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!