Developing a Style

I was recently asked to define my style of photography.  I'd never considered the question before.  I can tell other people's photographs almost immediately - Jared Flood has a really clear, crisp style with face on images, rich colours. Carrie Bostick Hodge has a creamy tone to her photos, slightly over exposed, dreamy feel.  Rachel Devine has a very bright tone to her photos.  Ashley Campbell takes razor sharp images, with great, even light.

And while I can see the threads that run through other people's work, I find it harder to define in my own.  I like the small details of things.  I struggle with big wide shots, never quite being able to frame them, or edit them  or get the focus just right. I feel like every image I take is seen through this amazing light we have here - usually slightly dark and overcast, making the colours rich and deep.

I do know what I like:

I like immediacy.

I like deep colours (this is true of everything - give me blues and teals and deep yellows, blacks and dark grey - in yarn, in decorating, in life)

I like clarity

I like a touch of vintage, but not too much.

I like a little bit of mess and disorder - while I can edit out the dirt and snot, I often choose not to.

Working on developing the course content for The Editing Room has been really helpful in taking a step back and really looking at my edits.  One of the reasons I like Lightroom's file structure so much is that I can go back and change how I edited photos when my tastes change. And they do.

Edits:

Crop

Custom white balance using the eyedropper

Enabled Lens Profile Correction

Reduce Grain

Preset: VSCO Kodak Portra 800+

Lighten Shadows