Memories by Lisa Photography

Playing with Depth of Field (DOF)

2011-10-19T22:05:00.001-05:00

I went on a field trip with Kylie's class on Tuesday to the Chickasaw Cultural Center. While I was there I decided to play around with DOF on some photos of some flowers. While I think some of them might be slightly under exposed...I think the DOF on these SOOC (straight out of camera photos is pretty darn cool!

Notice anything creepy crawly in this one?

In the next 2 pictures I was playing with sun flare..

Kinda cool and fun for pictures that have absolutely no editing and were taken with manual settings. Get out there and play with your camera and see what wonderful pictures you come up with!

She said "I do" and he did too... Hamer Wedding|Memories by Lisa|Wedding Photographer

2011-09-27T22:59:00.000-05:00

Any wedding is a special event for everyone involved. But when you get capture these special moments for people who are special to you, it makes it even more great!

I now present you - Mr. & Mrs. Hamer.

I hope you enjoy your sneak peek Jayme! Love ya!

Baby's 1st Birthday Cake Smash| Ada Oklahoma | Baby Photographer

2011-06-14T00:46:00.000-05:00

What do you get when you cross a cake

and a cute baby girl?

A smashed cake and some really cute memories!

Isn't she a cutie!!!! If you would like to schedule a Cake Smash session for your little one, you are in luck! Beginning soon, I will be offering regularly scheduled cake smash sessions at Filling Spaces on Main street. Appointments for each will be limited and filled on a first come first basis. Fill free to contact me today if you would like to be a part of our first session.

Wait? You don't have a little one? If you recommend someone who schedules a cake smash appointment, you can receive a $25 discount on one of our other session types for your family! See...I would never leave the rest of you out!

Attention Parents of Toddlers!

2011-05-18T00:39:00.000-05:00

Here is a hint for you about one of our new upcoming regularly scheduled events...

Wanna guess what we have planned?

The Lillard/Puller Wedding Sneak Peek... Ada, OK Wedding Photographer

2011-05-16T00:26:00.000-05:00

Even the rain couldn't put a damper on this weeknight wedding. Once all was said and done, God smile down and sent a double rainbow to bless this couple!

H2O Band to perform locally...

2011-01-03T15:23:00.000-06:00

I did a quick mini session with the H2O band Sunday morning in between services. Here a couple of my favorite ones. We only did one pose that they can use for a promotional poster.

Remember Bella?

2010-10-03T21:36:00.000-05:00

Well - she is really getting to be a big beautiful girl!

On this day...I married my best friend

2010-09-20T15:04:00.000-05:00

Here is a sneak peek for Brandon and Ashley...enjoy guys! I will get the rest done as soon as possible! I will post these on FB for you also!

Kaci & Trevor

2010-07-25T22:29:00.005-05:00

Saturday the 24th, 2010 to most of us was a day like any other day. But for Kaci and Trevor it was a day they will remember forever. I was honored to capture your wedding memories for you. Here is your sneak peek...I can't wait to finish the rest!

Beautiful twins...Yes!! I said twins!!!!

2010-05-24T22:04:00.004-05:00

These girls are just beautiful! I hope their families enjoy this little sneak peek!

Sneak Peek of Jacob

2010-05-04T23:10:00.002-05:00

Here is Jacob's Sneak Peek for him, his mom and his Grandma...he did an awesome job! Enjoy!!!

Next come I & L!!!

Doing Extractions in Photoshop Elements

2010-02-15T18:21:00.006-06:00

Doing extractions can be both excruciatingly time consuming and extremely rewarding at the same time! There are multiple ways to do an extraction in PSE. Several tools will get the same result, but some will get you there faster depending on what you are trying to do. My current project of the baseball poster required me to do an extraction. The original plan was to take the picture outside on the actual baseball field in front of the backstop. But alas, that plan was foiled by rain. So we took the picture inside the sports facilities building with the plan of me extracting the wall and adding players to a picture of the backstop taken at a later time in appropriate weather. Now...I will start off by saying I made this exponentially harder on myself by standing them against the white wall instead of the blue wall. Extracting a white background from around white uniforms is a royal pain in the bootay! I am hoping the weather is nice for the next day or so allowing me to go get the picture of the field that I need. In the mean time, I am quite pleased with how my extraction turned out. I used both the Magic Wand Tool and the Quick Selection Tool for this extraction. I am also including a few other samples that included an extraction at some point in their process.

This is the baseball picture after the extraction. Although that is hard to see now since you see a white background. If I had placed this on a colored back ground it would look different. To help with my final extraction, I used a neon green background color. This made any missed areas stand out.

This was the original photo (SOOC) that I used for the extraction.
This picture has made previous appearances here on the blog. It is a good example of several processes. Editing, extractions, background replacement and color enhancements are a few processes utilized.

In this scrapbook page I extracted Kylie from a photo where she was walking down the street after we picked her up from school on her birthday. She is my gift! lol I will be teaching a class on extractions in my online classes. But if you have any questions...please feel free to leave them in the comments.

You can find more information on the classes on my Meet Up group site here.

Happy "Early" Valentine's Day & a Freebie!!

2010-02-13T20:31:00.004-06:00

I wanted to pop in and wish every one the very happiest of Valentine's Day's! And also to give you a small Valentine's Day gift. It is a clipping mask and I hope you all enjoy it. Have a great day everyone!

This is a preview of the mask used with a picture of my son and niece on a background paper from ScrapGirls.com (paper not includedw/freebie). You can find the download here. Enjoy!

Update

2010-02-12T13:20:00.009-06:00

Hello world!

It has been a while since I posted here. But that doesn't mean nothing has been happening! There has been a lot going on recently. I am now teaching local Photoshop Elements Classes here in Allen and we are planning some crops as well. There is a new Meetup.com group to help organize these classes. You can find all the details here. I have a couple of locations I am working with and should be posting the new dates/times soon.

One of my most resent projects is the Senior Soccer poster for Allen High School. Everyone was very pleased with how it turned out! I attended the game against McKinney Boyd the other night and the pictures are posted on my website. Switching to soccer from football is an adjustment, but I was getting the hang of it by the end of the game.

Now I am working on the Senior Varsity Baseball/Softball poster. I plan to have the proof of it done this weekend.

More news is that I have decided to start offering freebies here on my blog. The freebie might be any number of things... maybe ready to print recipe cards, textures, clipping masks, templates or who knows! For now my plan is to have them on posted on Fridays. Today's freebie is a recipe card that I made recently for Southern Style Salsa. This is some yummy stuff! I like making it because my family won't try it and I don't have to share it! bwahahaha!

You can download this freebie from 4shared here. This is my first attempt at using 4shared so please let me know if you have any problems with the link. Each weeks freebie will be available until the next freebie is posted then the link will no longer be active, so don't wait! Download them now! If you would like to receive notice of the freebies or special offers, you can now sign up for my newsletter on my photography website http://www.memoriesbylisa.com/. And as always, you can follow me on blogger as well as on facebook. Thanks for helping spread the word and enjoy your salsa!

DVD's coming soon! Get your order in now!

2009-11-16T07:36:00.006-06:00

Hello again football fans!

Finally! All of the football games have been edited and are posted here on my website. I have added lots more products and have a few more I am working on adding soon. Please feel free to contact me if you don't see what you are looking for. The Season DVD's for both teams are now in the works so, be sure to get your orders placed. You can find JV1 here and JV2 here. For parents who have indicated they want a Individual Season DVD of their player, please go ahead and process the order now. Once the order is received, I will put your DVD together. If you ordered the Spotlight feature for your child, don't forget to add that to your order and take advantage of the special combination discount. You can go straight to the Individual DVD here and the Superstar Spotlight here.

Also, don't forget that now is the perfect time for a mini session to get your family picture for your holiday cards. I have some very cute options for custom made cards complete with envelopes that I will be posting soon. Don't delay! Sessions are filling up fast!

A few new ones...

2009-11-01T21:21:00.011-06:00

Sorry for the delay...things have been a bit busy around here. I finally got around to getting a few more wedding pictures done. Enjoy.

Pretty ladies and a china doll!

2009-10-21T22:38:00.012-05:00

Anyone want to see more wedding pictures??? Oh...you know you do!!! And even if you don't...it is my blog so I get my way! So here are more!

Emily did soooo good and looked adorable. Considering she had been running a fever and was still ill, she did amazing!
I threw in a beautiful big eyed baby girl in case your cuteness saturation wasn't met with the other pics!

More down...more to go. Once they are all done, I will post them all in a single gallery so everyone can see them all together.

Another taste...

2009-10-21T00:35:00.007-05:00

of some photos from the wedding...

This one is not a very good picture technically...but I really like Stephanie's expression in it. (just not up close and personal so just view this one small!!!!)

Maybe more tomorrow...check back and see!!!

Sneak Peek - Revealed..

2009-10-19T23:17:00.003-05:00

This was the previous sneak peek...I designed these CD covers and labels for Stephanie and Philip's wedding. I just love the rustic feel they have to them. They gave these CD's out with their favorite love songs on them. They were beautifully completed with a ribbon tied around them.

Mr. & Mrs. Shortes

2009-10-19T17:31:00.010-05:00

I had the opportunity to attend and take pictures at a beautiful wedding service this past weekend. Here is a sneak peek of some of the photos for family and friends.

I hope to have more ready soon. Hope you enjoy these few...

Playing with pictures...

2009-10-11T23:24:00.007-05:00

We had family in town this weekend so I did a little work on some pics of their boys.

Original

Edited***we were playing with enhancing eye color and when you click the photo and view it HUGE they are over saturated...but when viewed the correct size they look really good.

Original

Edited
Don't let their angel eyes fool you! They take after their Momma and are ornery! lol

A stitch in time...Photo Restoration

2009-10-08T21:13:00.008-05:00

I am not really sure that saying totally applies to this post, but I liked it so I used it!

I know I already posted once today, but I really wanted to share this with everyone. Everyone knows how important our old photos are to documenting our family history. Some people are fortunate to have lots and lots of old pictures that are in amazing shape. But there is always 1 or 2 family members of whom you have precious few photos. And it never fails that these few are in the roughest condition! Have no fear...there is a way to salvage your precious family heirlooms!
In this digital age, photo restoration options are larger than ever! If you find yourself in need of this service, contact me to discuss how we can save your heritage.

Just a note: In the example photo, I did not want to make the photo look totally new. My objective was to fix the damage and still maintain the heritage look of the original. This photo not only had wear from age, it had flash reflection causing problems also.

Sneak Peek

2009-10-08T12:57:00.005-05:00

I have been working on a top secret project for a client. I could tell you what it is, but then I would have to uhm...you know! The lead agents on this assignment made me sign confidentiality agreement under coercion of threats of bodily harm. So, for now all I can do is share this little Sneak Peek with you...

Caution...this post may self destruct in 30 seconds!

Zimmer Slideshow

2009-09-26T22:39:00.001-05:00

Zimmer Slideshow, originally uploaded by Memories by Lisa.

I made a quick slide show for the Zimmer Family of Chris' touchdown against Shepton the other night. These pictures are completely unedited and just a tad grainy, but they were taken from the bleacher late in the game.

Painting with light...

2009-09-22T22:09:00.007-05:00

Photography is a huge media. There are so many things you can do and so many techniques you can learn. Not all of them are portrait related...some are just for the fun of it. Here are a few samples of a fun technique a few of us got together the other night to try.

There were lots of spiders out that night and try as I might, I could not get a up close and personal picture of one that was in focus to my liking. I would have been happier if it had not been as muddy as it was. But we had fun and it was an interesting evening of learning to use long exposures and our strobe flashes with colored gels attached.

What have you done lately to stretch your learning?

Newport, RI

2009-09-16T08:30:00.023-05:00

I have been slowly making progress on getting the images from our RI trip edited. I really love how some of them turned out! Some of them will be making it into my Etsy Store soon...

I listed this one first because it is one of my very favorite ones. Not sure why, but it is! Hey! I am entitled to my opinion, right?

I love the colors in these next few flower pictures! Tara said the white one is a weed...so this proves that weeds can be beautiful....just don't tell the boys or we will never get the yard mowed again!

Want to see something other than flowers? How about trees?

Or a fence?

Let's try a clock!

No? Then lets end with a picture of my baby girl playing in the sand shall we?

I know the background is wayyy blown out in this one, but I still like it - cuz I'm da'momma!

It is football season!

2009-09-12T19:03:00.012-05:00

For those of you who do not know me or my history..here is a little back ground for you. I have always taken pictures at the games. When I first started they were little more than long distance snapshots from the stands. I started taking as many pics of as many kids as I could get several years back. I have always posted them for free online at Snapfish and let the parents order prints of their kids (at no charge from me) directly from Snapfish. When I first started, I would spend 8 to 12 hours after each game editing, cropping and color correcting ALL 400 or so of the pictures. Well, for obvious reasons, I could not continue to invest that much time each week. So, I decided to just upload the pics and add a comment that if someone needed something special to let me know.

I have now started my own photography business: MemoriesbyLisa.com. I specialize in on-site photography of families, babies, senior portraits, action sports, team photos and events. I also do graphic design such as logos, brochures, cards, graduation announcements, digital scrapbooking, training, photo editing, photo restoration, slide shows and much more. That being said, I am not going to start charging for the game pictures so you can all breathe again! ;)

I am however, going to make some extra services available to anyone interested. I have listed the services I will be offering below. If you do not see something that you would like information on, please do not hesitate to contact me and we can work something out. Also, please keep me in mind when you, your family or friends are in need of photographic services.

Products and Services:

Allen Eagles Season Photo DVD - $15
This item will be a slide show compilation of as many pictures as will fit on a high capacity DVD. The included photos will be the best of the best and will include minor editing for maximum exposure and color correctness complete with pump it up music and a custom label.

Individual Student Season Photo DVD - $50
This item will be a slide show compilation of all photos taken of your student with minor editing including, cropping, exposure and color correction. It will have a custom label and will be complete with pump it up music. I will review all the game photos and pull out pictures of your player for inclusion.

Superstar Spotlight - $25
This item does not include any prints, but it does insure that I focus more attention on photographing your player during games resulting in a larger pool of photos to choose from. Anyone purchasing the Individual DVD and the Superstar Spotlight will receive a $10 discount on the total purchase price.Spotlight Storyboard Prints - $25 Double, $30 Triple, $35 Quad (8 x 10 - other size pricing upon request)
This item will be similar the storyboards posted as examples on this post and includes editing of the included pictures of your choice.
Custom Editing - $5 (Buy 10 and get 2 free!)
This item is custom editing, including cropping, exposure and color correction, basically everything needed to make the photo the best possible print. This pricing includes a professionally printed 4 x 6 photo on archival quality paper. Pricing for larger prints is available by request.
Custom Photo Art - $35 (5 x7 - additional sizes priced by request)
This item requires additional processing time and requires a client consultation to discuss the available options to make sure the end result meets the clients vision.
Custom Designed Poster Print - $125 (30 X 20)
This item is a custom designed poster of your player printed by a professional print company on archival quality paper and mounted on a backing board. It will include 5 to 7 photos depending on my final design. All included photos will be receive maximum editing services.
(This is a sample of the basketball poster...I do not have the football one completed yet. It will be posted in the next week or so. The text would be provide by the parent or can be omitted completely)

Pricing for professional prints of any of my photos is available by request. All standard sizes are available.

I will post more samples of other available products periodically over the next few weeks, so be sure to check back often. Thank you and I hope you enjoy the photos.

The link for the photos will be posted here each week once they are uploaded. Below I am providing the link and access information for not only this years photos, but also for all the previous years for those parents who might have missed seeing them.

2009 JV Football click HERE - pass code - jvfootball

2008 Freshman Football click HERE - pass code - football

2007 JV Football click HERE - pass code - football

2007 Curtis 8th Grade Football click HERE - pass code - football

Please feel free to direct any other parents or players to this blog and to contact me anytime with questions! Enjoy!

Fix it Friday #28

2009-09-10T23:54:00.005-05:00

I decided to try my hand at fixing today's challenge photo.

This is the original picture we were given to work with.

Here is my edited version

What did I do? Well I started out by adjusting my levels and brightness to considerably lighten the exposure. I then used the coffee shop eye bright action and I used a high pass filter on softlight blend mode to add an over all softness to everything but the eyes. To add some interest to the pack ground, I added an overlay of a texture photo (of cracked painted concrete) and masked out the face. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I will be sure to reply. Hope you like it!

Check out the other edits over at I Heart Faces...

Baby "B" = Beautiful Baby!!!

2009-08-24T21:28:00.008-05:00

Well if you want to see one beautiful baby...just scroll down! Bella is 8 months so she is making a "re-appearance" here and I am honored to be able to share this sneak peek with her mom and dad! I will have the entire gallery up soon!

Etsy Store!!

2009-08-10T18:14:00.004-05:00

I am excited to announce that I have opened an online Etsy Store to sell my photographs. If you have enjoyed my photos and are interested in purchasing any, please check out my new store. You can find it here.

I have only added a few items so far, so check back often for new listings!

Ray and Paula's Flowers

2009-08-09T23:18:00.006-05:00

On our recent trip to Norman, I couldn't resist (and why should I) taking some shots of Paula and Ray's flowers. It had been raining and the water droplets were still on the petals. I hope to get better at identifying the names of the flowers I photograph, but I am afraid that is a work in progress. I do know that the purple/pink clusters are called Naked Ladies according to Ray and I think the yellow ones with the dark centers are Black Eyed Susans. I think the other yellow one is an Iris. Ray and Paula may have to correct me on these. I have uploaded a few of my favorites and the rest of them can be seen here.

Kylie and her Nana

2009-08-01T21:50:00.002-05:00

Pics Pics and more pics

2009-08-01T14:54:00.005-05:00

Melba and her grandkids (notice anything missing from the wall?) lol

Keri and her girls

More pics...

2009-08-01T00:03:00.007-05:00

Here is a few more pictures from this past weekend. Don't they look awesome!!! What a group of good looking people!
Thanks for the comments on the freebie..if there seems to be an interest, maybe I will get motivated and post more!

Josh and Joshua - an edit and a Freebie!!

2009-07-31T20:16:00.009-05:00

Josh made a new buddy at the family reunion this past weekend. Here is a picture of the two of them with toothpicks that I edited tonight. This is also an example of the first time I have used a picture I took myself as a texture. This is the original picture of the texture. Please feel free to save this and use it yourself. This is also my first official freebie!! You should be able to right click/save as on this image and save it to use.

Next is the original picture of Josh and Joshua...

This is my edited version...

I erased the texture from their faces as they looked like they had measles.. I really like the end result.

Richey Reunion Photos

2009-07-28T14:30:00.002-05:00

The photos are posted...you can find them here! I hope you enjoy them and thank you to the gentleman who also gave me his photos to add.

I Heart Faces...er uhm Feet!

2009-07-21T14:58:00.003-05:00

Ok here is my entry for this week!

But the rebel in me really wants to enter this one...

I Heart Faces...er uhm Feet!

2009-07-20T07:41:00.010-05:00

I am working on my entry for this weeks I Heart Faces Contest on yep..you heard it! Feet! But alas..I am conflicted and therefore I need your help! I have more than one "foot" or "feet" photo that I like so I need everyone to vote!

Photo 1
I really like this one, but is that just because of the memories of our trip to Hawaii. I am not sure it is a photographic master piece!

Photo 2
I really really really like this one, but does footprints count as feet? I think it should...what about you?

Photo 3

Or we have barefoot baby feet lovingly framed by Mom's hands..

Photo 4

Or barefoot baby feet lovingly framed by Dad's hands...

Or Option 5...none of the above - Don't waste your time!!! lol

Fix it Friday #20

2009-07-17T20:16:00.005-05:00

This is only my 2nd Fix it Friday to try out. I selected the large file to download, but it seems a little pixelated to me. I did 2 versions...which do ya'll like best? The first one was just manual stuff I did...the 2nd one is a vintage action from Coffee Shop...

This is the Original file...

Version 1
Version 2

Graduation Announcement Design Services

2009-07-15T09:33:00.006-05:00

There are so many needs for design services now that I wanted to share a few examples of my recent designs. Since Senior portraits are in high demand right now, I will focus on those today.

Creating graduation cards instead of sending out the canned ones the school sells, is one of the newest trends. Mail these amazing custom photo cards combined with a decorative information sheet to family and friends. Once the event is over, they still have a great photo of your graduate as a keep sake.

These designs can be created from photo shoots I do personally or with your own photos. Contact me today for more information.

Bella's back...

2009-06-29T23:31:00.004-05:00

I was experimenting with techniques tonight and this is the end result... Isn't she a doll!!!!

Professional procrastination ...

2009-06-23T17:08:00.007-05:00

Have you ever heard about the chef who never has food at home to cook or the carpenter who's house is in need of repair? Well, I finally got around to finishing my edits on the senior pictures on my son's session from...uhm, last year!

Oh well, they are done now and I love how they turned out!

I gave him blue eyes in this one for the fun of it! lol

The rest of the pictures can be seen in my Flickr account...

Fix it Friday #17

2009-06-19T10:56:00.004-05:00

This week is fix it #17 on I Heart Faces....so here is my take on the fixes.

Original:

After my edits:

What do you think?

Senior Session

2009-06-05T12:47:00.007-05:00

Well, I am working on learning the ins and outs of my new camera. I got several shots that I am extremely fond of..but we will be doing another shoot soon so I can work more on what I am looking for in end results.

What a handsome kid! His mom must be really proud...and I am! ;) The rest can be seen on Flickr.

I am loving Lightroom and presets!!!!

2009-06-03T23:12:00.011-05:00

I have to say...I have been really enjoying using Lightroom for editing. Today I processed an entire kindergarten full of graduation pictures. It def. speeds up the process.

I wanted to share a few more of my edits from the Dallas workshop...

To see the rest of them you can go to my Flickr account and check them out...

Wow! What a weekend!

2009-05-31T23:10:00.011-05:00

Let me say that again.. Wow! What a weekend! You may have seen my post awhile back about the class I signed up for. Well, after much anticipation...the weekend finally came! And let me tell you...Debbie did not disappoint.

We meet on Friday night and got all our camera's set to the setting Debbie wanted us to shooting in on Saturday. Which were apeture priority and manual...yes, I said manual! We used the manual setting a lot! It was awesome.

We meet at the Dallas arboretum early on Sat. and got started. In an out of the way corner, we started with some flowers. During this our focus was really working on our depth of field. Trying to make sure the flower was in focus while blurring the background.

The 2 I have chosen to upload have a preset applied from Pixel Fairy Princess.

The presets give them the dreamy fairyland appearance.

Also attached are some of my favorite ones from the model shoot we did. Ana, our model was amazingly easy to work with. Very professional requiring little to no direction from us.

Another contest...

2009-05-26T14:06:00.003-05:00

I am entering one of the pictures of Kylie for this weeks silhouette contest. This picture is straight out of the camera with no editing....

Holiday off....I think not!

2009-05-24T23:58:00.004-05:00

Another graduation collage...Case made it through!

How about a pet project?

Meet Gracie Mae...

This is the comparison sheet for a minor photo restoration project that I did today. I love working with old photos. I didn't want to over work it and make it completely new again. Just removed the scratches and some stains. I left in a tad of the unevenness caused by time and wear.

Jaiden Thomas

2009-05-19T21:34:00.006-05:00

Some of you may remember meeting Jaiden's parents here back before he made his big appearance. Well, today I got to take his first "real" pictures. They weren't really planned so his Nana is a little disappointed about his attire, but I don't see what the problem is...I think he is adorable! But as we all know, if Nana ain't happy ain't nobody happy...so we will soon be having another session where Nana will be picking the outfit! ;)

Return appearance

2009-05-18T16:55:00.004-05:00

Trevia's Aunt requested a collage as her graduation gift to him and to be displayed at the get together they are having for him. I love the manly feel it has. My goal was for it to have a bulletin board feel, so I added the snapshot white frame look and the staples.

I can't wait for him to see it...

Photo Contest

2009-05-18T08:51:00.004-05:00

Well, I struggled and struggled trying to decide which photo to use as an entry for a photo contest at I Heart Faces. They are publishing a book of all the winners. I finally decided I wanted to go with one of my newest favorites (I have too many favorites) and submit one of Bella. Wish me luck! The winners will be announced next Sunday. To see it full screen, just click the picture and then the back button to get back here...

My entry...

"I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb Book photo contest. I am granting I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites."

Mary's Impromptu Mother's Day Session

2009-05-12T00:23:00.008-05:00

This is a first time appearance of this little cutie on my blog...

Ms. Mary did really well..

Bella Jade

2009-05-11T19:58:00.006-05:00

You may think you have seen this dress on here before...and you would be correct. This is Bella and she is the cousin of Brighton who was recently featured here. These pages were designed to coordinate with each other to be printed and hung side by side on the wall or placed in a photo album or scrapbook.

Just look at this girls' eyes!

Brighton

2009-05-10T12:52:00.005-05:00

Lil' Miss Brighton's photos taken on Easter of this year...

The learning never ends...

2009-05-09T08:26:00.002-05:00

Well as with anything we do, there is always more we can learn. I am soooo excited about a photography class I am taking the weekend of May 31st. Debbie Layden of Pixel Fairy Princess Photography is coming to Dallas and I will be spending pretty much the whole weekend with her. Her classes are not like some of the ones you see where you and 500 of your closest photographer friends show up and squeeze into a room too small, fight for the front row seats and strain to hear and take notes of what the oh so talented photographer is saying.

In this class we will actually USE our camera's with Debbie right there beside us to give us tips and pointers as we go. We will work with a live model and we will learn more about her post processing techniques as well. Anyone want to buy me CS4 for Mother's day tomorrow? Debbie will be teaching us to use lightroom...I am ignoring the must have it feelings welling up inside me for now!

On another note, the proceeds from her classed are donated to a orphanage in China! How is that for a RAK? (Random Act of Kindness) I can't wait til the end of the month!

Trevia Project

2009-05-04T21:24:00.004-05:00

My day today was spent making Senior Graduation cards for Trevia. This was another project involving a picture that I did not take. While this young man is quite good looking, for some reason he had the "cool dude" squint going on in the picture I was provided. This may be cool for his school buddies, but his relatives want to see his eyes. So I did a little work on the picture before I did the card.
Below is the end result and this will be used as his graduation announcement. You might be saying that some important details are missing..and you would be correct. In an effort to keep from taking away from the size of the picture on the card, we decided to add a second sheet containing all the necessary particulars. This keeps the picture a nice viewable size on the card and also keeps the card more like a senior picture that could be framed or placed in a photo album by friends and family. This was printed as a 4 x 6. Thanks for looking!

A new editing project...

2009-05-01T13:31:00.004-05:00

One of my newest favorite things to do is edit photos. It doesn't have to be photos that I have taken necessarily. I just really enjoy taking a good photo and making it into a great photo. In this project, I have taken my daughters new school pictures and worked on them. I have to say these are 10 times better than her last school photos, but there is still some room for editing. I have attached the edit comparison for your review!

College Graduation Project

2009-04-30T11:52:00.001-05:00

Today I want to share with you what has been keeping me so busy this past week. I was in contact with a previous client (you should all remember Emma Lee's Christmas photo shoot) this week. She was in need of some items for her daughter Autumn. Autumn is graduating from college next week and mom is planning a party. For the feature of the party, Chris was looking for a slide show. She brought me an envelope of pictures and some music CD's. I scanned all the photos in and of course that disease called perfectionism flared up and I had to edit several of them! Once all 160 pictures were scanned and edited the rest of the slide show was assembled. Another need was her graduation cap and gown portrait. Unfortunately, I was not available the weekend she needed these taken so she had to make other arrangements. When she sent me the pictures, I picked the one I liked best and went to work with the editing. Chris didn't like the chair in the background and the plain white wall was boring. So, I have attached the end result comparison below.

Now on to the announcement. Chris has great vision for what she is looking for, but we have always been on the same wave length. So, she usually just gives me creative freedom and says "Show me watcha got!" This is a great time to try some cool fun techniques, so I did. This is the progression comparison of the announcement to the end.

This was printed in a 4 x 6 and will be mailed out to friends and family with the thank you notes...so it isn't really an announcement.

I will post the CD label for the DVD's for the slide show later today. I need to crop on out of the print sheet. Another service I provided for this project was 10 scrapbook pages. They were used as section dividers in the slide show and then printed and put in a scrapbook as a gift to Autumn. It is easy to get great results when you start with such a beautiful subject!!!

Under construction!

2009-04-24T23:53:00.000-05:00

I have decided to split my personal blog and my business blog. More to come on this!