Share some sweets with your love today.

Special thanks to the Chocolate Pink Pastry Cafe!

I was so excited today to see one of my photos on the Totally Rad Actions site!!! My photo is in the top row, 4th photo of the bride & groom hugging.  Go to the site and click on my photo to see my custom action recipe.  (Or click here.)  You can also spread a little love and vote for my photo - five stars preferred!  :)  It is the one highlighted in blue below from Hilary & Chris’s Wedding.

Totally Rad Actions creates some awesome Photoshop Actions for photographers that really, really add something extra to images. I use both their TRA1 - The Original and TRA2 - The Revenge.  You can go to their “Recipe” site to see all of the different recipes of actions that photographers have customized and how the actions affect the photos.  They have posted the before and after image of each photo so that you can see the difference.  You can also see my before and after image below.

Ok, so here is the original image, captured straight out of the camera.

While the photo is a nice photo, you can see how the image lacks a litle pop of the green grass and trees. It also lacks a little contrast and the tone is cooler than I would like. So, after adding the following actions, you can see the result:
-Raw Edits - Exposure, Contrast and WB
-Pool Party @ 75%
-Punch Out!!! @ 22%
-Burn Out (Minus ‘Extreme Edges Burn’ Layer) @ 20%

The colors really pop, the grass is greener and the overall tone of the photo is a little warmer. The warm tones really bring out the wooden posts, skin tones and the rusty, VW van in the background.

After culling through all of the images from a shoot and selecting the photos to keep, all of my photos get edited and enhanced. The enhancements range from exposure and tonal adjustments, contrast, color correction and finally a touch of Totally Rad Actions to add a little extra punch. Every, single photo gets touched and enhanced from its original state. As you can see, it makes a really, really big difference in the final outcome of the image.  It makes the difference in having an OK image vs. a WOW!  AWESOME! image.

If you like my photo, again please be sure to check out the Totally Rad Actions Recipe Site and click on my photo to vote and add a comment!  If you are a photographer, you should definitely check out the TRA mix and start using them on your photos.  From small tweaks to artistic enhancements and textures, their actions are by far the best I have seen.  Every image I post on my blog or in a clients slideshow has had a Totally Rad action applied to it.  Check out their main site to purchase your actions today!

After a long, long winter, spring is finally here!  After months of bone-chilling temperatues, a little snow and howling wind, the flowers are blooming, trees are sprouting their leaves and the warm breezes have started to blow.  What a welcome sight!  Not only does this mean that summer is on it’s way, but it is a beautiful time for portraits and the beginning of wedding season.  I will be posting some wondeful spring portraits soon, but in the meantime what a better way to welcome spring’s arrival than to look back at some wonderful flowers from last year.

What can be more beautiful than a simple and elegant all white bouquet with a variety of flowers.

Beautiful and simple hydrangeas.

Last year, I saw so many different types of flowers for flower girls and ring bearers. Florists have become very creative with what the little one’s carry down the aisle. Below are two arrangements that incorporated a moss-covered box with flowers springing out of the top as a bouquet and a ring bearer’s pillow with a simple ribbon. Can’t wait to see what the trends are this year.

There have also been some innovative bouquets and boutonnieres for bridesmaids and groomsmen. No more plain, boring, single red rose boutonnieres. Florists are combining flowers with natural elements such as feathers, twine and small twigs in this case. The twigs were incorporated into the bridesmaid bouquets, the groomsmen’s boutonnieres, the bride’s bouquet and the centerpieces on each table. Although each had different types of flowers, the twig element brought everything together perfectly.

The following boutonnieres for the groom’s also show how natural elements add to the arrangement. The berries, twigs and miniature leaves have some elements of the bride’s bouquet or other flowers at the wedding.

The twigs seen here on the bride’s bouquet. The twig wrap even featured some simple green berries for additional detail to the bouquet. The berries also match the berries featured in the groom’s boutonniere above.

This simple, green leafed wreath hung on the iron gates of the church. More and more couples are welcoming their guests to the ceremony with wreaths or moss-covered initial letters on the doors to the church.

On to the reception! The flowers featured above with the twig detail, were also paired with a simple, square-stacked cake with orange orchids to match the orange detail in the bridesmaids shoes and bouquets. The cake was also decorated with twigs to match the other floral arrangements.

Sometimes, a natural setting does not need much more decoration because the venue itself is so beautiful on its own. This farm wedding featured a drink station to welcome guests to the ceremony with lemonade, iced tea and water. The table later doubled as the bar during the reception. The table was decorated with simple strands of pine garland.

These beautiful hydrangea baskets were wrapped with twigs at the base to match the flowers featured above with twig details.

Most of the flowers that you see here were not even added as part of the wedding decorations. All of the beautiful plantlife on the farm from the arch with vines, wildflowers in the fields to the hanging metal pots with flowers are there everyday to provide lots of natural character to the venue. Anyone looking for a natural and rustic wedding venue should look for these details when touring different locations.