Jenna Cole Photography-Chicago, IL » Lifestyle and Wedding Photographer

Husband and I are keeping a pretty tight Christmas gift budget this year, so I had to get creative. Might as well use my camera equipment worth thousands of dollars to make presents for our closest friends here in Texas, no?

Kelli and Cory are the first of a few sessions I’m doing as gifts this year, and it’s going to be hard to top. They aren’t engaged but they are in love, and it was wonderful to spend the weekend with them.  I’ve never marked so many photos as favorites to share on the blog, so their full post is going to be a big one. Love you two!

Happy Birthday to Noah (it’s his party today and his birthday on Monday). He was such a cutie and I’m so excited for his family to see the rest!

I recently revamped my slideshow showing the difference between Basic and Fine Art Edits. I think it’s really fun to see the comparison and I hope it helps past and future clients better understand what those two terms can really mean. I always try to make my clients look good, but I think turning a Basic Edit into a Fine Art Edit makes them look really good!

I wanted to show you some of the basic things that can be done with Fine Art Edits, but I didn’t want to hurt any of my clients feelings by showing their before and afters. So I decided to use myself as an example instead! The photos below were taken by Kelli Nicole, but all editing was done by myself.

The most common question I get is whether I can “make someone look skinnier”. I can’t make you look like a different person, but I can make small adjustments to help you look slimmer.

The photo on the left is a Basic Edit, on the right is the Fine Art. For the Fine Art Edit I slimmed my waist down, took in my thighs a bit, smoothed my skin, and made the photo richer and sharper overall.

I also have clients frequently asking about their skin, as they would like to know if I can help them have brighter eyes and clearer skin (who doesn’t want that?).

This first photo is a Basic Edit. Although I hate pointing you toward it, go ahead and look at my chin. Isn’t that bump awful?

In this Fine Art Edit the spots on my forehead, chin, and cheeks are gone. My skin is brighter and smoother overall. I sharpened the eyes a little bit and removed a distracting light spot just to the right of my head. The photo is richer and sharper overall. I liked this one so much I ended up making it my new profile photo on Facebook and Twitter!

Want to see more before & after photos like these?

Click here to view my Basic v. Fine Art slideshow

My second photography session in Washington DC was with Nole of Oh So Beautiful Paper. She and her husband showed me around some really gorgeous parts of Washington DC, treated me to a fabulous brunch (I believe it was Turkish? Greek?), and introduced me to my first cupcake from LoveCafe.

It wasn’t until we walked into LoveCafe for the cupcakes that I put two and two together and realized that Nole’s wedding played a large part in inspiring my own. I saw her wedding photos on Punam Bean’s blog and fell in love with her cake buffet and had to have it for myself. It was fun to meet someone I had admired for so long!

We did these portraits so Nole would have something to use for headshots, for her blog and such. I thought her outfit choice was perfect as I loved the bright pop of color.

Bringing your significant other along to your portrait session is a good idea as it results in expressions like this one!

Nole’s blog focuses on paper goods and so she brought some props along to incorporate into some of the shots.

THAT SHOT!

Look at those perfect lips and the way her lovely red hair glows in the sun. I’m experiencing a bit of jealousy I admit.

Nole is currently using this shot as her Twitter icon and I think it looks fantastic. I love when she tweets because it’s so fun to see my photo pop up next to her name!

Thanks for working with me Nole. I won’t be forgetting you or those cupcakes for a long time to come.
Best,

Jenna