Normally a leftie, on Easter I caught Will in the act of drawing with his right hand.
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newborn portraits
March 23, 2008 – 8:41 pm
If you want to get technical about it, Baby Mallory is still minus one week old. She was born a month shy of her due date, and when I first saw her when she was two days old, I only got to see her chin because she was all covered up in the NICU. It was wonderful to get to see all of her this time around and photograph her cute self.
I have so many favorites that it’s a little bit silly and almost impossible for me to start weeding them down. Here are a few of the sneak peeks I made up for her mommy, though! (I feel particularly proud of these shots because I knit the little wrap she is in.)
This next one has a little bit of a vintage feel. I have been playing around with post-processing a few photos here and there differently, and I love the look on this one:
Mallory and her sweet family:
a new treasure for my photography bag
March 19, 2008 – 9:19 pm
I sold two of our not-so-used lenses last week to purchase a new lens: the 135 f/2.0. It arrived today and it is the perfect lens for me. I am in love.
I want to talk about lenses (those I love and those I’ve let go) on one of the photography Tuesdays, so I won’t say much more than: if you don’t have it, you need it. 
And share these fun test shots. (I wasn’t the only one who got presents today–Will’s presents from his grandparents’ trip to Disneyland arrived while he was napping, too.)
And one that makes my heart melt. I am very lucky to be the recipient of lots and lots of love and hugs and face smashing.
(photography) Tip Tuesdays: Portraits (Week #2)
March 10, 2008 – 12:01 am
Last week I debuted our new Tuesday feature: (photography) Tip Tuesdays. For the first month we’ll be covering two snapshot portraits and what makes one good and the other bad.
This week? Lighting, part one.
For your viewing pleasure…we have, the bad photo:
And the good one:
The Basics
It’s easy to look at the top photo and see that a flash fired when I used my on-camera flash when I took the picture. The second picture appears to use natural light or at least more skillful flash use (natural light).
The Bad photo has Nic much brighter than his background, with white areas on his forehead and cheek. The flash has cast a shadow on the back wall (we’ll return to this next week) and all in all, it’s not pretty.
One of the most basic pieces of advice when it comes to lighting for snapshots: turn off your flash whenever possible. There are many cameras that fire a flash in almost any indoor setting, and many times it isn’t needed. Turn off your flash and see what happens. Your indoor evening photos will probably look warmer (more yellow/orangey), but that can be welcome, since it is more likely how you remember the scene.
Flash light is harsh and unflattering. When you can control it, it’s better to have more even lighting for your family pictures (near a window, under shade, or outside on a cloudy day).
Step it Up
This is the part where we say that even the good photo sucks a little. The light was even and flattering, but I failed to capture any of it in Nic’s eyes. Great catchlights (the highlights in your subject’s eyes) are at the heart of an engaging portrait. I’ll let adorable Eli from this weekend’s session be my catchlights model:
So what could I have done differently in Nic’s picture to put some catchlights in those eyes? I could have turned him in different directions to see what would happen, but on this flat super cloudy day, I would probably have better luck with a reflector. I have a 5-in-1 reflector that I adore. By holding it angled up toward his face, even on a cloudy day I most likely would have been able to shine some light back into his eyes. (of course, then I would have to contend with glare on his glasses, but it would have been easy enough to ask him to take them off)
As for the lighting on extra adorable Eli, I took his portrait in front of a window. I could have spent all day playing with him and his amazing blue eyes!
sneak peeks for Christine
November 6, 2007 – 9:05 am
From our session at Palmer Park in Colorado Springs this weekend:
