Photography Before and After

Recently there was an Etsy article about Before and After photos. I decided I needed to put together a comparison.
The first image was shot in my yard. I had T stand in front of the shed because I didn't want a bright green background. Unfortunately there was very little cloud cover so all the shadows are really harsh and it really darkened the image. When I tried to lighten it in post processing I discovered that the contrast between the highlights and the shadows was too big for me to be able to do much with the image.
So I searched.
I searched for a place to shoot. My wishlist was rather long, and I had to go several miles from my house to find the perfect place but I'm thrilled with it now.
* I wanted somewhere outdoors so there was an abundance of natural light.
* I wanted somewhere shaded from direct sunlight so that even given the brightest day the light would not create such harsh shadows
* I wanted somewhere with a neutral colored background with some architectural interest. I didn't want just a plain white background (plus how do you entertain a toddler with a plain white background?)
This is what I found. It's perfect.


Over the past week I've reshot everything here. Dragging the dress form out is not convenient but I think the end results are worth it.