Motherhood Photo Challenge

Since this past weekend was Mother's Day, the lovely gals over at http://www.iheartfaces.com/ made this week's photo challenge about motherhood. 

I captured this lovely image while in Tallahassee last week during a family session.  It was just a spontaneous moment where the blue eyed beauty reached out and touched her mamma so sweetly and laughed and laughed about it.  Her mamma looks so happy and blissful to have her in her arms.  I think it's one of those moments where it shows how all the hard work it takes to raise a child pays off in love and happiness.  It's those simple and sweet moments that make it all worth it. 

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, grandmas, and furry owner moms out there!  I hope you were able to have a wonderful day and create some memories with your loved ones.

For more gorgeous mommy pics, head click the button below to head on over to iheartfaces.

Photoshop Before and After

One of the jobs a photographer does is decide the best "look" for a photograph.  It is truly a creative outlet, and requires an artist's eye.  There are so many programs available to edit pictures nowadays with all of the latest technology.  There are free online programs, which I despise, because many people use them without really knowing what they are doing.  Some pictures are not meant to be edited!!

One of the hardest parts of this business is learning the technology and trying to figure out what looks good and when to stop.  It is quite fun to "play" with all of the tools.  However, there comes a point when there is such a thing as too much editing.  And boy!!  I have pictures of my own that I have done that to and now I look back and go, "What was I thinking?"  I promise to share some down the road.  It is all a giant learning experience though, and I am glad that I have come to the point where I am at in the business.  One of the things I have been trying to do lately is shoot it right the first time.  That means I don't rely on photoshop for my edits to correct lighting, etc. - rather - I shoot on full manual (NOT auto) - and try to get it all right in the camera before the shutter clicks.  Then I save my editing for special effects.  

Here is an example of the SOOC (straight out of camera) image, and the photoshop after.  The original is a beautiful picture to begin with - soft and light.  However, this pink cherub of a baby has the most beautiful pink cheeks and lips, and I thought it would be fun to make this picture look like the old antique hand colored pictures.  So into photoshop I go!  All I did was desaturate the picture so it was almost black and white.  Then I used my color picker tool to get the pink that was already on her lips.  I used the paint brush tool and put the opacity way down to about 15% and just highlighted her lips and her cheek.  That was it!  Simple and beautiful.   

http://www.timelessmemoriesarcadia.com/

Happy Monday!

The beautiful red head strikes (a pose) again.

While trying to round up the men for a few family graduation pictures, Kenzie and I stared at each other in boredom.  What's a photographer to do with a pretty little girl in a pretty dress?  Well, grab a camera and take some pictures of course!!

It's so frustrating funny that my daughter loves the camera now and my son hates it.  They used to be exact opposites.  Drew was my go to guy for testing lighting and ideas.  Plus he's super cute.  But some how he grew up and got busy.  He's too busy for pictures and would much rather play video games, dance, run, or watch tv.  I miss my little model.  I hope it's a phase he'll grow out of, but I certainly won't try to force it on him.  I might try some good old fashioned bribery.  Why must they grow so fast?

I can remember when my kids each got their first freckles.  Yes, we used to sing songs about their new friend the freckle.  Then when they started to get more, we would count them each week.  For several years we could keep track of the freckles.  All of a sudden, my Kenzie Kay got a sprinkling of freckles all across her nose and cheeks!  Now there are too many to count.  Look how beautiful they are though.

http://www.timelessmemoriesarcadia.com/

Graduation!

I made it to a major milestone in my life over the weekend.  I earned and graduated with my Master's Degree.  This was always a dream of mine and took a lot of hard work from everyone in my family.  My husband has faithfully cooked, cleaned, and watched the kids while I slaved away on research and papers.  I am so proud of them for puting up with me through this whole ordeal, and for puting in so much of their own time.  I have to brag and say that I was able to do this with a 4.0 and graduate Summa Cum Laude. 

As a result, a lot of time has been put into sitting at the computer, and it has been like birthing a baby in the stress, weight gain, the labor, and lack of sleep.  I am happy with my accomplishment and that it is over.  My hubby took these lovely pictures of me and I wanted to share them with the world.  My only complaint is why do they have to make the graduation gowns the equivalent of a Moo-Moo?  Really?  I mean I am already a plush person, but then I have to add on this gianormous robe that has all this crazy extra material for masters' students on it.  There are several pics that I just won't share b/c I look related to big foot, or when I am sitting down, the gown bubbles and I look 10 months pregnant.  I think we should enlist some fashionistas to redesign the gown for modern times.  Lol!  One can hope anyway.

In spite of all of that, I was very proud to wear it and proud of my accomplishments.  Thanks Dan for everything, and for my lovely pictures.

Soft & Sweet

It's that time of the week again for another http://www.iheartfaces.com/ photo challenge.  This week's theme is a bit vague in that we are only given the parameters of "soft" and "sweet".  It can be conveyed through the image, subject, editing, composition, etc. 

I love these challenges because they force me to think outside of my normal comfort zone and to come up with pictures pretty quickly.  I have another challenge this week in that I have been travelling and I do not have my normal cache of pictures to pull from.  However, I did catch this beautiful picture of my friend's baby sleeping through our daughters' dance class.  She is just the most gorgeous little one, and I thought this was the perfect picture.

Head on over to iheartfaces to see everyone's beautiful and creative entries!

Things I have done this week...

Oh the things I do for a picture!

I crawl on the floor.

I roll on the ground.

I ruin good clothes.

I climb trees, chairs, giant mushrooms, and anything that generally looks unsafe, or as if it will possibly break under my weight.

I get eaten alive by bugs - yellow flies and mosquitos most recently.

I skip meals, get up before dawn, go to bed after dark, and edit pictures til my eyes are bloodshot.

I make faces, make silly noises, put toys on my head, and generally make a fool of myself. 

Yet, I enjoy it.  All of it.  I wouldn't trade it for the world!

This week we have been able to experience new places, people and pictures.  We have traveled and I have done it without panic attacks and xanax, but with some moodiness still.  We have put our cameras through the works and might have possibly ruined our D90 and my favorite zoom lens.  :(  Sand is not a friend to camera equipment.  We have done what we can with it and hope that Nikon can clean it up. 

We have seen the Gulf and the Atlantic and ancient buildings.  We have waded in rivers, met up with alligators (ya, those pics didn't come out clear lol), and photographed at night, in the rain, without a tripod.  Yup.  LOVE the D3.  I have said a million times this week how much I love the 50mm lens and also how much I hate it! I need a zoom or a wide angle, and I have nice ones sitting at home.  My excellent Nikon 18-200mm is covered in sand from a friggin storm, so I have vowed not to touch it while it sits locked away in a bag -  leaving me to photograph everything with the 50mm.  Grrrr... Yes, the bokeh is amazing.  Yes, I can shoot in really low light with it.  No, I can't get that entire building in the picture.  No, I am not getting closer to the gator.  In fact I am going in the opposite direction from the gator. 

Went fabric shopping and found new things for the studio.  Also got a tie for an upcoming special.  I have discovered the joys of shooting with CF cards and getting 9 frames per second.  I have also discovered the aggrivation  joy of trying to import the pics from them onto a card reader and then onto the computer.  Hate that I can't post instant pics to the internet.  LOVE Hate AT&T and how my calls get dropped everywhere - even when I am right next to the AT&T store and tower while on the phone to my doctor about a severe allergic reaction.  Not to the afore mentioned bugs, but to medicine.  And then to poison oak a few days later - meaning I am having to rethink my graduation shots.  Oh yeah.  I am officially a college graduate (again).  I earned a Master's of Education with a 4.0.  Yup.  I have lots of education under my belt.  (More than I want to admit.)  And you know what?  All I really want to do with it is roll around on the ground and take pictures.  YES!