I thought I would start out with an image that is very dear to my heart - this is my awesome Assistant/Second Photographer Toni. She let me experiment with her maternity shoot - to say I was excited would be the understatement of the year. I had this very clear vision in my mind of the final image - basically - a floating, gorgeous, pregnant, beautiful Water Angel. Yay!!!!
I was also very, very nervous. So many things could go wrong.
So - imagine me - climbing up a little rickety step ladder besides this very deep, very WET pool, in intense humidity from the pool heating, with my very fragile, very non-waterproof camera - and well... you get the idea that I was kinda nervous!
So - I took the photo. Well - I took 56 of them, to be exact. Why so many? Well - it is because there are so many variables that I had to get JUST RIGHT in this image. The angle of the hands, the expression on the face, the "float" of the sheet (yes - that IS a purple sheet she is wearing). So - I took a lot of photos to make sure that I got "the one".
But this was only the beginning. I needed to convert the RAW file to a format useable in Photoshop. Then, straightened, dodged and burned, enhanced makeup, smoothed skin, cloned, liquified, colour popped, and then finally added wings. As you can see - the TAKING of the photo is just the first step. There is so much more to it than just clicking away.
Now - I don't go to this degree of editing for EVERY photo - in fact - most of the time I just enhance the tiniest amount. But - this photo is more of a piece of art than "just a photo".
I want to say a HUGE thankyou to Toni for allowing me to show you the "Before and After". You are such an amazing and gorgeous friend! Thankyou! (And a BIG thankyou to Toni's sister, Eliza, for helping with the lighting on the day).
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