Gosh, I love this little blog circle. Each month, we explore a different type of lighting. All of us have been waiting for that bright ball of fiery light to grace our skies because, come on, who doesn’t love backlighting? Here in California, we could have done a backlighting post months ago, because, well, because we’re in Sunny California, home of the sun. It lives here. Almost permanently apparently. But because the rest of the world was shrouded in clouds, we had to wait. But, it’s JUNE now, so guess what? We’re all golden.

Perhaps you don’t know me, and perhaps you don’t know that I have just embarked on an underwater journey. But I have. And I’m in deep, so to speak.

I recently got SPL waterhousing for my Canon 5DMkIII and have taken that bad boy out into the water a total of three times, well, four, if you count my testing it in my sink.

I still have a lot to learn, but I am already so freaking thrilled with what I have been able to create, not only in camera, but through editing. I find that editing images shot underwater presents a unique challenge, and by gum, I’m addicted.

Did I just say “by gum?”

Let’s move past that.

So the underwater journey has just begun, and I’m discovering that backlighting is amazing not only on land, but in the water. Let me show you what I’m talking about.

And while I shared this before, I’ll share it again, because it’s a wonderful example of backlighting under the water.

And seriously? Look how amazing images look underwater with a little backlighting?

Can I get an “Amen?”

I asked her to do a somersault, and this is what happened. Not what I imagined, but I love them more than what I imagined. I love that about photographing kids.

And this one makes my heart sort of beat a little faster. I told her I wanted to get a closeup of her and asked her to take off her goggles and just look peaceful. The bubbles on her eyelashes make my heart go pitter pat.

My sunshine girl.

Backlighting is my favorite.

This one, I really struggled with editing. The SOOC is lacking a great deal of contrast and color, but there was something about the light and her body position that just begged to be showcased. So I worked and worked at it and got this. And I love it. When underwater photography meets editing, I find myself in a happy place.

I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at these and much as I’ve enjoyed creating them!

Next up is the wickedly talented Adelle Dazeem…. no, wait, no. Next up, is Lynn Nalty, creative genius behind Square Balloon. 

I’ve gotten a sneak peek already, and yeah, they’re amazing. Go check it out!

And if you want to see more of my underwater photography, I posted more from my first session right here.

You can follow me on Facebook, if you’re so inclined. I tend to be better at posting there. Or there’s Google+ too! …

I have always been obsessed with being underwater. There was a period in my life where I dreamt about swimming with dolphins at least three times a week. I lived in Hawaii for a couple of years before I started physical therapy school, and I learned to surf. I learned to respect and love the water. When I started to learn photography, I never in a million years thought that I would end up where I am right now: underwater with my camera. It’s seriously a dream come true. There is something about being underwater that fills my soul. I love the sound. I love the quiet. I love the light and the colors. I love how we move underwater.

And if anyone knows me, they know I also love to edit. I love taking an image, seeing its potential, and bringing that to life through editing. Editing images underwater presents it’s own set of challenges. The color straight out of camera is less than desirable. Skin is often blue. Clarity is lacking. What you see when you look underwater with your goggles is an entirely different thing than what your camera captures. But for me, that’s part of why I love underwater photography. I can uncover that beauty. See what I originally saw, and in many cases, see something even more beautiful than what I originally saw.

Last year, I put my camera into a DiCAPac bag and said a little prayer every time I did. Every image had the port in it, and it was a pain to edit it out of every image, but I did it, and did it gladly, because I knew I would love the final result. Here are some images shot last year. This year, I took the plunge (pardon the pun) and bought SPL housing for my Canon 5dMkIII and a port for my 16-35L lens. I have taken my underwater housing into the pool exactly one time so far this year. I threw out over 200 images. The sun was in and out of the clouds that day, and I quickly found that I craved that sunlight. When the sun would peek out of the clouds, I would beg the kids to do what I told them and do it NOW before the sun was gone. And bonus? Because they were having a great time in the water, they were happy to oblige. Anyone who takes pictures of their kids a lot knows that getting their kids to cooperate is often more than half the battle.

And do you know what happened? Magic happened. My soul lifted. My heart laughed. I felt light.

Here are some of the images I captured that day. I cannot wait to continue this journey and hope you join me.

You can follow me on Facebook or Google+.

Let’s actually start with two from last year that I didn’t edit until this year. My crazy splashers.

My little man.

And here’s the same guy this year. This was the first one that I edited when I got home, and my heart was in my throat. I was so excited. And just to give you an idea…. here’s an image before any editing. Straight out of camera: blue and murky.

My swimming beauty.Wild Child. This one makes me happy.Our fingers were wrinkled. We’d been in the water for maybe an hour and a half. My camera said I had one more picture on my camera, so I turned the camera on me and my kids. I might be happiest in the water with my camera and kids.

And if you are interested in learning more about editing in both Lightroom and Photoshop, check out my SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome Workshop. It’s the last week to register!…

I am gearing up for another “SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome” workshop, and I’m so excited! When I first started out with photography, I had no idea how to edit an image. I relied on actions and a lot of guesswork to get an okay image. Over the years, through lots and lots of practice and lots of trial and error, I found what worked for me. It took me a long time to even consider using Lightroom but I now am so comfortable editing in Lightroom. It is so easy to edit one image from a set of images and then just sync them all. I save SO much time now. I’ve always loved teaching (all my siblings are teachers) and so this workshop for me is a chance for me to teach something that I love doing: taking images and processing them.

If you are ready to take control over your editing and get the results YOU want, then this workshop is for you.

In this image, I loved the interaction but the colors were drab, and dang it, I wish I had noticed that the little girl’s dress was hiked up a little bit too much. No worries. I can fix all of that. I did most of the editing of this image in Lightroom, and then brought it into Photoshop for some final touches.

Who doesn’t love a good sky? I know I’m obsessed with them. A blown out sky can be so boring and adding a sky can make all the difference. Problem is, it’s hard to get a sky looking believable. Learn all my secrets of how I add a sky while keeping it looking natural. And yes, that is my foot in the original image. This was shot with a 15mm fisheye. When I first shot this image and all the ones shot that day, I was really disappointed in my SOOC’s. The color was so drab when I looked through my viewfinder. I remember driving home really upset. But once they were edited, they popped right off my screen! They went from drab to fab. Here, I achieved beautiful rich colors in Lightroom and then brought it into Photoshop to improve my framing by adding another tree. I also flipped the image and will talk about why I did that in the workshop. And please excuse my son’s expression. He wasn’t so thrilled with me making him hold his sister’s hand. Ha!

I loved the action in this, but regrettably, I had cropped off more of the bottom than I would have liked. No problem. Photoshop to the rescue! And that fence? Meh. That had to go.  And thank you Lightroom for making it so easy to get my colors just the way I wanted them, rich and warm. And then, boom, sync all of those images from the series, and I’m done and playing with my kids, instead of fretting in front of my computer.

I loved his expression (he saw a bee!) but again, the color needed work, and that road behind him really was distracting. No problem. Want to see more from this session? Right here.

This workshop is just around the corner. Don’t miss out, because honestly, I don’t know when the next one will be.

Interested in learning more? Get some details right here! 

And be sure to read the reviews. Makes me proud. …