One of my neighbors takes his dogs for a walk every day. This is the black and brown chihuahua. I’m not sure if he was looking at me or my camera but he stayed a good distance back so I could snap his picture.

Coming out of the camera this was too dark, so I brightened the exposure in my RAW editor before importing the file into Photoshop.

Be sure to import your RAW photos into Photoshop in 16-bit color Adobe or ProPhoto RGB is you’re going to do substantial color or contrast edits. With 16 bits per …

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A girl named Lyric, holding up a print of Fiery Hearts, which represents her heart. Don’t hurt her! She’s fragile like the glass in that picture frame.

I always try to get my models to look down with eyes up toward the camera, or toward the side… it’s a much more interesting pose than a dead-on stare. That worked well here.

I took out her nose ring, part of a tattoo, and some of her clothes. The photo is much more appealing that way.

The framed picture didn’t turn out good to start, because it was mostly …

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It was cloudy out, but Michelle makes it seem sunny anyway. The highlights on her hair and eyes turned out well.

She also has a beautiful smile. A lot of people are afraid to smile. I’ve noticed most fashion models glower at the camera nowadays, but it’s all an act, and it’s getting tired.

I found Michelle studying for her history exam at a picnic table at the college. Not minutes before the test, but days in advance.

What do all her bracelets mean?

I brightened the highlights in her hair, and made her eyes a bit lighter. The blue …

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Caylee was studying some important college course; you can see she’s still holding her book here. I told her to give me the “what are you doing here?” look for this portrait.

She has to use a pencil to keep her hair in a bun… the economy is just really bad now.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/200, F3.5, 50mm, ISO100, 2008-10-10T12:25:19-04, 20081010-162519rxt

Ashley, resting against a palm tree during a windy afternoon. She’s so cool… probably because of the wind and all.

You can see she’s holding her glasses in her right hand. I told her to take them off since they weren’t working; you couldn’t see her eyes or face because you’d just be looking at her glasses.

Her plants were blue, but I changed them to black with color-channel desaturation. No spot-editing needed! I don’t like spot editing… some photographers enjoy it though.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/250, F3.5, 50mm, ISO100, 2008-10-10T12:10:52-04, 20081010-161052rxt

I met this girl at the college. She was studying some book about history, at least till I found her. She’s not actually studying in the photo, but it reminds me of how someone would look at you if she was busy studying. This is posed, though.

For editing, I brightened this a lot, which helps because she was dark compared to the background. Now the sky is just white. I took the lines out from under her eyes, made her lips a bit redder, and dilated and reshaped her pupils. She looks alive now. I think …

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