A Family Session: The Garntos

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of tagging along with Brooke Ashley Photography for two family sessions. Not only that, but I'm friends with both families, so it made my first shoot that much smoother. 

They picked a Christmas tree farm for their location, which turned out to be the perfect spot. The only downfall was how much the temperature dropped while we were there. Poor little Brennan started to freeze his little toes off, so we had to cut their session short. 

The Garntos: 

Seconds after this last photo was taken, little Brennan could barely move because it was so cold, so we called the session a bit early. On Monday I'll post part two of that days!

Bokeh

I learn best by practicing, so when I heard about this Bokeh Party I couldn't wait to join in. But first, I had to learn how the heck to take a bokeh shot. After a lot of trial and error I think I understand the gist of it, and I'm extremely excited to try this technique in the future. 

Getting very up close and personal with one of my sparkly Christmas tree ornaments!

Not too bad for a first attempt, right? See more fun bokehs here:

A Family Session: The Smallwoods

This weekend I had the opportunity to test out my new camera by tagging along on some Christmas photo shoots with friends. I had an absolute blast and discovered that photographing people is so much harder than it looks. Not to mention, I went home tired and covered in dirt, stickers, and wind-blown hair. But enough about me, here are some pictures! 


The Smallwood Family at Pineola Farms:

More to come tomorrow and Thursday! Since this was my very first time taking pictures of people (on a different level than just snapping a picture here and there), I'm really excited to look back on these photos in a year or two to see how I've improved.

on cloud nine

This photo encompasses two of my very favorite things right now: cooking/baking and photography. This is the second series of photos I took with my new camera (don't worry, I'll stop saying that after this post!), but I'm just so excited about the way these photos turned out. Of course, I'm my own critic and I already notice flaws with this picture, but that makes me even more excited to look back on this post a year or two from now and see how I've improved. 

Coconut Macaroons

via The Tale of Two Kitchens

Holiday Card Challenge

I originally wasn't going to enter this challenge, because I didn't have a photo. But then, little elves made their way to my home and transformed my puppy into a glorified reindog—what are the odds?!

This is one of the very first pictures pictures I took on my brand new Nikon d3100. To say I'm excited about this camera is a huge understatement; I can't wait to start shooting more. Since this is a brand new toy, I played it safe and took the photo on auto (flash off) and then added a soft light layer, screen layer, sold color in navy blue with an exclusion filter, and then I lowered the opacity (I'm really hooked on this soft retro look). After the editing was finished, I added some fun little extras...er...I mean, some elves worked their magic! 

Click the button above for more fun holiday photos!

Sunday Scavenger Hunt

I had great plans for this week, but life got the best of me and this Scavenger Hunt got put on the back burner. I'm still happy with a few of my shots, but wish I tried a little harder for others.

 The View Above

I spent the weekend in Savannah and couldn't resist taking a picture of their Christmas tree!

Something Hot

This is my husband and I think he is incredibly hot.

Something Cold

This is another shot from Savannah. They have several candy stores and in one of the stores was an old-fashioned Coca-Cola ice box!

Electronic

My husband's mini netbook.

Sparkle

We put our Christmas tree up late last week...it's incredibly sparkly right now!

See more fun shots here:

Sunday Scavenger Hunt

Well, what do ya know; I actually got my act together and took these throughout the week instead of scrambling around on Saturday! I had a lot of fun with these. 

1. Self-Portrait

Well, this is me! I altered this photo using tricks I'm using in Kim Klassen's e-class. Despite starting with a blown out photo, I really like the way it turned out.

http://www.iheartfaces.com/2010/12/photo-contest-self-portrait/

2. Handmade 

I made a lemon meringue pie—from scratch—for my husband's birthday. It's the perfect combination of a zesty lemon and a sweet pie.

3. Orange 

I came home one day and noticed a tree in the backyard illuminated by the sun. It was an absolutely gorgeous shade of burnt orange, and when the leaves danced with the wind it made it look like the whole tree was on fire. It was just gorgeous. This is SOOC.

4. Candle

Wow. Capturing a candle flame is hard! I took so many photos and this was the one I liked the most. I liked that the candle was off center and that the flame peeked above the rim of the glass.

5. Traffic Signals or Signs

I created a few versions of this photo, but in the end I went with a basic, almost SOOC version. I just touched it up by enhancing the red a little bit and adding some contrast to bring out the texture on the sign. I really like the trees reflection peeking through.