Steady As She Goes

Hey boy.

It wasn't long ago that your mom and I found out you would be joining our world in about nine months. We sat in our one-bedroom studio apartment in Northampton and thought about you, crying and laughing hysterically as we tried to wrap our minds around creation and how hearts swell as a family grows.

The next day we went and bought your first pair of shoes. They were brown and so small...I'm not sure they even counted as a size. Now, you're a size 13.

This morning, you got on the yellow bus. You held your friends hand who was scared, and led him up those steps into the unknown. You found a seat. Then the bus drove away and I felt something raw inside. It wasn't fear. I don't fear for you because I've prayed for you for five years and loved you the best I could. No, not fear. Hope.

Not hope like wishing something could happen but it might not. Not that kind of hope. Not false hope. But the real stuff. Hope like iron. Hope like knowing but not seeing. Hope like trust and hope like faith. Hope for what is to come and gratitude for what has been. Trusting that the only way forward is one step at a time, one day at a time, one yellow bus ride at a time.

Someday this will seem trite, perhaps, but not today. It's the biggest thing because something new is beginning and we need to stop and look. What did you talk about on the bus ride, I wonder? How did you feel, looking up at the riveted roof and bouncing on the seats? Are you going to surf the aisles like your dad did when he was a kid? Are you going to make friends today? Will this be easy for you? Will there be tears? That's okay. We learn from those.

So many questions and such a big world ahead. But all you need to know is that we will be there for you when you get home, just like we've been there for you for the past 1,883 days. Don't be scared, because I'm not. Let your intrepid soul explore. Be a pioneer. Don't cling to safety. Go ahead. Take my hand, set your face to the horizon, and let's head into the unknown together. Steady as she goes, boy.

Editing: The Unseen Art

People expect to hire a photographer and receive pictures but many times, not much thought is given to that period of time between snapping the shutter and delivering the image. When I tell a client the amount of work that goes in to editing an image, they often walk away with a better understanding of the entire photographic process and a deeper appreciation for the depth of skills that we as artists possess in order to produce world-class imagery.

Since this is something I've found myself explaining time and again, I felt it would be useful to post a series of images taking you from an untouched image to the finished product. Also, this is just an example. Sometimes we do less editing and sometimes more...this is just to give a general idea of what go into a headshot portrait session.

1. First of all, we have to take our picture. If you're hiring a pro, you're paying for years of experience, resulting in someone who has learned to properly expose an image in all sorts of settings and under the pressure of time and - sometimes - an overbearing mother of the bride (but not your mother, of course!) Here's an image I took today while shooting for the UConn School of Business. This is no editing, straight out of camera. Confident and natural pose.

2. The first touches are adjusting the exposure and lighting. I like my ambient exposure to be 1-2 stops below my light, so I dropped the exposure in lightroom and upped the highlights. I also started to drop the contrast to preserve some of the darker areas in the image. I also use a gradient filter to drop the exposure of the concrete to our subject's right (camera left) because as I upped the highlights, it was competing with the highlights on her face and I wanted her skin to be the brightest spot in the image, so as to draw the viewer's eye. Lastly, I did a basic rotate and crop to have our subject take up more of the frame while keeping her hands (interesting pose) and head within the image.

3. In the next image, you'll see that the contrast was dropped more, so we can preserve her jawline and some of the details in the brick. This is also the step we did skin retouching. We use a custom brush in lightroom to soften the skin. This isn't a reflection on her skin, but is a typical part of the process we take with any commercial shoot. This is in part because it helps distribute the light more evenly across a face. Some people take offense thinking there's something wrong with their skin but it's just part of our retouching process that ultimately results in a more pleasing image. We also zoom in to 200% and make some adjustments on the eyes. Here, we brought up the highlights/exposure of the white and did a separate brush for the iris to bring out the natural eye color but adjusting clarity and highlights. From a distance, this really makes a difference. We also did a slight increase in overall sharpness at this point.

4. Our last adjustments are personal color/style preference. We chose this image because it has that semi-serious CEO-look to it, so we dropped a bit of the overall warmth by reducing vibrance. We brought overall clarity up just a touch to give a slight push to the edges and called it a day.

Here's a comparison photo for you to review. You can see the image we began with and the final image to the right. This isn't the same treatment we would use on any image, it just happened to be the feel we were going for in this photo.

So there you have it! Not every photographer takes the time (or has the skillset) to do this, but it's an integral part of my workflow. Not for nothing, but this is why we don't deliver RAW images...you're getting something that is only half-done in my eyes and doesn't represent my brand or your photos in the best possible way.

Sarah and Charles: Mansfield, CT

I love getting to shoot around my hometown, especially when there are so many beautiful places next to each other! As a professional photographer, I take pride in being early to all my shoots and when I arrived to our pre-determined location, I opted to hike to the top of a cliff, lugging all my gear behind me. Once on top, I got my lights set up and dialed in all my settings.

15 minutes later I get the call. "We're here, where are you?" I look around, though in the back of my mind I already know what's happened. "Hang tight guys, I'll be there in 15 minutes". I climbed the wrong trail! So in my bag goes all the gear and I half trot, half run down the muddy/snowy trail and find the entrance down the road for Coney Rock. Oops!

But it's okay because Sarah and Charles are way cool and were soaking up the 55 degree day in late January (unheard of!). We started the session and worked our way all the way down to the Grist Mill all the while talking about our mutual affection for homewrecker burritos at Moe's (welcome to moe's!).

I seriously can't wait for their big day...it's going to be a blast. Congrats on your engagement Sarah and Charles!