Baby Boy!

I was super ubber excited about this session!  Mom and Dad were so prepared!  They called me before baby was 10 days old, had the house nice and toasty when I arrived, everything went PERFECT! 
The little man was awake for about the first 20 minutes of the session, but after mom fed him, cuddled, and rocked, he was OUT!  My first newborn that actually slept, I was so timid and scared to move him, so the poses are a bit relaxed.  After I wrapped him in the cocoon, and unwrapped and MOVED him, and he still was fast asleep, I kicked myself for not wrapping the mesh a bit tighter!  Next time I'll know.
We got about 30 good minutes of sleeping baby,  until the very last shot, that actually is my favorite, of baby hanging over dads arm! 

Here are a few shots from the session!

Fashion Shoot/Vintage Photography

This past Friday was a great day!  I got to hang out with an amazing bunch of women and take  pictures!  What a better way to spend a Friday? 

This shoot was for an Etsy sellers website, The Krickets Jewel.   In order to bring higher profits, she wanted more professional photos.  The way a garment looks on the human form is so much different then the way it looks on a hanger!  Take the follow two pictures for example.

The outfits on the hanger look really, ummmmm in nice terms, ugly.  You can not imagine wearing this!  But once you actually see it on a person, you can see how cute it can look!

 

All the models were amazing, we laughed so much.  I can't wait to do it again.  

Check out the sellers shop, she has some amazing stuff!

My 2nd Wedding.....

Well, I guess it is time to blog about my 2nd wedding.
I was super excited about this wedding.  It was a friend's sister getting married and I was able to spend time with my friend as well as photograph someone's most super special day.
Now, I won't lie, the day was filled with bumps.  First, it was raining.  BIG BOO!  I am pretty much a natural light photographer so I knew getting group shots of the wedding party was going to be a big challenge. 
Second, my daughter had been up all night long throwing up, I got very little sleep. 
But NO excuses allowed on a wedding day, this is NOT a reschedule event.  You suck it up and shoot.

The Bride arrived at the church and the furry started, from hair, to makeup, to dressing, if you've never been behind the scenes of a wedding, you have NO idea the amount of work is involved for 15 minutes of ceremony.

The Brides BFF was calm and I think she really helped everyone to remain relaxed.

The Grooms side, you guys have it SO easy.  Seriously I think it took the groom a total of 5 minutes to get ready, shoes, shirt, tie, done.  No fair. 

Now, when photographing a special event, there is always a fine line between being up in someone's business and capturing a special moment between the parties involved.  I saw this moment happen and I knew I just had to capture it. I was able to do so without disturbing the mom/son time by standing outside of the doorway out of view. 

Usually there are a few children hidden in the background at a wedding as well.  They are given special attention and toys to keep busy while moms and dads prepare for the wedding.  These boys were so sweet!  I had to snap some pictures of them as well.

Now onto the main event (which is really a blink in the time line of wedding)

During the ceremony the grandmother of the bride played an amazing number on the piano.  I took special note of the importance, but really this is when I feel a second shooter is needed... I could not get the candle lighting at the same time as the playing of the piano.  A second shooter would know to cover the event I could not.

The bridesmaids were the brides sisters and they were absolutely gorgeous in their gowns!

A few more snaps from the ceremony itself:

Now off to the reception! What all guests look forward to!  Food, Dancing, socializing with friends/family that might have been apart for long periods of time.  I love receptions. 

Cutting of the Cake

Father/Daughter Dance (this always is a tear jerker part for me)

And now the Bride and Grooms first Dance! 

I learned a lot from this wedding.  Really they are a TON of work!  The 4 to 5 hour event can lead to thousands of photos, and that does NOT include any formal photos of the wedding party!

That being said, I really enjoy photographing weddings and can not wait to be able to do another, with a second shooter this time!

Thanks for looking!

Cake Smash! Baby Boy!

When I first started with photography, there are two things I said I would NOT photograph, weddings and cake smashes.  Weddings to me, are to me, so intense and you really have to be so skilled, it takes a TON of confidence and it is very easy to mess up!  haha

Cake Smashes, ugh, I always saw the photos and they grossed me out.  Baby drool, spittle of cake bits, gah.... no thanks.  Overtime though, I have really enjoyed seeing others cake smash photos, I really liked the set up, the funny, incredibly cute photos!  I decided to try my own.  I am hooked!  I loved shooting them!

The little man was NOT having any cake, in fact, he made the cutest sour puss face anytime a bit of frosting even came close to  his lips!  We managed and I am really loving the way it turned out!
I can not wait to do another!

These are a few out takes....

Baby A!

I met this little girl when she was 1 month old and again when I took their family Christmas photos.  I love when my clients call me back to capture another milestone!  I was thrilled to be able to take her 3 month photos!  Her mother and I set up a time, planned props and poses, then the day came and it was so hectic.  I scheduled right when my children get off the bus (big mistake!)  Kids flying everywhere, 10 foot backdrop, seamless paper, flahses, lights, umbrellas, not a good combo...
So we stopped and rescheduled.  This time I went to her house.  It was so much more relaxed!

A few "Bridal" photos!

First, I need to set the tone.  It was C.O.L.D.  and yes, I do live in Florida, but we still get cold here.... but not much.  So while our cold might be your winter wish weather, Ms. Heidi was freezing in her strapless gown.  It was no more then 30 degrees outside and the wind was blowing from off the water.

Heidi did a GREAT job in hiding her cold.
Enjoy some pictures from the day.
We had fun, downtown, she had brought some balloons and while the lighting was very bright and I had trouble with my exposure in the sun, I do enjoy the brightness of the photos!

Work on metering

I have been doing a lot of reading, mostly on the interwebz (google is great!) and talking to other, more experienced photogs about their exposure technique and metering.

Usually, how I work is constantly adjusting.  Take a shot, adjust, take a shot, adjust.  This works OK, but it is really mentally straining. Maybe if I had more experience, I would not worry about it, like driving a stick shift, at first it is all you can think about, but then it comes natural, however I am not there.  I want to connect with my clients, not with my camera.

After looking at others photos and talking with them, I began noticing their settings rarely change for a session.  Obviously if they went from full sun to shade, they would readjust, but other then that, the same exposure was being used. 
That got me to thinking, just because I angle my camera up to the sky, where it is more bright, doesn't mean the actual light has changed for the subject, so why am I adjusting?  This lead me to a very informative thread on a well known message board and I was so excited to go out and try it!
Who better to test this on, then my cutest kid contest winner?

I metered once, for the sky, and adjusted accordingly and then left my exposure alone!  This was so hard to do because I kept looking through my viewfinder and seeing under/over exposure notices, but I trusted my gut to just leave it. 
Here are the results!

All the following photos are shot at F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 200 with my 35mm.

Now, you can generally see the lighting is the same. However, see how in the first photo, there is little to no sky visible?  and then in the following photos, the sky is a major part of the photo.  This made my camera meter change, signaling I needed to change settings, but I did not.  I feel the photos are generally exposed well, all the same and it took little to no time in lightroom to process these images!  Usually I have to adjust each photo to have similar exposure!  I was so excited!

The same thing with this next set.  I metered off the green grass, test shot, adjusted and left my settings alone!

 

The lighting in each photo is the same, but the meter was not telling me this.  And yes, I use spot metering, even coming off his skin, the meter would still change depending on my view of the sky.  I also used my small silver reflector to push some light under his chin.

I hope you enjoyed this!  Let me know if you have any questions!