Being Creative with Your Photos

Wow! I know it's been a while since I last posted. However, I have been very busy and now things should be back to normal....anyways, I just wanted to talk about being creative with your photos and taking them to the next level, but not so much "over the top!"

As a photographer and designer, when I see a picture, I always can envision what type of work that I need /or would like to do that particular image. Below is a picture of a beautiful bride...her look says it all! So what I wanted o do is create around the image itself.

In the "Top" picture coming straight out of the camera, you will noticed the image needs to be color adjusted to more accurately represent the true colors and tonal qualities of the subjects in the picture...the "Bottom" image shows the adjustments.

Next, I worked on the star of the show..."the bride" and gave her one of my famous "realistic retouches!" because the bride was already beautiful, I did not have to do much...just a bit of digital foundation, enhanced lipstick, and decreased a couple of minor blemishes... and that was it! Again, as I mentioned before, when doing retouches, they can be done anywhere from moderatley, to extreme....this is on of those moderate cases....the "Bottom" image shows the adjustments.

The next step was to make the bride and the groom the center of attention, so I created a more "depth of field" look to the image as you will notice how the ladies in the back are slightly out of focus which forces the eyes to go directley on the bride and the groom....the "Bottom" image shows the adjustments.

Finally, (I could have stopped there) but I wanted to add to the over all composition of the image, therefore, I created around the image itself....just picture this final composition as an 8x10 or 5x7 inside of nice picture frame...the "Bottom" image shows the adjustments.

And there you have it. Never be afraid of being creative!

Click on the image to view a larger view.


Chris

The Big Bad WOLF Turned #60

Last night I had the chance to shoot a 60th birthday party for a gentleman who goes by the name, "Wolf" and what a PARTY it was indeed!! He was obviously so well known, liked and loved that not only did his peers come out to celebrate his big day, but the younger generation represented as well. DJ Master T had the crowd rocking all night long!! I had a great time being the photographer as always because I had the chance to meet new people and make some great contacts.

A very special thanks to Angel and Chantel for hiring me for this event...by the way, Chantel is the young lady in the collage breaking it down on the left hand side in the black and white. And of course, most importantly, congratulations to Wolf on his 60th birthday!! I designed a special collage for everyone to see and enjoy from the party last night while I work on processing the other pictures to present to Chantel later this week... (You know me... I work fast)

If you have an event you want me to cover just contact me. Here is my email address: chrisjamesphotography@comcast.net

Click on the picture to view a larger size.... by the way, ( I know that I misspelled "designed"...typo).... Chris

The Retouch Challenge...I Accepted!!

I was recently challenged by a master photographer (and mentor) to retouch a photo he had recently taken of a model. Keep in mind, this was all in FUN and keeping me up on my toes! I deemed this as an honor and accepted the challenge. Not only did I do "a" retouch, I did "3 different" ways that I could have retouched this image...OK, so I was just showing off a bit...lol! Again, this was all in fun!

Below you will see a model with lots of freckles, so the challenge was to retouch her image and keep it looking natural... below are the results. I have my personal pick , but you decide which retouch image you like the best and let me know. Here is my email address: chrisjamesphotography@comcast.net Please tell me why you picked the photo you like the most.

OK, let me handle some business right quick... If you are a photographer who needs service in the retouching department, because you don't do retouching, or just don't have time, email me and I will provide you fast and professional services (not FREE) that you will be proud to show to your clients. All I need for you to do- is email me the high resolution image and I'll take it from there. Here is my email address: chrisjamesphotography@comcast.net

Click on the image below for a larger view.

Photo Shoot

Hello everybody! Last week I had the chance to do a photo shoot w/a very beautiful model and just wanted to share w/you a couple of shots. Enjoy!

As always, I am available for: weddings, professional headshots, corporate events coverage, private events, family portraits, group/team photos, and casual photos. If you want to get in touch/book me for an event, just click here: chrisjamesphotography@comcast.net Thanks and enjoy the blog!

Chris

Click on the images for a bigger view.

The Beauty of Photo retouching Pt.2

Hello everybody. As I mentioned in my last post about retouching photos (please read post below), the secret is to keep the talent looking as natural as possible. News FLASH!!! Most of the people who you see on the cover of magazines DO NOT have flawless skin. There are several people who put in a lot of work into giving this "flawless" appearance. In my previous post on retouching, with the permission of the model herself, I took the low resolution image (72 ppi) from online and did a very basic digital retouch. It was a very good job and the retouch was nice and subtle.

For this example, I am going to show you how different the look can be when doing a digital retouch using a high resolution photo of 300 ppi or better will come out. This is an actual photo that I took myself about a week or two ago. Here is the hypothetical situation we are going to use.

Let's say I was hired to do a cover shoot for a company and after the shoot was over, I got with the client and we narrowed all of the hundreds of beautiful shots down to this one for the magazine cover. Once again, without any retouching the model is absolutely beautiful. As I mentioned in the previous article, there is difference of depth (technique) I would do when retouching for a magazine cover that I would do vs having a generic picture for inside of the magazine. Both will look nice, but the cover photo needs to look exceptional!

Below is the example of the BEFORE and AFTER digital retouch. Notice how "Flawless"and smooth the skin looks after the retouch. Drift away into her beautiful sparkling eyes. And most importantly, notice how natural the model looks. It simply looks like the model put on her make up "Flawlessly" but she looks very natural.

Click on the image below to enlarge the picture.





Chris

The Beauty of Photo Retouching

First of all, I wanted to thank the beautiful model for allowing me to use her photo as an example of how retouching a photo works. I did not take the picture, but it was a great shot to use as an example. The Before/After photo is located at the end of this article.

This is low resolution image (72 ppi) I got online and was very proud of the out come. I took this as a challenge because, if I could take a low resolution photo and make it look nice... just imagine the results of working on a hi-resolution image (300 ppi or better) would look like. Below are some of the basic steps that I did to the image. Of course they were much more detailed, but I just wanted to touch on the basics.... Here we go.

-The first thing I did was made some color corrections to the photo to reduce the blow-out areas in the models face.

-Then I made global changes too the image itself to enhance the over-all look of the photo.

-Once the over-all image took on the appearance that I was pleased with, then I concentrated on the retouching itself. For example; removing blemishes, wrinkles, reducing "not deleting...very important" freckles to keep the model looking natural! Applying foundation, darkened her lipstick, etc.

As you can tell, the model is naturally beautiful, so she did not need much work at all. What I did as a photographic artist was enhance her natural beauty by applying digital make-up that smooths out the skin given her a flawless make-over. In other words, it looks like she applied her make-up on "flawlessly" the way you often see in a magazine. Yes, this type of work can take the photographic artist a little time to complete (depending on the complexity of the image), and can cost you a little bit of money (no you don't have to take out a loan...lol!), but the finished look is well worth every penny!

Here is the secret to digital retouching. When retouching a subject, try to make the person look as natural as possible. Now of course, this will depend on "the purpose of the photo." This example would do fine for a story inside of a magazine that you read, but if I was hired to retouch this photo for a "magazine cover"...then my approach would be totally different. But at the end of the day, it would be up to the client as to how "retouched" they wanted to look. So for me, as a rule of thumb, I keep it natural looking and go from there.

Later this week, come back and I will show you the difference when retouching a hi-resolution photo that could be on a magazine cover would look like. You know, that "flawless cover magazine look" that makes you go wow...they are soooooo beautiful!

If you have a photo you want me to retouch, email me and we'll make a connection.

Chris


Click on the image to get a bigger view of photo.

If U R Visiting my Blog for the First time...

For all first time visitors, there are other blogs and samples of my work under the "blog Archive" which is located on the right side of this page. Also, if you are looking for the link to the wedding slide show picture album, just scroll to the bottom of the page or better yet, just click right here: http://erikaanddaron.albumshowcase.net

As always, if you want to get in touch/book me for an event, just click here: chrisjamesphotography@comcast.net Thanks and enjoy the blog!


Chris

Something that ONLY I get a kick out of...

As my blog indicates, I am a man of many hats. One of which is also being a professional actor. Well anyway, I was booked for a "photo shoot" myself (tomorrow) for one of the newer upscale single family home communities in St. Mary's County in Maryland. The client contacted the agency and wanted actors/models with certain looks who could pull off their message, which is people having fun and enjoying their living environment at this particular community. From what I was told, the ad will run in print and on the Internet...so that cool (I wish there was a way to shamefully plug my photography business in the ad...lol!).

Here's the part that probably only me and other photographers who are also actors will get a kick out of in such situations... I find it always odd or interesting having someone taking pictures of me doing photo shoots, because usually, I'm always thinking on the other end of the camera. But I get the chance to meet another photographer, which is always cool, steal their .... sorry, I mean, learn different techniques, and most importantly, pass my business card out to the other actors/models who may need headshots.... hehehehehe! Sorry, this is business!...lol!

Chris

Photo Shoot with Family Members Yesterday...

This past weekend was very special to me because my older of two sons celebrated his #13th birthday. So as one of his surprises (because his thinks he is the man!) I did a photo shoot for him. Also, my niece had been wanting me to do a photo shoot of her as well, so I was able to knock out two birds with one stone.

Anyways, I wanted to share a couple of photos I shot just yesterday in Winston-Salem, NC at a very nice location downtown. These are pictures of my future NBA player, Drew (AKA... "Hot Sizzle" on the basketball court) and my beautiful niece, Krissy. By the way, the little boy is my youngest, Christopher who loves his brother Drew to death....gotta love it!

And as always, I am available for booking at: chrisjamesphotography@comcast.net

Just click on the picture to view bigger image.

Chris

4th of July Fireworks!

A couple of days ago, my family and I were downtown in Washington, DC and celebrated Independence Day by watching the Fireworks Display for the 4th of July...of course, I took my camera and captured some amazing shots in the pitch dark.

Here is a sample of how to take an ordinary shot and turn it into something worth framing. I thought that I would share one of the many pictures that I turned into a wall picture with graphics (you know I love photographics) so enjoy! By the way, this was not a difficult task from a graphic standpoint, but does require a slight bit of artistic expression and vision to tell the story.... Sometimes, "less is more!"

Click on the picture to view larger size.

Chris