Charlottesville & Richmond, VA Photographer

A little family chaos. I mean fun!

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:10:07 +0000

Danielle and I wanted to do some fun photos for Valentines Day this year with our kids. So we made a pinterest board for ideas and I set to work making our very cute, in my humble opinion, mustache and lip shirts. Truthfully, I didn’t start these until the night before and I was still stitching Lucas’ and Adalyn’s shirts when Danielle arrived. But, they made it to completion so that’s all that matters, right?

We had this grand vision of the boys drinking their strawberry soda and eating their red velvet cupcakes in their pristine white shirts and I bet you can guess about how long that lasted. I’m going to be generous and say that the shirts were clean for a good sixty seconds after opening the first soda. Ah, two year olds cannot be trusted to maintain clean shirts in the presence of colored food and beverages.

To say that this shoot was controlled chaos would be an overstatement. It was more like chaotic chaos. I mean it was seriously nuts. The boys were in and out, screaming their heads of, in the ultra high pitch tone only small boys can achieve, wrestling with each other, riding bikes, swinging bats, oh yes and consuming large amounts of sugar. Lucas and Adalyn, they were amazing. It was like complete silence when we were working with them, which is probably when the playdoh was opened…

Next time, we’ll have a better game plan. Maybe. I hope.

And the ADORABLE felt hearts you see if the pictures with Adalyn and Lucas are from Play Day Toys a local etsy seller here in Charlottesville. I think these would be such a cute addition to a play kitchen. Oh and check out her store to see all the really cool play mats and sets she has for sale!

Barbara Kingery liked this post

the illusion of well-behaved subjects | how sessions really unfold

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:51:57 +0000

I’ll admit that my kids are some of my toughest subjects. A few days ago, I got the crew all dressed and headed to the field in front of our house. I wanted one.single.shot of my three children. I had ten minutes, if I was lucky. It was cold, the ground was wet, we were outside, there was a ball…millions of distractions. While it was truly nothing shy of a miracle, I did get that one shot I wanted, along with a few others worthy of frames and precious wall space. I also snapped away while the boys acted like they typically do. So, while that image of my three kids might seem sweet and timeless, it was really just a brief, brief moment in a few moments of chaos. Here’s the proof…

Mary Winseman, Courtney Christian Lambert liked this post

Paint the Moon’s ‘Let’s Do 52′ | Me in the Frame {Danielle}

admin — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 03:32:50 +0000

I’ll admit it…I hate being in front of the camera. It’s much easier to be on the other side snapping away. So, I wasn’t super-thrilled when I read that this week’s challenge was to get myself in the frame. Adalyn was about to get a bath a few nights ago, and she was so happy just to be chatting away with me…her silly, ol’ momma. It ain’t always gonna be that way. One day, she’ll be a teenager, and I was a teenage girl once. I know she probably won’t always like me. I was getting way ahead of myself and thinking about 13 years down the road, and Job walked in. “Whatcha doin’?” And he said it just like Candice from Phineas & Ferb too. I asked him if he’d like to take a few pictures, and he agreed to help me out. I sat the camera on the bed, adjusted the settings, pointed my flash so it would bounce nicely off the wall, switched the lens to manual focus, focused on Adalyn, then jumped back in the frame to play with her. Job snapped while I played. So, the shots aren’t perfect, but I love them anyway. My girl is smiling at me, and my boy snapped the shots.

Courtney Christian Lambert, Katie Martin, Crystal McLaughlin Gray, Brianna Hicks liked this post

Paint the Moon’s ‘Let’s Do 52′ | Danielle’s Interesting Angle

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:34:43 +0000

Yes, this is a few days late. I will not give up on my project 52. I will not give up on my project 52. I will not give on my project 52. Here’s my boy, reading a book on my dirty stairs. I could have swept the dust off, but that just wouldn’t be keeping it real. Plus, Joseph’s got a thing for the vacuum, so the second I brought it out, this fun little moment would’ve disappeared. I love these shots…dusty floors and all. Well, the dusty floors do bother me a bit, but oh well:)

Paint the Moon’s “Let’s Do 52″ – Interesting Angle | Amy’s Week Four

admin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:27:16 +0000

I wish you could her the noises that come out of him when he makes this face. It’s definitely something I will always remember about him as a baby.

A Before and After

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:17:56 +0000

I thought I’d do a quick before and after edit to show how I typically edit my personal pictures. This is just a simple clean edit to polish the picture. The most important thing is to start with a good image straight out of the camera (sooc).

Lucas’s room gets pretty nice light these days around 11-1pm. I know that I want to be close to the window, but not right under it so I placed him on his play mat that was about 3-4 feet from the window. I also like to place my subject at a 45 degree angle to my light source because it gives a nice soft shadow and definition to the face. With Noah, it’s practically impossible to make sure I’m at a good angle, but since Lucas will sit still for a minute before taking off it’s sometimes achievable. I shot down on Lucas so that I would be sure to get really nice catch lights in his eyes. You can see my diagram below of my set up. Disclaimer, I just got a Wacom table for Christmas so I’m still learning how to use it to write properly and make straight lines.

So here is the resulting sooc image.

So for my edit I did everything in Lightroom but you can do the same thing in Photoshop using ACR (Adobe Camera Raw). I first warmed it up a little bit by adjusting my white balance to daylight. I also chose to brighten it up with a slight brightness adjustment. I chose to use a brightness adjustment rather than an exposure adjustment because exposure increases your highlights and I didn’t want to blow any of his skin. Brightness will adjust your midtones but not your highlights and that’s exactly what I wanted to do. I upped the contrast just a tad and added some clarity. The last thing that I did was go under my tone curve and pull the darks up a tiny bit to make the shadow across his face just a little softer. Then I exported the photo into Photoshop where I resized it for the web and then did an unsharpen mask on it to sharpen it just a bit. And here is the resulting image.

Just a clean, quick edit. Perfect for our photo album. If you have any questions leave a comment below and I’ll be happy to answer!

Amy

What Kind of Camera Should You Buy | a question we get asked ALL the time :)

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:24:21 +0000

So, you want/think you need a new camera. Me too…seriously…I always want a new camera. Canon has had me since hello. But I don’t need a new camera. Maybe you’re different. Maybe you lost/dropped/washed/dried your camera, and it.is.toast. For this post, we’re going to assume that, whether your camera is in working order or not, you want one that’s a little better than the one you have/had. With us so far? So, now comes the tough part. Why do you want a better camera? What do you plan to do with it? Have a heart-to-heart with yourself and come up with a solid answer. Is it to take better photos of your kids? Is it to move toward taking photos of other people’s kids? Is it to pursue a general interest in photography?

Now, we have to force readers to separate. Depending on what you want, our suggestion for gear is different. Pick your answer below and keep reading.

a) I want to take better photos of my kids.

b) I have an interest in making photography a more serious hobby.

I WANT TO TAKE BETTER PICTURES OF MY KIDS

You might be surprised to learn that you might be able to take better pictures of your kids with the camera you already have…if your kids didn’t throw it the toilet. Taking better pictures is more about knowledge than it is gear. The angle of the shot, the placement of the subject, and the available light do much more for a shot than a better camera. That doesn’t mean that I can take exactly the same photograph with my professional camera and a point and shoot camera, but you’re not going for professional. You’re going for better, and you don’t have to have a big, fancy camera to do that. Instead, consider learning a little more about the camera you already have. Do some googling, enroll in a workshop (hey—get a few friends together and call us…you host and we’ll talk…just email for details)…just take the time to learn. It ain’t as easy as buying a better camera.

So, now that we’ve warned you that a better camera might not be the best answer, here are a few suggestions for point-and-shoot cameras. We tried to hit all budgets with them…and we do not own any of them. We researched, read reviews, and scoured photography forums for suggestions. This is what we came up with:

Nikon Coolpix S4100 $175

Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS10 $225

Canon S100 $425

I WANT TO MAKE PHOTOGRAPHY A SERIOUS HOBBY

Before you buy a new camera, check out all the photography tutorial basics over on The Pioneer Woman’s site and make the best of the camera you have. Until you have an understanding of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO (and how all those things work together), you won’t be able to make the most of a new (likely more expensive) camera. In order to improve your photographs, you must put in some time and effort. Sometimes, you can trade money for time and convenience, like with Keurig cups. I pay a little more for coffee because those little heavenly cups save me about one minute and a little effort with measuring and clean up every morning (afternoons and evenings sometimes too). But cameras aren’t like K-cups. You can’t spend more and skip the time and effort. You HAVE to learn the basics before a new camera will be worth its cost. Lecture overJ

Once you have the basics down, you’re ready for a camera that gives you more options. Digital-SLRs allow you to change lenses and add a better flash. While those are expensive additions, you don’t have to buy them right away. Slow and steady. One lens and the built-in flash can get you started (although I recommend NEVER using the on-camera flash!). We both shoot Canon, but we’re giving you the Nikon equivalent too. We do suggest sticking with Nikon or Canon. Keep in mind that these links are for the cameras only. You will also need a lens and CF cards (links below too). If you head over to the Digital Photography School, you can read a much more in-depth review of DSLRs than we could ever give you.

$700 Nikon D5100

$675 Canon Reb

$825 Nikon D90 (camera only—no lenses or CF cards included)

$900 Canon 60D

Lenses

Nikon 50 1.8 (about $100)

Canon 50 1.8 (about $100)

Tamron 28-75 (available for Canon or Nikon…about $450

CF cards-4 GG

GREAT LINKS FOR LEARNING!

Five Steps to Taking Better Pictures of Your Kids

The Pioneer Woman

More Digital Photography School

(awesome blog and paid forum…well worth the fee)

Protected: Baby’s Arrival | A Birth Story

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:42:09 +0000

Paint the Moon’s “Lets Do 52″ – Negative Space | Amy’s Week Three

admin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:10:23 +0000

One of the things I want to remember most about Noah when he’s older is how much he loved his cars. They go everywhere and drive on anything. He will lay on the floor and play for endless amounts of time imagining up stories so long as I am with him. There always seem to be explosions and roll overs but the cars live on. I hope he never loses that wonderful imagination.

Negative Space | Danielle’s Paint the Moon Let’s Do 52! Entry

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:26:07 +0000