Right now, I’m sitting at my kitchen table feeling overwhelmed, flooding my brain with Meredith Andrews and “Breathe, Hannah. Breathe.”s. Just keeping it real. Anyway…
Today’s FAQ will be on where I get my inspiration from and editing the photos. I’ve been asked these two questions multiple times, but I don’t want to keep it all about me and my answers. I want to here where you, as photographers, get your inspiration from and what you use for editing and your editing process too! Tell me how you express your brand through your photos!
I get my inspiration from multiple places. As far as poses go, I look at other photographers’ work on blogs and in magazines. There are some seriously creative people out there- you! For color, pattern, and texture inspiration, I look on fashion blogs, clothing sites, boutiques, Etsy, and the Martha Stewart magazines. There are also little things I run across in day-t0-day life that I think would be neat to incorporate somehow like Jones’ Pure Cane Soda bottles, the dark chocolate color that is our nativity brought back from Africa, and cute pieces of clothing and accessories.
I try to make how I edit part of who I am as a photographer. I like my photos to have lots of natural lighting, nice white balance, perfectly exposed (even though I still can’t nail it perfectly) and sometimes a little over exposed, a nice color pop, accurate display of the emotion, and to have the subject’s personality very accurately displayed. It’s very lifestyle. That’s just part of my style. For that reason, I just adore Adobe Lightroom.
I know photographers have completely different style than that. My friend Natalie takes gorgeous photos. I love her work. However, you can just tell by looking at her photos that her style is a bit different than mine. That’s okay. It’s what helps set us apart as photographers. (<3 you, Natalie!)
What sets you apart as a photographer? How do you display that throughout your business? What inspires you and what do you use for editing?
P.S. Adobe has no clue who I am, nor did they sponsor this post in any way. If I fell of the face of the earth tomorrow, Adobe would have no clue. (But the blogosphere would, because then I wouldn’t be tweeting. Heh.)
Well miss Hannah – you know that I love Lightroom almost [not quite] as much as my husband. Haha, kidding Matt – I love you more. But I do love Lightroom more than any other editing program I’ve ever used. Granted, it comes up short in one or two areas of specific things I need fixed, but for the other 98% of my workflow – it exceeds my expectations every time. And I only have the LR 2 version! I’ll maybe upgrade when the next one comes out.
My style of editing is just to play up a bit the natural colors in the scene. I don’t bump saturation or anything up; I just have tweaked my RAW import settings to a way that I feel defines the way I see life. It’s minimalistic and while I sometimes love the vintage, faded look that lots of other people do so well, it’s not how I see life. The more I shoot, the more I see how my heart and eyes see the world.
xoxo!
I agree. The more I shoot, the more I see how my heart and eyes see the world. It’s a creative outlet for me. It’s a way that helps me unveil God’s creation. It’s just part of who I am, I guess.
Love ya too, Hannah:) I love these sort of behind-the-scenes posts! Maybe I’ll just have to do my own….
The behind the scenes posts are my favorite on other blogs, so I decided to give all y’all the nitty gritty.
Like you I like lots of natural light and great exposure. I also like my subject to be in sharp focus and full of vibrant color. I don’t know much about white balance, yet. Honestly I find it a bit confusing. Do you have any tips? Or a source where I can learn more about it?
I use Adobe CS2 and photoshop elements 8.
I’ll do a post specifically on white balance soon, then! Have you subscribed so you can catch it?
I have you on my blog list, so I’ll watch for the post! Looking forward to it.
Aw, thanks! I hope it’s helpful to you.