I read so many books and blogs and websites and sometimes all the information was too much to process. I was so overwhelmed with conflicting opinions and people telling me something because they had their own motivations.

The more I dug, the better I wanted to become. I didn’t want to be the type of photographer who does cheap work and doesn’t care. I wanted to get better. I still want to get better.

I know that some of you are like me.

Yesterday my family and I were out enjoying the beautiful snow-melting weather when a woman approached us saying that she reads my blog. {I was beyond flattered!} After some chatting I learned that she herself loves photography and strives to improve her skills. As I love tech talk and helping people, we decided to set up a time to have a play date with our kids and talk shop.

And I decided to do something on my blog that I have thought of for a long time. I decided that I want to start talking shop with you too. Not because I am better than any of you. Not because I have all the right answers. Not because I am so wise that the world would be missing something if I did not post these blogs.

Just because it might help someone out there. Just because I enjoy sharing what I have learned.

So, my next shop talk blog post will be about never putting your camera away until the very end. Not simply the end – but the VERY end. You will see what I mean…

When I first decided that I wanted to do photography professionally, my plan was to take awesome photos and hand over a disk of images to my clients for them to do what they would like with them. 

A month after I purchased my first digital SLR, I gave a CD of images from Christmas to one of my sister-in-laws. I printed out a few for myself, they looked great. Then one day I was at my mother-in-law’s house and I saw a terrible picture. It looked kind of like one that I had taken but it was orange and dark and blurry. My mother-in-law said that my sister-in-law had printed out a few of my images from Christmas at Costco and had given them out to our family. So there were my images, with my name on them, in the hands of people I love…and they looked terrible!

And I saw so clearly how much I love photography and think of my images as my babies and how I want them to be the best they can be.

I saw what a difference a professional printshop (and Photoshop) made on my images. That neon sign said that I needed creative control from start to finish. I knew that I wanted to be more than a photography chop-shop. I wanted to give my clients full service. I wanted to spend quality time with my clients and not try to squeeze as many sessions in a week as I could. I wanted to make sure that all images bearing my name were as good as they could be. I saw clearly the direction I wanted to go and never looked back.

I can’t show you the print quality until you come to my office, but I thought it might be fun (and a little nerve-wracking on my end) to share some before/after Photoshop images with you! 

Although a good image needs to be well-composed and exposed with great lighting and expressions right out of the camera, every image needs a little tweak before I share them with my clients. Some tweaks are so minor that no one would ever notice but me. And some images just cry to be played with a bit more like two recent images below.

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I liked this image. Beautiful Dani. The pose. The lighting. The blues. The wind in her hair. But straight out of the camera it deserved a little something. A little special Photoshop effort…

This is now one of my favorite images! So warm and soothing and I cannot take my eyes off of hers.

Again, right out of the camera this had potential. These two were so full of affection and they were having a great moment (on a cute bridge)…

But this Photoshop technique made this image even more special! This is also one of my new favorites!

I hope you enjoyed seeing a little behind-the-scenes and saw how I came to run my business the way I do. It was really guided by the love of photography and commitment to quality (that sounds like such a warm and cozy corporate moral phrase!).

This may be the first time I have publicly shown my straight-out-of-the-camera shots (I hope you still like me!). I am feeling a little naked at the moment but I know I will get over it. Maybe I should have paid attention to the flashing buzzing sign in my window now that says I should keep some things to myself! What fun would that be?

And then when you open your eyes, you will see the reality – it’s a construction project. Holes in the ceiling for track lighting. Ladders. Painting supplies. A broom and shopvac. The incredible smelling soaps still on the backdrop after yesterday’s shoot. You are in a place where you will be taken care of and should leave feeling better than you came, but it is not a super fancy space…yet! 

Everything has a reality.

Like my broken lens. During yesterday’s shoot, I heard a loud bang in the other room and quickly went to check on my kids. But not before setting my camera and favorite lens down too close to the edge of the backdrop. When I heard the thud of my camera hitting the floor and turned to see shattered glass everywhere, I nearly had a breakdown!

Instead of crying, I called my dad. Then I called National Camera. Then I went to National Camera – and found a wonderful reality. I didn’t break my lens. I broke the filter on my lens! Yes, the $22 filter that every camera salesperson recommends you buy to keep on your lens at all times to protect it. National Camera said that my filter took the force of the blow and that my lens and camera body seemed fine. I have yet to use them, but I am optimistic! 

I hate to keep giving out advice, but seriously folks, when the salesperson at the camera store tries to sell you a filter for your new lens – BUY IT! I want your reality to be a good one too.

One more note: When I mentioned walking into my office with your eyes closed, I didn’t really mean that you should close your eyes and walk places. My son tried closing his eyes and running yesterday (ah the mind of an almost two-year-old!) and missed running into a pole by a hair. Yup, keep your eyes open!

It was painful to take this image. The white flecks are bits of glass…

One of my product shoots of the day. It is a living will program and my client said that I can keep the product after the shoot. When I realized that I actually probably do need something like this, I must admit that it made me feel a tad bit old! Wills and life insurance and all that stuff are necessary (especially when you have kids), but actually thinking about it doesn’t fit the girl in her 20s that I still think I am!

My other product shoot of the day – simplyneutral’s new soaps (the fun shoot that made my office smell like a dream)! I love these new soaps! They made me feel more the age I think I am.