Remembering Summer...

jeffreaux2 · December 4, 2009

Finally getting to the culling and editing of some shots of my daughter last summer....

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Qarik · December 4, 2009

great stuff jeff!

your daughters are so gorgeous!

zoomer · December 4, 2009

Beautiful young lady showing lots of personality.
Very nice photos.
I have got to learn how to do textures, love your use of them here and the pp in the last one also really works.

heatherfeather · December 4, 2009

Great job on the yellow extraction! (For the rest of you.. something we talked about in a pm.)

I like it muchos!

jeffreaux2 · December 4, 2009

...TTD

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adbsgicom · December 4, 2009

Nice stuff, Jeff.

Agnieszka · December 4, 2009

Soooo pretty + love the textures!!

Gorgeous!

divamum · December 4, 2009

Hmmm.... somebody having fun playing with the new actions?

Beautiful as always, Jeff. I particularly love the tootsies - that is such a cool shot! (and if you have pictures of her baby feet too, that would be such a cool collage......

)

DavidS · December 4, 2009

I love the lighting in these. The shot of the feet is terrific. I really like the composition in it and think b&w was a great choice for it. I'm not sure how I feel about textures yet, but you did a great job with them.

Elaine · December 4, 2009

Good grief, that first one is gor.ge.ous. Tastefully used textures and the colors are divine!

Darren Troy C · December 4, 2009

Really right stuff Mr Reau!

kidzmom · December 5, 2009

NIIIIICE! Those are so awesome..So, are you gonna share your texture secret?! I bet your daughter loves these! How could she not!!!!

CTUphoto · December 5, 2009

I love.....all of them. That's TRA at work there, yeah? I'm digging the textures, but it helps that--as with all your other work--the foundation images are all great to begin with. It's not like you're trying to cover up some bad technique, etc, ya know? Great stuff here Jeff. I haven't seen much from you lately so was excited when I saw your post this morning. Now, what's Heather been up to........:D

~jb

jeffreaux2 · December 5, 2009

zoomer wrote:

Beautiful young lady showing lots of personality.
Very nice photos.
I have got to learn how to do textures, love your use of them here and the pp in the last one also really works.

Thanks Zoomer....

If you are familiar with layers and blending modes then you already know how!

Just add the textures as a layer and play with the blending modes, then use a layer mask on the texture layer to remove it from select areas. Overlay, hard light, soft light...

deviant art has an abundance of textures to use.....

jeffreaux2 · December 5, 2009

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-8

jeffreaux2 · December 5, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

Great job on the yellow extraction! (For the rest of you.. something we talked about in a pm.)

I like it muchos!

....er...it was more work than I anticipated......

I wound up going ALL the way back to the original RAWs in LR and cutting the contrast.....and backing down on the saturation. A PITA......but....you were right....that first go at it was a tosser.

BTW.... I am charging batteries and cleaning gear for what may very well be my final wedding shoot. They are to be married tonight after dark. I was informed Wednesday that instead of christmas lights in the gazebo they have decided to use candles. CANDLES!!!

It snowed here last night and is SUPER cold out right now. The gal who normally assists me is out sick. I have hired a stand in...who is very creative....but has little wedding work in her portfolio. Im wondering what else could possibly go wrong.......?

Luckily I have shot by candlelight before....and so....at least I didn't have a coronary when she informed me........anyways if I am lucky it will be moved indoors due to the weather. I bet I will be in a much better mood tommorrow...when it's over! (

)

jeffreaux2 · December 5, 2009

Qarik, Andrew, Agnieszka.....Thanks for commenting.:D

divamum wrote:

Hmmm.... somebody having fun playing with the new actions?

Beautiful as always, Jeff. I particularly love the tootsies - that is such a cool shot! (and if you have pictures of her baby feet too, that would be such a cool collage...... )

DavidS wrote:

I love the lighting in these. The shot of the feet is terrific. I really like the composition in it and think b&w was a great choice for it. I'm not sure how I feel about textures yet, but you did a great job with them.
__________________
David Snook

We were on vacation....and shot on two separate afternoons. When we vacation at the beach, the girls like to shop at Mid day when it gets too hot to be on the beach. I had been dragged around earlier the first day on a shopping trip, and spent most of that time browsing books at a bookstore. As luck would have it, I spotted an beautifully executed foot shot in a bridal photography book. Mine isn't an identical pose, but came out rather well. Still....I wish I had lit from behind rather than the side. Live...learn.

jeffreaux2 · December 5, 2009

Elaine wrote:

Good grief, that first one is gor.ge.ous. Tastefully used textures and the colors are divine!

Thanks so much Elaine. It is certainly one of my all time favorites of her. BTW.... These were lit with a single 580EX.....the STE2.....and a 45" umbrella. On a handfull of them.....7 and 8 for sure....I used a CTO gel. Im not so sure I prefer those with the gel to those without.

It was late afternoon....near sundown....but still the gel was not quite a match.......leaving her rather warm as compared to the cooler BG. I do like the effect that having cooler colors in the BG provides, but If we werent at the beach with all that emerald water behind her the combination may have come out altogether dreadful. Still things to learn on that front!:D

jeffreaux2 · December 5, 2009

Darren Troy C wrote:

Really right stuff Mr Reau!

ER....Thanks....I think?....

Who/what is Mr Reau?

jeffreaux2 · December 5, 2009

kidzmom wrote:

NIIIIICE! Those are so awesome..So, are you gonna share your texture secret?! I bet your daughter loves these! How could she not!!!!

CTUphoto wrote:

I love.....all of them. That's TRA at work there, yeah? I'm digging the textures, but it helps that--as with all your other work--the foundation images are all great to begin with. It's not like you're trying to cover up some bad technique, etc, ya know? Great stuff here Jeff. I haven't seen much from you lately so was excited when I saw your post this morning. Now, what's Heather been up to........:D

There is no "secret" to using textures....

Read my reply to Zoomer......but the photos here were done with the "Totally Rad Action" "Dirty Pictures" texture engine. It makes setting up the texture and mask a one button operation. All I need to do now is figure out how to import my entire texture library into their program.....

It goes like this though.....

Original....( the pavers on my patio)

Plus....( a shot of text displayed on my pc monitor)

plus......( a sure enough "texture" I shot of the cement in my drive)

equals....

....then add...( a transparent lightbulb )

and the result is....

This was an image I did for a Mega Challenge that was themed...."The Elements". I did a section of the periodic table of elements and the tungsten filament in the bulb for "Tungsten #74".....an image composited using layers and blending modes to combine them. Nothing interesting in any of the images, but they combine to make something interesting. All but the fist shot were used as I would use a texture. No cutting....no lasso s....no pasting.

CTU....I appreciate your kind remarks. Thank you for looking/ commenting.

jeffreaux2 · December 5, 2009

..... a few more.....

I am planning to do a book with her senior portraits as well as other shots of a more candid nature from different senior year activities.....

-9- A bit different on the processing on this one.
I like the backlighting here....but wish I hadn't flashed it quite so hard.

10- Sunlight only for this one...an out-take while she fooled around a bit with the guitar...

jeffreaux2 · December 7, 2009

jeffreaux2 wrote:

....
Im wondering what else could possibly go wrong.......?

Well....now I know...

The wedding went off outdoors as originally planned...it was VERY COLD.....and the LIMO was involved in an accident on it's way to the brides house to carry everyone to the venue. We ended up 45 minutes late to the site and had to skip the walk through. Sheesh.

Darren Troy C · December 7, 2009

jeffreaux2 wrote:

ER....Thanks....I think?....

Who/what is Mr Reau?

I picked it from your screen name.

I assumed it was "Jeff" "Reau" "X2". Sorry !

jeffreaux2 · December 7, 2009

Darren Troy C wrote:

I picked it from your screen name.

I assumed it was "Jeff" "Reau" "X2". Sorry !

Ahhhh....I see (said the blind man!

)

Actually....

Its not a first...and last name, but only a cajun french twist on Jeffro. A screen name my sister came up with that I have hung onto...and used since my first AOL visit. My real name isn't Jeffro either....but rather just plain Jeff.

In any event...I "get it"...now!:D

heatherfeather · December 7, 2009

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Ahhhh....I see (said the blind man! )

(To his deaf wife... as he picked up his hammer and saw.)
Well, I can't wait to see how it went for your last big wedding shebang.
Get a couple teasers up here so we don't have to wait in mournful silence, okay?

jeffreaux2 · December 7, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

(To his deaf wife... as he picked up his hammer and saw.)
Well, I can't wait to see how it went for your last big wedding shebang.
Get a couple teasers up here so we don't have to wait in mournful silence, okay?

The best I can do for now Heather....

I somehow managed to shoot 940 something files.....and I have quite a few more to wade through......and I am still waiting for the files from my helper (

).

A- I had already shut my flash down....but coulda used it here to add a touch to my foreground.....a fun shot either way.

B- I love the journalistic approach....(Where's BD?)

C-It was one of the sweetest Father/Daughter dances I've shot....and I was pleased with my flashwork...

D- Father/ Daughter...again.

l.k.madison · December 7, 2009

Wow!!
those are just amazingly gorgeous, simply stunning.

It was an honor and a privilege to shoot with you, I'll do it again anytime.

Now, since I got the not-so-subtle hint that you needed shots from your helper, I *guess* it's time to share a few of my favorites. I keep tweaking and deleting and tweaking again and I'm still not completely satisfied, but here's the ones I've done for now. I sent some to my mom and her response was "I wish I had those in my wedding album" and they even pass the husband test, which is saying something.

In no particular order...

1.

2.

3.

4.

Not my usual b/w conversion, but I thought it worked.
5.

heatherfeather · December 7, 2009

jeffreaux2 wrote:

The best I can do for now Heather....

Now that is a gorgeous shot! I love it!

What are you stopping weddings for? These are beautiful! (And don't let the 900+ files scare you. That is NOTHING.)

Thanks for the preview.

Qarik · December 7, 2009

haha that 3rd one with the B&G in the arch of the lamp..great idea and execution!

jeffreaux2 · December 7, 2009

l.k.madison wrote:

those are just amazingly gorgeous, simply stunning.

It was an honor and a privilege to shoot with you, I'll do it again anytime.

Now, since I got the not-so-subtle hint that you needed shots from your helper, I *guess* it's time to share a few of my favorites. I keep tweaking and deleting and tweaking again and I'm still not completely satisfied, but here's the ones I've done for now. I sent some to my mom and her response was "I wish I had those in my wedding album" and they even pass the husband test, which is saying something.

In no particular order...

Not my usual b/w conversion, but I thought it worked.

Hey Lauren.....Welcome to Dgrin!!!

These look great!....didn'yt I tell ya that was the sweetest Father/daughter dance EVER!!!!:D

...and I have one nearly identical to your #2 shot.....mine may be a tad darker though...

...and though the lantern shot is beautiful....I am REALLY stoked about the next shot....the one I asked for...and you delivered. Its an emotionally stunning image.

Everyone.....say hello to Lauren!!!

She shot with me last weekend on short notice....in the freezing cold....and came away unscathed!!!

I have always liked to get a shot of the bride with her father before the processional and due to the configuration of the venue didnt think Id have time.....so I asked Lauren to stay behind with them while I shot the wedding party entrance. She delivered in a big way!!!

....and

We had fun decompressing near mid-night in a fancy-schmancy restaurant!!!

(right Lauren?

)

Thanks sooo much...I can't wait to see the rest!

Oops....I forgot to tell you to number them so folks can make comments....you can edit your post and fix that though....

jeffreaux2 · December 7, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

Now that is a gorgeous shot! I love it!

What are you stopping weddings for? These are beautiful! (And don't let the 900+ files scare you. That is NOTHING.)

Thanks for the preview.

Thanks Heather.....

I doubt I will stop alltogether.......time will tell.

I am hoping to get a promotion at work (the real work) in the next year or two that would allow me better scheduling for clients....weddings or otherwise. Til then......Ill be very picky about the ones I might take.

...and I know 900 files isn't a ton. My first was like 1500....but I was shooting "extras" to make up for less than ideal gear limitations at that time......

It just sucks to glance at the clock and realize that 3....4....8 hours....heck a whole day has gone by with me staring at lightroom and Im not done yet.

I wanna be done.:D

Lucky Im not shooting "extras" now...AND...I am a bit more selective about "what" I shoot to begin with.

Thanks again....and hey....now that I found a second who CAN SHOOT.....I may take on a few more of these. She's fun to work with for sure.

Remembering Summer...

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