RAW

Edited to say... Wow! I did this post late the other night and my eyes must have been tired because now I see something went wrong when I posted my edits. They are not near as sharp as I see in Photoshop. Back to the drawing board. Excuse my poor examples here... I'll re-post the pics when I figure out what went wrong! Okay, fixed two, one to go, but gotta get ready to pick Miss Maddie Moo from school, so be back later.

Raw? I'm sure you're asking, what in the world is RAW? Well, it's actually Camera Raw. You know when you set your camera to Fine, Normal, or Basic... Raw is actually a step up from Fine. It actually does as it's called... It captures the image in it's raw state so in the long-run you can tweak just about every aspect there is... Choose the wrong WB (white balance)? Underexposed? Overexposed? No problem, just select one of the other settings and tweak to your liking when editing!

Actually Raw scares me... or it has in the past. Today I ventured into the raw setting. Of course I was just practicing on my kiddos out front, but I can definitely see how it would be useful. I was also shooting wide open (smallest aperature possible) while still trying to get tack sharp images. Not just crisp, but so crisp you can see every detail in their face.

I definitely got it in this one... Ignore the setting! Old carseat sitting on floor of garage. Heck, it held her still (no she wasn't buckled in), it was just a fun spot to sit! Oh and don't even get me started on her hair... Poor thing inherited mommy's fine locks. This one is actually maybe a tad hard to tell since I didn't crop in any closer, but if you could zoom into her eyes you could see how detailed they are. You can practically count every lash!


Not as sharp as the first, but pretty darn close. I can count lashes and see the tiny fine hair falling in her face.


This one isn't as sharp as the other two, but still great. I just thought she looked cute leaning over the seat. I've found a new sweet spot outside and I get great catchlights without any reflectors... Well, no man-made ones, just the natural ones!


I'm sure this post isn't very interesting to most of you, so just ignore for now. Or just ignore the text and check out my cuties! ;-)

I've been on a practicing streak, trying to fine-tune my skills and gearing up for this holiday season. With that in mind... Have you booked your session yet? Don't wait any longer because I'm booking up and I'd hate for you to miss your opportunity. I've got some great designs this year that I'd love to put to use for your holiday cards. Email me today!

A timely quote...

I saw this quote today and thought it was quite appropriate for this profession I so love to do...

The artist's world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep.
-Paul Strand

It kind of opens my eyes to it all... Pun intended!

And I leave you with a pic of a tiny flower I found the other evening just steps outside my front door.


Pretty neat huh? Especially how you can see each individual petal.

Outdoors again...

I'm sure by now you know our routine... Play outside while we wait for the evening to pass or for daddy to come home. Whichever comes first. Daddy has actually been working pretty late, so our outdoor time is to keep my sanity while waiting for bathtime and bedtime to get here.

Today I worked on shooting wide open. Basically it allows more light in, but it also gives you a blurred background to put more focus on your subject.


I also worked on creative cropping. Here is the original un-cropped.


And the cropped version... Don't you think it makes her face stand out more? I'm the queen of close-ups though! Plus I doctored her teeth a little (she needed to brush!) and her eyes to make them stand out.


Another with creative cropping...


Did a little or should I say a lot of photoshop to this one... There were houses on either side of him in the background, so I got rid of them! They were too distracting.


My driveway after the end of an eventful evening of playtime.


I think I need to get out more... maybe go beyond the yard! It's just so easy and we don't have to go anywhere... We can come and go as we please!

Triple the work, but triple the smiles... Priceless! *UPDATED*

As you can probably tell by the title, the triplets came back to visit! Actually they've been back several times and we've been their way too, but we haven't had a 'session' since their 4 month session.

Here are a few of my favorites, but I've got many more to go through... So I'm sure I'll have new favorites once I do!


Finally, a group shot!


It was fun! We made a day out of it and I'm exhausted, but it was all worth it when you see all those smiles!

Whoops... I see some burning I need to do to my background, but I'm too tired to do it tonight... Just ignore for now and I'll re-post later once I get those fixed!

Okay... Still didn't fix my background, but I had to post a couple more... I tried a new b&w method on these.


I had to share this little storyboard I created... Typically I wouldn't show my ghetto set-up, but I had to share Caleb peeking through our backdrop and then the final product afterwards!

Once again, so much fun!

Sweet Dreams...

It's not always this peaceful here...


But when I see something like this, it reminds me of why I'm doing this.

A little girl is sugar and spice and everything nice - especially when she's taking a nap. ~Author Unknown

Isn't that the truth?!

Skates, strollers and purses!

So the other day, the kiddos and I played around in the front while waiting for Kev to get home. Maddie was trying out her new skates, Haidyn pushing one of her many baby strollers and Caleb was carrying a purse. What? Yep, you read that right... Keep looking for details...

New Skates!


Haidyn loves her strollers and babies!


Something new that Caleb has started doing... Grabbing a purse when I say it's time to go bye-bye. Silly boy! At least in the last picture he's showing me his rock that he picked up...


Close-ups of all 3!


One more of the little man with his high step walking...


And one more of the girlies...


It's always fun to have these types of evenings... Granted we miss Daddy these evenings, but we still have lots of fun keeping ourselves busy!

"Ready to RUN!'

Everybody remembers the Dixie Chick song, right?

Well, I had to share this series of pics I found just a bit ago while editing Princess A's session!

We found this little concrete block for her to sit on and she sat there, but it wasn't long and she looked at us and said, 'I'm ready to run now!'.

So she grabbed her little dress, and took off. Hey, at least she warned us!


The white dress kind of makes me think of 'Runaway Bride'...

Oh and ignore the wonky colors, lighting , etc. I just did a quick edit to share here!

I got to meet a princess yesterday! Princess A...

She was so cute! She loves to dance and her favorite princess is Cinderella... She's going to be a big sister soon, so mommy wanted some pictures showcasing her in this adorable new dress!

A sweet little collage since dancing is her 'thing'!


Doesn't she have pretty blue eyes?


I'm loving these red doors... I think it would make a neat backdrop for a Christmas card. Anyone interested?


One last collage... Thank you for letting me photograph you, Princess A! Can't wait to meet your baby sister when she arrives!

PKS = Photographer's Kid(s) Syndrome

Yep, my kids have got the bug... I get these ideas in my head of poses I want to try, get it all set up, and at least one if not all do not want to cooperate! So those of you that get embarrassed by your kids during a session--here is proof that it is not just your kid... They can all do it, but in the end, we still get some sweet shots as you'll see below.

So this one was my vision... But my vision wasn't happening... Little Man was NOT into it! (I will be attempting this again--just not before naptime)!


But, I did get some sweet ones of the sisters.


And look at this one... Can you see how Haidyn looks up to her big sister? If only Maddie realized it... One day I'm sure she will... She has to!


Until next time!

First

Just some snaps from Maddie's first day of First Grade and the new Elementary school.

Check out her hand placement. She's such the Diva!


We were kind of shocked when we entered the classroom... Everyone was quietly sitting at their new desks doing a coloring activity while they waited for their first day to begin.


Maddie got a little shy once we got into the classroom. Especially when I kissed her good-bye and called her Maddie-Moo in front of everyone!


She said her first day was great... She was a little concerned because her 2 closest friends are attending the other Elementary due to where they live, but I think she'll do just fine. She did run into some of her other friends and was excited to tell me about that. Oh and her Kindergarten teacher is at the new school too... In the same hall... So Maddie enjoyed seeing her again!

One last thing... Tiny vent... They haven't quite finished yet, so they have to eat in their classrooms, the East Wing isn't done, so PE, Music, and Art is somewhere else (empty classrooms), but the biggest thing is the pick-up! Oh my goodness... It was crazy! It took 45 minutes at least... The school is located on a 2-lane country road, so no turn lane, etc. Well, the policeman directing traffic didn't want to clog up the road, so if there wasn't room to pull into the school drive he made you keep driving past. So we literally drove past 3 times! Haidyn ended up needing to potty, so we went down the street to the gas station and came back (35 minutes after school was released) before we were able to actually drive into the line to pick her up. That ought to be first on their list... Turn-in lanes! I think tomorrow I'll be waiting until later to pick her up instead of driving back and forth...