Candle Light

My amazing, beautiful friend sara was kind enough to pose for me while we were in the process of a painting with light session.

I believe we had just under 100 candles burning. Shooting got warm very quickly, so I removed my camera from overhead tripod to avoid "cooking" my lens.

 There was also the spilling of wax & slight burning of fingers. All in all, I would say minus a few singes we managed to get a few "candle-lit" images that we are both pleased with.

I processed the image to push red tones in the shadows, it is Christmas after all. Enjoy the season & light a few candles!

Extraordinary Ashley

Ashley is one of my friends and she just happens to be classically beautiful. She has sweet delicate feminine features. Her hair changes with the season but her face remains always the same, always beautiful.  I shot this picture one fall day on my front porch. She had a relaxed grace about her as she leaned back on the porch railing.

About the photo: this image had a bit of motion blur to begin with, so I decided to just take it in the direction the image lent itself to.

A Very Vintage Baby

How do you turn an absolutely adorable baby picture into a timeless keep-sake?
Very easily my friends, you just do a sepia (brown) toning and add a vintage frame.

A beautiful summer moment.

Children have an amazing way of examining the world around them. They still look at the world in awe, taking time to genuinely look at something.
When we grow up we assume we know what any given flower looks like. We forget that once we examined the petals one by one with wonder, then reveled in the symmetry of nature.
About the photo: desaturated color with sepia toning added. Strong vertical vignette added. High pass bleach filter

Going from A to Z

Here is a classic example of post processing, which is photography lingo for improving the overall quality of a picture.
Step 1. Remove distracting elements (such as people in the background)
Step 2. Make the sky blue-er ( if that's a word)
Step 3. Use a special plug-in (on-one skintune) to soften the skin and give it a glow.
Step 4. Perform a color and contrast shift on the sand to bring out texture.
Step 5. Put your logo on it so people can hire you to take great portraits of them!
(Click on picture to see larger version)

About the photo: This picture was taken on the shores of an Indiana state park (yes I was surprised to learn that Indian has shoreline on Lake Michigan too). The model Erin has great skin to begin with, which saves me a lot of time on re-touching. Erin has always wanted to go to the ocean, for the time being she settled on lake michigan. I felt this was a successful shoot in that showcased her natural unkempt beauty.

The Overlay Logo

This photograph is of an adorable little flower girl at the Lafleur wedding. She was waiting patiently in the hallway while the attendees took their seats. This is a test image for my business logo. My great friend, graphic designer extraordinaire , Ashley Sako designed this logo for me.

Take time to stop and smell the flowers

 I was in a very long, very slow bank line today and the woman standing in front of me was fidgeting restlessly back and forth. She finally stepped out of line and went to find a manager to  see if she could expedite the line. She came back with a smile on her face and said, "sometimes you just have to complain to get something done". I replied "Oh, I'm in no rush". She looked at me with a puzzled look and said "And why is that"? I explained to her, It is my belief that the universe is out to support my happiness and if I have to wait in a long line, then maybe  I needed to slow down for a moment. She laughed and said," well that seems like a much better outlook on life, I should try that some time".
Afterwards, I went to pick the girls up from school and when my youngest wanted to stop and smell the flowers, I told her I thought that was a fine idea and we should all take the time to stop and smell the flowers (even though I knew tulips weren't scented). She would have never know that unless I let her smell them for herself.
About the photo: I shot this with my point & shoot Sony Cyber-shot.
Soft blur on foliage using Onone focal point.