several more in the senior gallery.