This is our second year doing this photography gig. We’re grateful they were so pleased with our work that they reached out again to have us do the job.
Remember that homeschool co-op we joined? Unfortunately we weren’t able to join them again for this school year but we have kept our connections open. I am truly thankful for the opportunities that have opened from being a part of this group.
Before we started doing the portraits there was another lady that was hired to take them. She took the pictures outside during a sunny day and they didn’t come out so well. Everyone looked washed out and overexposed. Sadly, she refused to fix her mistake and gave us the photos as is.
Dejectedly, those pictures were put into a yearbook that year. Here’s a snapshot I took from it so you can see what I mean…
This photo of my friend was not even the worst. There were so many faces that blended into the background which made it hard to see them. I don’t think she took the time to do any edits at all.
You can imagine how upset and frustrated the administration was. We all were so excited to get our pictures taken for the co-op yearbook. Once I seen those photos I volunteered myself to take the portraits the following year and that’s where it all took off.
The administration expressed to me that the work we did was the best they’ve ever had ☺️. It really boosted our confidence and encouraged us as business owners to continue exploring new opportunities.
Today I want to share with you some of the portraits we captured for this school year. I reached out to one of my friends and got her permission to use her family’s photos.
I will show you the before pics that I took in the RAW and then the after pics that I have edited. I use both LightRoom and Photoshop to do my editing.
Let’s start with the cover photo.
I was so happy this little cutie smiled for me all on his own this year. Last year his big sisters had to make him laugh for me to get a smile 🤭.
Here’s his before shot:
We brought our bar stool from home for everyone to sit in. We plan on purchasing one that has a skinnier back rest so it won’t show up in the photos. This is extra editing I have to do in order to hide the chair when taking shots of younger kids.
The other thing you’ll notice is his shadow behind him. We have to make sure to place the chair far away from the backdrop in order for it not to pick up shadows.
Also for this portrait I needed to make sure it was centered.
Here are the after results:
Next I’ll show you one of his big sisters. Here’s the before:
I get very particular when editing portraits. If I see any hairs out of place I’m going to fix it. If there’s a glare in glasses it’s gotta go 😄.
I will never remove birthmarks, moles or any other permanent marks because that makes up who that person is. You don’t want someone looking at their photo and thinking ”this is not me”.
I do however remove blemishes such as pimples and cold sores. I don’t want people to look at their pictures and be reminded of that annoying white head that wouldn’t go away. Or that bruise or cut on their child’s face from when they got hurt the week before.
Now for the after:
Another thing I focus on when editing is the vibrancy of the images. I love seeing the difference once I saturate and brighten up the photos a bit. I think you can see that difference a lot in the next photo.
A final touch I do when editing is lowering the clarity a bit in the faces. This gives a light glow and helps smooth out any rough edges. Taking the noise out of a photo helps with this effect as well.
Here are a few more before and afters of the family:
Don’t worry, in the original photos I sent to the client the heads weren’t cutoff or so close to the top. This only happened when I collaged them for you to view 😉.
We were gifted a really nice backdrop stand and have acquired the school backdrop along with a black one. We used the black backdrop to take some family photos that day as well. They were celebrating Grandparents Day so it was really special taking pictures of grandparents with their grandkids.
I’ll try to remember to take some shots of the whole setup to share with you next time.
I remember being excited to take school pictures as a kid. I would have never guessed I’d be the one behind the camera taking the shots ☺️. I really do enjoy it.
That’s the latest on our photography work. I’ll keep you posted with any other jobs we do!
I did not use our new Sony for these. I only used our Cannon EOS Rebel T6. I’m hoping by the Summer to be confident and comfortable enough to get out the a7IV to use for our gigs. We’ll see 😊 ~
Wow! Y'all did an incredible job. School photos are always tough and y'all handled up on it like pros. You know why? Because y'all are professionals. It not only shows in your interactions... but the proof is in the pudding as well! hahaha
Hahaha I always enjoy and value your comments 😄😁😆! Thank you so much! I was so nervous the first time we did it but the second round was more of a breeze. It feels good to have completed this job and know that the customers are happy with our work.
I really appreciate your feedback. I'm honored you think we did an incredible job. Yay!! 😃☺️
🌄 Good morning ☕ Very nice to read the details of how you're doing with this new venture. I'll say more on that in a minute, but first this stood out ...
... as we also homeschooled our children and, from that experience base, I do not know what this means. Why were you not able to join them again?
Detail-oriented myself (having been uhhh ... "burned" ... enough when I wasn't ...), I loved this:
This and all of the wonderful detail you have provided for us here in your post certainly underscores the following very nicely:
Yep! I can only imagine. In our time, it really stands out when someone has a desire to do a good job. Not just "mouthing some words" implying that and raising some expectations, but ...
Demonstrating it with their actions! 🫡 The integrity this represents is so important ...
Great to know how our Lord is blessing your efforts. Keep up the great work!! 👍🙂
Hello there! It's was so nice seeing this comment from you. Thank you for taking the time to stop by 😊.
There were several reasons why we couldn't join the homeschool co-op again. When we were members I had to have extra responsibilities on top of being a full-time teacher there. I took on these extra responsibilities in order for our children's tuition to be paid in full. This year I didn't have the extra time or energy to take on so much because we had changes going on in our homeschool. Due to this, we were unable to afford for our children to attend.
With the size of our family it gets pretty expensive for us. I was saddened by it because we do enjoy the fellowship of other homeschooling families and it helped me with teaching my older children. Thankfully though we have made many new friends and are still able to have lunch and play dates with them 😊. I hope I explained it well.
I really appreciate that. We take pride in what we do and always want to walk in honesty and integrity making sure we give our best. Yes, He is abundantly blessing the work of our hands and opening up so many doors for us. It feels good to honor Him in all we do.
It’s so good chatting with you ~
Very good @crosheille. Now I understand. Starting with what probably should have been obvious before writing. In the +20 years since we were last involved with homeschooling, it would be relatively safe to say things have changed a bit ... 😂
We did not have any financial aspect to our homeschool co-op. It was all about the commitment of time. And we just had to pretty steadily work on how we were going to pull it off ...
Yes, we know a little bit about that. 😉 It is nice to hear how you are able to at least maintain the great relationships developed through sharing this vitally important aspect of any good parent's lives. I hope you will be able to rejoin them fully in the future.
Well, thank you! You are way up on my list of people to maintain contact with "in here!" My outside time commitments (along with some other factors) kept me from posting, but I have tried to drop in, from time to time, to keep in touch a little bit. Sort of a POL (proof-of-life) exercise ...
A few days ago, I wrote my first post in over 1-½ years. And made a commitment for a weekly post, as part of it. We'll see whether or not I can keep that going ...
P.S. I'll share more details in a different channel ... 😉
Lol, yes things have definitely changed. There are many benefits of belonging to a group it’s just that nowadays you have to have the finances, time and energy for it all. I too am hoping we can belong to a group again. It may have to be something a bit smaller and more simple but at least we’ll still be connecting with other likeminded families.
I am honored and truly appreciate that 😊. I definitely understand about outside time commitments. I’m glad to see though that you are able to come back and start posting again. I’ll be sure to visit your page more often now.
Okay great. I’ll check that channel then and reply ~
I'm not that experienced with the Sony cameras, although I have seen some wonderful photgraphy with the A7 series. Keep up the wonderful imagery!
Thanks so much! I hope I can really master it well and take many wonderful images.
I appreciate the visit ~ 😃
I love the after photos, not overly saturated, just enough.. their natural skin tone is retained..
☺️
Thank you Jane! That's exactly what I shoot for. I appreciate the feedback very much. 😊
Smiling people are much more pleasant to photograph.
I have to agree 100%!!!! 👌🏽
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What a great gig and a good way to be part of the school co-op! I thin it is very kind of you to take the time to edit out blemishes. As your probably know teenagers tend to focus on those details when looking at images of themselves and now the girls will rememberhow happy they looked that day!
Thank you @pekkymos! My husband and I make a great team because he likes taking the photos and my expertise is in the editing 😊.
Thanks for the visit and comment. You have a nice day as well ~