A few weeks ago I got to see a longtime friend of mine while he was back on leave (he's a former Marine who's in the Army now). We stopped by his homecoming/birthday party and it was mucho good to see him. It was especially cool because the Patriot Guard rode in to show their support and say a big thank you, a much deserved one at that.

Chris isn't just a brave soldier serving us - he's a good friend. We go way back. Back to the days of him scaring me with bumble bees, the days of ridiculous jokes at lunch, and the days of walking around as a couple of old farts in Lil' Abner. If I wasn't so lazy right now, I'd scan a picture from that show and post it. I'm certain you'd get a good laugh out of it. I could tell countless stories, but I'll spare you. =)

The other cool thing is that we got to photograph his family while he was back in town. He goes on another tour in Afghanistan this Spring so we're glad we got to get the gang together before then. Here's a few of the pictures:

With all of the weekend's excitement and busy-ness, I forgot to mention one VERY important detail. My Oklahoma State Cowboys had a big win over Georgia!!!!!!!! Go pokes, Go pokes, Go pokes, Go! Not only that but they are in the TOP 5 now! YEAH! And, not only that, they've been featured on Sports Illustrated Magazine's cover twice in one month!! That's what I'm talking about!

Today we'd like to share what our post-processing (editing) process looks like. Dac handles the majority of our editing work. As a graphic designer, he really has a good eye for details and he does a great job of making our photos look their very best.

We try our best to take pictures that truly capture life or even just a moment and add a little sugar and spice to make them just that much better. Sometimes we make only minor adjustments, keeping the photo as close to real-life as possible, and sometimes we add some flair to make it more of a work of art.

To us, there's a delicate balance between great, straight from the camera photos (the cupcake, if you will) and the editing (the frosting) we apply afterward. You can have a cupcake by itself and it's great. I mean hey, I'd take it and be happy! =) BUT, there's just something about adding the right amount of frosting that makes it complete. That's why we do what we do and here's HOW we do what we do. Since Dac's most recently been working on Jared and Kylie's wedding proofs, we'll use one of their pictures as an example.

Picture 1: This is what our picture looks like straight out of the camera, when it is imported into Adobe Lightroom. We shoot in RAW format which gives us the most flexibility in post processing, but it also ends up looking the most "blah" right out of the camera. See?

Picture 2: This is what the photo looks like once it has been adjusted in Lightroom. Things done in Lightroom include basic color edits and adjusting exposure (how light or dark the entire photo is). This is what our "proofs" and the photos we give clients on a CD look like.

Well, Labor Day weekend is just about over and I'm sad about it. It was a good but busy weekend and quite frankly I'd like to take another day off to rest up. Thursday night we shot a fun senior session. Saturday was a great wedding day. Sunday was church, lunch at Grandma's, and a fabulous engagement session. Today was odds and ends around the house, errands, hanging out with a friend and getting baby puke ALL over me,  supper at Dac's parents house, and lots of photo editing! Now that you know all these un-interesting facts about our weekend, I must tell you, I have a dentist appt. tomorrow. Just one of the many reasons I don't want the weekend to be over. I HATE going to the dentist. I practically kick and scream like a toddler on my way in for a simple cleaning! =) Wish me luck.

 Here are a couple sneak peeks from the weekend. Rusty and Amanda got married in a sweet ceremony Saturday. They both looked great and we really enjoyed the laid back day. They're so cute together! Yesterday we met up with Jerry and Adrienne for their rad engagements. We've been looking forward to this one for a quite some time and it didn't disappoint. These two are fun! =) All of these guys helped us to have a great weekend!

This weekend we spent the day with Chet and Kayla and a bunch of other really cool people. The wedding was lots of fun and Kayla made a beautiful bride! They seemed SO happy together. =) So I'm happy for them. Here's a little something to tide you over...



Happy end of Monday!