Artsy Engagement

Engagements are often shot at the beach, but this couple wanted something different. Something urban, with more character. Fortunately, here we are in San Francisco, with plenty of colorful neighborhoods to choose from. In South Mission, quite near to Cesar Chavez, there is another alley known for its murals: Balmy Alley. This was our starting point. I must say, urban engagement shoots are a lot of fun!

I just realized, that I'd selected four photos in all of which the two are looking at each other, not at the camera. I like that they can forget that I'm there. The above three photos are edit experimentals - I am trying very selective focus in a pic that is otherwise very Gaussian Blurred by photoshop. I edit the photo sans blur, and then create a copy of that image that is blurred, layered over the original. Then I use an eraser, at different opacities, to remove/reduce blur around the face, either in a radial style or in the case of the third pic, a wide horizontal stripe. The pic below was not subject to such treatment; you can see the relative clarity of the entire pic.