Backlighting

I love the look of backlighting. I love the warm, golden tones and how it changes the mood.
This is a photo I took 2 years ago, and while I think my photography has greatly improved in the last 2 years, this still remains one of my most favorite backlit sessions. The session was of three girls and they were so fun to photograph. They were best friends and had so much fun. I got the best candid shots out of them.

I had to be careful in how I positioned them, so that they were backlit by the sun, but that the sun was not coming full force into my lens and creating flare over the girls, however I love the artistic use of sun flare in the left corner. I did a little post editing to pop the color and I slightly adjusted the levels.

 Want to learn more about backlighting? Visit www.rocktheshotforum.com and view some of their september posts.

Sisters

My 2 girls. When it comes to composition I think I would prefer that the top photo be full body, but I just love this moment of the two of them looking at eachother.

I just adore Tay's chubby cheeks and I can't get enough of her chubby legs.

"Miss Tots"

I have so many nicknames for her from tayvers, tayvalicious, Tayter tots, and even Miss Tots. She gives me so many reasons to smile every single day. I love her pouty lips in the profile pic.

I just love 'all the faces' of Tayvlee. When she smiles, she has the cheesiest smiles ever, check out #2 from the strip below. I knew it would be hard to keep a 13-month old still, but I know how much she loves to sit in little chairs and on little stools, so having this stool was my key to get her to sit still for a couple minutes.

"The Monkey"

Before she was born, she was referred to as "Baby K" and it stuck even after birth. We also often called her "the Monkey". Oh how I looooooove her sparkly eyes.

I always try to just post a few from each post, and sometimes it is hard to narrow down my favorites, especially when I am biased because they are my own daughters. The first 5 minutes of this shoot was so funny, Kennedee was such a little poser, as if she'd seen it done a million times before. And I know you are all surprised when I say I don't actually take that many photos of my girls, seriously I don't. I need to make a goal to keep my camera on me at all times. I often rely on Grammy to get the pictures at all the special events.

The Ranch {Camarillo Family Photographer}

This is a fantastic family to work with. I did their first shoot last year and am always happy to have some repeat business from such a fun family!

Look Ashley, I got a bug!

Here are some of the candid ones from the Camarillo shoot. Little Nick was super excited about the bug he found! After they released the bug, he played on the "Big Tree" and said "I want to slide down it". Too precious. And shortly later we found a wagon that he was having a good time with.

I'm often asked how I get kids to smile well and stay engaged for an entire 60 minute shoot. Well, I don't really force the kids to pose. Maybe on a few we'll try to get them to look up and smile right at the camera. But you just got to let them be kids, let them play around, and get their parents playing with them. The best smiles are the ones that come when they are laughing!!!

Lemon Grove

I've been dying to do photos in a lemon grove for such a long time. The problem is that the light coming through the trees is pretty harsh in most lemon groves, so it's hard to do unless it is overcast. Well although this photo shoot was chosen based on other background choices, the second I saw this small lemon grove in the corner of the Ranch I just had to do some pics there. And we had just enough shade to give a nice flattering light to this family. I love YELLOW!

Individual Families

After the big group shots we took a few of each individual family. Their colors were grey, lite blue, navy blue, lavendar, and hot pink (actually she used another term, but I forgot it). So I used those colors in my paint chips.

Family One

Family Two

Family Three

Family Four

Family Five

32 Faces!

I just did this extended family shoot for my good friend. These were taken at Arroyo Verde park in Ventura. I hadn't been there before, so I got there super early, but of course had to change my measurements as the sun shifted. It's quite miraculous to get 32 people happy and willing to be photographed at the end of a long family reunion. But there sure must be a lot of love in this family..............dont they all look so happy!

If I were to describe my photography style I would say that I am a natural light, lifestyle photographer. Meaning that I enjoy taking more candid, less posed shots doing activities. Not that I don't believe we should pose once in a while, but I just love capturing moments. With that said, with extended family portraits, posed is a good way to go. The 5 kids purchased this session as a gift to their parents to frame.

And of course we got some of all the grandchildren. Very, very good looking family!

Father's Day

I love when I can adjust my focus and depth of field to better communicate to the viewer what I want them to see. I love the focus on daddy looking down on his new son. And I love the focus of big brother looking up at daddy. These are the best moments to capture.

Samuel #2

I like to do newborn shots within the first 14 days of life, because they will sleep through anything. These were done at about 18 days. He was awake for the first half of it, but we were able to get some good shots in between his pacifier going in and out. Sooo so precious.



gotta love baby toesies!

Samuel #1

My good friend and I exchanged services. She made my daughters birthday cake for me and I am doing some photo sessions for her. I think I got the better end of the bargain............instead of staring at fondant all day, I got to look at this beautiful baby boy.




I love tri-fold cards. This template was designed by Isabelle LaFrance.

Posting on the Web............test

I have been using a 'save for web' tool, to resize my images to my websites pixel width and to sharpen since web images are at a different ppi/dpi. But I kept noticing when I looked at a photo saved to my computer vs. posted on the web, the web version doesn't look as sharp as they do on my computer and when I print them. So I just found a new 'save for web' tool and here are the results.


The first photo is posted the way I have always done it.

And this one is with the new way...............way sharper, what do you all think? Should I sharpen all my images for the web?

The B Family [Moorpark Family Photographer]

Here are the more posed shots. See the following post for the candid ones.

I believe this is the one that the fam will enlarge.

NIKON 50mm 1.4

f 2.8 1/200 ISO200

f2.2 1/500 ISO200

f2.2 1/360 ISO200

The "Fun" shots.......B Family

This shoot was done this past weekend in a beautiful grove of trees. When I do family shots I try to have some ideas of how to get the kids laughing and having fun in candid shots, so they are in a good mood when we need them to pose for the camera. I asked the mom to bring a blanket in coordinating colors and the kids thought this was so much fun. I love these candid moments, they are so precious.

I love the baby smiling up at brother, while the big sister has static hair from the blanket.......priceless.

I tried something new. I set my camera to a really slow shutter speed (1/8) and asked mom and dad to stay super still so they wouldn't blur, and then asked the kids to run around them. I love this shot because you see mom and dad, calm and happy, amidst the chaos around them. I like how the baby is crawling through mom's legs.

However, with all the fun ideas to keep the kids happy, I really probably didn't need it because this is seriously one HAPPY family. From start to finish the kids were so well behaved, good listeners and really made my job super easy. If a family is this good on a photoshoot, you know they have a lot of love in their family.

Loving the focus on the baby with the kids jumping in the background.

The parents bribed the kids with "pops", so near the end of the shoot, they got them. So Cute!!

Tayvlee 8 months

I have been wanting to try using a backdrop for a long time. In efforts to get some practice in before the B-Family Shoot I had that evening, I made a backdrop using a duvet cover near my french doors. Unfortunately not as much light comes in as I hoped, so I won't be making my own homemade studio anytime soon. Also, 8 months is a hard age --because they can't walk yet, they are looking down most of the time. It was hard to get her in the right angle to get 'catchlights', but we got a few. The photos of the blocks and birds have texture, however the photographs do not.

A Vintage Easter

Valentine's Cards

Card # 1









Card # 2










Card #3

Thanks to Florabella for saving me some time with these .psd editable bookmarks. These will make great valentines for my girls to give out.