Introducing Barbara Rusciano inside the Summerana Membership! We are lucky to have her as a resident instructor at Summerana, and we also got to sit her down for an interview.
Barbara Rusciano is a Fine Art Photographer that specializes in children. She was born in Brazil and moved to the USA where she built her family and home. Her photography journey started when her son was born. She bought her first DSLR, immediately set it to manual mode and never looked back. Barbara is well known for her dreamy outdoor images and dramatic studio portraits. Several of her images have been published in Fine Art magazines and various child modeling magazines. Barbara currently lives in South Florida with her husband and three children, who are her biggest inspiration.
If we ask your family, who is Barbara Rusciano what would they say?
Mom and wife, wife and mom! They’d say that I am a loving mom and wife who always puts them first (I had to ask my husband to answer that!). I must add that I am a referee, cook, and constant hugger too!
What was your first year as a professional photographer like?
Honestly I’m not sure when I started considering myself a professional. I bought an entry level DSLR when my son was about 6 months old and started practicing a lot. I never had any formal education in photography, so I just focused on reading everything I could find. It took me a while before I started photographing others to build my portfolio and even longer before I started charging for sessions. I remember not knowing how to define myself and using the word hobbyist every time I used the word photographer. Otherwise, I just felt weird. By the time I came to terms with me being a real professional photographer, I was already completely comfortable with my skills.
How would you describe your photography style?
My outdoor style is more of a dreamy, whimsical style, while my studio work has more of a Fine Art feel.
Tell us a little bit about your studio sessions.
I love creating art in my studio. That is my true passion! When it’s all about the subject. I like to capture those natural expressions. I love editing those sessions as well. I love to shape up the light and the shadows and make everything pop.
You are going to be our Resident Instructor (Woot!) and we are very excited to have you! What are some techniques that members should look forward to learning from your first tutorial?
I’m so excited to be a part of this amazing group! It’s truly an honor!
I’m going to show them how I edit one of my Fine Art studio images, from beginning to end. How I achieved that dramatic effect, making my subject pop.
If you had unlimited funds and you could go anywhere in the world, what would your dream photoshoot look like?
I’d go to Ireland and the United Kingdom countryside. Mountains, gray skies, dirt roads, chilly weather. That is a dream of mine!
What is the most important thing you’ve learned as a photographer?
To have patience. To know that I need to develop my eye before I can better my craft. The way I see things now is definitely not the way I saw them a couple years ago, and it’s not the way I’ll see them a year from now. I know I have a long road ahead of me and I know a year from now I’ll look at my images from today and notice new things that I need to fix. But I also know that I can’t try to rush it. Every mistake that I make is a new lesson that I learn.
If you could have dinner with 1 person (dead or alive) that made an impact on the photography industry, who would it be?
There are so many, but if I had to choose one today I’d choose Sue Bryce.
What inspires you to create?
Faces. I’m obsessed with faces and I’m always planning in my head how I’d edit them and how I’d highlight the best features in them.
Favorite Quote
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.
-Aristotle
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.
-Aristotle
Watch me edit:
Want to watch me edit this image in Photoshop from start to finish? It is available to watch in the Summerana Membership here.
In this editing tutorial, Summerana instructor Barbara Rusciano Photography shows you her step-by-step process for editing a gorgeous fine art painterly studio image in Photoshop.
You will learn how to create a gorgeous painterly fine edit using techniques such as:
- Make adjustments in Lightroom to brighten shadows and adjust light, giving a perfect base for your fine tuning in Photoshop.
- Clean up skin imperfections to smooth, brighten, and even out skin tone while maintaining texture.
- Perk up freckles and other tiny details.
- Brighten facial features & make them pop!
- Touch up flyaway hairs and create a seamless look.
- Dodge and burn to add depth and highlights.
- Learn how to perfect your backdrops, removing wrinkles and deepening tones.
- Create a painterly finish that gives your final image a gorgeous glow!
and more through hand editing!
Barbara Rusciano
Barbara Rusciano Photography