This post is mostly for my fellow photographers and blog stalkers...but others might be interested too. Like politics, the internet is full of debates on which style of photography is the best way. I had some great conversations about photographic style at this weekend's wedding, which got me to thinking about *my* style. My favorite photos are of emotions. Emotions (at least the true ones) don't come out of people when they are awkward, stiff or uncomfortable. So, in every way, I would say that the success of my photos depends on my abilities to get someone to relax, especially when that dreaded big black camera is pointed in their direction. So, I guess that's what I would consider the first component my style. The second phase comes in the actual picture taking with things like shutter speed, aperture, flashes, etc. I try to use as little equipment as possible with one purpose in mind. I believe the less "stuff" I have around me when I take a photo, the more relaxed people will be...it's less intimidating when there's no lightstands, reflectors, boom arms, etc. Of course, there are situations where I have to use a flash...and I do. BUT, in general, I will try to avoid it for as long as possible. The last phase comes in taking that photo and making it special with post-processing. I actually use two programs for all my editing; Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom (beta 2 version). Between the two programs, everything you see about my photos is usually done in about 30 seconds to 5 minutes per photo. Longer if the kids are pulling at me to do something for them :) So...what kind of edits do I do before most people even see the photo? Here's a rare look behind the scenes of an edit...I actually remembered to stop and save the in-between steps. Straight out of the camera, this is what the photo looks like. It was extremely overcast this particular day. I had Kristin lit with a mini-softbox (just had to use a flash due to the overcast, dark skies), but also because in this particular case it was for formal bridal portraits which are traditionally not all about emotions...so a little bit different than my usual shooting style. I kept it deliberately underexposed just a little bit so I didn't lose any details in her delicate dress and veil. Then, I did some edits to "warm" up the photo a bit, added a lot of contrast, and desaturated it too. Some corner darkening was also applied to add a little vignette. Her face was brightened just a touch to highlight her beautiful face. Next, I did a little skin smoothing and brightened the whites of the eyes just a touch. It's really starting to look nice now! Final touches are optional. In this case, I added some texture layers to the image to add warmth and interest. And one other mystery edit, if you can guess what it was...you win a gold star! The final editing is taking the tilted horizon out of the background...just to make it a nice and clean. And one more fully edited shot of Kristin and Shawn to show off that awesome sky we had to work with!