Extraordinary Ashley

Ashley is one of my friends and she just happens to be classically beautiful. She has sweet delicate feminine features. Her hair changes with the season but her face remains always the same, always beautiful.  I shot this picture one fall day on my front porch. She had a relaxed grace about her as she leaned back on the porch railing.

About the photo: this image had a bit of motion blur to begin with, so I decided to just take it in the direction the image lent itself to.

An ode to summer

Can't help but to rejoice that the weather is warm in Michigan. It is that season for flip-flops. My claustrophobic feet are so happy to finally be free to breathe again. The blues in this photograph are so refreshing. I sat down on a railroad trestle to watch the water pass by, and could not resist hanging my flip-flops over the edge. ( I'm such a risk taking rebel)

Going from A to Z

Here is a classic example of post processing, which is photography lingo for improving the overall quality of a picture.
Step 1. Remove distracting elements (such as people in the background)
Step 2. Make the sky blue-er ( if that's a word)
Step 3. Use a special plug-in (on-one skintune) to soften the skin and give it a glow.
Step 4. Perform a color and contrast shift on the sand to bring out texture.
Step 5. Put your logo on it so people can hire you to take great portraits of them!
(Click on picture to see larger version)

About the photo: This picture was taken on the shores of an Indiana state park (yes I was surprised to learn that Indian has shoreline on Lake Michigan too). The model Erin has great skin to begin with, which saves me a lot of time on re-touching. Erin has always wanted to go to the ocean, for the time being she settled on lake michigan. I felt this was a successful shoot in that showcased her natural unkempt beauty.