First off, it is required, by me, to begin this post with a little love for my favorite college team, the Oregon Ducks!! :)  I was born and raised in Eugene and I love living in this college town.  I love my Ducks- no matter the season, no matter the wins, no matter the losses.  They are my team.  :)  I sport green and yellow with pride and I yell “OOOOOOO” whenever I have the opportunity!  :)  This season has been epic and I have absolutely LOVED supporting the Ducks every step of the way!  I can’t wait to see what they have in store tonight when they play against Auburn in the BCS Championship game!!  GO DUCKS!!

Okay, now that I got that off my chest, I can get on with what this post is really about.  :)  I often receive emails and Facebook messages with questions about my editing.  What I use, how I use it, when do I use it, etc, etc.  So, I figured it would be much easier to do a post about my process, rather than email each person back.  Plus, it gives me the opportunity to really show you examples of the edits, so it’s a win/win.  :)

Please Note: I do not use actions or recipes on every single image- as that would be overkill.  For senior sessions I try to pick my favorite 20-30 and do a little extra to those images.  For weddings I do additional editing on 100-200 images, depending on the number of images given to the clients.

I use a plethora of actions, I am not ashamed to admit that I am slightly addicted to them.  Haha!  I absolutely love how they take my images to the next level- however, with that said, I found that when I applied a single action at 100% it was just too much for me.  I strive for timeless images, so I don’t like for them to be overly Photoshopped.  I make recipes from these actions, using different opacities until I am happy with how it looks.  This is just my personal, humble opinion.  As the creative artist of your own canvas, you are free to create your own masterpiece.  And you should!  :)  For the first three images I used Totally Rad Actions (Set #2) by the super talented Doug Boutwell.  The original image will be shown on the left, the edited image on the right.  The recipe I use will be shown under the images.  I hope you find this to be helpful!  :)  Enjoy!

Punch-Out!!!-  25%

Claire-ify- 40%

Orange You Glad- 38%

Claire-ify- 22%

Boutwell Magic Glasses- 50%

Sparta- 22%

Pool Party- 20%

Boutwell Magic Glasses- 50%

If you want to try our more recipes from users of Totally Rad Actions, they have created a hub for people to upload their own recipes.  This is a great resource to try out different mixes.  It will likely inspire you to start creating your own!  :)  For the next two images I used both Colorshift Actions by Jesh De Rox and Totally Rad Actions (Set #2).

Warm 70’s Love- 30%

Boutwell Magic Glasses- 65%

Blueberry Night- 26%

Boutwell Magic Glasses- 100%

As a side-note, I will be dedicating some time on my editing process from start to finish at the Workshop I am hosting in May 2011!  We will be doing photo shoots on Day One and spending time in Lightroom and Photoshop on Day Two so I can demonstrate how I edit my images.  If you are interested in learning more about this, please check out the Workshop Website.  :)  Happy Monday!