New Super Computer

Now that photoshop and I are getting quite serious I thought it was time to make a new investment in our relationship. Also Jude and I aren't that good at sharing, so it's really best for everyone if I have my own Photoshop computer. It arrived on Wednesday night and I am so excited to get it set up! I stayed up most of Wednesday messing with it and baking pies for Thanksgiving.

With screaming fast quad-core processing power, an NVIDIA 8500 graphics card, and 8 GB of RAM my life in relation to post-processing is about to improve dramatically! For the software, of course I will be running Vista Ultimate 64-bit OS. I can't wait to start working in Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom. I just have to get everything set up so I can start enjoying my new life!

A Happy Thanksgiving!

Such a busy week! My new computer arrived on Wednesday night so I spent all night messing around with that and baking pies for Thanksgiving.

We had such a great Thanksgiving this year. I really have so much to be thankful for, and it was great to take the time to just hang out with friends that I don't see nearly enough of. We started out at Alex and Jenny's house. Here's Alex in the process of roasting the best chestnuts ever!


Niall had so much fun playing outside and riding this red car, he nearly started to cry when we were leaving. We had to stop and say a long goodbye to the car before it was ok to go.


Next we headed to Denise and Robby's house for our main event. This is my friend Robby, one of my favorite people in the whole world!

Robby and Denise really know how to host a Thanksgiving, everything was so beautiful I couldn't help taking a few detail shots!

Niall had a really good time playing with the other kids and was still awake and happy when we left at 11! I couldn't believe he lasted that long. What can I say, the kid is a party animal! I wonder where he gets that from. . .

Sarah and David, my very first family portrait shoot

This weekend I did my very first family portrait shoot for my sister-in-law and her family. Very exciting! Best of all they are family, so who better to practice with? We had so much fun and I got some great shots.

Meet Sarah, David, Jude and Asha!

After some of the initial group photos Asha was getting tired, so Sarah and Asha took a break to nurse and I went outside with Jude and David. Jude loves to have his dad all to himself so this worked really well. I just love this shot with Jude leaning in to his dad, I think his smile says it all!

I really wanted to get some shots of Sarah and David without the kids because as far as I know, they haven't had any professional photos taken since their wedding!

At this point experience is invaluable and just going through a family session was so helpful. My key take-aways are:

1. When shooting group shots with everyone together, get a lot of shots. These shots are difficult because the kids can't sit still for long, so you have to be ready and shoot fast. Get all the settings right before everyone sits down, that way you can minimize the time the kids are stuck there. Also, more people in the shot means more people to blink and make faces, so take more than you think you need. I think I can definitely do better with the group shots next time.


2. Get outside! Backgrounds are easier, kids are happier, and the light is better outside. The weather was mostly horrible for this session so we're planning a follow-up session at Carkeek Park in the near future.


3. Posing is difficult! This is an area I need to work more on.


4. My new Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens is heavy! I need more exercise to strengthen my hands, wrists, and forearms. This is an amazing lens so it's totally worth it!

Scouting for Locations

I have a family portrait shoot this weekend, so to prepare I went scouting for locations with my friend Kelly. She loves photography too and is an endlessly good sport. Here are a few of the shots I got of her today at Carkeek Park. Isn't she beautiful?




Sorry, guys, she is already taken. She's getting married in April and has chosen Gerald Pope Photography to shoot the wedding. I love their website and was so impressed with the photography. I can't wait to see her wedding pictures!

Using Fill Flash With Exposure Compensation

A couple weeks ago in Me Ra Koh's Advanced workshop we learned about using flash with exposure compensation. However, I was having so much fun with the model shoot I didn't really get much practice at the time. So on Friday I did some experimenting to make sure I remembered how to do it. Here are some of the cute shots I got.

In short, fill flash is when you use mostly natural lighting, but fire the flash to fill in some of the shadows. It's easy to overexpose a shot, especially indoors, but with exposure compensation you can get a really nice effect. For more detailed info on using fill flash check out this article on the Canon Digital Learning Center.

I was using my Canon Speedlite 580 EX flash, with this diffuser, pointed up and to the left apx. 45 degrees. Niall was playing in the living room with a moderate amount of natural light. I set the ISO to 400, and you can see the first shot without the flash is too dark.

For the second shot I turned the flash on default, and took the shot again. Lucky for me he decided to sit and read a book for a minute :). To me this one looks a bit flat.

For the third shot I turned used exposure compensation on the flash and turned it down 1/3. Now the light is soft and looks very natural, but there is a tiny shadow under his chin that gives away the flash so I think I could do better next time.

That's it!

The Busy Mom's Recipe For Burnout

This week I am tired and overwhelmed. Can you tell? Thought I'd take a humorous look at some great strategies moms can use to get burnt out.

1. Need more hours in the day? Sleep less!

2. Don't waste time exercising! Then you'll have to waste more time taking extra showers, driving back and forth to the gym, doing laundry, etc. Exercise will just make you more tired anyway.

3. Keep a list of everything you feel like you should be doing but really don't have time for. Don't prioritize or remove unimportant items. The longer and more unrealistic this list is, the more stress it will cause.

4. Try to do everything yourself. Whatever you do, don't ask for help! And never pay someone to help you do things like clean your house or take care of your yard. Then what will you have to fight about with your spouse?

5. Don't take the extra time to prepare healthy meals for yourself. Just make sure your children are well fed because it's more important at their age. You can live on espresso, mac & cheese and doughnuts for a few years and be just fine.

6. Time to yourself is unnecessary. How are you going to tackle that list if you're wasting time having fun and doing what you want to do rather than what needs to be done?

7. Annoying relatives that drive you crazy? They still love your child, and your child loves them so put your own feelings aside and make sure to invite them over at least weekly for as long as possible.

8. Don't forget about work! You have work to do. Make sure you have tons of work on your plate so everyone knows you're really dedicated and not slacking, that way you can look extra dedicated by working late and on your days off. This also has the extra benefit of providing something else to fight about with your spouse.

9. Don't see your friends. They know how busy you are, they'll understand. You can catch up with them in about 18 years, if they still remember who you are.

10. Don't spend any quality time with your spouse. To spend time away from your child you'd need a babysitter, somewhere to go, something to do, not to mention money. You'll have plenty of time for each other when your kids are in college.

Workshops!

I've learned a lot about photography on my own, from books, blogs, and experimentation. To get to the next level I thought it would be fun to take some workshops and learn from the pros. In October I was lucky enough to attend two workshops by my local photography hero, Me Ra Koh. I had a really great time and learned so much!

In the Beginner class we learned all about the camera and how to shoot in Manual mode. It took some practice but it's made such a difference! Check out Me Ra's blog, she posted today about the Advanced Workshop and how much fun we all had. She even posted one of my pictures on her blog! It's so fun to see everyone's photos and how different they are.

Check out these shots I got at the workshop!

Having bride and groom models was an extra treat for me. I was never very interested in wedding photography, but this was so much fun! Isn't she gorgeous?

Look away for one minute. . .

and that was the minute my son chose to color on the wall! I have to say that while I'm not happy about his medium, I think his color palette was excellent! It was so hard to put him in time-out and not laugh! Luckily Jude came home just when I was about to lose it and he was able to keep a straight face.

I got these shots the next day, when the crayons finally came back from time-out.

The artist with his work.

Anyone know how to get crayon off the wall? With a quick internet search I found some instructions. I'll probably give it another week to make sure he's done first!

Halloween Pictures!

There are a about a hundred other things I'm supposed to be doing right now, but I'm so excited to finish processing last night's Halloween pictures that everything else will have to wait. It's naptime so now is my chance!

We were on our way to the park yesterday evening for a Halloween party, but we were already running late and the light was fading fast. I managed to convince my husband to stop in front of a beautiful concrete retaining wall covered with ivy for a quick photo with Niall in his costume.

When we finally arrived at the park and Niall was so excited he took off running!

He headed straight for the swing, but after about 30 seconds he was done.

Our little chicken, ready to trick-or-treat!