Before | After

I was talking to Shari today about photos and retouching so I gave her a quick demo. The first pic is straight out of the camera and the second shot is retouched. As you can see, it makes a big difference. My philisophy on this is just to do enough to enhance the picture a little bit - don't go nuts. The trick is a good shot to begin with. Some people can perform miracles with Photoshop but I can't. I love the lighting in this shot, giving her the famous "glow."

What I've done is enhance the color saturation and contrast and boosted the light a little. Some people might not like the color or that you can't see the beach but I like the warm tones on this one - the effect I was going for, it's all a matter of taste. Also notice she's not facing the sun. But you do it I bet either the flash goes off or the person is too dark. How did I do this?

1. You need a DSLR (you can get one for pretty cheap these days, don't anything fancy)
2. Spot meter on the face (make sure your camera has this)
3. Adjust your camera settings to it and make some adjustments. (I use manual mode)

How did I learn this? Reading photography sites with tips like this one and practicing ;) I'm just passing along the info.

Feel free to leave questions in the comments or share your photo tips.

Picture of Me Taking a Picture

Jeff took this pic as the sun was setting - I brightened it a bit.

A Few More from Saturday

B and I love Lilia's look and lighting in this pic. Voted 2 thumbs up :)

This concludes my blog shots from last Saturday with Bryana, Lilia, and Ailyn - oh, and of course Jeff, in beautiful San Diego. Looking forward, this Saturday is the big quincinera for Jazmine. I'll be able to get some real nice candid shots as I shadow her all day and I'll be trying out some new remote lighting equipment which will come in very handy for January's wedding. Stay tuned.

Ailyn @ San Diego

Photo by Jeff Luzadas

I was back in San Diego yesterday for another shoot. This time it's Lilia's aspiring model sister Ailyn. She seriously worked the camera and made it a little TOO easy for me. The lighting was great (thanks to better timing and weather) and Jeff, who's planning on getting a nice camera, came out for some pointers and got some pretty awesome pictures. Check out the picture on the bottom - unretouched out of the camera! He recommended some railroad tracks which turned out nicely.

Bryana and Lilia were there too so the 5 of us just had a great time going around and snapping pics. Then B and I had a nice dinner at Panda Inn in Horton Plaza, which was shockingly good for a Panda Express-owned upscale Americanized Chinese food place. More to come when I get a chance to fix up a few more pictures.