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Thanks for stopping by. I'm Michael Corsentino, a lifestyle photographer based in beautiful Sonoma County California. Stylish, fun, creative and relaxed images are what my work is all about. Check out the drop down menus above for links to my weddings, engagements, portraits, album designs, resources, photography tips & web sites.
Blogs are all about community so please join in and let me know what you’re thinking!
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Paraphrasing Adobe Evangelist Julieanne Kost: “Images straight out of digital cameras are unfinished and need to be developed.”
We couldn’t agree more with Julieanne. This is why so many people ask why their digital pictures don't look as good as those made by professionals. One big reason is that the professionals have developed thier digital images after capture. The professional’s images have been worked on or “developed” to bring out their full potential and make them the best they possibly can be.
Here are before and after examples of what digital files look like straight out of the camera and why they all need to be “developed.” The first images are our “before” examples of un-retouched, straight out of the camera digital negatives and the second images are our “after” examples of digital negatives given “The Love.” This is our signature retouching process. With “The Love” we turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, giving you the best possible wedding and portrait images available anywhere in the universe!
Each image is quality controlled throughout the retouching process to exacting standards and professionally printed in house on our state of the art printers or by our top-flight lab on premium grade photo paper. We call this process “The Love” for two reasons: our clients love how their prints and albums look and we love to bring out the full potential we see in images straight out of the camera. We know that there are great images waiting to be set free from their humdrum, straight out of the camera doldrums. They just need “The Love.”
All our packages include a dvd of high resolution images (straight out of the camera) delivered with your completed album! Most of our clients keep the disc filed away as a family archive and use our Proof Boutique to order their prints and other assorted Memory Boutique products. Do you really want to hassle with reprint orders for all your friends and family members who want prints? Do really you want to color correct, and retouch 600+ images? Maybe you do. If so, it’s no problem. The choice is yours because you’ve got your digital negatives.
Our clients can see the clear difference between our custom prints that have “The Love” applied and images straight out of the camera. They appreciate the work it takes to make their images something really special and are willing to pay a premium for quality images.
Why settle for poor quality, unprofessional prints of one of the most important events of your life? You can have the best possible prints available anywhere, delivered to your door with just a few mouse clicks. Using our convenient Proof Boutique couldn’t be easier for family and friends.
I’ll be updating this often with new before and after examples. I really enjoy showing just how different your images can look when they’re produced professionally, artistically and shown “The Love.” Check back often!
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| Before “The Love” – Straight Out Of The Camera: I love this moment, when I saw this image during editing I knew immediately it had great potential to be more than just cute. With a bit of “The Love” I knew I could transform it into something truly magical. I wanted to highlight the preciousness and timelessness I saw in this sweet moment, and to accentuate the way it made me feel about things past and things to come. Time to head to the digial darkroom and apply “The Love.” |
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| After “The Love”: I started with a bit of rotation to straighten the arbor, cropped in to focus attention and get rid of visual noise, converted to b&w because it works better for this image, added a romantic and timeless sepia treatment – because it’s just so cool, added grain for greater effect, threw in a vignette, removed some white spots above the boys left shoulder, removed the buttons from the back of boys jacket arms, sharpened it, and voilà it’s magic! A very different image than it was straight out of the camera, don’t you think? |
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| Before “The Love” – Straight Out Of The Camera: This is one those images your grandmother would call “nice.” No artist wants to hear this four-letter word about his or her work; it’s the ultimate blasé stamp of approval. We want to hear “fantastic”, “amazing”, “killer dude!”, “exceptional”, “winner”, and … well, you get the point. It’s a cool cake shot but it needs “The Love” to be great. The color is desaturated and there could be more drama in the quality of light. What can I do to make grandmothers everywhere say something, anything, other than “nice?” |
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| After “The Love”: Let’s kick it off with a color boost, adjust the exposure for a bit more drama, add a vignette to draw attention inward, and last but not least – sharpen it. Big difference! Grandma has left the building. |
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| Before “The Love” – Straight Out Of The Camera: My friends Janis & Ryan during their “In Love” Portraite Session at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. These guys are so great and they have so much love between them, but the image on the other hand, straight out of the camera, well, that’s another story. It needs “The Love!” It’s kind of washed out, and lifeless, I think it could have a lot more impact and drama. Let’s see how we can bring it to life. |
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| After “The Love”: First I applied a color boost, making sure to keep the skin tones natural. After that I cropped in much tighter to bring drama and life to the image. After that a vignette and some sharpening. Bingo, happy time! |
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| Before “The Love” – Straight Out Of The Camera: The boys! Josh (center) and his groomsmen clowning around on a bridge at the beautiful Saddle Creek Resort’s golf course. These guys were awesome fun and all very old friends. This image needs “The Love” to help communicate the energy and spontaneity these guys had as a group. As is, it’s washed out, far away, their isn’t enough depth of field separation between the foreground and background, and the bridge’s horizontal angle isn’t working for me. No problem, “The Love” to the rescue… |
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| After “The Love”: Sweet! I started with a color boost, blurred the background and masked the dudes to keep them sharp, cropped in tight, tweaked the vibrance, added a vignette, and sharpened. Now we’re talking, after “The Love” the colors are popping, the background is no longer distracting, the bridge has been straightened, and with the tighter crop you can really feel the energy and spontaneity of these fun guys. I love it when a plan comes together! |
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| Before “The Love” – Straight Out Of The Camera: Pay close attention to the left and right images and follow that beard. This is a really fun series of images I made of the groom “Josh” getting a piggy back ride from one of his groomsmen buddies. In the image on the left the groomsmen looks killer, he’s got a great expression, frame position, and his beard is blowing in the wind à la “ZZ Top”. The cool follically challenged dude in the background is doing this hand thing making the image more interesting. It’s all good, Except the groom’s expression is way better in the image on the right. Unfortunately, the image on the right lacks all the cool stuff going on in the image on the left. How can I get the best of both images? |
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| After “The Love”: Time for a little cut and paste, merging the best from each image to create the ultimate moment. Not something I do often because I really like to stay true to what’s actually occurred rather than fabricate events. However, these frames were one right after the other. They were made seconds apart, so I didn’t see it as breaking the rules too much. To finish it off, I cropped it to increase impact, gave it a color boost, added a vignette, burned in some hot spots and sharpened it. Not a bad result and no hint that it’s made from two images. Again, not something I do often. Anyway, gotta run, time to cut and paste my head onto the Rock’s body. |
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| Before “The Love” – Straight Out Of The Camera: This is my girl dog “Louisiana”, I love her so much. I made this image at Baker Beach in San Francsico while my mom was visiting us from out of town (she lives in Florida), that’s her arm on the right. I know what a beautiful shiny black coat with brown highlights Louisiana has and how colorful and beautiful her eyes are. I also know what amazing colors and light there are at Baker Beach (I like to shoot engagements there). Both Louisiana and Baker Beach are in need of “The Love” to show how beautiful they really are. |
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| After “The Love”: Big difference! I gave the image an overall color boost, then added an extra color boost and mask for Louisiana’s red collar and eyes, cropped in to see her sweet face up close and personal, added a vignette, and sharpened it. Now that’s my girl! |
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