Creating and Retouching a Portrait

Kirk Pullen Photography can create a great portrait for you! It takes as much skill to be knowledgeable in Photoshop as it does working a camera. Is your photographer good at both? There needs to be a good balance to have a photo look as good as it can. I had some free time today to edit older photos today and I decided to give this photo of Logan a different look. I'll walk you through what I did to edit this photo in Photoshop CS6. First I isolate the subject with the selection tool. I then click on the Refine Edge button to get the best selection possible. Invert the selection and then use the eraser tool to remove the white background. Once the background is removed, you can add any background you want. I changed the color of her jacket from brown to red using a hue saturation layer. I really like using the Imagenomic Portraiture plug-in for smoothing out skin. I finished the portrait off with Nik Color Effects 3.0 filter called Infrared Film #5. Nik also makes a sharpening program that works great. I use about 35% on the Pre-sharpener and Post Sharpener.

Fall Family Portraits

One of the cool things about being a photographer is when you've been doing it long enough you get to see families grow. The Williams family has new addition to their family portrait this year. Fall is the best time for outdoor portraits and Kirk Pullen Photography can meet you anywhere to capture memorable images. Be sure to book your photo session before all of the beautiful fall colors disappear.

Photographing Children Being Active

I have been working with the North Carolina Division of Transportation for the last few months, photographing students who are participating in the Active Routes to School program. It is an inspiring program that shows students the importance of staying physically active throughout their whole life. I went to several schools in Sampson County to document the children walking to school. A safe route was planned out and then parent volunteers, teachers, principals and law enforcement worked together to supervise the students as they walked to school. It really makes you feel good to see a whole community involved in trying to teach children about the importance of staying physical fit.

Model Railroad Magazine

If you happen to be reading Model Railroader Magazine this month be sure to check out the 4 page article with images by Kirk Pullen Photography! Charles Klein takes model railroading to an extreme with a setup that spans an entire master bedroom and highlights Pennsylvania, Hudson & Potomac. He asked me to take the photos of his railroad layout to accompany his recent article in the magazine.

Acting Portfolio

This weekend I had the opportunity to photograph actor Ted "Thor" Larson. He was in need of a new portfolio so we covered all the types of shots agents are looking for: head shots, three quarter and full body photos. Ted is really easy to talk to and during the photo session he joked about how much he resembles former Vice President Dick Chaney. He told me that he has been an extra in the several big name movies such as Meet Joe Black and Mermaids. Ted currently is a resident of Clinton, NC and will be attempting to land an acting role in Wilmington, NC

Mountain Vacation

I was on vacation in the mountains near Boone, North Carolina this week and my family stopped at a scenic spot for dinner. We opened our pizza box and pull out a few slices when a caterpillar drops on the box. Instead of going for extra toppings, I of course grabbed my camera.

Quinceanera Portraits

This weekend I had a fun photo session with Rocio in Kenansville, NC at The Country Squire Restaurant and Inn. Their property has a really nice courtyard in a wooded setting. We also took advantage of the amazing southern setting they have right next to the inn. There are many rows of grape vines with an ornate gazebo placed in the center of it.

A Bug's Life

One thing I love to do in the summer with my free time is take macro photos of bugs. I spend most of my summer with my family in Buxton, NC on the wonderful Outer Banks! I enjoy getting into the tiny world of crawling things and see whats happening. There are a lot of things going on in the bug world and many times humans don't really pay attention until they become a nuisance. Anyway, the colored fly was about the size of a pea and was constantly landing on a Gardenia bush. I used an Alien Bee 1600 and shot from a tripod to capture this photo. The second photo is of a baby locust again about the size of a pea. The last photo is of a common house fly on my dirty GMC Acadia. You know you need to wash your car when a macro photo of a fly looks like the milky way.

Rehearsal Dinner

I had the opportunity to photograph Hillary and Aaron at the waterfront in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. They had a wonderful rehearsal dinner at the Ruth Chris Steakhouse at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside. The weather couldn't have been better as we took some sunset portraits on the docks right across from the Battleship U.S.S North Carolina. I want to thank Mee Mee of MeeSquared Photography for the referral for this event!

Arts Company Recital

This is my second year capturing images for the Arts Company in Faison, North Carolina. They have so many talented teachers working for the studio and they promote Christian values into their art. Last Tuesday and Wednesday we spent about 10 hours capturing about images of the dancers and musicians in their costumes. Here is one of the edited images from the event.

Before and After

One thing that is included with your Kirk Pullen senior portrait session is professional retouching. For those of you who don't know what retouching is, I'll translate that for you. It's called making you look your best with the magic of Photoshop. The picture on the left is straight out of the camera and the picture on the right is the retouched version. When I edit a photo, the first thing I do is remove any skin blemishes or anything a client has asked me to remove. I have even removed bracelets from arms upon request!In this photo I changed the color of her outfit to compliment the background as well as choosing a background with good textures. This particular textured background was a photo from a wall in Ireland that was given to me by senior portrait photographer Kirk Voclain. If you have a senior who needs fantastic portraits then call me at 910-590-7761.

Senior Portrait Time

If you a parent of an upcoming junior in high school or a senior who has not had their senior portraits taken then you need to consider getting doing that. My studio has a great number of backgrounds and I would be happy to customize a set based on the outfits that you already own. I am a North Carolina photographer who can capture studio or outdoor portraits. I took this particular portrait in Faison, North Carolina. If you follow my business on Facebook then we have discounts and specials from time to time. You can contact me at 910-590-7761 to book your session before the school year slips away.

Happy New Year!

I was able to visit my hometown of Buxton, NC for the Christmas holiday last week. As we were driving on the island, I noticed the clouds had a break in them. As soon as we arrived, I dropped my family off at my parents house and rushed to the lighthouse parking lot. It was worth the effort as the sunset was pretty spectacular! I wasn't sure that that including the French Canadian family who was enjoying the view from their car would fit well in the photograph. I ended up liking the way the light glowed on the side of their car, so I ended up keeping it in the shot. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is a great place to capture sunsets this time of year because for some reason the sunsets always seem better in the winter. I would like to thank all the clients who used Kirk Pullen Photography for their photography needs! I look forward to working with you again in the coming year and may God bless you!