Now accepting credit cards

Announcement: We now accepting accept all major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover). You've always been able to pay for your event prints using a credit card, but now when you book a portrait session, a wedding, or pay for prints, I can take your credit card, cash or personal check.

A Bridal Portrait Session: Brandi

Dallas, TX - I spent Saturday morning with Brandi at the Dallas Arboretum. It was a little hot and humid, ok A LOT hot and humid. Brandi proclaimed never to advise a June outdoor wedding for fear of melting! Despite the heat, Brandi was a great sport as I dragged her and her mother-in-law-to-be all over the park looking for places to shoot. I had a plan that we stuck to and we shot for exactly 2 hours. Here are some of my favorites. You've seen Brandi here before, as this is the last installment in her wedding package before the actual wedding. She's been keeping me busy! You can see a full gallery with all of the processed images here.

A Family Session: Brandi and Barry, et al.

Dallas, TX - On a secret spot near downtown Dallas today, I spent a few minutes with Brandi, Barry and their young family, including their 2 dogs. We were planning to catch a family shot they could use at their wedding reception, but we also ended up with some really cute stuff of their two little girls. Sometimes two hungry little ones and two dogs in a park don't make for a "perfect" family portrait, but that's when I'm at my best . I'm sure they will like what we got from the day. If you would like to book a session like this, please contact me.

A Wedding: Curtis and Jessica

Forney, TX - Saturday, May 17, 2008.


Curtis and Jessica were married at the Reagin House in Forney, TX. The ceremony was at 11.30 am on Saturday in the Courtyard of the 112 year old home. This was the first daytime wedding at The Reagin House, and I was very happy with the results. Here are a couple of my favorite photographs, and a link to more complete slide show.


My daughter, Chandler, was on camera #2. We shot the wedding with the Nikon D300, Nikon D200, a 17-55 f2.8 for the wide angles, and an 80-200 AF-S f2.8 for the long shots.

Agile Images Digital Processing: Fun with Textures

I wrote about using textures to dress up a portrait once before. It is a fairly common technique now where we use a photo of something else to add a textured layer to a portrait. The result is more of a high fashion, magazine style, photo. I took a couple of my favorite images from the Senior Location shoot with Debbie and added some texture to them. I don't use this often, but for Debbie's personality and style, it seemed appropriate. The effect is slight, so I posted the before and after shots here to compare. Click on them for a slightly larger view.

With Texture

No Texture Applied
With Texture
No Texture Applied

A Senior Location Session: Debbie

Debbie is a senior at North Mesquite High School. We met in Deep Ellum, in Downtown Dallas for a session on the streets. Debbie was a lot of fun, easy to work with, and we got some really cute shots from her session. Here are a few of my favorites.

Agile Images Digital Post Processing: One Image, Unlimted Options

Today, almost everyone has a nice digital camera at home. Some people even have have top end digital cameras that cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. As a professional photographer, I pride myself on making my images unique. One of the ways I do this is through some careful and creative post processing. So much of photography is focused on what happens WHEN you click the shutter, that few people realize that the real work begins when you OPEN the digital files. People often ask me, "How long can it take to process a digital photograph? Isn't it just a matter of dumping them from your camera to the computer?".

NO!

I wanted to share some behind the scenes work with you so that you understand the difference between a "snapshot" and an Agile Images "photograph". When you book a portrait session with me, you aren't only buying my time at the shoot, you're buying my time to make your images unique.

Here is a series of images that I processed from a recent shoot with my daughter in her prom dress. The first image is literally out of the camera and imported to my computer. Notice that it looks "fine" and all of the ingredients are in place for a good photograph. Its in focus, its of a pretty girl, and it is generally "nice". I used a Nikon D300 and a Nikkor 17-55 f2.8 lens to get this shot, one of the highest quality combinations on the market. But even with high quality equipment, it isn't PERFECT. If you were happy with this, you could print it out and be done with it and it would make a very good photo.

I however am not content with this, and frankly, my daughter isn't either. "Make me look like a supermodel, Dad", she tells me when we're done! Here are 3 of the processed images that I've created using various post processing techniques. I hope they give you some insight into the different looks that I can create using one single image. The possibilities are endless, but I like to keep it simple. Here we go . . .

The first is what I call "Natural". I left the skin tones as natural as possible, added a little pop to the lips, cleaned up a few slight blemishes and added some snap to her eyes. Its prettier than the original and is more "polished" and ready for print.

Next is what I call "Wash Out". I made her skin look powdery smooth, and really blew out the highlights so that everything is very "bright". I think it really enhances how her green eyes and the green dress compliment each other. It is a less natural look, but I consider it more "glamorous" than the Natural version.



Next is the Black & White Wash. This is just a black and white version of the Wash Out technique. It is a classic black & white where the whites are slightly over exposed for a very smooth look. This will look great in a big black frame with a bright white matte.


I

The Dress

Some photo sessions are different. Yesterday I didn't know whether to laugh or cry about my "client". When I looked through the viewfinder I saw an 8 year old girl playing dress up in a big girl's prom dress. When the shutter went off and this image appeared on the screen, I realized that it was my daughter, all grown up, all dressed up, and looking amazing.