Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Sophie, Jen, and Brett

Sunday I had yet another session, this time with my coworker Jen and her family. She has a spunky 5 year old daughter, Sophie. She kind of makes me think of myself as a kid!

Unlike the day before, I had a little more luck with the lighting and my camera in general. We did a few portraits inside, and then Sophie changed and we headed outside to the little woods behind their house.

Favorites:





















Well, we're off to my parents' house for Thanksgiving! Happy happy!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Mike, Courtney, and Lexi

Well, I had my first family session on Saturday! I offered to do portraits for my coworker Courtney, as I am looking to expand my portfolio and gain experience. She has an adorable 4 month old daughter, Lexi. We decided to go to her aunt's farm to do the pictures.

It was definitely a learning experience for me. I'm STILL figuring out this new lens. The depth-of-field thing is very, very tricky. I'm glad I took a lot of photos, because I had to prune out a lot! Also, I realized later that my metering mode was set to partial instead of evaluative, which I believe caused a lot of shots to be rather blown out. That was aggravating :(. BUT, I think I got some good shots nonetheless, and Courtney liked them!

Here are a few of my favorites:

















(Like the watermark?? Heh heh)

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Prime Lens Practice Time!

It figures that the weekend after I get a new lens, my little guy is sick. I didn't get much of an opportunity to have fun with the lens. Luke wasn't feeling all that smiley or energetic.

I'm glad I had what little chance I did, though, because this lens will take a little getting used to! Upon reviewing my shots later, I realized that the depth of field at a f/1.8 is really, really shallow! Obviously I was expecting this to an extent, but...wow. Just wow. Clearly (or not so clearly, haha) I cannot do a closeup of Luke's face at a 1.8. That is, unless I only want his right eye in focus or something. I guess I need to go back to a 2.8 or a 4, or back up a bit! Or make sure he stays absolutely still while I focus, lol. Good luck with that.

Otherwise I love the lens and the bokeh is really, really nice.











This weekend will be exciting. I'm going to be almost permanently glued to my camera! Yay!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Watermark?

I've decided I need a watermark for my photos. Apparently it is the thing to do. Makes sense, why would I want someone to be able to steal my images? I came up with three different ideas:

#1:


#2:


#3:


I like the font, I like the name. I just don't know which design I like the best. I made a poll - it's on the right above the playlist that everyone loves so much. Please let me know what you think!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Eeee!! New Lens!!

It came, hooray! I ordered the 50mm f/1.8 on Monday, and it has arrived. I cannot WAIT to try it out! I may have to wait until the weekend, though, to have the opportunity to use it in natural light. Stupid winter/no daylight.


Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Fall Leaves & Luke

Sunday the weather was really quite lovely, so Luke and I spent some time outside. I sat him in a giant pile of leaves and had fun snapping a bunch of pictures! He was a little unsure about the leaves as first, but eventually decided he liked to swish them around under his hands. It was so cute!

I decided to try shooting in RAW this time, and I have to say, I love it! The files take up much more space than regular JPGs, but I think its worth the difference in quality. It took me a little time to figure out how to bring the files into Photoshop as well.

I also discovered that shooting on shutter speed priority is kinda nice. I usually shoot on aperture priority, but Luke moves so fast that things often get a little blurry. So, I decided to try something a little different, and was quite pleased!
















(this one above is my favorite, btw)