Smugmug Love

I get asked a lot about my online storage website of choice so I thought I would address it here.

I recommend, hands down, www.smugmug.com

Why?  Tonight, was the most important reason:

INCREDIBLE customer support.

I was having trouble with my albums appearing correctly on my homepage after I logged on.  All my menus were gone.  I had no way of navigating my normal screens to do my normal things!

Big trouble since I had a client album I was downloading tonight!!

I immediately logged onto their customer chat, which is available even at 8:00pm.

Within seconds, I was helped by Nick via chat and then e-mail.  He helped me troubleshoot my problem and within 15 minutes, I'm back in business.

As a small business owner, this kind of service is in invaluable.

I have been their customer for about 8 years as a personal consumer.  Now, going on 2 years as a professional consumer.  I have loved every minute of it!

Now, other quick reasons why I love smugmug:

1. VERY easy to upload pictures and extremely user friendly.
2. No ads.
3. Easy to navigate as a viewer.
4. Very professional backdrop for viewing images.
5. SUPER customer service
6. $5 referral credit for each person!  Some years, I have had smugmug for free! :)
7. Galleries are SUPER easy to lock down, requiring a password.
8. Can allow viewers to download images directly from your gallery if they need images right away.

If this convinces you to subscribe to smugmug, use my e-mail:  lalumephotography@gmail.com 

as the person who sent you.  I believe you receive $5 off of your first year, and I receive $5 off my next year as well.

Try it.  You'll like it!! :)

Photoshop Tip: Auto Color

Tonight, I utilized a "quick fix" button in Photoshop - the "Auto Color" option.

When I am editing my own family photos, I am not anywhere as nit-picky as I am with my clients' images.  I just look to tweak the images a little or "fix" anything that needs fixed.

I went to the Poconos recently.  With all the hiking, I decided to take my 6 year old Nikon D50 with my 18-200 lens instead of my "work" camera!

Well, that camera is completely erratic.  I got this practically green image of Michael:

EEK.  Well, I wanted to color correct/white balance a bit.  Since I did not take the image in RAW, I felt a bit stumped after fumbling around a bit with Hue/Saturation and the curves sliders.

Then, I decided to go to the "Image" menu and click on "Auto Color."

This resulted in this significantly better image:

Is it perfect?  Nope!  But is it better?  ABSOLUTELY!  The yellow/green cast is gone and his skin tone is a bit more "real."  Also gone is the overall "vintage-y" look of yellowish/green as well on the entire image itself.

So next time you are in a bind with white balance or color, try to the "Auto Color" option in photoshop and see what comes up.  It may help, it may not.  But for 2 clicks, I'm willing to give it a go!

Hope that helps you!
P

For the birds...

As a professional photographer, I sometimes get questioned about my "worth" when talking about pricing.

It's a tough subjective question with a tough subjective answer ( + non-subjective parameters like operating costs of a small business).

I have my doubts about myself, like any individual!  I certainly do not parade around thinking I am "da bomb."  With something artistic like photography, your work is your baby.  It's hard to NOT think of it subjectively or personally!

However, I have my days where I can say to myself all SNL-Stuart-Smalley-esque:  "I DO have some iota of knowledge in that photographer brain of mine!"

Here is one of my fav images from a recent session.  Notice anything not so impressive in this image?

Yea....the birds decided to leave evidence of their presence.  RIGHT around my adorably dressed and smiling subjects.

As I tell my son, "NEVER GIVE UP!  NEVER GIVE IN!"  and voila:

GONE.  Since I do not have have Photoshop CS5+, I can't just lasso it and hit delete for it to go away.  I went in and patched, removed, cloned, patched, removed...ALL over that bench in order to create a "proof" worth being called a "proof" to my client!

I felt pretty OCD during it, but I think in in the end, it was well worth it!

Next up - an image where I swapped heads!  Stay tuned!

The "O" Family -

I *capital letters * LOVE *end capital letters* it when a client tells me in the pre-session consultation:

"I just want pictures of our family being ourselves.  I don't care if we're all looking at the camera and smiling.  I don't even like that sometimes!  Just capture us being us."

For me, this is what I adore to do.  It results in a session that is fun and too full of images.  The "O" family ended up having over twice as many proofs as a standard session.

If I can't narrow it down to proof, I do not envy them for having to pick out what images they will order!!!  :)

So here we go - I somehow narrowed it down to 15 images for the blog.

I know this does not even have a face, but I just loved her flower:

Their family was so full of love like this:

And fun like this:

With personalities like this:

My favorite part about this session?

I wanted to take some images of just the parents alone.  Instead, I had 2 silly children who kept coming into our picture!

I LOVED it because we got to see some of this:

But no worries, I get the shots I itch to get eventually:

 The kids were lovely - playing on their own:

Can you believe this little girl did this?  I expect this from a 7-10 year old who can be instructed on how to pose.  Sweet "N" did this all on her own:

My absolute favorite from this little guy:

I love the laughter in this image:

and the love in this:

My God - I pray for sessions like this each time.  To the "O" Family:  It was a TRUE joy capturing your family.  I had so much fun, and I thank you for letting me see such a gorgeous bit of your family.

Bises,
La Lume

The "W" Family

What happens when you meet 2 gorgeous children in a gorgeous setting?  

Fun and fabulous pictures!  Bien sur!

I loved meeting these 2 kiddos and watching them play.  The little boy is too cute for words and sat in my lap playing happily when I visited with him for their ordering session.  

How do I not fall in love with him?  I love my job I tell ya!

Exploring nature:

I love his expression here:

His sister was just as adorable:

Especially when she goes here:

~  Le Sigh! ~

Such a fun family:

I love it when moms dote on their children:

You know me, I always love the more unique images:

I love wondering what the children are thinking:

They completely "rocked" this shot.  Get it?  Pun definitely intended!

My goodness gracious!!  Had a great time proofing these images and meeting these little ones!

Bises,
La Lume!

Pre-Proofing

When I get home from a session, I immediately download the pictures and pour over them while biting my nails hoping I truly captured the essence of the family I just spent an afternoon or morning with.

Then, I backup like crazy - onto my external, on my HD, and online backup.

After this, I pick which images I would like to proof.

This is all normal fare as far as workflow is concerned.

However, then I do something I call in my mind "pre-proofing."

This is when I go through the images and pick one image, usually an unorthodox one, that I love and just want to play with.  

Initially, I am looking to see how I want the entire session to come out color/feel - wise.  I do this on my "pre-proofing image!"

So here to share, just for fun - my pre-proof of my latest session!

I can't wait to work on all the rest!

Bon week-end!
La Lume

Cake Smash!

I love it when my clients ask me to do things I don't normally do.  If I'm interested, I usually say YES!! That sounds so fun!

When this little guy's momma wanted to do a one year old cake smash session, I did a mental fist pump and said, "HECK YESSSSS," Napoleon Dynamite style.

I set up my "Natural Light Studio" in my very bright guest room.  We started with something a little traditional and vintage studio-looking, which usually isn't my style.  However it was still fun!

Then I did something I normally do:

Love that little guy!  So happy!

After this, we ventured out to my woodland backyard, which I love despite all the ticks in our Lyme capital of America.

Little "H" loved exploring my piles of sticks while his mother spotted his every step!

We got him to sit down for about 1/2 a second and I just loved his spirit of curiosity:

Momma wanted a picture with her little boy.  La Lume is happy to oblige!

And here she is in all her gorgeousness:

This has GOT to be my favorite from the session:

Back inside to get really dirty!!

The Cake Smash started out a bit scary:

Yet, turned out to be delicious!

I wish I could eat cake like this as an adult:

Why not the candle as well?

Because Sara is a scrapper, I whipped up a little "scrapbook" looking storyboard for her:

Fun fun fun Monday it was!  Thank you for sharing a fun idea and a great time with me!!  Can't wait to photograph your entire family soon!

Bises, 

La Lume