You can purchase both of the new Christmas Overlay sets “HERE” The 35% new release sale price will apply to both of these sets:

Very Merry 9 shapes: Regularly 30.00 will  be 35% off at 19.50

Very Merrier 12 shapes: Regularly 39.00 will be 35% off at 25.00

I am so thankful that I took these photos for Kerri and Brent! Anniversary photos are a great way to continue to celebrate and document your relationship. Congrats to you both! Here’s to another TEN YEARS…

So, I have some fun news to share! I am now part of the Vol. 25 Design Team with nine other amazing photographers and designers. Vol. 25 produces “eyecandy” overlays for photographers and scrapbookers to use in their work. Jessica is the voice and inspiration behind Vol. 25. We will be working Jessica’s overlay designs into our photographs for creative input. The overlays are a fun way to add a little more personality to your photos. I’ve already been inspired by the team and the overlays. There are so many things you can do with the overlays and there’s a variety of sets. The overlays are shapes that you import into Photoshop or Elements and then you can play around the color, size and layer effects. They are SUPER EASY to use. Jessica describes the overlays like this : “eye candy overlays” are a little something extra you can add to your photographs… I kind of think of them as the icing on the cake. :) They take a really great photograph and add a personal unique touch. There are several different sets available… one for each and every occasion… and the collection is still growing. Because these are vector based custom shapes, you will be able to change they’re color and manipulate (stretch) the shapes to fit various situations without loss of quality. Here are a few examples…

So I’ll be showcasing some of my work with the overlays. The first is the “Ahoy!” set. This overlay set is available for purchase at $30/ set BUT it is on sale for $19.50 until THIS FRIDAY!! Check it out! Again, it’s a FUN way to add a little bling to your photos. Of course I was inspired to use my boys with this overlay set. So we set out to the pool to capture some shots. AND when we got there, it started to rain! This didn’t stop them from getting into the pool and  swimming the rain. After about 20 minutes, it started thundering and lighting, so we headed home. Since they were already wet, I just let them play in the rain and continued to capture more shots of my little pirates! And thankfully my husband came out to hold the umbrella over my camera. It was an unexpected shoot, but it worked great with this overlay set. Make sure to check out the site for additional ideas – it doesn’t just have to be use solely on little pirates.

Here are the actual overlays in the set:

And here’s my official  Design Team photo :

I’ve asked creative gal & stylist  Kayla  Penzien, to guest write a new feature on the site: “Trendy Tuesdays.”  Kayla will be sharing style & creative insight as it may relate in preparing for your photo session, but also to life in general. She has been my art friend for a number of years; in addition to assisting me during shoots, she also helps to plan session concepts and wardrobe consulting. So come back for regular features from Kayla! Today’s post is about finding fashion in personal treasures:

I love finding little treasures; shiny buttons, shells, bottle caps, mix-matched jewelry pieces, thing-a-ma-gigs.  And even better … Love the adventure of finding a new home for a my little treasure.

Amelia gave me a little box of all these little treasures.  My eye was immediately drawn to this awesome old round white piece. I think that it was the base to a wall attachment (well, that is what my mom thinks).  I loved the character of it, the delicate pattern, the chipping paint, the rich brass color.  I felt like it had a story behind it. I wanted to showcase it and felt it would be an interesting accessory.  I have a beautiful gold chain from my great grandma that I added it too.  Now I have a new necklace, a new look and it goes with everything! Keep your eyes open for shiny little treasures that can add a fashion statement. Or sort through your jewelry case or drawers for treasures that need a new life. They are all around you. Pieces like this make a fun accessory for a photo shoot because it adds a subtle hint of interest. We featured this piece in Ericha’s college senior portraits. I layered dark colors behind the necklace to draw a little attention to the piece. We casually begun building on the circle theme: the sequence tank top, bracelets and circle gems on the ring. Amelia position Ericha in front of the dandelions to mimic the motif.

The other necklaces are from the GAP … for $5.00.  Who knew that GAP has cool jewelry?  I would not have paid $20.00 for a brass beaded necklace, but for $5.00 – any of us can do that. And a shopping tip:  keep your eye open for great deals, cheap deals. Always keep a list of your top 3 needs in the back of your mind so you can be on the look out! Amelia found this white piece feature here at the TN State Fairgrounds Flea Market. We LOVE to hunt for treasures at the flea market!

(Kayla’s Photo above was taken by Kerri Crutchfield. Thank you Kerri!)

Here are a few of my photos from the workshop. But although I manually set the ISO, F-stop & Shutter and clicked my camera, these shots were a group effort and of course achieved with the direction of our instructors (which also included David and Tammy Molnar). I did have the opportunity to set up these first photos (above). I loved the natural light on her hair, so we had her step out of the shadow (from the hill) so the light fell naturally around her from behind. Then we supplemented the strobe (bottom edge of the soft box at chin height) at 70% (3:1 ratio) in front. You can see that the light “painted” her beautifully! And at this ratio, we got a nice rich sky and background. And you know I LOVE the sun flare!

I took these set of photos on AV with complete natural light to see the difference:

This set of photo compares natural light with natural light supplemented with one strobe.

I used the fun fish eye (15mm) for this extreme shot! Yep, these are abandoned construction tractors. Super cool!

These photos compare strobe light position Glamor vs. Board and composition Tight vs. Wide (again with the fish-eye).

And here’s a shot of us all working with the three set ups and models. I really enjoyed my experience and definitely learned a lot – but as always when I’m with a group of photographers, I am equally encouraged & challenged by them. It was fun to get to know new photographers and be inspired by their talent.

#ONE: Change Your Angle

Kids are small and all the activity of the Egg Hunt is down on the ground! So get down on their level. Standing to capture a photo is the fastest and easiest position to shoot, but your photos will be more dynamic if your camera is on ground level. You can also capture their facial expressions at this angle. Now this means you’ll need to be laying on the ground or in some weird Yoga Pose (yes in your Easter clothes!). Or you can squat and just place the camera on the ground. Since the kids will most likely be running around, you’ll need to be quick on your feet (or rolling around), anticipate the action and take lots of photos. And stay close to your kids. Snap a few photos of the whole environment (the backyard with all the kids running around or the Easter meal table), but then keep it simple and focus on one person or one moment of action. Also, take a few simple shots of just the Easter basket, their new Bible or special Easter decoration.

Here is an example of shooting on the ground (so you can see the facial expression )vs. shooting in standing position. Since Micah is looking down to find eggs, I had to get under him to get the expressions. In the second photo set, the camera is at ground level. And in the third set, I am standing in the first one and then knelt down for the second shoot.

#TWO: Step Away From The Background

We love to get the colorful flowers in photos. Position your subject about 5-10 feet from the background. When the subject is directly in front of the background, the photo has no dimension and the subject tends to get “lost” in the background. So have them move forward, but still keep those pretty yellow forsythias as part of the photo composition. Here you can see how the composition of the photo changes as the subject steps away from the background:

#THREE: Find Some Shade

Most likely you’ll be taking photos of the kids dressed in their Easter Outfits before Church in the morning. At this time of the day, if it’s sunny, the light will be pretty harsh creating high contrast shadows. To eliminate this, take your crew under a tree or in the shade of the house. I prefer a tree because then you can still get a little “back light glow.” But don’t get too much bright light in the background because it will make your subjects too dark. If you have the opportunity to choose the time of day to take the photos, late afternoon is the best time (about an hour before sunset). The sun is low on the horizon and it’s very warm. These photos below are taken at 9:00 am. You can see on the left the light is very harsh in direct sunlight. Then I moved Elliot to the shade where the light is more flattering (although I couldn’t get a good smile out of him):

Now, if you want to bend this “Find-Some- Shade-guideline” a little and you are a bit more advanced, try shooting with the sun directly behind the subject. Since the light coming from behind will overpower your subject (creating a silhouette), you’ll need to overexpose to make your subject brighter. (I’ll do a technical post on this technique later this month.) Depending on the time of day, the sun will be in a different position in the sky, so find the sun and try to position yourself so the subject is in between you and the sun. You’ll most likely need to get down on ground level and shoot up. It’s fun too to try to position the sun right on the edge of the subject to get a little sun flare (see below).

#FOUR: Take Lots of Photos

You only need a handful of great photos to document your day, however you need to take ten times that to actually get THE PERFECT PIX. Since we live in the digital age – shoot away! Because kids are so unpredictable, you never know when you’ll capture that facial expression or a sweet smile. So take lots of photos and give yourself permission to delete the bad ones.

Did you have a favorite photo tip? Please share yours in the comment suggestion below! Enjoy your Easter Weekend. I praise God for His sacrifice so that we can have an eternal relationship with Him. I pray that we all will enjoy the Easter Celebration in a fresh and powerful new way this year.

HAPPY FOUR YEARS to Tristan! Micah & I met Tristan and her mom at Music With Mommie class when our oldests were a little over one. I have been taking Tristan’s photos since she was 18 months. I remember the cute gray dress Tristan was wearing at her first photo session. She really is a doll: big blue eyes, curly blonde hair. And now she has an equally adorable brother. I get to photograph Tristan every year for her birthday portraits. It’s such a privilege to watch children grow over the years of taking their photos. I  don’t take this responsibility lightly. Capturing a child’s precious smile or siblings kissing (or wrestling) or a child dancing about are treasures to parents. I know in our busy schedules, it takes time for moms to schedule & plan a professional photo session (AND THEN PICK their favorite photos takes even longer!) I just finished up my own personal family “yearbook” and believe me, I know it’s a chore to choose fav photos of our kids!

For the photo session, we ventured out to the Park at Harlinsdale Farm in Franklin, TN. And even though spring was right around the corner, winter was still blowing through! But Tristan and Drew did not complain one bit although Tristan was even shivering a little. Wow… Tristan is literally the easiest child I have ever photographed. Like I said, she is a doll. When she was younger, we could literally pose her and she would not move. Now that she’s FOUR, she can follow directions appropriately and give us a precious smile. Happy Birthday Tristan! I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you.

The Accordion Mini Book are 3×3″, beautifully hard-bound custom photo cover books; double sided, 6-panel, printed on thick quality craftsman pearl or linen paper. They are durable and easy to carry around to show off your beautiful photos and make great gifts! These precious keepsake Accordion Mini Books are $35 each ($25 when you order 2 or more).

So Kayla & I met with Noelle and we brainstormed ideas: from urban alleys to using dry ice! Noelle mentioned wanting to try a “Trash The Prom Dress” (high-style-type) session which immediately made me think of my own favorite HOT PINK Prom Dress that I wore my junior year in High School. So I called my mom and had her ship a box of full of my old homecoming/prom dresses. It was fun to go through them… and since the 80′s are back in, many of the dresses could work with some minor adjustments (like taking off the puffy sleeves – please puffy sleeves DON’T COME BACK IN STYLE!). But we decided to stick with the HOT PINK “Mermaid” dress (which didn’t need any alterations – AND it’s still hot!). Kayla contacted Jessica, our model, started working on imaging and secured a great location for us: The Marathon Village Studio. We gathered posing ideas, lighting equipment and props (a gold chair, an accordion, pink gloves, a mask, candles, feathers, and more) and met together to shoot, learn and laugh.

We had so much fun -  So if you (or someone you know) wants a creative {Prom, Wedding, Formal} Dress photo session, let me know – we are up for it!

It was a lot of fun collaborating together (Kerri Cruthfield also joined us).  I always learn so much hanging out with other photographers – from talking about gear, lighting and posing to watching them shoot. At the end of the day, we attempted a group photo and Mark rhetorically asked what we learned. I was overwhelmed at that moment as we had talked about metering, exposure adjustment, video lighting, off camera flashes, white balance, radio poppers, reflectors and more; but as I’ve sorted through the photos and processed our day, I’ll share what I learned along with some of the photos from the session:

{SET ABOVE} We shot Jessica in front of several of the large window in the studio space. Fortunately throughout the day the sun shifted from cloudy to coming right through the windows, so we got to try a lot of techniques. This first photo (on the left) was shot in front of a cloudy light window. I spot metered for her and didn’t use any light modification on her, so she came out a little unexposed at f/3.2, 1/640, ISO 320 with my 24-70mm. I adjusted the exposure in post and added some texture/ color for a little grunge look. We were also playing around with her arms in this one. I love the way her arm is gracefully placed on the brick. And those gloves rock! The photo on the right is shot on a bright white wall and Jessica is looking out to a large window. So this light is completely window light and it’s gorgeous!I did little exposure adjustment on my settings: f 4.5/ 1/125, +.33, ISO 1000, 24-70m, but I did have to warm it up and soften her skin in post.

In this second set of photos, the sun was coming through the window right behind Jessica, so we used a large silver reflector and I over exposed so she would not be a complete silhouette. She was still a little “flat” so I have to bring up the levels in post. And the photo on the right is another example of pure window light. Kayla tied in piece of pink fabric in her hair and braided it for some of the shots. I really want to try this with my hair .

Below here are two photos that I didn’t adjust in post so that you can see the difference between using and not using a flash . The photo on the left is spot metered, f/5.0 1/200, ISO 500,+.67 with my 85mm WITH on off-camera flash partially bounced off the ceiling, triggered with pocket wizards. The photo on the right is f/2.8 1/8000, ISO 400, lens 85mm with NO FLASH and NO reflector.

These are both taken with reflectors – the light is a little more dramatic than the flash and the reflector provides a nice glow. We were also playing around with poses and light coming through the fabric. Settings on the left: f/5, 1/125, ISO 250, +.67, 85mm lens (BTW, I LOVE my 85mm, 1.8 lens!) Settings on the right: f 4.0, 1/640, ISO 400, 24-70mm lens.

Jessica is learning to play the accordion, so we used it as a fun prop. Again, we used natural window light and I climbed up to get this shot from a different angle. I did use a flash on the camera. Photo on RIGHT: After a crash course from Mark on setting flashes manually on the camera body, understanding radio poppers & ratios, we set up this dark set.  The photo on the right is set up with three flashes & radio poppers: one on my camera, one Jessica’s face with a small portable soft box and one flash behind her on the wall. I only deepen the saturation in post. The exposure was perfect and beautiful! And I recently purchased radio poppers (next on the list are a few flashes, but that will be later this year).

The photo the left here was created with a video spot light. This the first time I’ve used a video light. I manually set the white balance, although I can’t remember which setting. The video light creates a really nice warm light. And since it’s continuous (as opposed to the strobe flashes), you can see how the light is going to affect your subject. The photos on the right are our “production shots” although I didn’t get that many – Sorry Kayla that you look mean in this top photo! And we attempted a timed group photo… but this was the best we could get of all of us.

AND DRUM ROLL… (I can’t believe I’m doing this) Here are the photos of ME in my favorite dress 20 years ago this spring. WOW.