GETTING CRAFTY WITH TOMS

So by now most people know about Toms, the shoe company that manufactures extremely simple shoes and distributes them to needy children around the world. For every pair that is purchased, they give one pair away. Pretty cool, right?

These shoes are literally a blank canvas. It didn’t take long before people discovered that they could be hand painted and infinitely customized. My sister discovered this before I did and soon dropped off a pair for me to do “whatever I wanted.”

I chose to do this peacock theme based off an illustration I saw earlier this year and picked colors that I knew Stephanie would like and wouldn’t be too different from stuff she would wear anyway.  The paint is regular acrylic paint that I have used for other painting projects. I know that eventually the shoes will wear out and the design will be faded so I took a few photos to document my work.

EDITING STAGES

In my workflow, there are basically three stages of photo editing. The First Stage is the raw photo. This is what comes out of the camera. Generally, these are pretty decent photos, but you will probably never see them.

The Second Stage happens in Lightroom.  This is software that allows me to adjust the exposure, white balance, contrast, and color saturation, among other things. The Second Stage photos tend to have brighter whites, darker blacks, even (and consistent) skin tones and just a little more… pop. For wedding and engagement photos every photo goes through Stage 2.  This is a time consuming process, taking 6-12 hours for each wedding. For most weddings I outsource this  process to a company I trust called Shoot Dot Edit because it helps me get the images back to my clients faster and frees me up to run a business instead of sitting in front of my computer for days on end.

The Third Stage happens in Photoshop. This is where I do fine tweaking on the color, remove blemishes / smooth out skin, remove distracting elements in the composition, and cropping. For weddings, Stage 3 photos are only included in album photos or custom prints. This is because it is a very time consuming process to make these digital enhancements. For magazine work, or jobs with only a few images, like corporate headshots, Stage 3 is usually included in the price. When it’s not included I do this detailed Photoshop work for an hourly rate.

You can see the difference in the three stages of my workflow in these wedding portraits:

WASHINGTON DC WEDDING: NIKKI AND DAVE

I did not know it was possible to get married on the National Mall. But Nikki did. I’m not sure how much planning and paperwork is involved with scheduling an event on public property like that but Nikki and Dave pulled it off. And even with careful planning it doesn’t always go the way you want. The original plan was to have the ceremony at the DC War Memorial, close to Lincoln’s reflecting pool. A few days before the ceremony was to take place, the National Park Service informed the bride and groom that they would have to move to the Jefferson Memorial. Not a bad backup plan!

So right before sunset Dave and Nikki were married, with the Tidal Basin behind them and their friends, family, and Jefferson in front of them.  After the ceremony the bridal party gathered for some photos on the Memorial and the happy couple stuck around to see the sun go down from the big, white, marble steps.

After the ceremony, the party got started at the McLean Gardens Ballroom in DC. Foreign relations were maintained (Dave and his family are English!) through dinner, drinks, and some impressive dance moves. Truly, love knows no boundaries.