Akesson PhotoBlog

Just to finish off from yesterday I took a photo today of Bill with Merryn.  These two have come in with a huge amount of experience and professionalism to set a new benchmark that will stand our organisation in good stead for the next season in it’s future.  We’ll reap a tremendous harvest from the groundwork they have set.  Thus a pic of them presented in soft pastels as the day drew to a close.  Now that is something new for me who loves saturated colour or strong grainy tones!!!

From yesterdays absolutely pure innocence of childhood into todays wisdom of a more mature age. The pic below is my choice and rendition of a couple taken today at work. Bill returns back to the US tomorrow after lending his expertise and wise counsel to our organisation. It’s been a pleasure having him here. Trust he enjoys the journey back to wife, family and home.

Is it any wonder that perfectly normal middle aged people become absolutely doting/besotted grandparents. This one is sure to send the grandies broke as they shower her with love, attention and loooooooooooooots of expensive gifts The big blue eyes and and innocent “love me lots” look - a perfect “melting heart” angel.

Todays post is a comparative one: First photo below shows the original with a bit of basic mid tone boost and colour correction to taste and then the second one is the initial transformation into black and white.

Thereon I worked on the original with brushes, a light texture over all and some sepia on the little angel. Toss in a bit more grain to soften it all off beautifully. Some of the finer detail and texture you can’t see in the small pic here, but you get the overall feel.
End result, in my opinion of course, is a transformation of a basic photograph that shows a little one in the early stages of walking to a creation that would look absolutely fabulous up on the wall. Some will absolutely love it,…. others less so. One thing is certain though and that’s her grandmother will adore it! Why? Because no matter how the end result the photo is of her beautiful little granddaughter who is pleased as punch to be walking.

Actually I’ve enjoyed playing around with this - has given me positive time to break inbetween creating some photoshows and albums.  I don’t think I’ve really done much experimental photoshop, so to speak, for a long time.  I used to try this sort of thing all the time in fi*lm days - remember when we used various shades adn deniers [is that the right word?] of stockings in front of the lens to get just the right effect! 

What I’m doing now is working on the right amount of grain/tone etc that will suit various outputs - eg canvas, art paper, glossy metallic paper etc.  I want my customers to get not just a good result but one that will WOW! the socks off them.  Feel free to email me or comment at the end of the post if you have some feedback.

And one with the subject in full colour!

When he’s learning to be a man of course! Here’s the young man who took my pic here. He did all right. Has a serious side about him - which comes out strong in the monochrome. Gotta keep him having fun and laughing to bring balance in life.

For a long time I kept to a routine with black and whites and sepias etc. But lately I’ve been inspired toward seeking out a variety of new ways to process pics with soft tones and contrasty monos and using grain that reflects a bit of the old strong grain from pushed fi*m. Here’s one I worked on tonight. The colour pic was good but I reckon their character & personality are reflected better with this presentation.

Even with young children and their really fair skin the result is fabulous.