S's Head Shots

I am heading into real estate photography via this very sweet dear friend of mine. I took some head shots of her today. We had some good laughs. I used a low aperture to keep the focus on her and not the background.
:) melissa

Playing with Light

My favorite... low aperture and backlit. LOooovveee that blurred background.
:) melissa

Old Photo Fix

I brought this picture back from the dead. Wow this was quite the transformation. Thank you Lightroom! You are the best... and of course I have a great eye. LOL
:) melissa

Snow in NC!

Everybody witness that it snowed in NC! This night time snowing picture is a little difficult to capture. I need more practice but this isn't too bad for a first try.
:) melissa

Yet another rainy day

My kid was back today just in time for another rainy day. Now I have just got to get her some rain boots to get some puddle jumping pictures. Nothing really special about these. Just more playing around with editing and aperture. Love me some blurry backgrounds. HAHA
:) melissa

M & F

Forgive me for a bit of slacking the last few days. My favorite little model went back to her dads, the weather has been a bit lacking and i was busy taking some self portraits I don't want the world to see. This evening I spent some time with some friends and was able to capture these just messing around a little bit. Indoor night time pictures have always been a struggle for me. Happily with lightroom I was able to bring these back from blahness. Or at least I think so...
:) melissa

Cupcakes and Coloring

K and I went to Just Baked Cupcakes today and while we were there I played around with low aperture and backlighting. The cupcake picture was shot with natural light coming in from the side at f/2.0 and the picture of her coloring was shot at f2.2 with the natural light coming in from behind her.
:) melissa

Self Portrait and Indoor Natural Light

Since Best Buy didn't have the tripod I wanted in stock today, I decided to mess around with the self timer and the use of natural light indoors to take a self portrait. I got my hair done today. I did a little editing in Lightroom to soften my features and get rid of some issues i didn't like. I like how it came out... Could probably use some more intensive editing but this is good for now...
:) melissa

Bye Bye Tree

It is almost time to bid the Christmas Tree good bye. Before it goes though, I decided to try to attempt some Bokeh pics of it. I shot these on manual. ISO 1000, f1.8, 1/25 sec. Next time I will try my subject closer to the tree i think?? Or cough up the money for that tripod I want. haha
:) melissa

Aperture

I did a whole photo shoot focused on low aperture and the kind of background blur I love. I mean that is really why I bought the 50mm lens right?? I got some great shots of my daughter on her favorite rock... This one I shot at f/2.2
:) melissa

My Loves

I couldn't choose just one from today. I shot close to dark and really think the lighting worked well. The biggest issue I had was focus. Moving subjects are hard to shoot. I took a lot of pictures to get these ones but in the end I am happy.

The last one I took was what my night actually was like... my daughter doing her Taylor Swift impression with the guitar she got for xmas.
:) melissa

Before and After... Lightroom 4

I love the cool feature in Lightroom 4 of being able to see the image you started with and compare it to your working image. Even a subtle change like warming up the colors can make a huge difference in the end product.
:) melissa

Throw Back Thursday... Balloons

Thursday is going to be Throw Back Thursday where I edit an old photo I took before. On the tails of my jumping picture from yesterday, I thought the jumping balloons one would be another good one. It is one of my favorites of my daughter. I took it in honor of her 5th birthday about 8 months ago. Bout time I edited it. :) melissa

Umbrella

Inspired by yesterdays rain and with my favorite model back I decided to do an umbrella picture. I shot this in shutter speed priority at 500th. I love how jumping pictures turn out and this one is no different.

The Start of a Great Year!

My resolution in 2013 is to spend a year taking pictures, working on digital projects and editing editing editing. I want to become a better photographer and what better way then to practice every day. I want my camera to become a part of me and to see what a great year I can record in photos and memories.

For my first photo I decided to play around with my new toy a wireless shutter control and take a self portrait. I also was playing around with editing in Lightroom 4.

Here's to a great year and 364 more pictures!
:) melissa