A Photog Blog

2010-06-04T17:41:00.002-04:00

Football

2010-06-04T17:38:00.001-04:00

More Random Photos

2010-06-04T17:32:00.000-04:00

Random Photos

2010-06-04T16:54:00.000-04:00

Senior Photo Shoot

2010-06-04T16:45:00.000-04:00

Did I see you there?

2008-09-29T11:22:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, I got to spend Friday and Saturday with tons of great, fun ladies at the Memory Magic Event in Oak Ridge, TN. It's an annual Scrapbooking Event put on by the City of Oak Ridge.

This year, I was fortunate enough to be able to have a booth set up there to promote my studio! I got a wonderful reception, and it was great to meet and chat with so many people in our community!

AND the football and cheer orders came in!!! Whoo hoo!! I will be delivering them THIS WEEK.

A Baby fix

2008-09-04T13:13:00.001-04:00

I'm loving the newborn and maternity shots lately :)

Busy, busy

2008-08-14T11:57:00.003-04:00

I've been so busy with work, it's been great to stretch my shutter finger!!! I'm also working on my new website. I have a few more things to do on it before the unveiling.

Here's some sneaks from my latest session, a wedding:

7 days old

2008-07-30T11:31:00.003-04:00

This cutie is just 7 days old...isn't she the sweetest? I've never had a newborn be awake for so long! (Which is a challenge when you are photographing them!)

Some playing around

2008-07-28T11:07:00.002-04:00

I took Sarah and Miranda down to the road today with my ottoman for a little shoot. Miranda's hand is still recovering from her surgery, so my posing is a little off....but I think the idea is cute.

Florida

2008-06-10T19:12:00.004-04:00

We just spent a week camping at St. Andrews. It was so nice there. One morning I got up at 5 AM and rode my bike out to the beach. Being the ONLY one on the beach to watch the sunrise was so cool. Here are a few photos out of the MANY I took.

Sweet Girl

2008-05-16T16:23:00.002-04:00

How cute is this little baby doll? This beautiful little girl was the subject of my latest photo session. She was so fun to photograph! Loved all those curls!!

Still kids

2008-03-18T09:19:00.008-04:00

My brother and I pretty much instantly revert to being kids when we are together. These aren't technically the best, but I thought they were pretty funny. This paperweight has been at my parents house FOR-EVER.

New toys and an eclipse

2008-02-21T07:59:00.004-05:00

I just got in some new equipment that I ordered..still waiting on part of it before I can REALLY play...but I have to say I LOVE my new lens! It's a Canon L Series 24-70mm Wide Angle. I've only played with it for a few minutes last night, but I'm already in love! And I have a new light set up. I've been a strictly natural light photographer up until this point, but if I want to expand into newborn/maternity photography, I really need to learn how to do a studio set up. I'm still waiting on my backdrop stand and seamless to get here. This is just a quick shot I took using one of the flash units and an umbrella, and my new lens.

Oh, and we had a lunar eclipse last night. I missed most of it, but I did get a shot of the orange moon!

Extreme editing tutorial

2008-01-31T14:12:00.001-05:00

Here's a brief tutorial on taking an undesirable object out of an image.

One of the quickest and most effective ways to do this is by using a copy and paste method. It takes some practice, and it helps if you have an eye for matching up textures and colors. This is a VERY simple example. I have reconstructed entire facial features using this method.

In this example, I am taking the tubes and gauze out of the photo. First, using the lasso tool, I select an area of skin that is similar to the area immediately around the gauze. Then using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl/Alt/J I put the selection into a new layer. Then I select that layer in the layers palette (shown on the right in the below photo)

Then, drag the selected layer over the gauze, and position it to maximize the coverage. You may have to change the angle of the selection to get the colors and shadows to match up better. Once you are happy with the position, right click on the layer and select merge down.

Then, to make your patch seamless, select the healing brush tool. (not the spot healing brush, but the one below it) With this brush you will have to hold down the alt key while you select an area for the brush to use when healing. Select an area near the area you are healing. Adjust the diameter of the brush to a small workable size. Then 'paint' over the edges of your patch and the skin around it. (don't blend the edges that aren't covered yet..like the edges that are beside the gauze in the example) This will blend the patch into the surrounding skin.

Here's an example of a more complicated area I did using this technique. I copied a section just below the bottom lip to make the indention above the upper lip, and sections of the visible nose to make the rest of the nose. I also used the clone brush in small areas, with the opacity set to around 50% to blend in a few areas as well.

Something about fire

2008-01-08T10:57:00.001-05:00

It's beautiful and frightening all at once! I got some of these shots while we were burning a wood pile:

Another play in CS2

2008-01-02T16:10:00.001-05:00

Dodging How to

2008-01-02T13:49:00.000-05:00

Here's a brief tutorial on dodging eyes.
Here's my before shot...notice that in the left tool bar I have the dodge tool selected. (the one that looks like a stick pin) Also you can see that in the top tool bar I have Range set to highlights, and exposure set to 10%. I always work at a low exposure so I don't over do it.

The screen shot below shows your brush options. It's best for touch ups to use a basic round brush. (there are other brushes showing in this window)

Now my after shot. I just brushed the cursor over the iris of the eye repeatedly until I got the look I was going for. ( I over dodged just a tad to show the difference)

CS2

2008-01-02T10:43:00.000-05:00

Just messing around with photoshop....thought this turned out pretty cool.

A rare photo

2007-12-31T09:21:00.000-05:00

My brother, step-dad, and I at Christmas.

Monkey Business

2007-12-13T12:53:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday!!

2007-12-11T10:08:00.000-05:00

Today my oldest daughter turns 11. (She CAN'T be that old already!) We celebrated this morning with a birthday Eggo...lol.

Photo Restoration and Touch Ups.

2007-12-06T08:50:00.000-05:00

I've decided to start doing digital touch ups and restoration as part of my photography business. I've had SO many people ask me to do it and like my work, so I thought why not!

So, just email me if you have something you want done...prices start at $10 for a simple touchup (ie, one scratch removed or a zit or two zapped), and go up from there. Priced on a case by case basis. Professional quality prints are also available at an additional cost.

Here's a photo I did recently that the owners thought was beyond repair:

And here's an example of a simple touch up and conversion:

Hello

2007-12-05T00:04:00.000-05:00

Hi. I'm starting this blog to go along with my photography site...just to show some of my work. I hope you enjoy!!

To start off, here are a few pics from visiting with Santa today!