Blog reader Kristine asked a great question. Do I use Photoshop on my photos or are the ones put on my blog SOOC (straight out of camera)? Every photo you see on this blog and my family blog are processed in Photoshop for one simple reason: I shoot in RAW and cannot upload them until they are converted to jpeg. In addition, if I don't resize the photos they take 10-15 minutes to upload. I obviously don't have time for that. So, the short answer is, every photo you see is at least converted to jpeg, and resized and sharpened for the web. 

But what she was really asking was, what do my photos look SOOC? So here's the answer.

Here is a photo I took of my four year old son Tucker. This photo has just been resized and sharpened for web, no other adjustments have been made. I loved how small he looked in the photo (compared to the big, wide ocean) and how he was framed in with the dock. I decided to process this photo and use it on my blog and in his scrapbook. Here is the result:

So what did I do? The first thing I did was crop it, so I was utilizing the rule of thirds more effectively, and your eye could focus on his being framed in by the dock. Makes for a much more interesting photo, don't you think? Then I used the sponge tool to bring out the color already present in the photo. I used the burn tool on the water to bring out the detail. Finally, I sharpened and resized for the web. How long did that process take?  Probably 2-3 minutes.

And because I know you will ask, I use Photoshop CS3.

Click here for a post on my family blog about how I turned a photo shot in my carport into a beautiful portrait that hangs on my living room wall.