FREE Photo Shoot and PhotoShopping! … but …

Hello! As you know, I am a PhotoShop genius. I am offering a free photo shoot to highlight my mad photoshop skilz. If you don’t care about why I am a PS genius and just want to know about the shoot, skip down the offer part.

I love doing retouching of images to make people look their best. My philosophy on PhotoShop is this:

Some people are against photoshopping because it is changing reality. The camera shows how it is, and any digital manipulation is cheating.

I disagree. I think photoshop can be used to make the picture MORE real. When we are living in the world and are talking to somebody face-to-face, we see all of them. We see what they look like, but we also see their energy, their spirit, their movement, their vibe. And how eyes work (there are loads of science books on this) is that we all have two blind spots in the middle of what we see. So our brains fill in what should be there. So while we are living in the moment and having a wonderful chat with our dear new friend, we are seeing and creating our perception of them. We usually don’t notice the particular shade of their teeth or the mole on their neck or how their clothes are laying on their bodies. We just see them.

However, in a picture, when we stop time and force everyone to look at an image of that same person from a particular perspective (the height of the photographer, what lens they had on the camera, how much light was in the room) all of that in-person filling in goes out the window. When we look at a flat image, we see the pimples and moles and double chins and shine. We see that scar on the chin. That her lipstick rubbed off a bit or he missed a spot shaving. We see that guy in a bright red shirt walking in the distance. We see all the imperfections in a picture that we didn’t see in real life.

How I use PhotoShop, is that I try to get us back to the in-person experience. I want to get rid of all of those little imperfections that we don’t notice in real life.

Don’t get me wrong. I also love doing that high-fashion photoshopping where you completely change what the person looks like. And I’m looking to do one of those shoots too. But my primary goal for this offer is REAL people.

So that is why I am offering FREE photoshoots. I know I am a PS genius, however, I am also sensitive about my photoshopping. I will post pictures all day of my clients looking great but I just don’t feel comfortable posting before and after photos of my clients.  I know I wouldn’t want everyone to know that the photographer had to photoshop out the huge pimple I had in the middle of my forehead or whiten my yellow teeth or thin me down to look like I was 20 pounds lighter.

OFFER

I am offering a free photo shoot to anyone willing to let me show before / after photos of you. You’ll get a disc of all the images from the shoot as well as the retouched ones.  I’m looking for:

- Actor / Author / Professional Headshot

- Engagement or Couples Shoot

- Rock The Dress Shoot (get dressed up in your old wedding gown and we go take fun photos)

- High School Senior Portrait (the opposite of those boring studio pictures. we go out to cool locations and shoot there.)

 

The before / after photos will be used for promotional materials by me to demonstrate that I am a photoshop genius. 

Email me if you are interested!

The Sky Was Pink I Swear! [Wedding Retouching]

I don’t know if this happened to you, but it happened to us. Despite being a time nazi, I was terribly late to my own wedding. (Yes, 30 minutes is terribly late to a time nazi even though I had planned in an hour and 15 minutes of tardiness throughout the evening.) Unbeknownst to me at the time, this was quite a blessing. Several out-of-town guests were rushing from the airport to our ceremony and would have missed it if we were on time thanks to Miami’s predictably unpredictable traffic jams.

Also, one of the things I missed most about Miami when I was living in Boston was the sunsets. Miami is known for brilliant colorful sunsets. The sky turns pink and purple and gold and orange as golden sunbeams shoot upward from the sinking sun. In winter, this magic hour goes fast and sometimes is just kind of blah. We were scheduled for a sunset ceremony to try to capture this moment. The sun had just gone down as I was walking down the aisle. I knew we only had a little bit of time before it was dark.

The ceremony was perfect. My brother and Vince’s cousin won the lottery to be our witnesses. They were standing on either side of us throughout the ceremony. And just as we had our first kiss, the sky turned brilliant pinks and purples. Everyone talked about how beautiful it was and what wonderful photos we would have.

As a photographer, I can tell you that our eyes see things very different than a camera does. Disappointing but true. That is why taking the picture is only half of the work. Digital editing and post-processing is the second half of taking a picture.

If you are thinking about getting images retouched, try to get the highest quality version you can to start with. Camera RAW is best. Most pro-sumer DSLRs can shoot in it, though you need special software to look at and edit the pictures. Also many professional photographers won’t give you the RAWs. Next best is a JPG with very high resolutions. Point and shoots, camera phones, and scanned prints are more difficult but modest improvements can be done to those as well. I will post some images soon of lower-res retouched files.

For now, rollover the image to see the original RAW file and then mouse out to see the retouched image.

 

Making Art From Your Old Wedding Photos [Wedding Retouching]

For 2011, I am going to start offering a digital editing service for old wedding photos. Perhaps your wedding photos didn’t turn out as great as you’d hoped. Or maybe for your anniversary, you want to make something artsy and couture from those old things. Either way, I’d love to help spruce up your family memories and turn them into heirlooms.

Here is one pic of me on my wedding day. It was before the ceremony when I was still getting ready at the hotel. I’ve decided to go with the old-school glamour look and not go as crazy as I usually do with getting rid of wrinkles. I think they add a touch of authenticity without making my vanity jump off a cliff. I also filled out my eyelashes a bit to make them more even and not as clumpy.

Move your mouse over the image to see the original color version and then back off to see the black and white retouched image.

Electra [Family Archival Restoration]

I guess I’m in a gramma kind of mood. This is one of me and my Gramma Electra. Electra was a tiny woman of 4’8″ but she one of the most powerful, fearless, protective, fiery, and kind spirits I’ve ever known.

She would tell me stories of stabbing a boy with a pencil when she was in elementary school for calling her “electricity”. Of taking the old Ford on joy rides through the South Shore in Massachusetts so she and her younger brothers could go dig up clams. Of vacationing in Acopulco, Mexico and telling my dad to take a picture of Elizabeth Taylor sunning herself on the beach. When she picked up the phone and found someone speaking in Spanish to her, she would curse in Greek at them until they spoke English.

My favorite memories are me in her lap watching old Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies.  Those big water ballet movies. Bing Crosby and Dean Martin. Gene Kelly. Frank Sinatra. Judy Garland. Shirley Temple. This picture reminds me of that time. Sitting on her lap. Bundled up in that red plaid blanket. It’s dark and quiet except for the glow from the black and white TV set. Everything was good and safe in the world. And this picture lets me see that she felt that too.

Great Gramma Ruby [Family Archival Restoration]

Here is a restoration that I am particularly proud of.   The original image was a 4×6 print that had been in a frame for 30 years hanging on my parents’ dining room wall. I always loved this picture even though I looked kinda dopey in it. Little girls just don’t know you are not supposed to smile into cameras even if you are wearing an old-timey costume. So everyone else looks authentic and I look…well…like I’m playing dress up.

We took this picture on a trip to California to visit family. Great Gramma Ruby was particularly memorable as she was 86 years old and did somersaults with me in her backyard. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Eighty years separated us but we both tumbled and played. One can only hope I can be half as nimble as she was when I’m 86.

 

SPECIAL OFFER: Free Photo Editing to First 10 Responders

Hi All. You know how I love all things PhotoShop and have taken dozens of classes and gone to many conferences on the fine art of digital editing. Well, for 2011, I am going to launch a new photography service for retouching pictures taken by other photographers, fixing up old family photos, or making those point and click pictures something special.

The introductory price will be $10 per image.

To get my portfolio going, I’d like to offer free retouching in exchange for including the before & after images on my website. Retouching can include color correction, exposure correction, removing pimples, whitening teeth, brightening eyes, softening wrinkles, getting rid of double chins, slenderizing hips & arms, fixing hair, removing unsightly things and people from the background, … the list goes on and on.

If you have a picture you love but you know it could be better, now is your chance to see what it could look like with a little PhotoShop Love.

Specifically I’d love to get:

• Brides
• Newborns
• Kids
• Headshots
• Elderly
• Old pictures
• Family / group pictures

Message me on FaceBook if you are interested!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jacqueline-Stetson-Photography/87223158348