making the best out of bad photography

this is a tale about a fun family photo session by a photographer who has outgrown her equipment.

back in january while visiting bc i had the pleasure of photographing my good friends dave and jenn, and their darling and quirky daughter sydney (aka syd the kid). after visiting for a bit and catching up on each other's lives we ventured outside for some photographs but the cold weather quickly had us running back to warmth of their cozy living room! 

lighting quality was less than ideal in their condo that does not receive any direct light, and this was scenario was made worse by the limitations of both the camera and lens i had to work with at the time, and my lack of flash. we spent an hour or so taking what would be great shots of the threesome, and of syd in her super fun every-little-girl's-dream bedroom. it wasn't until i was home that evening going through the image files that i realized the poor quality of the images. they were awful. in order to shoot in such low available light i had to bump my iso setting to the highest it would go on my rebel xt, which meant grain, grain, grain. and even then, many of the images were not as sharp as i prefer. i shelved these images and arranged a re-shoot, which was fine all around especially since the photo session was complimentary. unfortunately, due to schedules, illness and a dump of snow right before i left to return to nb, we were never able to reshoot!! ah! this is not good, this does not make me look good!

i have been playing around with these images ever since. trying out ways to reduce the grain, fix the color, sharpen the images... anything to make them look decent enough to give to dave and jenn. the trouble is, nothing i do will make them look anything close to my aesthetic style - clean, sharp, bright, no effects, minimal editing. so the answer was simple: work with the images as they are and create something different - make the best out of some bad photography, er should i say bad photographic results. 

so, with a little bit of elbow grease and a lot of playing around in adobe lightroom i think i have produced results i can be happy with. in fact i might even say i love these photos. they are not reflective of overall style of photography and you will not find them on my soon to be launched website. but i love them nonetheless. they still show the love between a mom, dad and their daughter. they still show the wonderful personality of nearly four year old sydney. they show aspects of their house that is home. and when sydney is in high school or is a young mother herself, these pictures will act as a time capsule back to when it was okay to wear pink tutu's, jump on the bed, and have snuggles with mom and dad, and when all seemed right in her world. and ultimately, that is really my style - giving families heirlooms and archives that tell their story.

[this photo session solidified my decision to upgrade my equipment (camera body and primary lens), and why i call my self an available light photographer rather than natural light. in many circumstances the only available light will be a flash and i must embrace this fact! i am now shooting with a canon 7d and a 35mm 1.4f L lens so that this will not happen again!]

love & sunshine,

shannon-may