30% this "Beached" Photo from Jökulsárlón Ice Beach in Iceland. Use code 30may and chose from three different print options for the sale! Hope to see it hanging in your home soon!
Any questions? E-mail or call and I can walk you through it!
http://www.rs-photography.com/photosale
When SleekLens reached out to me to look into their Strike a Pose Portrait Presets (also known as SaP), I was intrigued. They claim that their presets are “instant photo boosters.” Could these presets provide the outlet that I’ve been looking for with simple, modern edits? Let’s find out.
Installing the “Strike a Pose” presets and brushes (there are over 69 different brush options!) was quite simple. Within a few minutes, I was up and running. With so many different preset and brush options, I wanted to try them all out and see what worked. I chose a couple of portrait images that never made my final cut as I was not thrilled with the edits and wanted to investigate whether these presets would help. For each photo, I will show the before raw file and the after edited file using one of the SleekLens presets. I tried almost all of the presets on these photos, and for examples I’ve chosen a few to show how they can affect each photo. Some work and some don’t, but each preset can always be a base for more editing as well so you can easily tone some of them down or make them stronger when developing. (which I recommend to make the presets work for you)
Portrait 1: Before & After, SaP All In One Catch Me If You Can
This all in one preset really enhanced the little guy and brought some needed brightness to this raw file. I do not like that it also brightened the background, but that is easily fixable using a vignette preset or just doing it yourself in the vignetting section in Lightroom. These presets are very easy to use and they can be stacked on top of each other as well.
This is the final version with the vignette stacked on the preset as well as a bronze preset just to bring back a little warmth:
Portrait 2:
For the second example, I wanted to test out their system of presets for the SaP. It’s very easy to follow as a 1-6 step preset process for a photograph. Step 1 is called Base, Step 2 Exposure, Step 3 Color Correct, Step 4 Tone/Tint, Step 5 Polish, Step 6 Vignette. These are the basics to editing any digital photograph, so it’s nice that they provide a simple step-by-step approach to use their presets. The previous example was using one of their All-In-One’s so it incorporated all of these steps into one full preset. Handy when time is of the essence.
This is the before and after of this photograph just on its own, using no presets and how I had edited it quickly before:
Step 1: SaP Base, I chose to use the Auto Tone (Color) preset as I know this image needed some white balance correction.
Step 2: SaP Exposure, More Highlights. Wanted to give the photo a little more intense contrast.
Step 3: SaP Color Correct, fix red skin. Babies are notorious for having super red skin. I usually adjust this manually in the luminance editing section, but this preset does pretty well to accomplish a similar effect.
Step 4: SaP Tone/Text, Summer Ten. There are many nice presets in this section, but for this photograph, the summer ten wins out. It’s a nice balance of warmth without overpowering.
Step 5: SaP Polish, Soften. Normally, I do not soften images, but for this demo, it seemed appropriate to test it out. It makes this image dreamier. What do you think? There are only 5 options in the Polish section. If I weren’t doing this example, I probably would not use any of the Polish presets for this photograph as none of them specifically work well for this photograph. For some of my other photographs, I could see the high and low contrast and the sharpen presets working well.
Step 6: SaP Vignette, Black Dreamy. Always end with a little vignette; the rule of thumb when in the darkroom and the same applies for the digital darkroom.
Here’s the final image with all 6 presets stacked! What do you think, did it work?
Overall, I am impressed with these presets. I certainly had my doubts and there are some presets that go overboard and are not my style, but there are also presets that work for my photographs and that is different from most of the other presets out there. Adjusting individual presets to my style and either reducing or enhancing them is simple and easy. They are a great base to any photograph.
Presets work for some photographs and not for others. Though I may not use presets for every photograph I edit, it’s always nice to experiment and play while editing to see what works. That’s the artistic process and I highly encourage trying, testing, playing, and messing up. If you’re not failing, you’re not learning. Try out these presets and see if they will work for you.
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Thanks for making this year great!
Happy New Year!
Time for some photos! :)
Congrats to this beautiful couple; a joy to photograph!
Here are a few photos from the tournament and a great day celebrating Greg's life.
Shop away and use 30OFF at checkout to get your discount.
Any questions? E-mail or call and I can walk you through it!
July photo is from Tahoe of Bonsai Rock! http://www.rebeccasternphotography.com/Galleries/Photo-of-the-Month/n-x2H3Nv/i-gdw6q72/A
Shop away and use 30OFF at checkout to get your discount.
Any questions? E-mail or call and I can walk you through it!
June’s photo is one of my favorites from Iceland at Skogafoss with a double rainbow! http://www.rs-photography.com/photosale
I edit photos that my clients have taken often. Here is an example of a photo that one of my client's took:
As you can see, there is a plethora of dust in this photograph. The spot healing brush works wonders to remove all the dust. Luckily in Lightroom these days, there is a great feature called Visualize Spots, where you can check it and the dust spots become visualized to make it easier to remove the dust!
This photograph took a lot of time to remove all of the spots, but the finished product is worth it for my client!
So remember, be cautious where you change your lenses, do it quickly and always check to see if you have dust after a shoot before you go out for another day and shoot some more. It is not enjoyable to get home after a trip and realize you have dust everywhere on every photo that you've taken! Also, have your sensor cleaned by a professional :)
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My most recent overseas trip was heading back to Iceland. A week long trip exploring, chasing the Aurora, ice caves, ice beaches, eastern Fjords, and enjoying the scenery. With thousands of images to sort through, it takes time. Editing, picking and choosing the five star images is an acquired skill learned over time and with the right eye. I teach my students what to look for in images and how to select what will work for a certain project, theme, gallery show, feeling at the time! Here are a few shots from my first round of images from Iceland.
Thank you! Have a happy and healthy new year! Now go outside and take some photographs!
With love!
]]>A few photos from the event to enjoy!
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Happy Birthday to this amazing 2 year old! I've written about her a few times before as it's been a joy to watch Emily grow up and photograph her at many milestones. Well today is her 2 year birthday and we were lucky to schedule a photo shoot last weekend when the weather was still somewhat warm and super sunny outside! I had hoped that there would be some clouds in the sky when we went outside, but it was pretty harsh lighting and the shade wasn't as soft as I would have liked. We still had a fun shoot and found some nice locations in a local park; and of course found some leaves to play in!
Photographing children can be challenging and very rewarding and as long as you can adapt quickly to changing conditions and move around with them! Children do not like to sit still so why should your photos be still?! There is a time and place for some posed shots, but as long as they are enjoying themselves, capture children in their element. It will show on their faces and portray that in your photos.
Have a wonderful birthday Emily! :)
For this shoot, I was not as prepared as usual, but here goes. From the bottom: liners are truly awesome yoga pants made by Marika, socks are Smartwool, shoes, Asics, Jeans are 7 for all Mankind. On top, Patagonia sports bra, Paradox long sleeve merino wool, ExOfficio shirt, and finally a SmartWool down jacket! As far as gear, my backpack is the f-stop Anja pack and my tripod that’s showing is Really Right Stuff. All necessary layers and gear for all possible weather.
Hope that helps all of you inspiring photographers. Any questions, feel free to ask! I will continue to write about what I wear on my adventures from now on. I am not sponsored by any clothing company who has paid me to write about this, but I would certainly be open to being sponsored to write about gear. :)
So, the 24-70mm was my trusty friend for this tournament. I didn't switch lenses until I came inside for the banquet at the end of the tournament. It ended up being misty, foggy, and rainy all day long so my camera was kept in my rain jacket and in my sweet personal golf cart so it didn't get too wet!
The golf tournament was a great success and if you are interested in donating for a wonderful cause, their mission is clear: "The objective of the fund is to provide financial assistance to those in need, seeking help with addiction and/or mental health issues. Individuals, as well as families of loved ones, will be able to apply for financial support." http://www.calistourney.com/ for more information and to donate.
Here are a few shots from the tournament, all taken with the 24-70mm. And, if you are friends with me on facebook, there's a great video there of my first golf lesson... and if you're not friends with me yet, feel free to like my RS Photography page and/or ask me to be friends :)
I am shooting a benefit golf tournament this weekend and I do not normally shoot such events. I love the outdoors and you can find me doing pretty much any sport or activity outside, however golf is not one of those activities. So, I struggled with what lenses I thought I may need. As a child, I would go to the golf course with my grandparents and sit in their golf cart while they played and every once in a while, I would get out and try to hit the ball. I think I was 3-4 years old; that’s pretty much my golf experience. Oh, and the occasional mini-golf round with a date (and sometimes I have to pretend to lose because I’ve learned that guys egos are very delicate, especially on a first date). So, what lenses I need to take for this tournament caused me to reevaluate what lenses I take for any event or shoot.
I do have a fair amount of lenses, not a ton, but I have options. I have full frame lenses, dx lenses, and much older ones from my film cameras too. By far, my favorite lens to shoot with is my 85mm 1.4. If you could be in love with a lens, that’s my go-to lens for all portraits, family shoots (with not too many people), animals… I would even shoot some macro with it and jewelry too, in the right setting. For this tournament, the 85mm isn’t going to cut it.
My everyday lenses, 24-70mm 1:2.8 and my 16-35mm 1.4 are probably the most versatile lenses for this particular event. For most landscape photography, both of these lenses are fantastic too. (usually having a more wide angle lens is also helpful) My dilemma usually occurs when I have to choose to bring my 70-200mm or not. It’s a great lens, but it’s very heavy. My 125lb frame can carry a lot of gear, but adding 7 extra pounds on top of two camera bodies, a minimum of three lenses, extra batteries, and all the other random stuff I keep in my camera bag, adds up! For this event, I’m bringing that lens too. Who knows if I will need to get a shot from across the green and I can’t make it to where I need to be in time to get the shot. Most likely, I will be shooting with two bodies, one with a zoom lens and one with a wider angle. Now I could alleviate all of this and just use my 28-300mm lens. Alas, that is my least favorite lens. I bought that lens to take to China so that I wouldn’t have so much gear with me while traveling around. Not the best idea. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a terrible lens, it just gets super soft if you shoot anywhere near 24mm or 300mm. In between, it’s a good lens. I prefer my shots to be in focus so this lens was not my best friend.
I also have an 17-55mm, a 35 mm fixed, a fisheye, and a 2x extender. None of those will be coming with me.
I am sure that there are many articles written about the correct lens to use for specific purposes, and I’m sure they all have good points. My feeling is to use the lens that you are most comfortable with in a certain scenario. In this case for the tournament, I will feel most comfortable using my 24-70mm to be close to people. When I’m shooting from the top of a balcony (as I was told I will be doing for the gun start), I may use my 70-200mm. Most of my decisions will be made based on my location and what I need to shoot.
I should also say that no one has paid me to write about any of this and all of the opinions here are only my own. I shoot Nikon and all of these lenses are Nikon lenses.
I will post a follow up after I shoot the tournament with images :)
What are your favorite go-to lenses?
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Sometimes, it's helpful to go through a body of work initially and then come back to it and find others that you may have skipped the first time, but have evolved to your current style and genre. It's why I am always an advocate of not deleting files right away; you never know when a photo you may not have liked 10 years ago, will be a hit today!
China was a challenging trip for me as the itinerary was not under our control and we were shown what we could see. If you've followed me for a while now, you may have read my detailed account of the trip on my blog. It's a country I can now say I would go back to, but it's taken a few years for me to say that!
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This shot was from Jokulsarlon, the ice beach, which is directly across the street from the glacial lagoon. We were not lucky in catching many great sunrises or sunsets, but this was one that ended up being nicer than we had thought! The challenge at this beach was to always keep an eye out for the extremely strong tide and crashing waves, the moving icebergs, and the other photographers, who sometimes liked to jump in your frames or just really enjoyed getting their equipment wet.
10 days did not seem like enough time over there! If you want to read more about my trip and adventures, check out my travel blog.
Any questions? Just call or e-mail!
Happy Holidays!
Equipment: Nikon D810, 85mm 1.4 lens
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