Thanks for taking a moment to look at how I create some of the photographs I have posted lately. Today lets talk a walk through how I created a photograph from one of my E-Sessions I took this summer.

The couple in this photo are Crystal and Jorge, in addition to being an awesome couple, they are a great example of the classic farm girl and city boy. The greatest focus I put on taking a photograph, is to tell a story with that photograph and I really do not care how I get to that point. I have a few pet peeves that I really try and avoid but for the most part every option I have at my disposal is fair game. So when I met Crystal and Jorge for the first time and started to piece together a way that could tell their story, this is one photo I really wanted to capture.

I wanted something that could tell their story of a farm girl and a city boy in one photo. When it finally came time for their E-Session and one of locations they were considering was to shoot at was her family’s ranch, I jumped at the chance. Taking in the entire setting, the background with the fence and cows, throw in a rake and a cell phone and boom, we got the makings of a photograph that tells a story.

Here is their photograph straight out of my 7D, shot with my 17-55mm IS at 31mm ISO 100 f/2.8 at 1/160sec in aperture priority.

The first thing I am drawn to is the post on the left, so I cropped that out but still left most of image intact so you can see the background and get a good feel of the setting without much effort on the viewers part.

Some photographs I move to black and white for a specific reason, but this one was more of a feel that I wanted. I can not really give you one reason, but after a quick check in Lightroom, I know I wanted it in black and white.

One of my options when it comes to creating photographs that I really avoid is a basic black and white conversion. I just really do not like them. Here is this photo with a basic b/w conversion.

Just plain boring.

I really enjoy a black and white that has some grit to it, or a better word might be character. Sometimes I boost the clarity, blacks and contrast in Lightroom to get this effect. I do not use them as much as I use to, but I am a monster fan of Boutwell Studios, Totally Rad Actions for Photoshop and that is what I used here. So I opened up the photograph in Photoshop and applied the BAMF 16 bit B/W conversion.

I brought that photo back into Lightroom and boosted almost all the basic setting from their starting point of zero to get the grit and character I was looking for.

…and added just a little vignette…

Which gives us our final image, compare this one to the basic b/w above!

Ta-Da! A photograph that tells a story, not just any story but Crystal and Jorge’s story.

Did you like this Before and After, want to know I created a different photograph? Let me know and maybe I will use your suggestion for my next before and after!

Thank you for sharing!

Do you know someone who would enjoy this post? You are more than welcome to share it with them!