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Charlotte, North Carolina Wedding Photographer ~ Caroline Ghetes Photography bio picture

Randomness...

1. I shoot people...with a Canon. (pun intended)

2. I love french music, Paris, & everything French.

3. I wanted to be the greatest storm chaser ever.

4. I listen to the same 20 songs over and over...and over.

5. "Redeeming Love" is the best book. Ever.

6. 80% of my "the's" are typed "teh"

7. I like funny people.

8. I am a hopeless romantic.

9. I do what I love & I love what I do.

10. I love my family to death.


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Recipe Mondays No. 10 { Totally Rad Actions }

So I’ve got kind of a special treat today (if you would call it that). I’ve been spending a lot of January and February working on some behind the scenes & business stuff, with no weddings and sessions at a minimum. I just really need to prepare for what’s happening starting March, where I will pretty much be hitting the ground running until the end of the year. So anyway, with all that said, I didn’t have any new sessions to use for a before & after Recipe Mondays post. And then I thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to go back to some of my very first weddings and see how I would have edited them if I had my Totally Rad Actions? So that’s what I did. From my archives, I pulled out the very first wedding I had ever shot on my own in October 2005. I was miserably sick at 4 months pregnant with my second, and I also shot in Portland, Oregon, raining all day of course, and charged around $900 for the job. It was for a sister of my friend’s husbands, in case you were wondering. And a VERY sweet family at that :) Back then I was shooting in “Auto” mode with my trusty Nikon D70 and some kit lens. With VERY little knowledge of Photoshop, I edited & touched up most of these images with Photoshop’s “diffuse glow”. I didn’t know what else to do. Actions didn’t really exist back then. I thought I’d show you an original photo from the wedding, the way I edited back then, and how I would have edited it now -almost 5 years later.

The first image below is the original untouched image. The second one was edited with what looks like Photoshop’s “diffused glow” effect.
001-b-and-a-original

The original untouched image.
002-original

I lightened up the faces and some of the trees and slightly darkened his suit using TRA’s “Yin/Yang” tool.
003-yin-yang-trees-suit-faces

“Green with Envy” on the trees and gray/green stone.
004-green-with-envy-on-trees-and-stone

“Boutwell Magic Glasses” at 50 percent.
005-boutwell-magic-glasses-50-percent

“Select-o-Pop” on the stonework.
006-select-o-pop-on-stone

I used the noise reduction (skin) tool from Nik Software’s “Dfine 2.0 on their skin.
007-dfine-2-point-0-skin-noise-reduction

I rotated the image to straighten it, cropped and used the healing brush to rid of any distractions.
008-straighten-crop-and-healing-brush-clean-up

“Warm it up, Kris!” at 60% opacity.
009-warm-it-up-kris-at-60-percent

“Antique Tone” at 70%.
010-antique-tone-at-70-percent

And there you have it!
011-before-and-afters

What do you guys think?

February 8, 2010 - 11:45 pm Caroline - Thank you Daniel & Audra, I am so happy to know that these are helpful in any small way! Helga, thank you!

February 8, 2010 - 10:57 pm audra bender - really beautiful, for a new photographer it is great to hear someone who is so accomplished talk your first experiences, gives me so much hope for the future. :-) love all your photos.

February 8, 2010 - 3:01 pm helga - I think you are amazing and I love your honesty!!!!! I love it!!!

February 8, 2010 - 1:49 pm Daniel Elgan - THANK you for recipe Monday!! I just recently purchased the TRA1, and I am having a great time learning new editing methods. Your recipes and description of your editing workflow are so helpful!!

February 8, 2010 - 1:24 pm Caroline Ghetes - LOL, Lilly. Believe it or not, that's usually the minimum I process on EACH and EVERY image I provide to my clients. I want to make sure all is perfect and consistent with exposure & color when the photos are presented to them. And then there's at least double to even triple the work spent on some of the more creative shots to really add drama. That's why pro photographers charge what they do. It isn't just the 8 hours they show up on the one day ; )

February 8, 2010 - 12:26 pm Lilly Stancu - WOW it takes that much work for ONE pic? Final product looks amazing. Great job girl!

February 8, 2010 - 11:24 am Caroline - Hi Karla! With Rad Actions, when you select "Green with Envy, for example, it automatically chooses the paintbrush tool in Photoshop for you. So you use this paint brush tool and paint in the image where you wish to apply "Green with Envy". Same think when I selected the noise reduction tool for skin in Nik Software's Color Efx Pro. It gives you the option to fill in the entire image with the effect or to paint it in areas you want to. There are other actions in the TRA set that automatically apply the effect/action to the entire image. You can select the eraser tool and erase that effect/action from parts of the image. Or sometimes you can select the paintbrush tool and then hit "x" on your keyboard to change the background from white to black (watch the 2 little boxes in the bottom part of the Photoshop tools menu box), and then paint the picture where you wish to remove a certain effect/action. Make sure to hit "x" again to bring the background back to white.

February 8, 2010 - 11:16 am Karla - Thank you! I have "mental noted" to myself several times that I would LOVE to go back and edit a few images from my first couple of weddings! I might just have to do that now! The only thing that confuses me when you are editing, is how do you add an action to only part of the image. Like the skin, or the floor??? Thanks! ~Karla

February 8, 2010 - 11:06 am Damaris Mia - I must've missed it. Thanks

February 8, 2010 - 11:04 am Caroline - Hi Damaris! Yes, I used TRA's "Yin/Yang" tool to lighten their skin. It's a few pictures down from the top, and I wrote it there in case you wanted to see which picture was associated with that :)

February 8, 2010 - 11:01 am Damaris Mia - What did you do to lighten her skin? Great job, btw :]

My heart hurts…

I was at Central Church tonight and as usual the choir blows me away. As I sing along with them, for some reason, I am getting flashbacks of Living Waters Church where our family used to attend when we lived in Phoenix before May 2008. I used to sing in the worship group with my brother Genaro. As I sang tonight along with the choir, my heart ached and my eyes stung with tears as I realized how much I missed singing with my brother. I still sing at home & definitely in the car. But it just isn’t the same when you are up there on the stage, and you are blessed with this gift to bless others. I miss it. I really do. I miss the routine of going to practice Thursday nights before church. I miss Andrew messin’ around on drums and pretending that he’s this rock star or something. I miss Paul playing piano like he’s from another planet. I miss Mikey playing the guitar, and having that permanent smirk on his face when he plays. I miss Laura and her strange humor -that I totally get. I miss Genaro belting out his vocals and me wondering how it is he hasn’t been discovered. I miss Alin being the soundboard guy and being directly in front of me when I was up there singing. I miss walking over the volleyball sand court to get into the church building. I miss Youth Nights on Thursday nights. I miss Pastor Doru’s preaching. I miss my brother Francois’ preaching. I miss how close every one of the members were to each other. I miss how everyone came together to help my family when we were in need and at the lowest of lows in our lives. I miss hearing about everyone’s mission trips to Romania & Moldova. I miss being around people who were non-judgmental and loved you no matter what. I miss how everyone came to my ugly Christmas sweater parties wearing ugly Christmas sweaters. I miss everything and everyone in that church.

I’ve been asked many times why I live in Charlotte away from EVERYONE I know and love. I love everything about Charlotte except that those people are not here. And as much as I say I love it here, and I truly do, I hurt because I wish I could pick up everyone from Phoenix and move them here. Then life would be perfect. But life isn’t supposed to be perfect. I know that. I’ll have to accept that. I toy with the idea every now and then of “what if we moved back?” But I know that if we did, I’d be miserable again. I hate the desert. I just could not spend the rest of my life living in the desert.

Anyway, if anyone from Living Waters is reading this (you know who you are), know that I love you all, I miss you terribly, and I will NEVER forget you and what you’ve done in my family’s lives. But especially mine. Thank you.

February 8, 2010 - 11:03 am Damaris Mia - Not really... haha. There is no way you can compare it to AZ. No way. However, I don't doubt the east coast is beautiful. Hope to visit one day.

February 8, 2010 - 10:35 am Caroline - Damaris, I mean this in the best and nicest way possible -I would never. LOL. I like visiting but to me it's just like AZ. Desert landscaping with an ocean next to it. I REALLY like East Coast beaches more. They're very romantic. Thank you, Jess, and thank you Lavi, it means a lot girlies : ) Simona, man do I miss those parties! I would have thought that you would take over for me ; ) LOL. And the poker nights were somethin' else. Definitely funny how we never really played the actual game much since we were always distracted by each other's cool factor. We'll be in AZ for 2 weeks in June, so we are having at least acouple of Poker/talk nights while we're there, k? ; ) Love you!

February 8, 2010 - 12:44 am Simo - I know I don't attend LW BUT I do miss the Ugly sweater Christmas parties. Christmas just isn't the same anymore. Not just that but the fun we had on poker-turns into just funny talking-night.

February 8, 2010 - 12:21 am Lavi - Caroline!! I totally know how you feel!! It's crazy being away from people that mean so much to you in life!! Sometimes God sends us in directions that we aren't sure about, but in looking over the last few years, you realize how truly blessed you are!! Know that you are loved and missed I'm sure from everyone!! You never know where the road ahead leads you!! God bless you all!! WE miss you guys and know how your feeling!!

February 8, 2010 - 12:03 am jessie - thanks for opening up like that! our family, our church truly misses you guys as well. God has a plan for everything, everything is made perfect in His timing. See you soon!

February 7, 2010 - 11:43 pm Damaris Mia - Why not move to Southern California? :)

2010 Wedding Date Availabilities

Hey there brides-to-be! So far this year, I have about 20 weddings booked, and since I do not book more than 3 weddings per month, that leaves me with a few spots available. Following are the Saturdays I still have available:

March 2010:
6th: OPEN
13th: OPEN
19th: BOOKED
20th (Sunday): BOOKED
27th: OPEN
*Room for 1 more wedding in March

April 2010:
3rd: OPEN
10th: OPEN
17th: BOOKED
24th: BOOKED
*Room for 1 more wedding in April

May 2010:
1st: OPEN
2nd (Sunday): BOOKED
8th: OPEN
15th: OPEN
16th: BOOKED
22nd: OPEN
29th: BOOKED
*Room for 1 more wedding in May

June 2010:
5th: OPEN
12th: OPEN
19th: BOOKED
26th: BOOKED
*Room for 1 more wedding in June

July 2010:
3rd: OPEN
10th: BOOKED
17th: BOOKED
24th: BOOKED
31st: OPEN
*Room for 1 more wedding in July

August 2010:
I will be in Romania on a missions trip most of this month.
Please inquire if interested in booking during August.

September 2010:
4th: BOOKED
11th: OPEN
18th: OPEN
25th: BOOKED
*Room for 1 more wedding in September

October 2010:
2nd: BOOKED
9th: BOOKED
16th: BOOKED
23rd: N/A
30th: BOOKED
*October is FULLY BOOKED

November 2010:
6th: BOOKED
13th: BOOKED
19th: OPEN
26th: N/A
*Room for 1 more wedding in November

December 2010:
4th: OPEN
11th: OPEN
18th: OPEN
25th: N/A
*Room for 3 more weddings in December

If you are a bride-to-be and are planning on getting married on one of the available dates shown, call me at (704) 208-6980 or email me at caroline@carolineghetes.com as soon as possible. Dates are booking up quickly and many of the OPEN dates above are already being inquired upon, but not booked yet. I am so excited to already be shooting so many unique weddings and some in very cool locations all around the U.S. , even in the Bahamas! Have a wonderful week!

2009 WPD Creative Photo Contest - 3rd Place!

I am a member or the Wedding Photography Directory, and they host a creative photo contest every year. I am so happy to find out that out of over 3,100 wedding photographer entries, my photo received 3rd place in this year’s contest! Check out the finalists page HERE.

wpd-contest-3rd-place-winner

February 7, 2010 - 1:18 pm carrie scruggs - How fantastic! Congratulations! What a wonderful shot - you really come up with some creative stuff! LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

February 3, 2010 - 2:25 pm Rebekah - Congratulations! :)