I am thrilled to showcase one of the cooooooolest products I offer – Image Boxes! These are definite best-sellers and it is easy to see why. Cute boxes containing your fave images from the session. Each image is matted on styrene and tucked inside this custom-designed, exquisite little box. These make wonderful gifts – I’ve been told grandparents swoon when they open up this gift! You know you want one, too!
I feel so incredibly honored to work with such amazing families year after year. I never could have dreamed that I would be where I am right now with this passion, with this love of photography. I am deeply humbled and I would love to extend my thanks to you all by inviting you to join in my giveaway.
This giveaway involves Facebook (did you guys get to catch this week’s Time magazine piece on Mark Zuckerberg?) If I reach 1000 fans in the next 3 days, I would love to send lots of gifts your way. I know it is incredibly ambitious to reach a couple of hundred new fans, but I’m “dreaming big.”
What am I giving away? How’s this for starters?
a) Two Grand Prize winners will receive one free portraiture session. That’s right! Two families will receive a free session and the Jellybean Collection from moi, Sylvia Borgo Photography. One winner will be a family I have already photographed (2008-2010), as a way of saying “thank you.” The other winner will be a new Facebook “fan.”
b) second runner-up will receive a gorgeous spiral bound 5×7 2011 calendar
c) third runner-up will receive a 10×20 storyboard, mounted on styrene
d) fourth runner-up will receive mini Valentine Day cards – set of 24
And for every 100 fans past the 1000 mark, I’ll throw in more goodies
e) 16×20 print
f) a set of 25 Press Printed cards (holiday cards or birth announcements or “thank you” cards – you choose)
g) the cutest mini accordion “brag book” you’ve ever seen
And if I reach 2000 fans – well, I don’t know what I would do! I’d faint, of course, and then I’d be forced to giveaway two more portraiture sessions!
So, how do you enter? Here are all the details and the “fine print”
1) Please “like” Sylvia Borgo Photography’s Facebook page. If you already do, thanks, thanks, a million thanks!
2) Tell your friends and family about my Facebook page and “suggest” to them that they “like” my page. This can be done by clicking on the “suggest to friends” link on the top left hand corner of Sylvia Borgo Photography’s Facebook page, it is right under my logo/name. For every 5 of your friends that like me, your name will be thrown into the drawing. Your friends need to post on Sylvia Borgo Photography’s Facebook wall that they were referred by you.
3) Your friends, the new “Facebook fans,” can also up their chances of winning by inviting their circle of friends and family members to like my page. Their name will also be tossed into the “hat” once for every 5 of their friends that become fans.
4) Contest ends at midnight on December 31st, 2010.
5) Photography session must take place before June 30, 2011.
6)Photography session must take place in San Diego. If you are not in San Diego and you could gift this session + Jellybean Collection to a San Diegan! If you are from out of town and would like to enjoy the giveaway, you would need to cover travel costs. :)
And what is a {BLOG} post without pictures? Here are some of the featured goodies
2011 Calendar
Valentine Cards – set of 24
10×20 Storyboard – Classic or Modern look – you decide!
“They are a very COOL family!” That is what my friend Keri said to describe the fabulous, the amazing, the sweet, the darling Dohrenwends! Man, was she right! Does it sound like I am gushing?! I am! I am! You are going to fall in love with this family!
Paul and Donica and their gorgeous kiddos (big brother G., big sister J., little brother SJ, little sister W., and baby P.) met me last week in Pacific Beach. I instantly fell in love with them. INSTANTLY! They are so, so relaxed (and their 5 kids are 7 and under!!!), they are sweet with each other, they are attentive to one another, they are very paternal/maternal and super fun-loving. Man, I just can’t find the right words to describe them and the fabulous time I spent with them. You just have to BE with THEM to instantly see how much they adore each other.
We had fun with sleds! We had fun avoiding waves and finally getting soaked. We had fun with snacks, and because of that, we had fun with the mulitude of seagulls surrounding us. We had fun with SAND. We tried to have fun with a kite, but there was no wind and I couldn’t figure out the kite thingamobober.
Paul and Donica, thank you, thank you, thank YOU so much for allowing me to document your family, your complete family. I hope these images encapsulate your family’ and your love for one another.
And I LOOOOOOOOVE these BW images! LOOOOOOOOVE them!
This final image gets me all choked up. I love SJ’s triumphant little hand!
I wanted to showcase a cute, cute image I captured this last weekend and show you how I take the image that comes out of my camera and process it so that the client gets a “perfectly processed image.”
Why do I even need to process with Photoshop in the first place? Well, one reason is that I shoot in RAW mode – a camera mode that carries more information/bits so that an image has more “color information.” Basically, the final image quality is higher. However, a RAW image comes out of the camera looking bland – it needs processing before it can be turned into a jpeg that will print out beautifully.
But before I share a “before and after” image I thought I would also share the steps I take from start to finish when working with a client.
BEFORE THE PHOTO SHOOT:
1. Set up with client the day/time of the shoot, discuss with client location options, the “vision” for the session, styling possibilities, etc
2. Check gear (camera body, lenses, battery, memory cards)
3. Clean gear (lenses, especially)
DURING THE SHOOT:
4. Travel time to location (usually about 30-40 minutes roundtrip)
5. time spent with family/children newborn (1.5 – 2 hours for a family session and up to 4 hours for a newborn session)
AFTER THE PHOTO SHOOT:
6. download images from my camera into my catalouging/organizational system, Adobe Bridge
7. back-up images
8. proofing images and selecting the 30-40 best images from approximately 350 images
9. post processing 5-20 select images to present to client
10. converting the “Straight Out of the Camera” images from RAW to jpgs to present to client
11. uploading images to online gallery
12. contacting client with information on how to view images and how to order images for their portrait collection
13. creating a blog entry for the photo session
14. Discussing with client specifics about their order (images they’ve selected, products they are ordering, prints they are ordering)
15. placing print and product orders
16. packaging orders and sending them off to the client!
PHEW! That is a lot of steps! All in all – I would say that I spend about 12-15 hours from start to finish working with a client. Some people might be surprised by how much work goes into each session – people might have thought that it only takes an hour of taking pictures and that that is it. Nope! It takes quite a bit longer than an hour. :)
Okay, now, . . . the before and after picture I promised you.
Here is the BEFORE and AFTER shot:
Alrighty then, what did I do to this picture?
The picture above was taken in “cool” open shade so these two cutie-patooties are a tad cool in skin tones. FIrst, I warmed up their skin a bit by adjusting the white balance. Then I added some contrast to the picture. I also made the background more rich and a tad darker so that the subjects were the clear focus of the image. I then touched up Mr. Cutie-Patootie’s chin because he had a little scrape. Because the sun was not hitting their eyes, otherwise they would have been squinting, I brightened up their eyes a bit. This light+shade combo also left a slight red color cast on Mr. Cutie-Patootie’s neck that I had to desaturate. And finally, I saturated the overall color in the picture because I do lovvvvvve bold colors.
How long does post-processing take for one image? It depends on the image. Sometimes 10 minutes per image, sometimes 20-30 minutes – depending on how many Photoshopping tricks I need to employ. **wink**
And remember, I did all of this because RAW images come out of the camera looking a bit bland until they are processed. The client receives a high-quality image that will print out beautifully at a professional lab – one that knows how to handle professional processing.
Hope you all have a great rest of your week!
2010 Sylvia Borgo {BLOG}
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