I’m a sucker for weird, random junk. Crazy? Maybe, but this sort of stuff speaks to me as an artist. When I do a shoot, whether it is a session for a client or just shooting for art images, I’ve always got in the back of my mind what I can do with the image in post processing. This location spoke to me as a possible backdrop because of the colorful, dark, highly textured wall. Plus, all the junk strewn about added texture and interest. Doing a deep, rich, moody edit really requires the image to have color and depth to begin with, that can later be intensified and brought out in editing. Same is true of the clothes clients wear. Textured, colorful, layered clothes add visual interest and give the image a starting point for vivid, rich editing. Also, even if there is a hint of color in an image, but I don’t necessarily like the color, it’s certainly changeable in post. I’ll demonstrate this concept in the next before and after.

EXIF: SOOC  ::  50mm 1.2 lens • 1/400 • f/5.6 • ISO 320 • spot metering (not great settings, but it is what it is!)

2nd image is after tweaks in just Lightroom. Exposure down to -1.5, recovery up all the way to 100, fill light up to 65, blacks up to 72, brightness up to 59 from 50, contrast maxed out at 100, basic S curve in tone curve and clarity maxed at 100, vibrance and saturation both brought down a bit, split toning added with a slight yellowish/mustard hue.

3rd image after editing in Photoshop. The details of this edit are too numerous to list, but in general, include tweaks to blending modes, dodging and burning, shadow and highlight tweaks, selective color replacement and massive sharpening.

And voila, it goes from random car window crap shot, to 16×20 canvas hanging on my living room wall.

So, I was completely taken by surprise to receive a call from Christine at Simply Canvas a few days ago. Turns out, they’ve selected me as their November Studio of the Month. How cool is that? It’s true, as the interview states, I am stoked about canvas prints. I just got a large shipment in this week and was like a little kid on Christmas tearing into the boxes. It’s pretty thrilling as a small town photographer from good ol’ Wyoming to be nationally recognized by the leader in the photo canvas industry for my work. What an honor. To read the interview, please go to the Simply Canvas website, click on the What’s New tab at the top right and the Studio of the Month selection on the left.

Ta-da! It finally happened. I got my butt in gear and got my canvases ordered that I’ve been planning on forever. Here they are in all their glory, 24×36 inches of pure canvas heaven. For real… featuring your showcase images on a huge canvas … there’s really nothing like it. They are definitely show-stoppers. I highly recommend them, as they are super light weight, gorgeously printed by the top canvas gallery lab available and best of all, ready to hang straight out of the box. No matting. No framing. No fuss. Here are a few closeups of these beauties.

{{ You all voted and the critics agreed (ok, critics meaning me) that this was the image of choice to enlarge. ••• Excellent choice, people! }}

{{ I knew the minute I saw this on the camera LCD that it was going to be blown up huge on canvas. }}

{{ Here’s one done at 16×28 for my beautiful Senior Rep, Ashleah. }}

And some recent storyboards finished as gallery mounts. The smaller ones (10×20 and 10×30) come with the easel stand. These were 16×20 and 10×20. They are awesome, ready to hang products that feature multiple photos and wording of your choice.

So that’s it for the product spotlight this time. Keep checking back for more featured products. Cheers!