Holiday Cheer

Holiday Greetings boys and girls!  It's that time of year.  Everyone is recovering from Black Friday, and Cyber Monday.  But maybe you didn't find what you wanted? Maybe you didn't feel like braving the crowds or logging onto your computer?  Not to fear citizen.  I've got the perfect gift in mind for you, for any friend, family member, or coworker. Nothing says Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Hanukkah, or just I'm thinking of you while I eat a lot of Christmas cookies today...like a beautiful photograph.  So if you've had your eye on a photograph for awhile, now is your moment to snatch it up.  Maybe even keep it for yourself, I won't tell.

Here's the low down.

5x7s-$10

8x10s-$15

11x14-$20

Send your requests with the image# and the post name in a comment at the bottom of this post.  Once I receive the comment I will contact you through email for your shipping address and payment options.  This deal is only good through December 10th!  That way we have time to get everything shipped.  *Ahem, side note.  Unfortunately I cannot guarantee getting it there by Christmas since it depends on how busy the company I print through is.  But I will do my best, cross my heart.

Having trouble remembering what posts had those super duper pictures you are thinking of?  Here's a little jog:

For the Cow Lover in your Life

The Retro Lover

Kitty Lover, Again, and Again

And for all you nature and landscape enthusiasts, lots and lots and lots to choose from.

But I suggest just taking a little bit and look back through each post, that way you can decide what you really want.  Remember this is only good through December 10th so hop to it!

Caro's Senior Portraits

Finally!  The wait is over dear friends.  You may now spend hours gazing upon these photos, and you probably will too...there are a lot.  I had a great time at the UT Gardens with Caro.  She survived the camera being on her at all times, graffiti of people with lots of eyes, and even an encounter with a coffin...it was quite the day.   She was a great sport and the pictures turned out fabulous.

Sneak Peak

Because I know many of you are waiting with bated breath for the unveil... Because I'm a nice person...

And because I really really love these photos...

I'm giving you a sneak peak of the senior portrait session I just did with the lovely Ms. Caro.

Shelbi's Senior Portrait Session

A couple weekends ago I had the privileged to take some senior portraits for one of Speed Racer's cousins, Shelbi.  She's an ambitious high school senior with a great laugh and a gorgeous smile.  I really had a wonderful time working with her.  We spent most of the shoot at the gorgeous UT gardens, and then headed off to the Worlds Fair Park with a couple props that Shelbi had brought.  It was a blast, and the pictures turned out great.  Usually I like to add a little more artistic flair to my photographs, but the colors in the pictures were so vibrant already that I barely touched them.  Thanks Shelbi for letting me document this time in your life, I hope you have a fantastic senior year.

On being Alone

Speed Racer often travels for work, and as soon as he's gone I hear "What do you DO while he's gone?" "Aren't you afraid to be by yourself?" "But you're ALONE!"  So I thought I would show just a few words of wisdom and insight on being alone. Being alone is always a hard thing.  I try to stay tough but I have to admit that when I'm in the house I lock every door...even ridiculous ones...like the closet...just in case.  But when I'm not being neurotic, I try to stay busy.  I can't even imagine how hard it would be to be a single Mom.  I don't have kids but it takes a lot more to keep the house running and the kitties fed when Speed Racer isn't around.

But when I'm not super busy, here's a list of things I do to have fun and keep entertained.  And to keep the "missing Speed Racer" thoughts away.

1. I take funny pictures...mostly of myself...and the kitties.

2. I watch lots of girlie movies.

3. I eat

4. I dance around the house, weirder than usual.

5. I talk to the kitties...alot...not just like "Hey pretty kitty.." but more like "Woah! Did you see that? I saw that..that was crazy...crazy."

6. I hang out with friends

7. I don't watch scary movies, I can't handle them on my own.

8. I sleep in the middle of the bed...I only crowd Speed Racer's side a tiny bit more than usual.

9. I try to do chores.

10. I miss Speed Racer...alot.

I know Magic

Levitation pictures can be really fun, or creepy, or elegant, or whatever floats your boat.  And if you have photoshop or another editing system, they are surprisingly easy to recreate. First you want to start off with two pictures: *side note you will definitely want to use a tripod for this.

Picture number one should just be a picture of your background, whatever that may be.  Now here is the super important part.  Once you decide on a background, angle, etc that you like, do not move your tripod, or you're going to make life a lot harder on yourself.

Picture numero 2:  A picture of whatever you wish to be levitating in the foreground on a stool, of some kind.  You ideally want something that isn't too elaborate.  It's hard to tell in this picture because the bench I used was very similar in color to the background, but the subject is laying on a bench.

Next in photoshop you are going to open those two photos and pull the foreground photo on top of the background photo and line them up so they are exactly on top of each other.  If you're having some problem doing this you can lower the opacity of the top layer so you can see the one beneath.

Next, create a layer mask on the foreground layer (you can do this by clicking on the icon of the square with a circle in it at the bottom of your layers menu) and using your brush start to paint over the stool, or bench.  You can see here that I went a little too far so I'm losing some of the subject's leg, that's no biggie!  Just switch your brush color back to white so you are adding back to the layer mask.  Work with it until you no longer can see the support feature.

Do a little tweaking with colors, etc to make the picture as eerie as you would like, I mean we are getting close to Halloween after all.  I think they are a lot of fun, and I hope you will try these out as well!

Camera Basics: Shutter Speed

We touched on Shutter Speed a little bit in Camera Basics 101, but today we're going to talk about shutter speed and motion. Specifically we are going to talk about Stop Motion versus Motion Blur.  Again, a lot of photography elements are based on your preferences.  I personally lean more in favor of stop motion.  I like the look of it, probably from my days working for the sports beat for the newspaper.  BUT, there are times where I really enjoy motion blur.  For example, low lit artsy pictures, anytime you're dealing with some fun light, or lights that are moving.  Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about and how to achieve these lovely pictures.

Stop Motion

The idea here is that you are "stopping" or freezing something right at the peak of it's motion.  It can cause some really fun pictures.  Since this is a self portrait and I'm using a wireless remote for my shutter, you can see it gets a little motion around the edges, and a tad out of focus.

Here's a little bit better example, and one I have used before.  By having a faster shutter speed (ie higher numbers) you will be able to stop the action.  Now remember to compensate for your lighting in each situation by adjusting your ISO and aperture as necessary depending on your situation.

Motion Blur

As I stated in the above paragraph, motion blur isn't usually my thing...to the point where I had trouble finding a good example to show you in my library of photographs.  SO, I cheated, this is one that Speed Racer took of me while we were camping.  It's a great example of motion blur because the real action that he's blurring is the sparks coming off the fire.  They make beautiful spirals that if you had stopped the action you wouldn't see.  If you're worried about your other subjects blurring, we're getting some blurring here, be sure to use a tripod.  Sometimes it's nice though.  I like it in this photograph because I think it helps add to the softness and feeling of a campfire.  Have I mentioned I love camping?  I do.

Again, in motion blur situations be sure to adjust your lighting to the situation.  Also, it's a good rule of thumb that if your shutter speed is lower than 60, you probably want to use a tripod instead of hand held.  There's so much you can do with motion blur.  You can set up a tripod and track the stars by leaving the shutter open for hours, you can crank down the shutter speed and let the lights of cars paint your photograph, you can pan with a runner or car and get streaks behind them, and you can even make water look like silk...fo real!  Lots and lots of options, so go out there and experiment with stop motion and motion blur!

Momma K

Last Friday evening we celebrated my Mother-in-Law, Momma K's birthday.  It was such a great time, and I really enjoyed just being able to relax and goof off with these ladies.

Even though it may not look like it right at this moment, we were having a great time.  People just got shy around my awesome lens.

We even corrupted some youth with scary tales of our early childhood.

There were more incriminating photos later, but I was too busy wrestling my sister-in-law...she had it coming.Have I mentioned that I love red hair on this blog? Once? Twice? Too many times?  But I do.

The Twin

Two weekends ago, I went home for a busy weekend away.  While I was there I teamed up with my wonderful friend The Twin.  She wanted some lovely portraits done, so we headed to the river and had a grand ole time.  I even stepped in for a couple cameo shots with my best bud.  The Twin and I have been friends for a long time, so it really meant a lot to me to be able to do some portraits for her.  And here is the end result.  Happy viewing!

Friday. Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!  I'm headed back to the land that I love, the land of my youth, the land where everyone knows my name!  Well, maybe not that last one, at least I hope not, that would mean I'm in trouble. I'm headed back North to Virginia for the weekend.  It's going to be a fun time of get together, and actually lots of photography as well!  My friend The Twin and Preacher are in need of some photography skills, and I am happy to oblige them.  Lots more to post when I get back of the photo sessions.  Have a great, safe, weekend everyone!