Before and After Edits: Happy Wedding Mistake

It's not really the photo, but the story and feeling behind the photo that I decided to show this for my Before and After series.

I had just finished assisting Hollye inside and as I was walking outside I saw the bride's veil sweep around her while she walked to the car. The wind was particularly strong that day and I loved the way the veil was dancing. I impulsively brought my camera up to my face and snapped the photo because the moment was happening so quickly. Then I looked down and realized it was extremely over exposed because I still had my settings for inside.

And it was a soft focus on top of that! But I didn't care. I felt there was something about it, almost film-like that I enjoyed. I went into lightroom and drastically brought down the exposure (-0.15), bumped up the blacks (28) and recovery (31), tweaked exposure (+29) and contrast (24), and converted it into a black and white:

And while it's certainly not my best, I still love the dreamy feel of it. Had I thought about it long enough when I was standing outside, I might have considered deleting it. But because this was the only one I captured before the wind died down and the moment was gone -- I kept it. I embrace imperfections and happy mistakes like this.

But I'll leave you with one last happy moment I experienced. Capturing this:

I was shooting facing an open door that was streaming light inside, silhouetting my subjects -- very difficult to expose. But still, this ring bearer stole my heart when I saw him and I decided to devote a good chunk of time to capture him. The moment, the boy, or maybe because it reminds me of film... I simply love that photo.

All of this to say, sometimes you just gotta embrace your imperfections if the moment feels right :)

Happy Thursday you lovely people! Can't wait to show you what I've been working on!