Before and After: Gimme Some Glam

We all know what's beginning to happen up in the Northern Hemisphere: no, not just fall, fall fashion. HELLO, there are gorgeous boots, sweaters, and accessories showing up in stores everywhere! Can I get an AMEN?! The new fashion trends rolling out always seem to get my toes tingling...or maybe it's my fingers tingling as they reach for my wallet... Either way, I'm itching to see some serious glam.

I saw that this image had some great potential and could be seriously transformed into something extra captivating if I gave it just the right look. I wanted the final image to match the sultry expression on the model's face. In order to do this, I needed to use an effect with a bit more contrast and color, so I combined one of our fabulous cross-processed looks with a texture to give it some depth. This is what I came up with:

Here's the recipe used to enhance this image:

Skin Powder Genie (Artistic Tools V3)
Doll Face (Artistic Tools V3)
TenSixties (Viva la Vintage)
    2010 60's layer @ 80%
Kapchorwa (Texture Tools - Industrial)
    Remove Texture Color @ 40%
Vignette 2 Interactive (Artistic Tools V4) @ 80%
Shadow Killer Brush (Production Tools V2)

How many of you out there include fashion photography in your repertoire? What's your style of processing?

Cheers from the Image Diva,
Eryn

Posted by Kubota Image Tools 

From Joyful to Joyfully Warm

Browsing through images the other day, I found this family photo that made me smile to no end. To some, this may not be considered a typical family portrait. You know, the photos where everyone is staring at the camera saying "Cheese!" which never looks natural (who came up with that anyway?). Although no one in this image is looking directly at the camera, it's filled with buckets of joy. This is the kind of image that will always make a family smile when glancing at it hanging up in their home. 

I wanted to enhance this image so that it highlighted these beautiful blondes and their warm smiles.

Crème Brulée (Viva la Vintage)
Wash (Earth Textures)
    Remove Texture Color @ 80%
Digital Fill Flash (Artistic Tools V2)
Smokeless Burn (Artistic Tools V2)
Clarify Lite (Production Tools V2)

So curiosity got the best of me and I Googled to see who started using the phrase "Cheese" while taking portraits. I found a website called The Phrase Finder, which shows you the origin of a bundle of phrases. Among listing the first printed record of someone explaining why you should say "Cheese" when having your photo taken, it also mentions what a couple non-English speaking countries use as their version of the word. Apparently Mexico and Argentina say "Whisky" and in France they say "dit souris" (meaning "say mouse"). Who knew?

What word or phrase do you use to get those pearly whites to show themselves during a portrait session?  We'd love for you to share your tricks!

Cheers from the Image Diva,
Eryn

Posted by Kubota Image Tools 

Pony Up the Punch for Your Colorful Seniors

Teenagers seem to have a great sense of style these days, much unlike myself when I was that age. When I was a teen I usually sported the jeans & white tee look, and regularly added my grey zip-up hoodie to complete the ensemble. When it came time for my senior photos, I recall pairing my white tee with overalls thinking that was a dynamite outfit. Rest assured, I've changed my ways since then!

This senior's punchy style is reflected by having her photographed in a colorful boutique. I wanted to enhance her spunkiness by adding some texture and by saturating the colors a bit.

Here is the recipe used to enhance this image:

Digital Fill Flash (Artistic Tools V2) - painted on eyes
Bleacher (Artistic Tools V4) @ 65%
Icing (Artistic Tools V4) @30%
Edge Blur Modified (Artistic Tools V2)
Tallin (Industrial Texture) @ 50%
Over X Helper - Paint In (Artistic Tools V3)

Cheers from the Image Diva,
Eryn

Posted by Kubota Image Tools 

Summertime Lovin': Before and After

Warm weather is finally gracing us with it's presence here in Central Oregon, home of Kubota Headquarters. As soon as temperatures start getting anywhere near the 60's, we're in our shorts running along the river trails, riding bikes, kayaking and rockin' out to summer concerts. We have a plethora of outdoor activities available to us and there is definitely no shortage of breathtaking landscapes.

When it came time to choose an image for this month's before & after, I wanted to find something that showed off a little of the beauty that surrounds us while still keeping with our wedding theme. This image is from a wedding at Suttle Lake, one of many gorgeous bodies of water that surround us. 

Check out what I came up with:

Lighten via Screen 1 third Stop (Production Tools V2)
FunkTaFi (Artistic Tools Pow Wow) - painted in over water & sky
89 Miles (Earth Textures)
Punch Drunk (Artistic Tools V4)
Digital Fill Flash (Artistic Tools V2)
Smokeless Burn (Artistic Tools V2)

Here's to summer!

Cheers from the Image Diva,
Eryn

Posted by Kubota Image Tools 

Daydreaming the Perfect Image: Before and After

The other day I was browsing through images Kevin took on a recent trip to Italy. I practically transcended into another place. You know the place, right? The one where you have a task to finish and then suddenly you are swept off to a land far, far away. There was something about this particular image that caught my eye and sparked thoughts of being tucked away in this little cove, sitting under one of the colorful awnings outside a cafe, staring at the water, and feeling wonderfully care-free. I wanted to make this image look just as light and serene as I imagined it would be if I were there. That said, the image needed a little help.

The image was taken using a Lensbaby which conveniently already leant to the dreamy look I was going for. My intention was to pop the colors and use some of our Textures to give it a little more dimension. Check out what I came up with.

Before:

Here's the recipe I used to enhance the image:

High Fidelity (Kubota Artistic Tools V3)
     Saturations Compensation layer turned off
     Booster 2 layer turned off
Cobalt (Industrial Textures)
Licorice Buzz (Industrial Textures)
     Painted away some texture from the edges
OverX Helper - painted in (Kubota Artistic Tools V3)
Starbust Vignette Interactive (Kubota Artistic Tools V4)
Juju (Sloppy Borders)

Cheers from The Image Diva,
Eryn

Posted by Kubota Image Tools 

Before & After

It's always fun to see some post-processing ideas from other photographers, so we thought we'd start sharing a few of ours with you! This month I wanted to feature one of my favorite actions from VIVA LA VINTAGE called TenSeventies.

Before:

And here's the recipe I used to enhance this lovely image:

TenSeventies (Viva)
CheapTP (Earth Textures)
Golden Delish (Viva) - painted away effect from sky
Over X Helper - Paint in (AV3) - on face and dress
Grain 3 (AV1)
Border White Horizontal (PV2)

Cheers from The Image Diva,
Eryn

Posted by Kubota Image Tools