Fuzzy Pictures

The End (but not really)

2009-02-26T17:41:00.000-08:00

Update your bookmark! Change your blogroll! Subscribe to a new RSS feed! Fuzzy Pictures is no more! Go to the new photoblog HERE!

Monterey Recap

2009-02-24T13:23:00.000-08:00

I never posted pictures from the actual aquarium...so I'm doing it now. :)

Job was being an octopus

Jerah was getting tired

this is what he was looking at

Check out that hair!

Here fishy fishy fishy!

2009-02-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we went to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery. It turned out to be a ton of fun and we actually killed a couple of hours! The boys had an absolute blast feeding the fish!

Oh, and I have a new favorite picture of Jerah!

Skin tones 101

2009-02-19T15:45:00.000-08:00

I posted this on my biz blog...might as well post it here too! hopefully the picture sizing wont be too wonky...if it is check the original post over here. I'm having a contest over there anyway (ends tomorrow) so might as well go check that out while you are there. Tell your friend!

I've been getting a lot of requests from photographer buddies on how I process skin tones. I wrote a tutorial a while back but unfortunately its been lost. So, I'm wrote another and decided to post it here instead. Now everyone will get a peek inside my editing workflow. :)
Here is a picture SOOC (straight out of the camera)

On the surface it seems ok...but if you look closely you can see it looks slightly cool, meaning a bit too blue. So how do I fix this? The technique I like is sort of a color by numbers approach. Using CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, key) values I look at their ratios and go from there. Generally speaking, Y should be within the 10 point range above M, and C should be about 1/4 to 1/3 the value of Y. Using curves I look at different points on the skin and add or subtract Red, Green, or Blue based on what the CMYK values read. If there is too much Cyan, I add red. If I need more, I subtract red. If there is too much magental I add green...if there isn't enough I'll subtract green. If there is too much yellow I add blue...if there is not enough yellow (I'm sure you can guess) I take away some blue. Confused yet? Lets walk through the image above.

Using my color sampler tool set to 5x5 average I picked a patch of skin on Job's cheek. If you look at the info box to the right you can see that the CMYK values are 10%, 41%, and 26% (don't worry about a value for K). Remember, we want that Y value to be with in 10 points above the M value. Looks like there is not enough yellow to this image (hence why it looks so "cool") so we need to take out some of that blue.

Next open a curves layer, change it to the blue channel and ctrl click on a patch of skin. Using only the arrow keys on your keyboard, hit the down arrow a few times while using your mouse to hover over patches of skin while watching your CMYK values, adjust the blue channel until Y is within 10 points above M. As you can see there the picture looks a bit better but there is still a bit too much Cyan.

To counter act the abundance of cyan we need to add red. Switch to the red channel, ctrl click on another patch of skin, and while using the up arrow on your keyboard add that red until the values are where you like them. The magenta value looks fine to me so I am done! A few more tweaks (contrast, vingette, sharpen) and here is my final edit:

Here are a few more things to keep in mind...the CMYK values will vary on different parts of the skin. Don't stick to just one area...move the color sampler around and get an overall feel for what your curves adjustments are doing. Don't rely just on the numbers...look at the picture as well. If the numbers say one thing but you just obviously added way too much yellow then halt! Keep in mind that shadow areas have more cyan than highlights. Ethnically speaking, there are a few things to be aware of as well. Generally speaking Asian skin has a bit more yellow than Caucasian skin color...and African American skin have more cyan and magenta. Again, use the number system as a guide but also look at the picture as a whole and see what your changes are doing.
Here is a side by side comparison. Let me know if you have any questions! I hope I made this clear. :)

mustard

2009-02-14T14:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Nicki called about our scheduled playdate. She suggested heading up to St. Helena to check out all the pretty yellow mustard that grows between the grapes at the vineyards. Of course I jumped at the chance!

1...2...3!!!

2009-02-10T12:58:00.000-08:00

Thats right! Today is the big day...my babies are three!! Instead of having a party this year we went to Monterey with their best friend Shawn. We figured its probably that last time we can get away with not doing anything big. :)

Something fun for their official three year pictures.

Film

2009-02-06T16:05:00.000-08:00

I told myself that if I can shoot film, then I really am a photographer. I mean, its easy to get lucky shots shooting digital because you can just fire away and not worry about using up costly film. You have to plan your shots more with film. Anyway, I finally got my first roll back that I started shooting over a year ago. I'm surprised that many turned out, and even better, the more recent ones aren't half bad! It shows that I really have grown this past year as a photographer!

This one is from when I first got the camera. Most of the ones from this day were out of focus or had funky exposure.

These ones are from our bike ride to davis a while back.

San Francisco from Twin Peaks

SF zoo

2009-02-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

Just a few from our outing to the zoo.

Jerah really liked the baby turtles

One for mom

Job pretending to be a prairie dog

and of course, animals

Go see Cari

2009-02-01T18:41:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back I met up with a bunch of other photographer's in Old Sac. I told you about it...remember? Anyway, the fab Cari posted some pics on her blog. Check it!

1 lil monkey

2009-01-26T09:57:00.000-08:00

I was practicing with my flash again last night while Jerah jumped on the bed. That boy refuses to wear clothes.

This one just cracked me up

Rain Rain

2009-01-25T21:42:00.001-08:00

Hope you are all staying dry!

Old Sac

2009-01-20T21:47:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I had another photographer meet up...this time in Old Sacramento. I won't bore you with pictures of other kids. Here is the cuteness that is Jerah and Job.

jump jump!

2009-01-20T10:01:00.000-08:00

We had way too much fun with this!

2009-01-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

This weekend we went wine tasting with Bev and James. I took a ton of pics but only had time tonight to edit a few.

Yeah, even I got in front of the camera

Bev striking a pose

tubbin'

2009-01-16T09:42:00.000-08:00

flashed

2009-01-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

This morning I was practicing with my new flash. I've been using my father in law's for some time now and figured I should probably give it back. Can't be a real photographer if I don't have the proper equipment! Anyway, Job modeled a bit for me. Ok, maybe thats not accurate. He sat still and looked at me once. Oh and for you camera nerds out there...its the 580exII.

Saved!

2009-01-07T13:49:00.000-08:00

Its best to get pictures right in camera...however everyone flubs sometimes. I just wanted to share an edit I am quite proud up. Over the weekend we went to the city to visit our friends Josh and Deema before she popped. I was having a hard time with the crap lighting getting both Deema and the cityscape both properly exposed...so I cheated!

Don't flush!

2009-01-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

No big pictures today. I was too lazy to resize (or even watermark) so I let flickr do its automatic resizing it does...which means small images. Get over it. :)

A few days ago Job was going potty ("I have a bigger poopoo!"). I was getting ready to leave the house so I left him in there alone with his brother. I returned a few minutes later to this:

An entire roll of toilet paper into the lou. Thanks guys! That was fun to fish out.

I never did post pictures from my birthday nearly 3 weeks ago. Thanks for all the birthday wishes to those who gave them that I failed to respond to. Anyway, we went to a Moroccan food place with yummy eats and belly dancing.

We ordered Moroccan wine

Watched some sword dancing

Ate with our fingers from a huge communal tray

And basically just hung out.

Oh and I know I've been directing your over there a lot lately but I have my 2nd annual best of contest going on over at the biz blog. Check it out! 248 votes and counting already.

Happy New Years!!

2009-01-02T08:53:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone had a fun and safe evening. The husband and I spent the evening partying it up in Reno. On the way down the hill we met up with Erik and Kristi for Colton's one year pictures. We went back to my father in law's tree farm to take advantage of the snow.

Oh and hey look..bigger pictures.

2008-12-30T09:44:00.000-08:00

Big post today! First for Dallas though is the outcome of the Baby Puppy drama. Jerah was thrilled to find Baby Puppy 2.0 (aka bp2) in his stocking. "Its my Baby Puppy!". Job, however, was quick to point out "Thats not Baby Puppy!" Jerah hugged and kissed BP2 for about twenty minutes, and then unceremoniously discarded him to the floor. I picked up BP2 and asked who it was.

JT: Thats my Ba....thats a dog!
Me: Is this Baby Puppy?
JT: Thats not my Baby Puppy.
Me: Well where is your Baby Puppy?
JT: I lost him.

So there you go. Rejected! I tried to toss the dog outside to get him disgusting like BP1 was (Jerah left him out in the sprinklers numerous times) but Job pitched a fit. The funny thing is, if you ask Jerah what Santa brought him for Christmas he'll proclaim "My Baby Puppy!"

Enough chatting...time for some pictures!!

Jobie gave me a cheesy smile! Yay for cooperation!

The cuteness that is cousin Anne.

Yesterday I headed to Folsom to meet up with Shannon and photographer friend Shay. Unfortunately we didn't realize that the old Powerhouse would be closed...but still has some fun in the areas we were allowed.

Isn't he the cutest?

cookies!

2008-12-23T12:23:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Isabella and Anderson came over to bake cookies. The boys have helped me cook here and there before but nothing on this scale. It was a huge mess but they had a lot of fun.

They thought it was hilarious to drive the train through the "snow"

Job loved eating the dough

yum!

Oh and got check out my biz blog. I am always a sucker for shamless self promotion and finding ways to get people to check me out. This time I'm doing a can food drive of sorts. :)

Where is he?!?

2008-12-18T09:36:00.000-08:00

Saturday we went to the park for some outdoor fun. Jerah insisted on bringing his beloved "baby puppy". Who is Baby Puppy? He is this little stuffed cocker spaniel whose belly is filled with some sort of gel type substance. Very weird. He carrieds it around with him everywhere though. I'm sure you can all guess what happened next...

While Jerah was swinging on the swings

And being all round cute

Mr. Man set that puppy down, never to be seen again. Job told me that he put him on the slide. We searched everywhere and even went back 2 days later. However this is a very popular park in Sacramento with a ton of kids, so poor Baby Puppy was long gone. Ever since Jerah was been asking "where my Baby Puppy go? Where is he?" breaks my heart. After scouring the internets however I finally found him! Baby Puppy 2.0 should be here in time for Christmas! Yay!

Brrrr!

2008-12-15T10:46:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we headed up to Aaron's dad's Christmas tree farm. Its totally gorgeous up there in when its snowing and so many locations for awesome photo back drops if I had children who cooperated, lol.

Some fun editing

Job loved it

Jerah did not.

our tree!

Heads cut off

2008-12-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

Don't worry, I haven't abandoned you! 'Tis the season, so I've been way too busy to blog. Don't believe me? Look here!

Last Friday we met up with "best friend Shawn" for a romp in the park. Jerah thought it was hilarious to pull his shirt over his head and run around like a headless chicken.

Shawn got in the action too.

1 year old

2008-12-03T09:15:00.000-08:00

I did a few pics of Maddy on Sunday. Such a cutie.

Happy Party!

2008-11-29T21:25:00.001-08:00

Today was Madeline's birthday party (or as Job likes to say...happy party). We ate way too many cookies, finger sandwiches, and deviled eggs but had a good time.

Megan (Maddy's mommy) is one of three sisters...so I think all the squealing was a bit overwhelming for Aaron.

Jerah had fun wearing Uncle Kris' fireman's hat.

Yesterday we spent some time at the Nut Tree...The rides are way over priced but at least the rocking horses are free.

The elusive Aaron!

2008-11-28T10:07:00.000-08:00

Captured by the camera!

gobble gobble

2008-11-27T19:56:00.000-08:00

Oldie

2008-11-24T14:49:00.000-08:00

I forgot about this one. Taken about 6 months ago while I was watching Maddy.

Shag

2008-11-20T09:08:00.000-08:00

Remember when I went to SF and met up with those other photographers...doya doya? One of them came over with her wife a few weeks back for a photoshop lesson. I totally forgot that they brought over a few pictures of the boys. So...these are taken by Robin (no website yet or I'd link her) and edited by me. They aren't the greatest edits either...argh! :)

Burritos

2008-11-19T11:29:00.000-08:00

One of our favorite things to do is to meet up with Stephanie and Shawn to walk the length of the UCD Arboretum and have lunch outside at Chipotle. There is an alleyway behind the restaurant with more shops and all three boys love to play at this gate.

funny things

2008-11-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

I like listening to all the funny things the boys have been saying lately. Job, for instance, was walking around yesterday saying "I have 16 minutes." Where that came from I have no clue. Last night an advertisement for Wall-E came on and Jerah started saying "Watch Wall-E on blu ray!" much to Aaron's delight (he has been asking for a player for quite a while). It also amazes me how perceptive they are. I was sitting next to Job feeling a little down when suddenly he grabbed my face between his hands and said "Mommy very sad." Darn near broke my heart (hey isn't that from Happy Feet?). Anyway, it ended up being a good day with Aaron taking off a bit early, finally getting a nap in, and a fun trip to the park.

Best buds

2008-11-12T00:57:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we met Shawn for his 3 year pictures. Shawn's daddy watched the boys while we did pictures, and then met up with us afterwards for the some good ol fashion rough housing.

Hey Job, where is the camera?

Oh and hey, check out my other blog! I updated to a spiffy new theme, and have more of Shawn pictures over there.

Arrr!!

2008-11-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! We only planned on taking the boys to a few houses last night but the boys had so much fun that we ended up doing some for reals trick or treating. It was a blast!

Lately Job has decided that sleep is for the weak and is refusing to take naps...so what happens by the time 5 'o clock rolls around? This:

Hair

2008-10-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

My cousin Deanna is going to start looking around for jobs as a hair stylist. We traded hair cuts for portfolio pics yesterday.

Here is her Dad, Tony. I should get into corporate headshots

Mom Margie

And finally Dee. She didn't cut her own hair herself, but needs a pictures to go along with her portfolio.

ETA: View more photos here

2008-10-27T23:16:00.000-07:00

Hey look who I saw today! Dogs, a newborn, and an although 3 year old...yikes! ;)

More Fern Canyon

2008-10-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

Just a few more from our trip last week. Aaron was looking through them and got me inspired to edit a few more.

Elk!

Its a rare occasion to get both babes in the same picture

I'm not a landscape photographer by any means, but here is an idea what the canyon looks like

Bowling!

2008-10-18T22:21:00.000-07:00

We had a fun playdate yesterday with Keaton, Gracie, and Jake. What did we do? Bowling!

The arcade was a cave so I had to flip it to auto so I wouldn't miss this...we are going to have to watch out for these two when they are older!

Up the coast

2008-10-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

Aaron has the week off so we took a mini road trip up north to see the redwoods. On our way to Fern Canyon we stopped off at a beach. The fog cover and overcast sky made for perfect lighting conditions.

We traveled on to Fern Canyon for a nice hike. For those that don't know, Fern Canyon is absolutely gorgeous. We walked down the middle with 20' high walls completely covered in ferns. I guess parts of The Lost World was filmed here.

I don't know what it is about this picture...something seems off to me and I don't like it as much as when I first saw it. But you get the idea of the sides of the canyon.

The boys were excited to see a banana slug along the way.

Runnin' around

2008-10-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

I have a very busy weekend. Yesterday we met up Sharaun, Dave, and Keaton (as well as Melissa briefly), for a fun yet crowded afternoon at Apple Hill.

Lock up your daughters, lol

Mr. Colton joined up later that evening

Today the boys and I headed to San Francisco to meet with some other photographers and a gaggle of models for a group shoot.

It is probably some of my best work yet. I don't now what it is about SF...whenever I go there my photography improves tenfold. You can check out others from the day here.

Hey Bill and Susie!

2008-10-05T23:53:00.000-07:00

Go here!

I'm in <3

2008-10-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we met Keaton at the park for a fun playdate.

We made it back home with five minutes to spare before the fedex man came with a big giant lens for me to play with! I am a member of canon's professional services which includes free perks such as equipment loans. Unfortunately they decided to start charging next year so better use it while I can! Anyway, they loaned me a bad boy similar to this for a wedding I am shooting tomorrow. Let me tell ya...I am in love! It is so sharp! I really need to invest in some L glass (that is their professional line). <3

I know I know!

2008-09-26T09:15:00.000-07:00

I've been getting blog complaints lately for lack of posts. I know I know! We have been getting our house in order to put on the market and I got swamped with client edits. I'll try to take the boys out and get some pictures today. There will be something by Wednesday for sure when the boys have a playdate with Keaton.

So I figured since Shannon had her bouncy bundle of joy I should probably finish editing her maternity pictures I did months ago. And, since many of my readers either know Shannon or know her husband, I'll post a few more pictures from that. They are actually Katie pictures from when we went to the park afterwards.

I hit the kitty

2008-09-14T00:09:00.000-07:00

I took the boys to their cousin Samantha's 1st birthday party today. They had so much fun hitting the pinata that after all the candy was gone and everyone was eating cake, Jerah hung back to finish the job. While he was beating poor Hello Kitty in the head I convinced him to walk away explaining that he can hit the kitty another time. So, for the rest of the day Jerah would announce "I hit the kitty 'nother time!" Nice.

Madeline was there

And of course the lovely birthday girl

stuff

2008-09-08T14:38:00.000-07:00

The boys had a playdate friday with Jake and Keaton.

I really need to get away from headshots. I do too many and need to work on getting the environment in as well. Oh well.

Jake wore his hat so low he could barely see out from under it.

I think its time guys...Job is constantly shaking his head to get his hair out of his eyes. And although its darling...its time for a trim!

Sorry a bit scattered today. Till next time.

Cooperation

2008-09-02T08:59:00.000-07:00

Thats what I got!

On a side note, welcome to the world baby Matlin! I can't wait to meet you!

To affinity...an on!

2008-08-30T15:35:00.001-07:00

The boys are completely obsessed with Toy Story at the moment. Poor grandma has to watch it twice a week when they visit. Last weekend when I was working my display booth at JBF I picked up a Buzz Lightyear toy for only $3. When I brought it home Jerah freaked out. He has pretty much declared it his and will begrudgingly let Job play with it every so often.

A few times a week we'll go out to the backyard to swim in the hot tub. Jerah likes to jump from the step going down into the tub, into the deeper middle area. Recently he has dubbed himself Space Ranger Jerah (and occasionally Space Ranger Boy), and will shout "To affinity...an on!!" right before taking a flying leap. Too cute.

before and after

2008-08-28T22:20:00.000-07:00

So we all know I like to share (show off, brag, whatevs) edits that I am particularly proud of. well here is another for ya!

The SOOC version is horrid. Something I would never show the client. The lighting was bad, the background was gross. It was really just a test shot to find out which angle to shoot from. However, this happened to be one of the few where the dad didn't look absolutely disgusted to be there. I guess months back they hired a photographer who lost all the images and it upset set him pretty bad. So I decided to work my magic:

SOOC

Edited

I adjusted the exposure, evened out the lighting, converted to black and white to hide the color issues, and did some creative cloning and blurring to the background. While it still isn't the greatest image, I now have no reservations about showing it to my client. :)

Filler

2008-08-28T09:08:00.001-07:00

Yup, thats all this is. Here are a few more from Bev's wedding.

Aren't they cute?

Mountain Man Pat...he will ax you.

Who is that strange lady?

2008-08-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

Bev's mom emailed these to me and said I can put them up on the ol blog. I don't have very many pictures with me in them (for obvious reasons). See here ya go.

Don't mind the food in my teeth. Why don't people ever tell me when I have big chunks of food stuck there?!?

OH geeze this one is lovely. I can't tell you how many glasses of champange this was after.

Mr & Mrs

2008-08-17T15:52:00.000-07:00

Beverly got married! And we thought this day would never come ;) Congrats guys!

One for the resume

2008-08-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

Megan Wilkinson: Award winning photographer. Oops, getting ahead of myself here! I entered a few photos in the yolo county fair. Because the majority of my income comes from photography I wasn't allowed to enter as a beginner or intermediate photographer. I was nervous entering the advanced class because I often times still feel so new and unexperienced. However I am happy to say that I am walking away with a 3rd in color portraits and an unexpected 1st in black and white portraits. Yay!! I hope to try for the State Fair next year...I just need to get my butt in gear for the deadline. Anyway, if anyone is in Woodland this weekend go check out my entries! :)

taking control

2008-08-12T20:54:00.000-07:00

We seem to constantly have computer problems, although things seem to be on the up and up. Here are a bunch of pictures from our playdate(s) on friday. In no particular order:

His hair is starting to take control

Fields of Green

2008-08-05T00:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, well actually 2 days ago I guess, we went to my grandparents' place for my grandfather's birthday. I've been itching to take pictures in their alfalfa field for a while now.

Now I'm itching to take advantage of some of the sunflower fields around here. Now if only there are any cute little blond hair girls out there (hint hint)...

gone

2008-08-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

I was 13 and you were...way too old...but I had a crush on you since then. You were funny. You were charismatic. You drank like a fish. You peppered every compliment with an insult. You were the life of the party. You were the best make out session I ever had. You will be missed Josh.

Swingers

2008-08-01T00:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we met up with Jenya over at Lake Merritt in Oakland. We intended on walking the lake, but got sidetracked by the sudden yelling of "paygroun! Paygroun!" coming from the stroller. So we went on the swings instead.

Spotty

2008-07-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

Hey! I thought I'd whip up a photoshop tutorial for ya'lls. The worse type of lighting to photograph people in, right up there with full sun, is dappled light.

If you expose for where the light breaks through the trees you'll get underexposed areas

If you expose for the areas that are shadowed you'll get blowouts.

So what do you do?
1) lift the shadows with fill flash
2) bounce light from a reflector
3) photoshop it!

Normally for one of my sessions I'll avoid this type of lighting or use option #2. Its best to get things right in camera after all...However when I'm out camping and taking snaps the last thing I want to do is carry around cumbersome equipment. I despise on camera flash to option #1 is out of the question, and I'm not about to bust out with my speedlite while we are sitting around the camp fire. So lets get photoshopping!

Open your picture (duh). Here I used the one with some underexposure. When you get blowouts like the image above you lose data in those areas...they become big white blobs and when you send you image to your lab or home printer nothing will print there. On your channels palette while holding [ctrl] click on RGB. All of the bright areas of the picture will be selected.

Hit ctrl+shift+i to inverse this selection (also found under select>inverse). Now all the dark areas are selected. Make a new layer using this selection (ctrl+j) and set it to screen.

Adjust the opacity of this layer as necessary and then carry on with your normal photo processing (if you do any).

Here is my final image:

Its about time!

2008-07-17T22:42:00.000-07:00

Going potty is tough

2008-07-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

I went to check on the boys the other night before I went to bed. They have a tendency of getting up and playing or walking around the room and then passing out in various spots. This is what I was greeted with the other night:

I forgot that Job dragged his potty chair in there. He took off his diaper, peed, dumped the bucket of pee into the base of the chair, sat back down, fell sleep, and peed again (this time all over the place). Fun!

On a side note, see how messy their room is? I need to find a way to lock their closet. They empty out their dresser every nap and bed time.

Thanks Susie...

2008-07-08T23:05:00.000-07:00

...for the referral!

cookin'

2008-07-07T23:54:00.000-07:00

The forecast called for 105* weather today. Tomorrow is supposed to be worse at 106* and 108* Wednesday. Needless to say we will be spending a lot of time indoors. We did make a quick trip to the park this morning before it got too bad.

I was playing with some funky processing on these.

I thought it was interesting that I caught two nearly identical pictures.

Burned

2008-07-05T10:43:00.000-07:00

The day started well enough. I awoke to "pee potty!" being called from the boys room. After a sucessful sit it was time for some breakfast. Thats when things turned. I dumped sticky freshoffthestove oatmeal down my arm. Ouch! Jerah wanted to see a killer whale so we headed off to marine world. And although I remembered to apply sunscreen to the boys; I neglected my back that was clothed in a top that was cut too low...double ouch! We came home and Aaron started dinner, spattering his arm in hot oil. We should have taken these events as a warning but alas did not. We went out to light off fireworks and decided to let the boys try their hand at sparklers. We schooled them on where to hold it and where not to touch. They did really well until Jerah was taking his burnt out stick to the bucket of water and decided to touch the end before I could stop him. After that he wanted nothing to do with sparklers and even the big fireworks in the sky were proclaimed too hot. In the end we still had a lot of fun, the house didn't burn down, and we had another sucessful "pee potty" before bed.

Budder-fly

2008-06-25T22:40:00.000-07:00

Ride rides!

2008-06-24T23:37:00.001-07:00

As promised! Taking a cue from Shannon we decided to go to Six Flags (Discovery Kingdom, Marine World...whatever they are calling it these days) on monday. Every since Disneyland we hear nothing but "pirates!" "Ride rides!" "Pooh ride!" so we decided to take advantage of our nearby amusement park. The boys had a BLAST! We are actually going again tomorrow since the husband is on vacation.

Taking dad for a spin

They actually got kicked off this ride. Jerah, although enjoyed it, let out the occasional whine because I wasn't nearby. The operator thought he was scared and promptly stopped the ride and removed him against our (and his) wishes. Job, who was clearly enjoying himself started to protest because the ride had stopped and Jerah was gone...so he got the boot as well.

Job loved the birds!

Canon pulls through!

2008-06-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

Mad props to canon on this one. My problems with my 30D has been well documented. I sent it in recently one last time last week before my warrenty ran out. After checking it over and reviewing its repair history they finally decided to replace it! I was expecting it to be replaced with the same model but nope! I'm getting a second 40D! Way to go canon! Thanks!

Other than that I've been keeping super busy. I have 3 sessions in the queue to be edited (with 2 more to be added to it by the end of the week) and did my first offical (read: real deal strangers) wedding! I've been signed on by a local wedding photographer who is getting too busy to keep up with business. She was looking to mentor someone who is looking to break into the biz. She gets to use me as her second shooter and I get to gain experience and build my wedding portfolio...plus I get paid!

I'll post some pictures of the boys hopefully tonight.

Don't quote me on that.

TtV

2008-06-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

Lets get artsy!

I'm waiting for some film to get here for one of my cameras...in the meantime I decided to put it to use anyway and try my hand at TtV. Wait, what is TtV you ask? It stands for through the viewerfinder. Basically it means I'm shooting with one camera through the viewerfinder of another camera. Wild right? In this case the camera I'm shooting with is my 40D and I'm shooting through the viewfinder of an Argus super 75. This is a medium format camera from the 50's...one of those ones you hold at your waist and look down through the viewfinder on the top. This was my first go at it so they aren't the best pics...but fun anyway! It was actually pretty tough!

flaming youth

2008-06-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

Gene Simmons claims to have been with a lot of women....Sharaun?!?

We all scream!

2008-06-15T20:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Bev's bridal shower. The big day is getting near!

Cynthia looked couture in her toilet paper dress!

Today we walked down to the local sandwich shop and got some ice cream. This was the first time we let the boys have their own cones.

Zucchs!

2008-06-12T00:33:00.000-07:00

I have never had any luck growing zucchinis. They start out GREAT but then slowly get eaten to death. This year there seems to be a noticable absence of snails and thus my zucchs have flourished. This is the first harvest of the season:

And let me tell you...it tasted divine!! Such a nice almost nutty flavor. On a whim I whipped up some fried zucchini sticks with the last remaining slices and about nearly died.

Pictures from Shannon

2008-06-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

Yay! Shannon posted some pics from our playdate last week! She gets way more eye contact than I do out of the boys! I still need to edit more but am swamped with client sessions that I keep neglecting. Anyway, go check them out here!

BFF

2008-06-09T22:32:00.000-07:00

Just a snap. Not a very good one and my color is way off...but Jerah looks so cute and Shawn was having a blast sliding down that hill!

First canvas!

2008-06-07T10:52:00.000-07:00

I had my first canvas sale! And although this snap does not do it justice it turned out gorgeous! Such a higher quality than my icky freebie canvas I got last year!

I told Alicia that she can't have it...I just don't want to let it go!

Another recommendation

2008-06-07T00:39:00.000-07:00

Here is another babe sent from Kristi and Erik. Thanks guys! You were right Kristi...she is such a cutie!

I can't forget the big sister!

Bun in the oven

2008-06-06T00:12:00.000-07:00

Shannon came over yesterday for a photo playdate. We get together whenever she is in town and go crazy taking pictures of all the kids. This time we started a bit more formal because Shannon wanted pictures of her soon to be growing brood.

And here is the obligatory twin shot.

And for those who are curious...I DID get my new camera and I LOVE it!! I already see a huge difference! The other is going back into canon tomorrow...hopefully to be replaced.

I've got nothin'

2008-06-03T21:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't taken very many pics of the boys lately...I've been so busy taking pictures for other people that I need to remember to do it for myself! Here are a few snaps though.

Tomorrow I meet with Shannon!! She is going to come over in the afternoon to play with my bees and do maternity pictures. Our photo playdates are always a treat. :)

Sorry guys!

2008-05-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

I've been busy!

two from the park

2008-05-27T21:43:00.000-07:00

My snotty boys :)

Buddies!

2008-05-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

I got to take pictures of Isabella and Anderson today. Anderson just turned one and Isabella will be turning three in a few days.

All that blond hair was hard to photograph!!

6 mos old!

2008-05-23T23:21:00.000-07:00

That's right! Maddy is 6 months old! I got to watch her today so I did her pictures...so far I've done them every 3 months and plan to continue until she is 1.

Boring photographer talk ahead.

With all the business I've been getting lately (I've been averaging a couple sessions a week, knock on wood!) its finally time to get a new camera. It is very important to have a back up camera as a photographer...if something goes wrong (and we all know the issues I've been having with my current camera) and I have no back up, I am SOL for my sessions. The 30D needs to go back to canon a 4th time (yeah thats right), and my warranty expires in a few weeks. I have no free time to send it back in with everything I have booked (including an adoption...something that can't be rescheduled!!). Buying a new camera is not something that I necessarily WANT to do but its definitely something that needs to happen. I have been trying to decide for sometime what to get. The 5D sounds awesome...full frame...awesome in the noise department...but the 40D has its benefits too...newer technology...more advanced focusing capabilities...and $1000 cheaper. Or do I wait for the 5D mark II to be released...a camera that will blow both these two out of the water but also cost over 3k...

I finally decided to get the 40D. And its not just because the cost is significantly less, although thats a plus. I haven't shot with a full frame camera before so I'm not really going to miss it. I REALLY don't want to spend a butt load of money for the new 5D...and I honestly think that the 40D is at the same level as the current 5D. I don't need to spend all that extra money just to have a full frame camera. And now I can save my pennies until I am REALLY successful and can afford the 1D mark III HA!

Sorry about that...I'm not normally so chatty! Have a good memorial day weekend everyone! I have 2 sessions and a trip in SF in store for us. Remember to give a hug to those who are serving our country!

And seriously?!? I didn't notice until now but the 1 year anniversary of this blog passed like 2 days ago! I can't believe I have stuck with it so long!!

SOOC

2008-05-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

I don't usually (like never) post pictures straight out of camera but Sharaun requested this. Every so often I like to challenge my photoshop skills...see how far I can push it and still make things look realistic. I don't normally edit this heavily. I mentioned on the drive up to the wedding friday how extensively I cleaned up Job's face on this image. Anyway, this is the original. You can see the edit here

firestarter!

2008-05-17T23:57:00.000-07:00

Lots o' pictures tonight!

We spent friday night at Lake Tahoe for a friend's wedding.

The best part was the fire dancers at the after party. Crazy!!

Erik lights his cigar

Dave lights his arm

Lisa lights her hand

trip to the beach

2008-05-12T21:12:00.001-07:00

We went to Dillon's beach on saturday. The boys took the boat for a spin.

And then got stranded in a desert of sand dunes.

Sand was the only thing in sight to eat.

Sunday we went to the Whole Earth Festival. I took pictures of Flat Sally, a school project for a friend's niece? (cousin? I dunno). She started in Oregon and has been to florida, Canada, and now California. The next stop is Arizona before she heads off to Texas, Kentucky, and hopefully Italy!

And for those who are concerned for the safety of my children sailing the high seas without a life jacket...the boat was securely on shore the entire time they were in it. :)

Check out this hair!

2008-05-09T23:49:00.000-07:00

I'm sharing images from this session because several of my reader's know her parents. I'm having a hard time picking which ones to share! She is so stinkin' cute!

I love this dish but haven't had a baby yet willing to sleep in it. Finally!

Big yawn!

She's like a little egg in a nest!

Thanks so much to Erik and Kristi for the referral!

July revisited

2008-05-08T09:59:00.000-07:00

I was revisiting some photos I took last July. There were a few engagement pictures I took for Beverly that were edited horribly and I wanted to redo them and print them out for her. I found a couple of pictures of the boys from that same day that I never got around to and wanted to share.

Pre-fro

a few more

2008-05-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

There is so much wrong with this photos. Its out of focus...noisey...and his face is FILTHY! But with my mommy goggles on I love it anyway.

And Margaret modeling for me when the boys would not.

Mushroom hunting!

2008-05-05T00:49:00.000-07:00

We went to Fresno this weekend to visit family and hunt for Morels.

I decided to practice backlight. I severly underexposed so I need to give it another go.

Jerah is such a cutie!

Job giving me a not so subtle hint that he is done with pictures by putting the lens cap back on.

Our goods!

Fountain fun!

2008-05-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

We went back to the park this week and played in the fountain again.

Other than that I've been working on fixing some wedding photos from my brother's wedding a few years back. Their photographer was terrible!

Original:

Edit (toning down some of that direct flash shine!):

Vintage (I won a cool action this morning):

How much stuff can fit in one bed?

2008-04-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

WHen we went to disneyland the boys shared a bed at the hotel. Ever since we've been back Job has been sneaking into Jerah's.

They haven't done this for months!

Happy Easter!

2008-04-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

What? I'm a little late for the party? Oh well. Here are a few pics anyway.

Cuz

Thanks Aaron!

2008-04-29T00:45:00.000-07:00

The husband pulled through! Isn't it sad when spouses communicate via blog post? He has been working so hard trying to troubleshoot my computer that I didn't want to bother him about my photoshop issue. He saw my posted, did a little sleuthing and discovered that it was a vista issue. Damn you vista! So its all sorted now on the other computer and I even managed to edit a couple pics I've been dying to get to. I hope everything looks alright since I'm not used to this monitor!

Miss Keaton seems to be a regular here lately. She is just so photogenic! We went camping over the weekend and I took all of 5 photos. I did love this one though!

When I have a picture with a lot of digital noise I love to turn in into a black and white. The noise almost (but not quite) mimics film grain.

Can't catch a break

2008-04-28T22:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lag in updates. I have a plethora of excuses to give you (and they are all for reals): I was swamped with sessions. I deleted 2 days worth of pictures of the boys off my memory cards (a baseball game and a romp in a fountain) without uploading them onto the computer first. My computer broke. My computer was fixed...but then we installed some bad ram. I decided to just use our other computer...but for some crazy I can't get photoshop to load. So there you have it. I can't catch a break. Hopefully things will be back in order soon. I toyed with the idea of posting some sooc (straight out of camera for those not hip to the lingo) shots but because I don't shoot in jpeg and use ACR (aka adobe camera RAW...a photoshop plugin) to open my files I'm pretty much screwed. Can I say that? This is a family blog right? So that is where we are.

Because I can't stand to leave you all without some pictures I'll post a few from my most recent session. She was a cutie and I was very pleased with how things turned out.

"OMG that is an awesome tutu; where can I get me one of those?!?!" I know there are several of you out there thinking that! Although this isn't one of her's you have to check out tutu designer to the stars Dallas' website Miss Priss Tutus. They really are quite rockin'.

Belly achin'

2008-04-15T22:21:00.000-07:00

Every so often when things get slow over here I start to get emailed demands for more pictures. So here you go.

Wait...did you mean you wanted pictures of my babes? Well sorry!

I have been super busy lately with sessions...if you want to see what I've been up to check out the biz blog here (since I'm trying to keep sessions off of here). I do want to leave you with the cuteness of this little booger's face.

Peace!

Arrrrrrrrrrrr!

2008-04-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

Back from a fun filled vacation at Disneyland! I was nervous before leaving but the boys had a blast and loved going on the rides. Jerah's favorite was by far Pirates of the Caribbean (good boy!) and "Pooh rabbit" (aka the Winnie the Pooh ride). I swear he is the only kid I know who has Rabbit as his favorite Pooh character! Job especially liked watching the Jedi Training Academy...that is until Darth Maul pointed his light saber directly at him!

Anyway, I took some pics on a borrowed camera (that frustrated me to no end!) but do have a few to share. Enjoy!

Jerah was excited to meet Mickey Mouse! He never even heard of him until a few days before we left when my mom decided to teach the boys who Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck were!

Job in front of some Pirate treasure.

Dumbo was pretty cool

Is this kid old enough to drive? He can't even reach the gas pedals!!

Err99

2008-04-04T17:08:00.001-07:00

Don't you know I have a maternity session on saturday? Don't you know that we are leaving for vacation on sunday? You have let me down! Better watch out or you may be kicked out on the streets! Its a hard world out there...Someone else may not treat you as well as I do.

A few pictures before we leave. No updates for about a week.

Job loves his rocks!

Jerah just wasnt in a picture taking mood

Awwwwwww...

2008-03-31T22:48:00.000-07:00

Gag!

Just because

2008-03-29T19:33:00.001-07:00

I like editing pics of myself because I can do funky processing that I don't normally do!

And in case anyone wonders where I get my awesomely good looks from...

Real Life Mario

2008-03-27T16:20:00.001-07:00

Anyone else see this? I used to have a thing for Mario...not anymore!

He also has a real life Homer up there too.

Madeline is 3 mos old!

2008-03-24T14:27:00.001-07:00

Ok, she is actually closer to 4 months, but close enough. I did her pictures on saturday and was quite pleased with the outcome.

Looks like she takes after her cousins!

I love it when babes grab their toes!

My personal fave, lol!

I'm trying to keep client photos off of here because I'm sure you guys aren't overly interested in them, but I just love this spot I found. His moms wanted ducks and flowers...the ducks were all sleeping but they got their flowers!

changes

2008-03-20T15:51:00.001-07:00

I'm changing things up a bit. Work in progress...please excuse the dust ;)

coolest.shirt.ever.

2008-03-19T23:47:00.000-07:00