New Camera!!

So I was finally able to get my hands on a Nikon D5200.  It's turning out to be quite a stellar camera.  And because my last camera was a Nikon, getting to know this new one hasn't been too difficult.  I am still without a few lenses that I want, but in the next few weeks, I should be able to buy my first portrait lens. 

So, let me know what you think of these latest shots of my boys.

I would have liked all of Grayson's chin to be in this shot and originally it was.  But he moved forward right as I took this.  But I posted it anyway because I can't get over the look on his face. 

This is my Jackson.  This smile is so genuinely his.  No other kid in our family smiles like that and I love that it's all his. 

Such a sweet face.  You'd have no idea the grief this kid gives his Sunbeam teachers. 

Saturday Night Couples Session

Tonight I got the honor of doing some portraits for my little brother and his girlfriend.  Since it was an indoor session and it was at night and it was in my basement, we chose to go the black and white route.  I'll be doing some more of them come early fall.  They plan on dressing up like characters from The Great Gatsby for Halloween and thought it would make a cool photo shoot.  But back to the here and now.  Since I was working with a black backdrop and my subjects were dressed very plainly as I asked them to be, the session was a very intimate one meaning it was all about the posing and the couple.  There were no fences to lean against, no branches to frame the shot, no flowing field of grass to sit in.  It was just this cute couple.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  However, I cannot wait for warmer weather so I can do sessions like this outside.  I know you can do winter sessions outside, but with the wind we've been cursed with as of late, there's no chance of getting one of those surreal, fairy-land white shots of a cute couple cuddling in the snow.

So here is my brother, Nathan and his cute girlfriend, Stephanie.  There were so good throughout the whole session and allowed me to try lots of different poses, including our cheesy, awkward 80s portrait pose.  Be sure to check that one out.

And what studio photo session would be complete without the cheesy, slightly awkward 80s pose?

I told them to limber up and get some yoga in before our next shoot because next time, we're trying this pose............

Some more pics of my kids in the snow.....as if there weren't enough.

I like snow.  It does such a good job at covering up the ugly transition between winter and spring.  Lately the weather has been warmer and all the snow melted.  That meant all you could see for miles were dead-looking trees and matted, yellow grass.  But a blanket of snow randomly plopped down today and we took advantage. 

I read in this book that I'm reading that one way to improve your photography was to take the same shots you normally would, like Dani being my big helper here, but do it from a different angle.  What do you think?

I took advantage of the abundance of diffused light outside today and upped by shutter speed to capture this. 

She shoveled half the driveway before she collapsed dramatically from the exertion.  Such a trooper.  I tried a warmer edit of this picture.  Good?  Bad?

Did the warmer edit on this one too.  I like this one because Jackson seems to be staring nobly off in the distance but he's humbled a bit by his snow booger. 

My Funny Valentine

So, I did this black and white session with my husband.  I got a lot of great shots of him, but there were a few "outtakes," I guess you could call them.

I promised him I've never show them to anyone, but well......


Here is my funny Valentine.

 

A Picture a Day Keeps Boredom Away

I read an article once written by a renowned photographer.  She said that when she started out, she was taking pictures everyday.  She never let a moment go by without setting up a shoot or just capturing the candid.  So I thought I'd try that method too.

Today, I decided to play with the light that comes in through my bedroom windows.  Dani, my go-to model, sat on my bed and we set up a white background.  I have some really cool ideas for other backgrounds, but I'm still gathering materials.  Hopefully I can have those materials ready for next weekend when I'll be doing a couples' session.

Hurray!

I asked her about the neighborhood boy that she has a crush on...

Showing me how old she is.

Then the boys woke up and I got this shot.

Dance Party!

What do you do when it's crappy outside and everyone is bored?  We have regular dance parties at our house.  I decided to see if I could make today's party into a photo session.  It was less successful than I had hoped for, mostly because my background was less than stellar.  I need actual photo paper I think. It was also hard to capture the action with limited light.  I even had actual studio lights set up, but my lens needed to be a different, more expensive one.  A photography hobby is not a cheap hobby.  By the way, if you want to buy me anything that I am lamenting I don't have, feel free.  You can consider it an investment and I'll do your next family portraits for free.  ;-) 

Anyway, the ones of the girls turned out the best, mostly because they dance in predictable patterns and actually dance to the beat.  I have no idea who taught the boys to dance (cough...dad!).

I wanted a pure white background and to my eye, this background was pretty dang white, especially after I put some lights on it.  But a lens don't always see what the eye does, at least not my lens. It's a good lens, don't get me wrong.  The majority of the pics on this blog were taken with that lens, but it has its limitations.

See what I mean?

Late Morning Session

I have twin 3 year-old boys.  They were most likely sent to this earth to destroy me, but I love them anyway.  On hard days, I try and sit them down and do some kind of photo session.  The reason?  Sometimes looking back at still images of them helps me to remember how I really feel about the little buggers and I can better handle the live-action version of them.

Here is today's session.  We played peek-a-boo and tried to get some action shots.  Many of them ended up too blurry for lack of strong enough light.  I desperately want a pack of reflectors.  I look forward to spring and summer so I can take them outside and try and get them in action.  I couldn't decide between black and white and color on a few of them, so I added them all.  The one action shot that turned out well enough, I really like in B&W.