Every day I would pick up my camera and shoot. Everyday I would learn something new. I quickly got bored of shooting objects and scenery. People became my favorite subjects. Unfortunately my kids got tired of being my subjects very fast.
 |
| April 23, 2011 |
By the end of March I upgraded my Photoshop Elements 2 to Photoshop Elements 8 and put it on Matt’s Macbookpro. Every night when he got home from school I would grab his computer and learn how to edit pictures in Photoshop. I mostly learned from online forums and by doing google searches. I downloaded a bunch of actions* and went nuts with them.
 |
| April 24, 2011 |
I switched over to RAW files when I started using Matt’s computer. At this point I was just using Bridge to process them. It was a lot of trial and error because I didn’t really know what exactly RAW was all about.
 |
| March 31, 2011 |
The above picture was my first attempt at backlighting. I would find something specific like that to learn and practice it until I got it.
I took pictures of the kids every chance they would let me.
 |
| April 24, 2011 |
When they wouldn’t let me I borrowed other people’s kids. I loved shooting other kids because it really challenged me to try my best. I would pick these shoots apart and learn from them. The more photo sessions I did the more hooked on them I got. I loved it! It was at this point that I began to start thinking about where this photography thing was going to lead me. I didn’t have any plans or goals but was beginning to wonder if someday it might become more than just a hobby.
 |
| April 28, 2011 |
 |
| May 3, 2011 |
 |
| May 9, 2011 |
By mid April Matt must have gotten tired of sharing his laptop with me because he surprised me with my very own imac! It was a little scary though because it meant he thought I could potentially do something with this photography stuff.
I loved editing pictures just as much as I loved taking them early on. It was fun to learn more and more about Photoshop. I started learning as much as I could about colors, color castes and the color channels in Photoshop. I learned how to read histograms. I learned about clipped pixels and how to prevent them on the skin.
I took notes as I learned. I memorized the color wheel so I would know how to fix color issues. As nerdy as it may be I was having so much fun learning something new!
The weather was finally nice enough in May to take Kirsten out for an official shoot.
 |
| May 6, 2011 |
Also in May, I took my twin sisters out for a shoot. I would come home from these shoots and analyze everything I did wrong and then research how I could improve. Editing was a slow process because I was still learning Photoshop and trying so many different things. I was developing a style and trying to figure out what I liked. Turns out I like a clean pure edit so editing doesn’t take me nearly as long today as it used to.
 |
| May 10, 2011 |
 |
| May 10, 2011 |
 |
| May 10, 2011 |
 |
| May 10, 2011 |
In May a friend suggested I take some pictures of her daughter and friends before prom for some practice. I almost said no because I lacked confidence. But then I figured I had nothing to lose and even though I couldn’t promise anything would turn out I did the pictures anyways.
The pictures I did for these kids was the turning point. I was thrilled with how they turned out and this shoot alone gave me the confidence to pursue photography as more than a hobby.
To be continued…. Part 3 will be the prom shoot 🙂
*A favorite site for free actions that I found early on was The Coffeeshop Blog. I downloaded her perfect portait action and it’s the one and only action I still use today.
It has been fun watching you grow in your photography talent, Emily! Also, such a smile-inducer to see your excitement for learning this wonderful gift that blesses so many with lifelong memories! Keep it up, girly!!
Cyndi H. 🙂