TJ & Laura

This engagement session took place on Fort Story base, the goal was to make it happen at the Cape Henry Lighthouse, but it was closed, so we moved over to the beach. It was only 48 degrees out and with the wind it felt about 32 degrees - seriously.
I enjoyed trying out every kind of pose imaginable, some worked great, some not so much, best part is they were a lot of fun and up for anything.  The sun was setting but it was very bright when we got started, I tried to use the sunlight to my advantage. As for my work flow, the toughest part was cutting down the pictures, I'd taken over 400 pics - I brought it down to 200, keeping only the good shots. I did a bunch of cropping in photoshop lightroom, and I did my color adjustments in there as well. I LOVE lightroom!

most adorable twins

Tip #526: when photographing 2 year old twins, just let them be and be ready to click that shutter. Here are some of my favorites.  these were taken at 4 in the afternoon at Sandbridge's Little Island Pier.

This is Jack and he was the perfect Easter Bunny!

the sun was really high in the sky, but I think we still pulled off some great shots anyway

Wolfe Family

a fellow photographer told me about the Chesapeake Arboretum, (thanks Meghan!) I'd never even heard of it. I'm glad she did because it made for a beautiful spot for these family portraits. The primary challenge I found was that it was shady in some areas, spotted light in others, sometimes it was cloudy, and sometimes screaming sunshine. I tried to make the necessary adjustments along the way. Looking at my LCD screen all the time puts a kink in my flow and I can't wait until all the settings come automatically and I don't have to spend time playing with the knobs on my camera. The most fun of the shoot came in finding where I was going to pose the family to take the pictures, we set out and walked a path stopping anywhere the mood struck. I made sure to make different combinations, everyone individually, the brother and sister together, the couple, mom and kids, dad and kids etc..... As always with my shoots, I finished over 200 pictures, that's over the top, but I haven't figured out how to make my sessions shorter and be confident I've gotten every great capture possible. I'm curious how many pictures other photographers take on an average family photo shoot.


shooting engagement portraits is a favorite of mine, something about seeing so much love,  but I've got to say, I may have found a new favorite--- a couple in love after 12 years of marriage is so beautiful.






This is definitely the best picture of the day  -  They showed the love and admiration and I pressed the button :)  

They need to start a band, just so this could be on the cd's cover

Stephanie

Yesterday I had a maternity shoot, Stephanie is a very beautiful girl,  38 weeks pregnant.  She was very so easy to photograph, gorgeous and super photogenic.  She proves pregnant women can be very hot!!!   I had a really tough time figuring out which pictures I would want to share from the day because I think she looks so cute in all of them.  I decided a variety, hard to pick favorites, as always you can see the entire session, 206 pictures in total on my website.

On to what I learned:  I guess you could say I didn't learn as much as I practiced the stuff I've been studying.  I went out to shoot in manual mode, learning to shoot in manual mode is something I've been putting off,  I usually shoot it aperture priority, sometimes in program, so since I'm buying a lighting set up soon, I thought I should get used to shooting in manual.  Not to mention, I think all pros shoot in manual most of the time.  I'm still learning but I only lost about 20 shots due to poor exposure,  towards the end of the shoot my exposure was close to perfect. It was an overcast day, these are all natural light. I got beautiful results with F/2.8, ISO 500, 1/400 sec, manual exposure mode, no flash, pattern metering mode, auto white balance. We did them between 4-5pm at Red Wing Park. I am really starting to love that little park, the options are endless.

This picture makes me happy!  This is one of the shots that was overexposed, but I didn't care, I set out to save it because of the emotion.  
This is another one towards the beginning of the shoot, the whites are too hot, but with those eyes, I couldn't hit delete.




stay tuned, I should have newborn pictures of the baby girl she's carrying in a couple of weeks :)

Sebastian with selective color

Sebastian's birthday is coming up and I very spontaneously got him to grab his book and come outside with me for a picture so I could use it on his invitations.  Sebastian hates taking pictures, but the Horton Hears a Who movie excites him, his birthday excites hims too, so he was very cooperative - we are going to see the movie for his party.

So I'm going to go through the steps I used to get this selective coloring - and how I did it in just a few minutes

I made a copy of the original picture and converted it to black and white.  I also burned the edges since the focus is all on him and the book. To "burn" the edges: grab the burn tool, I use a pretty big brush and start going around the picture, then go a second time in the corners or where ever I want it darker.   So now I've got the black and white picture done, I select all and copy the b&w version, then I clicked on the color version and pasted the b&w version onto the original, if I look over in my layers palette I can see the new layer. Be sure to be focused on the top layer, the b&w layer in the layers palette.  Next I grabbed the quick selection tool, and selected just the book.  It did a good job of selecting the book, I only had to hit alt and deselect a small area of his hand.  Next I deleted the area I had  selected by hitting command x (that would be control x on a pc) and there you have it. Done.  

Posing Stephanie

I think it's important to have solid poses in mind before you head out on a shoot. I think back to a year ago, and the best I would say is strike a pose, well a lot of people have never had to strike a pose, let alone 10. So when I found myself at a loss for poses I studied the art of posing. I took to the every magazine, I scoured them for poses and ideas, when I found one I liked, I ripped it out, then I pasted them on card stock and essentially had a pose book to look to for help. As I've grown as a photographer, I don't really have to whip out my models pasted to card stock anymore, I just remember the poses that I love. I know the ones that work well and I make sure to get all my clients to strike that pose. Each person is different so the pose is naturally different every time, but they are consistently good - in my opinion.

First rule --- never have a girl stand flat footed. Try to have her put one foot in front to the other, making a t with her feet is best but if not, it will still work as long as she is sure to shift her weight to the back foot.  This is the best example of the classic S pose.

oops, she's not really posing here, I just love close ups!  

here is another example of putting her weight on the back foot,  I like to do the hand in the pockets too because it seems very natural.
I love for the model to have something to lean on, or put their hand on.
If the ground or bench is dry, you can bet I'll make you lay on it, I like to have her assume this position, then try to grab the shot from different angles. 

I believe sitting indian style is also comfy.  If the pose is too concocted it will be apparent.  In this picture she probably wouldn't have been so hunched over if I didn't have her searching for that slot of sun poking through, even so, this is one of my favorites because she looks natural.

leaning on the banister - love it
ok, flip and lean facing forward, works every time! I think that's because she is comfy again 
again with the close ups :)    Stephanie is gorgeous and was a dream to work with, a true natural in front of the camera.  

 Leave me your thoughts and questions.