WW- Sisters

Wordless Wednesday

It's a big week in our family - we have 3 birthdays to celebrate! My two youngest and my little sister are all a year older this week. I'll be eating lots of cake, and wallowing in memories. 

I can hardly believe that my "baby" is turning 4. Four?! And Little Man will be 7. The time goes by so quickly. I wish it would slow down just a bit. I am having a hard time keeping up. I suppose all I can do is savor the little moments each day and record as many as I can to reflect upon later. 

So many big new milestones to look forward too, 

and so many sweet baby days have slipped away forever. 

Not So WW - With Photos

Here it is Wednesday again. I've lost track of time and nearly lost my mind. This week has been beyond busy, and difficult. I had a mountain of work to begin with, and then realized I had made an idiotic mistake and had to redo half of the mountain of work I spent several late nights furiously working to finish over the weekend. So there you go - double mountains for me. 

In an effort to keep this poor neglected blog limping along, I thought I'd at least post a peek at what I've been working on.  I've had no time to shoot or edit personal pics - so this is all business related for my photography biz- Melissa Bliss Photography. 

A bright spot in my day though - today I get to go visit my sweet new niece and take photographs - yay!

Here are a few of the sessions I've been working on:

WW- Sunset

I had a family session Sunday evening. A storm had come through the night before and it was a breezy, cool, sunlit, perfect evening with crystal clear skies. Our session started in their neighborhood by the shore and ended on the beach. This was the scene as we left the beach. Simply gorgeous.

for stopping by!

Lately - Through My Lens

May was a crazy busy month and went by in a blur. June isn't showing signs of letting up. I am chained to my desk editing away and getting ready for three more weddings in the next several weeks, plus baby showers, family and maternity sessions, a newborn session, my oldest daughter's birthday, and Father's Day too! Since I have little time to edit personal pics, I thought I'd share a collage of what I've been working on lately.

It's been lots of work, but lots of fun too. Here's to summer, with or without vacation. :)

WW - Growing Up

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and Memorial Day! I enjoyed shooting a beautiful military wedding on Saturday, recouped on Sunday and spent some time with family at the pool on Monday. It was a great weekend!

Today I'm sharing a shot of my big girl. She's turning nine in less than 2 weeks - hard to believe she's so grown up! Time goes by too quickly. I am so proud of this strong, sweet, beautiful young lady. She is a great sister and my biggest helper around the house. I love that she enjoys being creative and crafty and that she has become an avid reader.  She's also very helpful when it comes to modeling for my camera so I can practice new techniques. :)

Shot with a D800 and 105 mm 2.0 DC ISO 640 1/1000 at f 2.0 DC behind. 

WW- Loving Spring Portrait Weather

WW- Before and After Editing

Today I'm sharing a little before and after from the senior session I shot last week. I just sent out this gallery the other day. For seniors, I do more hand editing than for most family sessions. I tend to shoot more portrait-style work for seniors, with slightly more posing. 

I try to keep it pretty natural, but do smooth skin, whiten teeth, and dodge and burn to bring out highlights and add depth.  

 I also removed umpteen flyaway hairs from the close up shots in this session.  While I did try to keep an eye out and have her smooth & comb her hair before I clicked the shutter, shooting with backlight can make for an editing nightmare with stray hairs. All those finite details take a lot of time to correct in post-processing!

I did learn a new trick though, by duplicating the background layer in PS and adding a dust and scratches filter, I was able to use a layer mask to help paint over many of the flyways. Here's a link to a tutorial of this method if you're interested: Editing in PS.

Thanks for stopping in!

WW - Back in the Saddle

Last year, as my first official year in business, was a challenge. I didn't have a weekend off all summer and fall was pretty crazy too. I was booked solid with holiday portraits, mini sessions and weddings. Marketing, creating workable business systems, shooting, editing, client correspondence - it was non-stop about 80 hours per week. By the time Christmas came around I was dog tired - then I had an unexpected slew of sessions over the holidays. So, January and February were a welcomed respite. Things slowed down quite a bit, but I did have a few sessions here and there, and managed to book a few weddings for 2014 - woo hoo! I also spent some time revamping my marketing materials and social media and studying through workshops, books, practice, practice, practice…

I had worried that the slow season might last…not having a lot of bookings lined up was making me a little nervous. Owning a business can be feast or famine, I suppose. But, last week my phone started ringing again. I booked three sessions for this weekend, one for next weekend and a wedding in August. Then I breathed a sigh of relief. Funny how the onslaught of work can be, all at once, overwhelming, intimidating and comforting.

I also had a senior session at the beach last Saturday and it was great to be back in the saddle again. We lucked out with some gorgeous weather and I had a gorgeous senior to work with! Here are a few of my favorites that I have edited so far:

And yes, I switched up my logo this week, so forgive the non-matching watermarks please. ;)

What have you been up to?
Thanks for visiting!!

Wordless Wednesday

We spent the weekend visiting my in-laws in NC. We had gorgeous weather and it was great for the kids, (and me!), to get outside and play - dirt and all. Spring seems to be trying it's best to break through  the chill and I couldn't be happier about that. :)

Shot in the late afternoon on a partly cloudy day with my D610 and 105mm lens. 

Wordless Wednesday

One of my favorite images from last week - when it was much, much warmer. Today - snow, ice, blech.

WW - The Light of the Soul

"What is soul?  It's like electricity - we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room".  ~Ray Charles

Happiness

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, or worn. It is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace & gratitude.” - Denis Waitley

Shot in mid-afternoon window light on a sunny day. ISO 80, 50 mm lens @ f/2.2, 1/100 Sec

WW - Snow Bunny

We sure enjoyed the snow while it lasted. It has all melted now and we're back to cold, damp, gray days. Sigh. I hope that ground hog was wrong.

Since so many of my visitors are photography enthusiasts, I thought I would make a better effort to include my camera settings with my images.  I know I am often curious about the settings when I visit other photographers. So, here they are, in case you are curious - this image was shot with a Nikon D610 and 50 mm 1/4 lens:

Thanks for stopping in! Have a great day. :)

WW - Before and After Photos

It's been a while since I have shared a before and after, so I thought it would be fun to do so today- since I always mention that I'm up to my eyeballs in editing :) Here is an example of my process.

I import my RAW files directly to my external hard drive through Lightroom. I then select my favorites - usually 25-30 for a one hour session- and do a clean edit in Lightroom, adjusting white balance, cropping if necessary, and giving the image a gentle pop with the tone curve panel. I also reduce clarity a touch to smooth skin on portraits. I will sometimes remove small distractions, but usually do most of my cloning in Photoshop.

I then export to PS CC for the final edit, which is determined by the mood of the image and, frankly, just my instincts on what it needs. For this image, I warmed it up and painted some color on the foliage. I added a slight vignette and also cleaned up the green on the wood, which I found distracting. Then I sharpened and that's it. Of course, for some images, I do additional artistic editing if I feel moved to do so - but, I try to keep it simple and batch process to save as much time as possible.

These are screen captures of the process: 

It has taken me many, many hours to develop my editing skills and I still have a long way to go. But, I am getting more efficient and learning new things all the time and I love that the creative possibilities are endless. Lightroom is a huge time saver and I love the ease of organization. PS was very daunting at first, but I am getting more and more comfortable with it.

What's you favorite way to edit your images?

WW- Snow

Proof we had snow in SE Virginia ;)

It wasn't a big snow. It wasn't a pack a snowball and hurl it at your brother kind of snow. It wasn't a stick to the trees winter wonderland photographer's dream kind of snow. But, it was a snow day, fun to play in, cold and white kind of snow. And a welcome change from the norm.

Wordless Wednesday - Next Up in My Editing Queue

I met this gorgeous couple for a session on Sunday. So glad the weather turned out beautiful! Can't wait to finish their session. They were so sweet!

What have you been up to?