Charlotte, North Carolina Wedding Photographer ~ Caroline Ghetes Photography

I Will Be At WPPI in Vegas!

Caroline — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:21:54 +0000

I will be in Vegas for WPPI 2010, and so any emails/phone calls will be answered when I am back in my studio on Friday March 12th, 2010. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but I promise that when I come back I will be refreshed for you!

Oliver

Caroline — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:05:33 +0000

Oh Oliver. What are we going to do with you? You are cranking out more and more words and sentences each day, and I am constantly baffled at your ability to act like you’re three when you just turned two. Daddy calls you “booger” (and we can see why). Momo, a.k.a grandpa, calls you “ursule”, because of your hefty size and bear-like stature and walk. You play the air-drums every time a song comes on in the car that has a distinct drum-beat. You stab us with your fork at the dinner table and yell gibberish obscenities when we tell you how to eat your food. And even after you stab us, we should discipline you and put you in time-out. But we don’t. Instead we laugh at how hilarious you look when you’re angry. You make us laugh. And that’s what we love most about you. We love you, “ursule”.

Recipe Mondays No. 11 { Totally Rad Actions }

Caroline — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:20:57 +0000

I know it’s been a little while since I’ve REALLY blogged about anything on here, BUT, like I said in my last couple of posts, there just hasn’t been any time. I needed to focus on getting my whole family, including myself, back to healthy again AND I needed to do a lot of catching up on editing 2009 weddings. With that said, it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve done a “Recipe Monday” post and so let’s start off this week with one of those. Here’s a recipe using Totally Rad Actions on a portrait I did of my beautiful and stylish sister (technically sister-in-law, but we’re close enough that we practically are sisters), while she was here in Charlotte during our second snowfall of the winter.

Here’s the original.

Adjust curves as such.

Using Yin Yang, I Yang’d the face and Yin’d the snow to darken.

Boutwell Magic Glasses at 100%.

Flatten the image, then tilt & crop to correctly compose.

Use Green With Envy on lips and hair to pop out the colors.

Flatten the image and use Photoshop’s healing brush to remove facial imperfections. Next use TRA’s Pro Retouch tool on the face to smooth out the skin and reduce its opacity to 70%.

Warm It Up, Kris! at 80% opacity.

Pool Party at 50% opacity.

Cinnamon Toast at 30% opacity.

Use Select-O-Pop on eyes and hair.

And there you go! Here’s the Before & After!

I would love to hear your thought below!

Formspring + Paperie Boutique

Caroline — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:12:27 +0000

I don’t think I’ve ever taken such a long break from blogging, but here’s what’s been goin’ on. For the past week or so, Alin, myself and the kids have been going back and forth battling the flu, colds, and pink eye, and it was and still is quite the mess. On top of that, I have been trying to finish editing my 2009 weddings & portraits before my first wedding this year in March 2010, getting my ShootQ set up, remodeling my home studio (which is now about 80% finished, thanks to Alin), and so yeah. All that’s been taking a HUGE chunk of my time. With that said…

I receive a lot of questions from photographers and aspiring photographers every day and for the past few weeks, I have been answering your questions via Formspring. I wish I had the time to answer every email, and every Facebook message I get in regards to photography, but I don’t. For those of you who know me, you’ll know that God is first in my life, my family & friends, my clients, THEN networking and such. Head on over to my Formspring page, and ask me anything you want. Whether it’s about photography, family, life, or riddles to confuse me, I’ll try and answer every single one of them as best I can. If it’s photography-related, make sure to read my previous answers to avoid repetition.

On another note, I got an email this morning that my Eco-Friendly Packaging was featured on Paperie Boutique. If you are a photographer and need marketing ideas or love looking at pretty packaging, you have got to see Robyn’s Flickr page. You’ll be looking at her packaging for hours. Believe you me.

If you missed my post on my eco-friendly packaging back in October, and are interested in purchasing my list of resources and where I got every single item used for my packaging, go here and click on the “Buy Now” button to purchase my list for only $25. ALL $25 will be donated to my two sisters who one of which is going on a missions trip to Honduras this year and the other to Romania. So far, we have raised over $800 and I hope that we will be able to raise even more for this very worthy cause!

Casting Call for Female Models, Makeup Artists & Hair Stylists ~ Charleston, SC

Caroline — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:53:27 +0000

I will be shooting some high fashion bridal editorials for a very high profile up and coming wedding gown designer. I’ll give you a hint: this person was one of Project Runway’s top two finalists. This person has entrusted me to provide unique, original images for upcoming shows, and possibly even some magazine ads! I do not want to say who this person is, since I want to kind of keep this on the down low until the big reveal of the photos, and so here are the details of this shoot and who I need:

Models (this person is looking for women with “pixie-esque” qualities. Preferably reddish/auburn hair with light eyes, but is open to others)
Makeup Artists
Hair Stylists

Since I’m the one doing this shoot, I have decided to compensate as TFCD (a.k.a “trade for CD”). Basically all models, makeup artist and hair stylist will be given a CD with all of the high resolution edited images from this shoot to use for their own portfolios as a thank you for your participation.

To interested Models:
Please email me the following:
-picture(s) of yourself
-current height, weight, bust/waist/hip measurements, hair color, eye color

To interested Makeup Artists:
Please email me the following:
-images of makeup work you’ve done, or a link to your makeup portfolio

To interested Hair Stylists:
Please email me the following:
-images of hair work you’ve done, or a link to your hair art portfolio

You must be available to work all day March 27th, 2010 in Charleston, SC. We will probably be shooting between 6-8 hours total since there are a minimum of three wedding gowns that will be shot.

I look forward to receiving your submissions!

…working…

Caroline — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:30:22 +0000

I’ll be working my butt off editing and meeting deadlines this week, therefore I simply do not have the time to blog. Will be back bloggin’ next week. Just so you know.

Clickin’ Moms

Caroline — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:58:37 +0000

For those of you photog mommies out there, you HAVE to join Clickin’ Moms. It’s a wonderful place for educational forums, networking, and on top of that there are so many great deals you can get just for being a member! To find out more information about Clickin’ Moms or if you would like to join for a very affordable monthly fee, click on the banner ad below. I get a bonus and you can receive 10% off of your monthly subscription by using this code: FRIEND! I have been a member of Clickin’ Moms for a little while now and I get a lot out of it! You can too

Chateau Bellevie • Fuquay-Varina, NC • Venue Photography

Caroline — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:00:54 +0000

During the food-tasting event, we also took a bunch of pictures at the Chateau Bellevie, which is a bed & breakfast next door to the High Grove Estate. Owned and run by Maria & Roxana, who also run the High Grove together with Vicki, many brides and/or their guests spend one or more nights at this luxurious ornate French-decorated mansion. And since I have a ~~slight~~ pretty huge obsession with everything French, I walked in and fell in love. Every single square inch of this home was perfectly planned and executed with excellence. Maria showed us about the mansion and as I listened to her talk about this home, I could tell that she just loves it and takes great pride in all the work she put into it. Not only does the Chateau Bellevie sleep its guests, it also hosts its own wedding ceremonies on its beautiful outdoor grounds. If you are interested in visiting the Chateau Bellevie, whether it’s to stay a few nights or hold your wedding ceremony there, visit their website HERE or call 919.622.6128.

High Grove Estate • Fuquay-Varina, NC • Venue Photography

Caroline — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:00:04 +0000

A couple of months ago, Alin and I were invited to a food-tasting event at High Grove Estate in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina just 20 minutes away from Raleigh. It sits right next to Laurel Lake and is one of the most beautiful venues serving some of the tastiest foods I’ve ever had. What I love most are the people that run the place. We have Vicki, Maria, & Roxana. These women have some serious passion for what they do and take tremendous pride in their venue appearance and the service they provide to their clients. So when they had asked Alin and I to come setup our photography work for their brides to see, I was flattered & humbled that they would think I was good enough to show there. Here are some pictures I took of their venue, food-tasting and setups. If you are a bride and are interested in setting up an appointment with them, visit their website HERE or call 919.552.6154.

Recipe Mondays No. 10 { Totally Rad Actions }

Caroline — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:00:20 +0000

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.

The original untouched image.

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

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

“Boutwell Magic Glasses” at 50 percent.

“Select-o-Pop” on the stonework.

I used the noise reduction (skin) tool from Nik Software’s “Dfine 2.0 on their skin.

I rotated the image to straighten it, cropped and used the healing brush to rid of any distractions.

“Warm it up, Kris!” at 60% opacity.

“Antique Tone” at 70%.

And there you have it!

What do you guys think?