George, about the no makeup deal...I get a lot of girls that tell me they don't wear makeup, and don't want to for their portraits. Most of my seniors want location sessions, so I tell them, look, this isn't a snapshot session. It isn't every day you have professional portraits made, so you shouldn't treat is as an every day kind of thing! You don't wear makeup, that's fine, but for your portrait session, even tho you don't wear makeup, go ahead and put on some eye liner and mascara, and lipstick. We'll be making a lot of full length and 3/4 length images to include the environment, and in those cases it's really important to have at least a little makeup to emphasize your features. You don't need to go overboard, just some lipstick and mascara to bring out your eyes & lips. Doesn't need to be a loud color lipstick, and trust me, it won't even show, but it will help you to look your best in your portraits.

They always come through!
Aloha,
SPC II

GG, I would encourage you to encourage the senior to be as relaxed as possible. I think girls are easier than most guys anyway, plus it'll help that you already have a relationship with her. She isn't coming to you cold, not knowing you at all.

Tammy, I love the naturalness of the girl you posted, but was thinking most of the pics done in the shade look like they need a WB correction. Are these edited or SOOC just for her to view for proofing? Again, like the poses and environment very much though!

Hi JessE -

These are just basic proofing slideshows. Done quickly to give the customer a glimpse of the shoot. I really try and keep my proofing workflow to a minimum, life outside of lightroom and photoshop. I really appreciate your words though. Thanks for keeping me focused.

Tammy, I didn't know if I should say anthing or not, as it could be as simple as monitor calibration. I don't blame you for not doing all of the work upfront, esp on that many. but, if you're using lightroom, can't you adjust your WB there, or are you not shooting RAW?

Just curious.

I do shoot RAW on everything, and generally eye the white balance on most images, which in the case of those images up front on the slideshow didn't give enough attention to. And as far as calibration goes...I am so technically challenged that I really have no idea what I need to do about that. I switched over to digital 15 months ago and have been on information overload ever since. Sometimes I think my brain can take no more. One step at a time...
I do strive for excellence in my business, but as I am continuing to learn I am always finding things I need to adjust.
www.marcelainphotography.com

Tammy,

The learning curve is huge but can be fun too. I've found that including a color card in one of the shots makes 95% of the ccolor correction a snap. Find my article on the topic in the PPR archives.