Welcom to Kitty’s Portrait Innovations

Hi, I am Kitty Smith and I hope you are inspired put some of these ideas for portrait innovations to use in your home or business.

I have been editing photos for 15 years and am now enhancing photographs professionally. An interest in digital technology brought about innovations in the way I handled photographs. Before I owned a digital camera, I would scan photos into my computer and adjust them to achieve many varying effects. At the time most of my photos were far from professional quality, but that did not matter, for when I started cropping, layering, adjusting and filtering my photos, I achieved startlingly pleasing effects.

Now I rarely see a photo that I can’t use in some way because of this new creative process. I hope you enjoy my portrait innovations and perhaps use these ideas in your own home or business.

Portrait Innovation #3-Larger Than Life

Take a picture that you love to a photoprocessing center and have them make a poster out of it. This is an idea that is especially good for kid’s rooms and dorms.

Some places offer putting your picture on tile. It could be on a single tile or your portrait could be a mosaic of tiles which could be on a wall, counter or table top or mounted in a frame.

There are other ways of making a portrait larger than life. I can take your picture and “paint” it to look like fine art and have it printed on a canvass. This is an affordable way to have the look of a commissioned painting. Here is one I did of Cavalier King Charles Puppies in a modern color block technique.

Portrait Innovation #2-Digital Frames and Lightboxes

One of my favorite portrait innovations is the Digital Picture Frame. You are not limited to one fantastic image, but as many as your digital memory can hold. Fantastic! I have a friend who made his frame special by attaching a fancy wooden frame over the plastic housing.

Rather than loading every picture you have onto this frame, use only the very best. Place it in a prominent place. And here is a tip for a truly beautiful display. Make sure all of the photos are either tall or wide. Mixing the orientation of pictures on the frame will leave some pictures with black bands on each side and result in making the photo much smaller.

I am a Photo Editor and can optimize your photographs for digital media if you are not computer savvy. Even loading them onto a media card or CD if you need.

I just visited Amazon.com where there are some amazing deals on digital frames right now. After looking them over, I find a few that stand out in front for price/brand/features

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Lightbox displays are a beautiful way to show off a lovely picture. The picture has to be printed as a tranparency but then it is mounted in a frame that is lit from behind for an eye catching display. Pegasus Lighting Associates have a couple of nice ones that I have pictured here.

Portrait Innovation #1- Framing Your Shot

Professional portraits with those cloudy backdrops are fine for a more formal look. But even professional photographers are using natural settings for a more personal feel. Christopher Bridge, who is located in South Florida often shoots a family in a garden or beach setting.

I snapped this picture of my son in the Florida keys on a camping trip. The tree made a natural frame and the green leaves a peaceful backdrop. It is best to choose a background that is not too busy with color, objects or activity as it will take the focus away from your subject. I used a flash to fill in the lighting even though we were outside on a sunny day. The flash will also throw light on the face of your subject when there is a lot of light behind.