Kristin Partin Photography

How did you get into photography?
This is probably one of my most asked questions, believe it or not. It’s kind of an odd story to be honest. I have always had some kind of camera…and in my eyes, it has always been my jewel. When I was 13-14 ish, my best buddy Abbi and I would get disposable cameras and dress up in matching outfits and hang sheets from the wall to create a classy backdrop and pose until the film was gone. As I got older, that love grew into nicer digital cameras. I’d always get my sisters to dress up and let me take their photos. In 2008 on our annual family vacation to the beach, a tiny piece of sand got into the lens of my little camera and it got stuck. I was seriously bummed. What to do? I bought another digital camera. It was also, amazing. A few months after, I was outside with my sisters and I had left the camera on the swing with the power still on….the lens was up and kara sat on it…breaking the lens off. I hate it when that happens.

About that time, I had been given the opportunity to travel with AIRLIFT overseas to London and needed to raise about $2500. Since I’d always loved photos, I decided to do photo sessions for friends and family for free and accept donations. I had saved up about $400 and purchased a Canon Powershot and i was so proud of my investment. I would post my photos on facebook and somehow, people always enjoyed looking at them. Over the course of about 3 months, I had made enough money to pay for my trip and had lots of photos under my belt. Something came up to where I couldn’t make the trip to London so I used the money I had saved to invest in the birth of Kristin Partin Photography. Two years later, I’m finally ready for my trip overseas. I’m so thankful for the Lord’s timing. That be it.

I want to buy a new camera, any suggestions?
Unfortunately friends, that question doesn’t have a blanket answer. After a series of questions, I can certainly help with narrowing down the search process…but I rarely have an answer ready. Usually I’ll try and find out what your purpose is for your purchase. Have small kids and you just want to document their lives? You’re interested in starting your own business? You want something that can process quickly and keep up with lots of action?
These questions are vital to the right camera purchase. Generally if the answer is I just want something that produces good photos for a reasonable price, I will recommend a Canon Rebel or Canon 40D body and suggest investing in a nicer lens. A good chunk of the outcome of your photos rests on the quality of your lens so it’s a good compromise. (In my opinion)

I noticed your photos are very dreamy in appearance, how do you do that?
I try my best to stay true to the photos I capture while editing. I like my photos to be real and honest without lots of editing so I certainly keep that in mind while processing. I think I mentioned in my last FAQ post that it takes a while to develop your own personal post-processing style. With that being said, I use lightroom & give them some extra pop with Totally Rad Actions. There’s links to that information in the FAQ post above.

Here’s my image straight out of camera.

1. add a bit of fill light
2. use 65% of T.R.A. purple nurple preset
3. bump up the contrast a tad
4. voila

I dont know or do anything that someone else hasn’t done times before. If you have a question thats been burning in your mind, send me an email (kristin@kristinpartinphotography.com) and I’ll save it for the next FAQ post. I hope this helps!

This photo reminds me of my favorite song here lately. Check out Jesus Culture ‘Dance with me’