Tuesday, March 9, 2010

My Inspiration

I've been in bed with a miserable cold since Sunday... I tell ya, the only thing worse than a miserable cold, is having one when you're pregnant and you can't take any medicine! Luckily Mister's been home the last 2 days so he's been able to take full Tadpole duty while I sleep and sleep and sleep.

It's days like this though, that remind me to be thankful for what I have, and who I chose to share my life with. I don't know what on earth I'd do without Mister - and because of him, we have our little Tadpole - who is my daily source of inspiration... no matter how miserable I feel.



Monday, March 8, 2010

iheartfaces - Week 10: Jump for Joy


It's week 10 of year 2 at iheartfaces. This week's theme is "Jump for Joy". I love this image of the Tadpole from last summer... he was just learning how to actually jump. Usually he didn't actually get any air, but he tried SO HARD. The look of concentration on his face and his tiny heels just up off the ground... *sigh* I just love my boy.


Click over to iheartfaces to see the rest of this week's "Jump for Joy" entries.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Flashback Friday - Tadpole & LG

It was LG's birthday yesterday... his 19th birthday. Seriously? He's legal? Oh man... I'm gettin too old for this!

In honor of his big day, here's a flashback to last Halloween... Tadpole as a bat, and LG as Dragonball Z...


Happy Birthday LG!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Before & After

At Becker's workshop in January, one of the things he talked about was how to help your clients understand what they're paying for. Sure, they've hired you to take some photos for them... but do they really understand just what that means? A professional photo is more than just the click of a shutter - to make it perfect, there's also post-processing involved.

A common misconception is that Photoshop is used to "fix" bad images and make them good... but really, professional photographers use Photoshop to make good images better.

Becker suggested that one of the best ways to demonstrate this, is to post before & after images on your website or blog.

I had originally been opposed to sharing SOOC (straight out of camera) photos because they don't depict what I consider to be my "best" work. But what Becker said made sense. How can people really get it unless they can see the SOOC, and then what a little post-processing can do.

So, here we go... My first Before (sooc) & After (photoshopped) post...



And there you have it. Just a teeny bit of insight into why you pay more when you hire a professional... the time spent with you at your portrait session is only just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the work/effort put into the making of your images.

Monday, March 1, 2010

iheartfaces - Week 9: Hilarious Outtakes


This week at iheartfaces, we get to enter FIVE photos... 5 "Hilarious Outtakes"... I can't wait to see what everyone else posts! In the meantime, here are my entries, each with a quick explanation.

I'm not sure this one even really needs an explanation... a baby Tadpole... spitting up with some CRAZY timing JUST as the camera clicked...

Attempting to take some portraits of the Tadpole standing with his golf clubs... Little dude pulled them right over, you can see his poor flailing hand, still in motion...

Family portrait session at the park... Happy smiling siblings... until the click of the camera... baby decided to let us know that she was done - as her big brother and sister give each other the "here we go again" look...

I warned Unk that Tadpole needed a diaper on after his tub... but Unk just wanted some playtime with a nephew that had just learned how to coo and smile... and then Unk got pee'd on...

A baby shower at work... My co-worker was having fun copying the faces that baby was making... but of course, as soon as the camera clicked, baby stopped making faces and my co-worker didn't...

Click over to iheartfaces to see the rest of this weeks Hilarious Outtakes.