a brand new week......

I'm hoping for mircales here! LOL!! Hopefully my site will be live....HOPEFULLY is the key word here! =)

Before I start to answer some more questions, here's a couple more of Miss G. I've been shooting a bunch of her lately, with my time off....it's been great! =)





I adore this last two....especially the last one, she was really working the camera! LOL!!




Ok...now onto some questions. =)

From Melissa: I too live in the dallas area (irving to be exact) and wanted to know where your favorite places to take pictures are? also, besides your own actions, what is your favorite photo enhancing tool in photoshop?

Melissa, I usually just go to my client's homes....I LOVE indoor natural light and I find great pockets of light and some fun bgs there. And if we go outside in the backyard, I use textures like the wood fence, grass and bricks......I'll have them lean up against it or lay down it in. =) But I have a fav park that a fellow photog (Jen Weintrab) told me about....it's called Davis Park in Highland Park....it's absolutely beautiful. The last set of photos that I posted (the flickr mixer).....that's were we went. =)

Hmmm....I guess my fav enhancing tool in PS would be curves....honestly, that's all you need IMO. It added contrasts, bumps up the exposure, add color and corrects color. I think the sponge tool would be my second...I use it when I really want some saturated colors. =)

From Destiny: Do you ever use a reflector? And how do you get your subjects to open up for you?

Destiny......I'm so bad, I don't! LOL!! But I do look for things that will reflect light....like light garage doors, concrete, car bumpers, water....all sorts of stuff. =)

I'm really a shy person...and when I get nervous, I tend to just talk and ramble on and on. I think kids think that's funny.....it's amazing how they pick up on things. LOL!! I just get down to their level, talk to them, ask them questions and stuff. I don't start shooting off the bat...I want them to get use to me. I'll have Mommy put on some music so we can dance all goofy and sing. With boys, I ask them to show me their muscles, it works like a charm. LOL!!

From Pam: I wanted to know where you have your photos printed. I remember you saying how you opened them up and was so happy with the results. I have always printed at home and have not been all that happy with the results.

I use a bunch of pro labs Pam.....one for canvases, one for cards, one for prints and one for my bright color prints. It's just a matter of finding one (or in my case, a couple) that works for you. And customer service is a must....with the number of orders that I do, it's important for me to be able to talk to someone ASAP if I have a question or problem. =)

From Megan: What I want to know is how do you pronouce your last name? Maybe a dumb question, but when I see it, I always wonder, "Am I saying that right?" :o)

LOL...oh, believe me Megan, you aren't the only person that can't say it....it's crazy! LOL!! It's pronounced A-coon-c-us. LOL!! Were you saying it right? =)

From Barbara: how much time do you spend in post-processing per photo? mac or PC? and when are you going to have those elements actions?

Barbara, I've really cut my proofing time down a whole bunch....I've learned that correct/or the best exposure is a must. That's the key that can save you hours and hours in proofing. If I had to guess, I would say maybe 2 minutes at the max. Now that's not including cloning....I'll do things that are noticeable but not every little thing. If my client orders it, then I'll go back and clone out the imperfections and stuff. =)

I'm still on a PC....I'm not sure if I'll ever switch....but never say never right? I'm quite happy with my set-up now. =)

Soon....I promise soon.....I learned a couple of things recently that will help me out a bunch. It's just a matter of getting them loaded and seeing what version they work best in. =)

From Teresa: How do you upload your pictures and keep them so large. Also what is your process in PS and how do you save things. It seems like to take way to long editing on one picture.

Teresa, I use photobucket to upload my photos...it just works best for me with the boards that I belong to and stuff. Blogger does some wacky things to photos when you upload them....and since this is my business/fun blog, I needed my photos to look good. LOL!! I just upload them to Photobucket, grab the URL address and just paste it in the post box. =) I also pushed out my sidebar so I could get large horizontal photos on here too. =)

My workflow is pretty simple. I first save all the images to a dvd, then I open up a folder and put all good ones in there...I size them all to 5x7 and batch them. I'll run my actions on them and just go through each of them and see if they need a little something else like a vingette, burning, etc. I then run the Protouch Action on the ones that need it. (I wait to sharpen and run a bit action on them until I send them for printing.) I then open another folder and name it proofs. I will then take the previous ones, size them for the web, sharpen, and add the proof #. =) That's it. =)

OK....just one more day of questions and I'll have them all answered. =) WHEW....that was a long post! Hopefully you guys made it all the way to the end. =)

OH...and for those who have asked about RAD actions....you can find them

HERE