Behind the Scene’s with Pam & SOOC Shot Before Editing || Mount Forest Photographer

Happy Hump Day – Hump Hour… its lunch time on Wednesday and its SNOWING… seriously soooo over winter, however what better to do to bring up my spirits while taking a break from work and gazing out the window at all this white stuff than to post a couple photos!

This post is inspired by a post I read on the NAPCP blog – which is the National Association of Professional Child Photographers. Im taking this directly from the blog as she worded it perfectly – however be sure to check it out here . This is what she (September 29, 2010 Posted by ClaireSmith) wrote…

“So you’ve just finished your session and are anxiously awaiting the proofs from your photographer. Now what? What goes on behind the scenes and why does it often take a couple weeks to see your proofs? Well, today you are getting just that; an inside look into how your pictures go from the photographer’s camera to the finished proofs. Editing is one of many important processes that allows each photographer to express their visual creativity and individuality when they are photographing your family. The editing process is often the most time consuming, and can take anywhere from 3-5 hours per session. However, you can trust that the finished result is something worth waiting for. After all, your photographer’s work with that bright pops of color or those classic black & white images that you were originally drawn to is probably one reason you hired them. Furthermore, the editing that is done to achieve that unique look is something that makes the pictures of your family not just a picture, but a work of art.”

What I love about this post is she emphasizes the great importance to the post processing work, which essentially is the “work” behind photography – heck taking the photos … for me… is FUN! I love it. I love interacting with the children and parents or couples! Thats what is FUN. But then… once I am home and download all of your RAW photos – I am reminded of the fun we had together – seriously I sit at my computer with this giddy little grin on my face remembering the giggles, laughs, faces, poses, smiles … fun we had and memories created and captured!

As many of you know, I can never wait even a day to get a sneak up for you to see 😉 Thats the mom in me, the images truly are a treasure!

A blog post isn’t a proper one without a photo… here are a couple images I pulled out quick to show my SOOC and my edited version. You not only need to have an eye for photography being a photographer you need to have an eye for art as well, as when you are going through the post processing process you transform the photo into a work of art… and as my website declares … Your Life As Art Photography!

Just like mommy… my mini-me’s || Mount Forest Photographer

My little man has been sick so mommy has been working from home and caring for him. Yesterday the miss was home with us and she was quite funny – and busy! Although she kept herself very busy so the boy could rest and mommy could get work done, worked perfect. I did however just HAVE to stop when I hear this little voice say “mommy can i work on my computer just like you” …. awww of course my baby!

Her great-aunti and great-uncle got her a laptop of her very own! She loves it lol.

And of course being the great little sister that she is (she told me this last night “mommy im going to be a great little sister” awww melt my heart!) she of course shared with her big brother… who is finally on the mend – YEA!

And now finally the sun is shining… time to get more work done – sunshine is SO energizing!!!

Puppy love… || Mount Forest Photographer

Babies… love em all. Not just human babies. Puppies are just as sweet 🙂 


This wee thing is 2.5 months old and has fit into our family quite well – well our family but my parents household. Isn’t she a cutie! 


My old man checkin out what the ladies are doing 😉 
This was one of the resulting images of the two ladies. 
and this… is priceless! 

*Note the puppy came from Cooperslane Kennels just outside of town you can view them online at www.cooperslane.com . Actually both the ladies came from this Kennel. One day when the time comes for our family to get another dog, this is where we will be getting ours from.  

Your Life As ART Photography – Workflow & Value || Mount Forest Photographer

One of the first things I learned in my photography journey is there is MUCH more to photography than just buying a “good” camera and taking a picture.

There is a true art to capturing a photograph!

Much of it begins with getting to a comfortable level with your subjects, whether it be babies, children, adults or combination – getting comfortable and most of all having FUN! Once you get into that frame of mind it is capturing their TRUE emotion, being able to visualize the image in your mind even before you set it up – yes lifestyle photography does have some ‘setting’ up to it, and … even though you capture these images digitally on the camera – that truly is ONLY the beginning.

Part of a photographers job is to make you SHINE! Capture your TRUE emotion, so true that when you look at those images you FEEL those images. And of course, treasure those images for many, many years to come. Afterall we are capturing Your Life As Art – to be PROUDLY displayed in your home.

So… what do you get if you invest your family art with me…

After the Shoot – My workflow…
So what happens after I get home from a shoot… I immediately download the images – whether I am going to edit them right away or not, they immediately get downloaded – these images are priceless! I also then change the card in my camera – I will not use your card again until I know the images are backed up at least twice (online on Flickr + my back up drive – and also my computer – so 3 in total 😉 ). Then… since I ONLY shoot in RAW I imporgt my images into Lightroom, make any basic edits there and then export into Photoshop CS5 – this is where I do the majority of my fine tuning.

Afterall … there is MUCH more to a final image than just downloading the image from the camera.

I have been using Pure Photography Design “Actions” for a while now to assist in my editing workflow. Basically what an “action” is, is a control within Photoshop to complete an edit in just a few steps vs many various steps. However its just not that simple – I love how Chrissy and Rachel describe their actions – they are like Salt and Pepper… lol you do not dump all of the salt and pepper onto your food and its much like that with their actions. By using these actions I streamline my workflow and achieve the final image I have in my mind much more efficiently – afterall, I am a photographer not a photoshop guru lol. I am able to complete the tweaking to an image in half the time as I would going through ALL the various steps myself. It truly is a matter of knowing what you are aiming to achieve and always having control of the image! The well known (to the photography industry) Wedding Photographer Jasmine Star has a fabulous post on this – it is a couple years old but shows how having a true eye for tweating a properly exposed image (which is KEY to any image) using actions can be a photographers lifesaver! Whats cool is that Jasmine is such a fabulous wedding photographer… she outsources her RAW editing – to a company she trusts of course!

So… my purpose of this post was not to ramble on (anyone who knows me knows I do that quite well 😉 ). These images below is what I wanted to show…

Above is my SOOC shot (straight out of the camera shot – well perhaps I shouldn’t say that – my actual SOOC shot was vertical, I rotated this 90 degrees clock wise to show a better comparison).

Below… is my final edit (I did in fact provide them with a couple different edits, including b+w, hey Im a mom and I know how much these images TRULY do mean!)

And for fun… here is the B+W…

This is just a small glimpse at how I capture …
Your Life As Art with my Photography!

Spring is in the air in Mount Forest! || Mount Forest Family Photographer

Spring certainly is in the air around here. My kids are just over joyed to get back on their bikes!

I am excited for my upcoming shoots in April… if you are interested in booking a photography session please connect via email or contact me by phone 519 323 9955 . With the spring weather on the way we will soon be able to do some outdoor spring photo sessions … including some evening ones!!! If you are expecting a baby I am available to book those anytime 🙂

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Capturing THEIR family || Mount Forest Photographer

Another sneak for the “A” family… had so much fun with them and cannot wait for them to get their images! Just adore the connection in this image. As a mom myself I was just grinning ear to ear while processing their images and FEELING the love… 



And… the beautiful sunshine today!!! Cannot wait for the Spring Sessions! If you would like to book please drop me a line at pam AT yourlifeasartphotography DOT com  🙂 Or check out my Contact Pam page!

"A" Family Fun… Sneak Peek! || Mount Forest Family Photographer

I had a lot of fun with this sweet little family yesterday. I had the pleasure of photographing their beautiful little girl   when she was just weeks old, now at a few months old she is just getting sweeter by the day! An amazing compliment that they are using Photos I took of their lil lady and some family photos as their Art for their Home ❤


Here is just a small sneak of some of the photos I took for them yesterday… 






Em, once I get more images edited I will upload them to a private album for you to see as I know you are eagerly awaiting the images 🙂 It was so nice seeing you & your beautiful family again!

Why enlargement prints should be professional! || Mount Forest Photographer

I came across a wonderful article this morning on another photographers blog, Wendy L White composed an amazing comparison for why enlargement prints should be from a professional printer – NOT walmart, costco etc… 

Although I do provide my clients with a disk – as a mother I treasure the images of my family and children, this is partly why, as well as having the images to use online or scrapbooking etc. Here is my previous blog about it.  

I will be ordering some various enlargements for my own home soon – as we have had our home for sale I haven’t been able to display my family art as I would normally, however there is one print that simply because I needed something fast last fall and big – it MUST be replaced! So once I receive the new image, which should be within the past week or so, I have to place an order for prints for clients soon so I am going to send it in with that order. Cannot wait for a high quality image AND print to be displayed on my wall! 

Here is the image… I am now trying to decide between colour and b&w – to me b&w is timeless and regardless of the colours in my home now it will always be timeless. The image hanging now (which is horrible Walmart quality) is colour… 

OR


Here is Wendy’s blog about professional printing – this is a FABULOUS article. She took the time to show the various prints and then the professional print including the digital file. It truly is amazing to see them all together like this! 

Personally I avoid printing unless I need to simply because the quality drives me nuts when it is a “quick I need an image” print locally – not slamming local printers but the typical places people do “quick prints” is the Kodak Kiosks, Walmart, Costco etc… You WILL notice the difference! Its worth it for the extra money and once we get things settled at home I will be ordering various images to have on display for my clients to view! I am quite excited about this… 

So we are back to a Winter Wonderland!… yes its snowing ALOT – we had rain ALL day yesterday. I was a little nervous to be honest because I have an outdoor family session on Sunday and I have a few fun ideas that I was/am really looking forward to! After Sunday all this snow can go… for many many months!

TGIF!!!

Happy Birthday to MY GIRL! || Mount Forest Photographer

My children truly are the root of my passion for photography. Although I had a love for art before I became a mother, the amazing desire I had on our journey to become parents made this that much more meaningful for me. There will always be tough days or trying moments, however my children are what has made me who I am today. So to celebrate them… their birthdays get an extra special & fun photography shoot 🙂 (remember Carsons from the fall lol with the balloons in the park…)


That is why this post is totally dedicated to MY GIRL! 


We celebrated her 3rd Birthday this weekend… my baby girl! 


Its very rare that I actually ‘set up’ shots with my kids – directed photos yes I do those ALL the time hehe. But actually set up showing her how to pose naturally… this is rare and my gosh was this girl such a natural. She blew me away, there I was on the chair in my living room, everything pushed back out of the way and me saying ‘ok mady look this way, now look at me, smile, no not a cheesy smile just smile naturally” yes she ‘got’ what the “cheesy” smile was and what my “natural” smile is that I wanted! 

This is what happened when she heard me say ‘smile’ … lol this is why I RARELY will tell my kids to smile 😉


How much fun I had in literally just minutes capturing these shots of her… 

And her outdoor balloon photos… 


And… cake time!



Your Life As Art Photography by Pam

Artist & Intuitive | Pamela Zmija

Skip to content ↓