Quality Archives - SexyABQ blog

Why no unedited photos?

Sometimes, I am asked to provide just the unedited photos straight from the camera to a customer. I always decline. This post explains why.

Remember that the camera does not take the picture. I do. If all you want is whatever the camera (set by someone who has less experience than I do) can do and nothing more, there are a lot of “photographers” out there who will happily give you whatever their camera produces at a lower price than what I will charge. When you hire me, you are going to get a set of quality images that will display you at your best and you can be proud of.

How Raw is “raw”?

First, usually when people ask for unedited photos, they normally mean the camera-produced JPEG. However, they could also be talking about the RAW file, which is all of the camera’s sensor data. Starting with the JPEGs, I only use the camera-generated JPEG image for proofing—looking at photos to see which ones are good and which are the duds. The camera does an OK job of producing a JPEG file, but it does not really know the look I am after. There are some controls to guide it, but it never produces an image that is exactly what I want in a finished image.

For example, here are two versions of the same photo of Dakarra:

woman standing, looking over her shoulder at the camera — This is the camera-generated JPEG image of the lovely Dakarra Dolley. It is not a bad image, but it could look better.

In order to best see the color differences, you need to be using a color-calibrated display for your computer. Notice that by adjusting the white balance, the image has better color. Her skin and hair nearly glow. The processed image has more detail in the shadows. I also slightly cropped the image to do a better job of making her the focus of the image.

The camera RAW data is not intended for human consumption. It has more data than will fit into a JPEG image, and few computer displays can even show all the data in it. The raw data is also uncorrected for white balance, which means that the colors can be (and probably are) incorrect. I have been using camera RAW format for years, and I have developed a skill at producing images from it that are what I (and my customers) like. Unless you are a professional photographer or very experienced amateur, I am probably better at producing final images from raw files than you are.

Producing “the look”

I have a certain look that you hired me for. Before you hired me, you saw examples of my work that convinced you that I produce photos like what you want. That look might or might not be what the camera produces. In my case, I work really hard to get images correct in the camera. However, I still adjust exposure. contrast, and white balance. I will have edited the photos so your skin looks great; zits and other skin flaws are temporary and easily removed. If you want, I will soften any wrinkles you have. The pose and lighting will highlight your best parts and minimize what you are less proud of. I know this, because we will have talked about it before we started the photo session. None of this is in the unedited photos.

Removing duds

I will start this section with a story. Several years ago, I was working for a geologist, taking photos of her research site and of her and her students performing the research. I gave her a camera dump of the JPEG images. Being very conscientious, when she used one of the photos, she put my name by it. Normally, this is a good thing, because having my name associated with the photo might bring in more business. However, in this case, she picked a photo with glaring photographic flaws and put it on the web. I asked her to either change photos or remove my name.

Every photo shoot has duds. In some cases, the problem is mine. I might have blown the focus, framing, or lighting. It could be that you were making a funny face or had an awkward pose. I remove all of these duds. The only reason to show someone the duds is when I am working with a new model who needs to understand what poses work and what poses do not work for her/his body type. Otherwise, nobody ever sees them. What I deliver to you is strictly the photos that I am happy to have my name associated with.

Prints

I work with a professional printing company to produce a photo that has correct color and looks as good as what I see on my color-calibrated monitor. Producing a print is not as simple as just sending the photo to your computer’s printer. I work with the printing company to make the absolute best print you can get. I select the paper; this controls whether it is glossy or matte. Also, because “white” is the absence of ink and all inks are on this background, any color in the paper affects the colors in the whole image. The printers that produce my prints use many different inks, more than consumer printers and low-end commercial printers. This means that the colors are richer and more accurate. The printers are also color calibrated, which means that the image on my display is what the print looks like, within technological limitations.

The result of all of this is that the print I deliver to you will look far better than what you will get from a local discount store, drug store, most web printing companies, or a cheap photo printing place. In other words, you are getting quality.

Summary

I want you to have photos that bring back memories of the photo shoot and your life at the time. The photos will capture your beauty and sexiness. They are a great ego boost for you to see yourself as I can show you in photos. They make a great gift for your spouse or partner to remember part of why the two of you are together. I will give you photos that are properly exposed, have good colors, and have no duds. The prints will be beautiful, and you will be proud to show them off. You will get quality.

Why not schedule a photo session today?

Lighting and shadows show shape

Here is another example of why having a professional take your photos is better than a selfie or a friend with a cell phone camera. A professional will make use of light to show good parts of your shape and minimize parts you do not want shown.

Professionals have experience with lighting, and they often have lighting equipment to shape the light to what they want. What this means is that they can control the light to highlight what they want to show (your best features), and minimize what they do not want to show (any flaws). Careful lighting means that your shape is visible when that is what should be shows. Shadows define shape, and a careful, soft shadow can do wonders at showing your curves. For example, look at this photo of the lovely DaKarra:

woman looking into the distance, with soft light showing her shape — Notice the shadow on her right breast, how it slowly goes from light to dark which conveys the shape.

Notice that her cleavage is really obvious. This is due to the shadow on her right (away from the camera) breast. It slowly goes from a highlight to dark, showing the shape. You can also see similar shadows showing the shape of her cheeks and the curve of the side of her body.

As another example, here is a beautiful backlit photo:

backlit woman silhouette showing her lovely shape — You can see the wonderful shape of the model in this silhouette.

Her shape shows because the light is used to create a silhouette. Since she has a great shape, I used the back light to highlight it.

What this means is that by working with a professional, you will get better photos. Pros use lighting to create shadows to highlight shape when it is a good thing to be showing.

Lighting is one of my best skills, so maybe you should contact me to schedule your boudoir session.

A phone camera snapshot vs a professional photo session

You have decided you want to have some sexy photos of you. You can take selfies in a mirror. You can have a friend use their phone to take photos. What makes these photos different from the photos you might pay someone to take? There are several differences, some of which we will discuss in this blog entry: image quality, lighting, poses, camera angles, editing skills, and photographer experience. In other words, let’s do a camera image quality comparison. This is a longer post than my normal, but I needed the space to show all of the photos for comparison.

The photographer takes the picture, not the camera

The first, and most important factor to remember is that the camera does not make the picture, the photographer does. I use professional equipment, but the camera does not choose when to fire the shutter. It does not chose the lighting or pose. In my case, it does not even make many decisions relating to the exposure. My experience guides me in picking the lighting and poses that will show you at your best and minimize the areas I do not want to show. I compose and light an image with a plan of what I what the viewer to see and think as they look at the photos. I know how I want their eye to move as they look at the photo, where I want it to linger and where I want it to move past. I am the one who removes zits. All of this makes me smile when someone asks me, “what camera do you use?”. In reality, the camera is but a small part of what went into producing the final image you see. And, there are other cameras made by different companies that will produce photos that look just as good.

Better cameras record better images; a camera image quality comparison

Having said that, I do use a professional camera and lenses. It produces very sharp images (when that is what I want), and it allows me to produce images that can be printed large, 2×3 ft or more. These large images will look good even when you look at them up close. If you do a side-by-side comparison of a photo taken with a phone camera, my photos will look better every time. Here are some examples. My apologies to the lovely AzariaZia, because these first photos do not show her true beauty.

All three photos were taken at the exact same location in the room. The point-and-shoot and the DSLR photos were both mounted on the tripod at the exact same location. I held the cell phone right above the tripod so the location would remain constant. The cell phone has no optical zoom, so it shows more of the room than the other two.

First, my cell phone, a Samsung Galazy S3 (8MP):

woman on a bed holding a sheet — This photo is straight out of my Samsung Galaxy S3

woman holding a sheet in front of her — I adjusted the brightness levels of the photo to produce this image.

While these might look more-or-less OK, when you look at them in more detail, you see that they are grainy and not sharp:

dark, grainy photo of a woman's face — This is what the cell phone photo really contains

grainy photo of a woman's face — This is what the cell phone photo really contains, but with the brightness levels adjusted.

OK, so the cell phone is not so good. How about a point-and-shoot camera (Canon SX30-IS)? It has a built-in flash, but on-camera flash tends to be poor light:

And here is a natural light (no flash) photo:

By the way, notice the color difference between the two photos. We will return to that in a moment. For now, look at the full-resolution extracted parts of the image:

This is a full-resolution extract of the flash-enabled photo taken with the point and shoot camera.

This is a full-resolution extract of the natural light photo taken with the point and shoot camera.

Again, they are really grainy and not sharp. Compare the photos up to this point to the photos from my Canon 5DmkII and using off-camera lighting (you can click on it to see it larger):

nude woman holding a sheet in front of her — This is what it looks like when you use a higher-quality camera to take the same photo.

Here is what a 100% extract looks like (note that you can see her pores on her cheekbone and forehead):

beautiful woman's face — This is what a small portion of the full-resolution image looks like

The photo shows her face closer because my DSLR has more pixels in an image than the cell phone and point-and-shoot cameras do. Which would you rather have?

Professionals produce photos with good color

All of my equipment from the camera through the printer is color-calibrated. Before I start taking photos, I test the color of the light. This means that your photos will not have a color cast from the lights. Many cameras have what they call “automatic white balance”. What this means is that the camera is picking the color correction that it thinks you will want. It turns out that few cameras get it completely right, and their photos can have a color cast, making you look a bit green, blue, yellow, or red. Did you really have an orange tan from the salon, or was it just the lighting? When I take your photos, the images you get will have colors that make you look your best. Here is an example showing AzariaZia holding the white balance card before we started a photo session:

woman holding a color standard — Before we start, I use a color balance card to ensure that the colors are correct.

If I produce prints for you, I work with professional-quality printers, ink, and paper. They produce better prints that what you can produce at home. Because all of the equipment is color calibrated, neither you nor I will be surprised when we see the result. Your local discount store saves money by not doing the calibration, nor do they use the highest-quality papers and inks. The result shows in their photos. Set up an appointment, and I will be glad to show you the difference between the printing options. Side-by-side, the quality is clear.

What all of this means is that, when you choose me (or any qualified photographer using quality equipment), you get better photos. In other words, you get what you pay for. Be cheap and you get cheap results. Buy quality and be happy with what you get.

You can contact me to get your own high-quality, sexy photos taken. Why put it off any longer?