Friday, July 31, 2009

sneak peek | the miller family

i wanted to post a sneak peek for my dear friends, the miller's. i had the honour of taking some family photos for them while i was visiting my old stomping grounds and they were kind enough to let me practice on them with my first ever outdoor 'location shoot' (vs an indoor, studio shoot). i had the nicest time with them and wanted to share some of my favorites so they wouldn't have to wait for their photo cd to arrive in the post. thanks, my friends, and enjoy =)






Sunday, July 12, 2009

tips & tricks | just say NO to flash

one of the easiest things you can do to take more beautiful photographs is to turn off your flash. obviously, there are times when you will need to use your flash, indoors at night for instance. but if you really want to take a special shot, take a moment to find a spot indoors close to a window.

the indirect light filtering in through a window is bright enough that you can take a shot without using flash and it is really lovely and flattering to skin. flash is often quite harsh and flat on the skin, while window light is soft, gives more natural skin tones and creates lovely shadows and higlights. these two shots were taken at the same time of day, and processed the same way. the first one was in a darker area of the house with flash, the other was taken about 2m away from a big window.



the best part of window light is that it gives you the most gorgeous catch-lights in the eyes. catch-lights are those pretty reflections of light on the eye that just make the eyes sparkle. you can see from the examples below that flash does not give a pretty catch-light at all; it gives a little pinprick of light, usually right on the pupil that is not very flattering. in addition, when there is plenty of window light the pupils are smaller and you can see the beautiful eye colour more clearly.


so turn off that flash, hang out by a window, and capture those gorgeous catch-lights =)

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

your favorite photos | my play as a mini-collage

one of my photographer friends sent along these photos for the photo call. she is very talented and has some gorgeous shots here! i thought i would have a play and create a 'mini-collage' that she could display on her website, blog or facebook page. i think it is a great way of displaying a few favorites all at once, and it shows that you can take different shots from different occasions and by turning them black and white you can bring them together to create a beautiful portrait. this particular layout would also make a great christmas card or a 4x6 print to give out as a gift or as a thankyou card. thanks to phillipa for sharing =)


Wednesday, July 1, 2009

your favorite photos | my play

thanks to those 'fans' who sent in some of their favorite snapshots. i have been having a play and thought i would share a few of them with you.

this photo was pretty excellent to start with and i loved that pop of red, so i just erased the letters on his jacket, and the arm holding up his head, and then zoomed in a little closer, keeping in mind rule-of-thirds to line up his eyes in the top third of the photo.

this is a sweet photo of mom and baby. here, i erased out the plates etc. behind their heads, turned the photo into a vanilla black and white so that the red top wouldn't distract from those happy faces, and then zoomed in close.

this is such a gorgeous family shot. i used a mocha black and white to enhance that dreamy feel and i lightened up a couple of the darker areas on dad's head and dog's face. then i erased the seam that was in the background behind baby's head. i liked the way it was composed off centre so i zoomed in but tried to keep the original sense of composition.


i hope you have enjoyed my play. i have a few more that i will be posting soon, and will have another photo call in the coming weeks, so stay tuned =)