Finding My Photo Style

I am currently taking a class at Big Picture Classes called "Finding Your Photo Style."  Over the course of  6 weeks we will have 6 different instructors with 6 different photography styles.  For week 1 our instructor is Maggie Holmes.  Maggie has a very bright and colorful style.  She gave us 3 assignments.  All of my photos ended up coming from one evening playing in the backyard, making smores.

The first assignment was to use color in our photography.  The color could come from the surroundings, clothing or props. I love bright colors, so this assignment was fun!  I ended up selecting this photo because I loved the bit of lush green grass (I love the color of the grass this time of year) and the pinks in Ellie's dress.

Our second assignment was to take photos in open shade.  Finding areas of open shade is important when it is sunny out because direct sun can cause dark shadows, whereas open shade diffuses the light making a much softer, natural appearance.  It has been cloudy out since this class started, which means everywhere is open shade.  That made this assignment a piece of cake!  I ended up selecting this cute photo of the kids.  It is a good thing I was just playing around, this was as good as it got!

Our last assignment was to work on adding vibrancy in post processing.  Maggie gave us a free Photoshop action to play with and that is what I used on the photo below.  The version on the right is what I had after I had tweaked the shot in the Raw Photo Editor.   The one on the right is with the action applied.  I adjusted the opacity of the layers because it was a little too much at full strength.  I really like how it made the pink and blue pop!

Tomorrow we will be introduced to our next instructor, I am really looking forward to it!