i ♥ faces - week 30 - "Purple"

It's been a few weeks since I've submitted - busy here and a few challenges that I didn't qualify for (dude, some of those teens were amazing photographers, I wish I had 1/10th of their talent!) but I thought I had a good submission for this one.  This is little K.  I've featured this shot on this blog before (but not for i ♥ faces though).  The purple is slight but it's there!!:)

Head on over to i ♥ faces for more great photos!!!

Morning Photo Shoot

I think I've said this before but I LOVE the early morning light in our guest room. And since Noey seems to favor an early wake up time, we've had a bunch of opportunities to take advantage of that light!  Here's the result:

The second one is my absolute fav!  I pulled out the reflector to light up the right side of his face.  It was a challenge to keep him from pulling it down in himself but in the end it worked (10 shots later!)..

Little V

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing a lovely family. Mom,Dad, and Little V won a session at a casino night raffle and were quick to cash it in! A few venue switches, we finally just walked around their condo complex and found some great spots!

i ♥ faces - week 26 - "Pets Only"

What a fitting theme for me!  You see, until Noah came along, I spent excessive amounts of time photographing my dog, Macie and my parents dog, Tucker.  Macie is a Vizsla and just the prettiest thing you've ever seen.  Tucker is a schnauzer and quite the handful! 

Anywho - this week at i ♥ faces we're concentrating on "Pets".  Of all the pics I have of these two, I like this one of Tucker the best.  ( i so wish we could do more than one but alas we cant).  I like this one because it was the day we met him and my parents just happened to have a Tom Tucker Ginger Ale bottle that we could play with (you see, Tucker's full name is Tom Tucker Ginger Ale as is the tradition in our family to name pet's after soda pop)

Head on over to i ♥ faces to see more cute pets!

Before and After - DC Monuments

I liked doing the before and after earlier so I thought I'd do a few more.  I took this one last year as we were walking back to the car after a volleyball tournament right along the Potomac.  The first shot is pretty in its own right - the reflection on the water and the nice blue twilight.

But, after a little messing around (vignetting, color and hue adjustments) it takes on another dramatic feeling.

This one was taken earlier that day at the Korean Memorial.  Someone had tide this bandana to the chains around the memorial - on it was printed the Soldiers Creed.  The original image was okay.  Kinda of ordinary and flat.

With some highlighting and vignetting (although I'm not a total fan of heavy vignetting, this seemed to fit) the bandana pops and you're drawn in to read what it says.

Time to go dig up more!

Before and After - Linville Falls

In 2008 we took a trip to Asheville NC for a weekend get away. One of the places we stopped was Linville Falls which is off the Blue Ridge Parkway around mile 316.  We took a ton of pics while we were there but after off loading them at home I wasn't super impressed with any of them.  The day was super overcast so everything had a really cool hue.

Fast forward two years to yesterday when DH was browsing thru old pics and ran across this one.  He dropped it into Lightroom to see what he could do with it.  After he was done he called me over - I honestly could not remember taking the picture.  That was, until she showed me the original and the memory came flooding back.  The difference in the image was night and day!

The Original - kind of cool and flat

The edit - saturation and exposure adjusted

The edits were subtle but just enough to warm up the picture and bring out the colors.  It's no longer flat to me.  I need to try this more often - find an old picture that was unimpressive at first and see if I can turn it around!!

Welcome to earth little dude...

I was going back thru photos looking for one for the i♥faces photo challenge this week ("Babies" for those interested) and I came upon the photos that DH took minutes and hours after our little one was born.  There's alot of emotion in this pics for me and they make me cry every time I look at them.  The original shots were in color and were actually quite a bit off color because of the lighting in the hospital room.  So, I converted them to black and white.  I think it removes the distractions and allows you to focus on the action in the photo.

This one was just after DH told me to look over to see our little man.  The delivery was difficult so they wisked him over to the warmer to get him cleaned up while the doc fixed me up.  I had to look across the room.  I think that face is the release of just about every emotion imaginable.

One of our little one's first pics.  He was wide eyed and looking around from the second he was born (and still is - he's quite the inquisitive little monkey).

A moment alone, just me and little one.  We were getting ready to be transferred to our postpartum room.  Again, he was a super alert baby (the doc's report said he looked "shell shocked" after birth).

Later that evening right after we named him (yes, it took us a few hours to name him).

Literally just a few hours old he was taking in everything around him.

Welcome to earth little dude...