Where I Pretend I Take Good Pictures

Over the past few months I've gotten the opportunity to practice my photography on some live subjects. I am by no means professional. Not even close. But it's something I enjoy doing and learning about. Maybe someday I'll find a way to combine my love of editing and photography into an awesome job where I get paid a million dollars to eat ice cream and watch Netflix. I don't know. Just a thought. 
Anyway....

First there was my dad, who wanted some pictures for his blog. 

Then I took family pictures for a friend from church. They just found out they are expecting their third baby and also requested some pics to use as announcements. (Don't worry, the cat's out of the bag, so I'm not ruining anything.)

Finally, my best friend and her fiance were visiting this weekend, and we had a short photo shoot before the Oklahoma heat got us and we had to run back inside to the blessed air conditioning. 

I'm still trying to figure out photoshop. I personally love black and white pictures, but I'm trying to learn how to get good colors, composition, and all that. 


What do you think? Like b&w? Like bolder colors? Softer? I'm learning that there's not really a wrong answer. I'm also learning that it's harder than it looks.