Kelly Lindsey Photography

Caleb’s (almost) Six Year Pictures ~ Georgetown, MA Senior Photographer

2011-11-07T20:07:00.001-05:00

“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”

I have the most strange, wonderful boy. I didn’t ask him to do the above poses. I was trying for one good shot near this fence. In less than a minute, he gave me at least 16 different expressions and I just kept snapping.

The best part about those shots is that they really show who he is. He’s funny and silly and five, almost six. He’s sweet and mischievous and hilarious. He’s my Little Bear, my Bub, my most handsome boy.

I thought he was so big last year. Here’s a comparison shot in chronological order- 2009 (3, almost 4), 2010 (4, almost 5) and 2011 (5, almost 6).

And a full body comparison, again 2009, 2010 and finally 2011

Are you also in disbelief that time slips by this fast? And how quickly kids change?

The school picture came back terrible. I don’t know the company that does them for my town, but it doesn’t matter. They plop your kid in front of a green screen, tell them to say “cheese” and go to the next in line. I got back a proof of this horribly forced expression in front of 7 different digital backgrounds, each uglier than the last. I say this not to bash green-screens or school pictures but because I realize that I am blessed. I am blessed to be able to take pictures and treasure them. I am blessed to take pictures that I LOVE.

I love that I can see his personality in these. I find that as he gets older, all that I have to remember his past with are the pictures I have. Sometimes I have a memory and think OH! If I just had my camera then…. If I just had taken some pictures. If I could just SHOW you how it was, how we were, how life was lived then… If I had just taken some pictures….

If I had just taken some pictures, I could hold that memory one more time.

I think that’s why I get so wrapped up in my work. I really believe in what I do. It sounds so cliché to say it out loud (or type it out loud, as the case may be)…. But that’s what it comes down to. My life has never been lived in front of a green screen. Life is lived in everyday moments. Here are some unconventional shots of a trip I just returned from. I will never ever forget this moment and how wonderful it truly was to be there.

Buy, or don’t buy, your kids school picture in front of the green screen. Hire, or don’t hire, a professional photographer to take pictures for you. But DO… absolutely DO…. take pictures and capture your life as you live it.

Now for something a little different | Georgetown, MA Senior Photographer

2011-09-03T12:05:00.001-04:00

Hurricane Irene came through town last weekend as a tropical storm where I live. A few high winds, some rain… We were lucky not to catch the brunt of it. As it made its departure from us, I headed to a local beach to check out the tides. The wind was whipping the sand around and the surfers were out. I enjoyed shooting for fun, shooting for no reason. Just being there felt inspiring.

I am definitely not a landscape photographer. I enjoyed the challenge, though.

Who is your photographer? | Georgetown, MA Senior Photographer

2011-08-21T13:24:00.001-04:00

Sometimes it’s hard for the untrained eye to see all the issues that a trained photographers eye can see. First and foremost, your photographer should be able to see and read light. There should not be massive shadows across the face. There should be light in the eyes. The color of the skin should be true to life. And the picture should be edited (and by “edited”, I do not mean thrown into Picnik and changing the saturation levels from normal to eye blinding). That is a huge one. If your photographer hands you your pictures on a CD without editing them, you need to run away. Far away. Shooting is only about 25% of the work, editing/culling/organizing is the other 75%.

I can already hear the shoot-and-burners (You know, those “photographers” who use their low-end cameras to take pictures, then throw them immediately on a CD and sell them for pennies to the dollar) screaming about how editing is “fake” and their artistry can be seen without the use of Photoshop! If anyone says this to you, I again advise you to stay far, far away.

Photoshop and Lightroom are digital tools that now replace the wet darkrooms we had in film days. In film days, the film had to be developed by hand and that was an art in itself. Then the printing of the pictures in the darkroom was an intricate process where you learned to manage exposure, light, brightness, contrast, and highlights and shadows. The digital age is no different and while getting the picture correct in-camera is a necessity, it is also a necessity that the pictures tonal ranges and WB are managed in proper editing software.

So enough of my preaching about good photographers v. bad. I want to do a quick tutorial on editing outdoors when there is a lot of green bouncing everywhere. It can be tricky to manage white balance when your shooting around a lot of grass and trees because the green can be overwhelming. Here is my SOOC and my final:

As you can see, there is a lot of green to manage and the temperature from shooting in the shade is very cool. Very first thing that needs to be dealt with is getting correct White Balance in your RAW editor (You ARE shooting RAW, right?!)

Using the WB tool, don’t bother clicking on the white area of the shoulder which seems like the obvious choice. It’s pure white, right? Well, your in the shade and that white is really blue. Click on the shadow part of the white of the shirt. In the shade, that will look blue/purple (as noted in the screen shot above. You can see the WB tool rendering the white as a very blue-ish purple.) Clicking on that part of the shirt, I got a much warmer picture and that immediately brings you closer to where you need to be. It brought me TOO yellow, so I slid my temp slider back towards the cool side just a tad. Important to note: Look where my tint number is: +23 for magenta! Usually, my tint stays around 0. However, when your in the shade and that close to the grass, you will definitely need to watch your tint to compensate for all that green.

I’m done with Lightroom, now. For me, Lightroom is more of an organization tool than an editing tool so I’m moving on to PS now. Export out. First thing in PS is sharpening, cropping, Portraiture.

I want to take some cyan out of the green, deepen it and make it a more true green. Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color. This is where artistry/your eye comes into play. I worked on most colors individually. Remember your primary colors and how green is made (yellow plus blue) and change THOSE colors before fussing with green. The exact combination is not important because it will be different for every picture. You might need to mask skin. Play around!

Soft light @30%

Next is some selective burning with the burn tool and selective saturation with the sponge tool. I never set either of these tools at more than 3% and always always do them on their own layer so that you can reduce opacity.

The rest is touch ups. Under eye bags fixed with the patch tool. Cloned out the bit of sky in the upper left corner. Her skin was pretty red/orange from tanning so corrected that a bit. And that’s it! And here’s the final shot.

Becca | Georgetown, MA Senior Photographer

2011-08-12T15:56:00.002-04:00

Stunning Senior- Georgetown, MA Senior Photographer

2011-06-07T21:30:00.003-04:00

Tis’ the season - Senior picture season! Congrats to all the 2011 graduates! I am now booking over the summer for 2012 graduates…. It is never too early to get them done as most yearbooks require your picture by late September/early October.   I am still looking for a male senior rep in Georgetown and both male and female in Ipswich and Topsfield. Senior reps get a free session and free prints with me simply for telling their friends about me!
I love this location. I shot the beautiful Melania and I love the variety of expressions and locations that we got to do. A little urban, a little traditional, a lot modern. Very fun!

Thank you, Melania and family, and of course to my colleague Kevin Berube! To kick off the senior season, I’d like to run a simple contest for this grad. For every 10 blog comments that this post receives, Melania will receive a free 5x7!   (Each comment must have a unique, valid name and email address. The contest ends on Sunday, June 12)

Senior Portraits - Georgeown, MA Senior Portrait Photographer

2011-04-26T14:25:00.000-04:00

I am currently looking for senior reps in Georgetown, Rowley, Beverly and Ipswich. I will only pick two seniors from each city and this is a FANTASTIC deal.

BACK! ~ Boston, MA Photographer

2011-04-17T23:41:00.001-04:00

So can I quietly sneak back in here and pretend like I never left? :) Aside from winter being my slow months, graduate school is just kicking my butt. I don’t really have much focus for anything besides school and my internship lately. But, that’s all about to be over very very soon! Wrapping up my 2nd year, 3.7 GPA - it’s an amazing trip. The internship was way harder than I expected and very demanding. But, I think I’ve come through it on top, with tons learned and that’s all I can ask. In case anyone was wondering, I did social work services working with low-income populations in their homes/community. It was challenging, and interesting, and overwhelming all wrapped in one. I am not really supposed to talk much about it due to HIPPA laws, so that’s about the extent of what I can say. Next year will be my final year, and I will be in the 8% of single mom’s that achieve master’s level educations! It’s the statistic that sticks in my mind, pushes me forward, and doesn’t let me quit.

And, my sweet boy…. He is doing well also. He’s really outgrown pre-school (this is his 3rd year that is about to complete) and is looking forward to graduating in June. He has been at his preschool pretty much since they opened. Since he is a December baby, he is on the older end of things, so he is really really just done with the curriculum and format there. He will miss his friends and teachers, but he will tell you about how he will not miss nap time, not even a little :)

And, I might just completely fall apart at his graduation from there, but that’s OK. It’s hard to believe that I am a mom to an almost-kindergartener. I still feel like he’s such a baby in so many ways. But so grown up in so many ways too. These pictures make me happy and sad at the same time. Who knew parenting was such a roller coaster?

In business news, I am looking for new seniors and senior reps. Senior reps get a FREE session with me in exchange for telling their friends about me. I will only take on 1 boy and 1 girl for this offer, so please email me ASAP if you know someone who would be interested in this. info@kellylindseyphotography.com. Additionally, I’ll be running a spring/summer special TBA on the blog sometime in the next couple of weeks!

Charity Auction - Boston, MA Photographer

2011-01-27T12:20:00.001-05:00

I am ridiculously happy to be donating to a cause that is so dear to me. I should rephrase that, as it’s really the people that I can help make happy by donating, that I am so proud of. The cause is certainly amazing (a scholarship fund for Beverly, MA high school seniors!), but the people involved are the most amazing, wonderful, generous, good-hearted people.

Let me tell you about these people. At the center of this scholarship fund is one man. I never got to meet this man, but I can tell you about him. I actually had to write and re-write that sentence… he was only 23, and the stories I know of Chris Lopez are of his childhood. The way that I got to know Chris Lopez was by stories told to me by his auntie Heather (my best friend), stories of a child growing up, loved so, SO much, by his family and friends. The stories I heard were of a child, his good nature, his amazing way with children, his huge circle of friends, his love and respect for his mother, and his charming smile and the way he put everyone around him at ease. I heard stories from his aunt of Chris being the first grandchild in the family, the little boy that everyone loved and wanted to be around. Stories of babysitting and changing his diapers. More recently, the stories became about a child who was growing into a man, going off to college to chase his dreams all the way across the country.

Chris passed too soon from this world. The people that he left behind are good, amazing people. The scholarship fund is setup by his mother and friends to honor one Beverly High School graduate every year in Chris’ name. If you would like to donate to the cause, or attend the event, check out the news article for more information:

http://www.salemnews.com/local/x530790259/Scholarship-dance-planned-in-Beverly-residents-memory

or their facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelly-Lindsey/104710054083#!/event.php?eid=149729241739994

I knew that the best way for me to donate was to offer my photography services. I think that having pictures, and memories, of our loved ones is reinforced when we experience tragedy. I’m happy to offer a $250 gift card to the auction winner, to be spent in Chris’ name, in Chris’ memory. Tomorrow would have been his 24th birthday. Cheers, in Chris’ name, and RIP.

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Is it 2011 yet?

2010-12-31T23:23:00.002-05:00

I had a great 2010. As I was creating this slideshow of the best pictures I took this year, I was taken aback as to how much we did this year. And how much can change in just a years time. I am so thankful that I captured these moments. I think it’s cliche now to say that as a photographer, but god… I feel that SO deep in my soul. I am so thankful I captured these moments!!!
When I think of what it is that I want for a New Years resolution, and in general, out of this life- I don’t think I desire much more than what I have now. How hyper aware I am of what I have as being more than enough. I watched my best friend in the world lose her 18 month old to cancer only 4 years ago, and then six months ago, lose her 22 year old nephew. Life is about living and enjoying the time we have here, with each other and never taking one moment for granted… It brings me the greatest joy to take pictures of it all. And to be able to look at a picture from something and have that exact emotion rush through me once again.
And on the flip side of the tragedies of life- I get to document births. How I love that. Tonight, New Years Eve, my good friend Melissa is giving birth to her first baby and as I type this, she is having her very first moments as a mom. How very very excited I am for her! I love you, Meliss!
And so here it is. Best of 2010, mostly personal but tried to include most clients I had this year, in chronological order- Music by Coldplay. Enjoy.. :)

This Holiday Season…

2010-11-29T19:40:00.001-05:00

I adore this picture!! I don’t have the perfect house, or the perfect tree… but I have the perfect picture. We have our health, we have our happiness… and life is good! THIS is why I love photography. THIS is what I will frame and put on my walls every Christmas! After thinking about it, I thought- this would be a GREAT special to run. And I want to make it affordable at this time of the season. So, this is what I came up with.

This is a one-of-a-kind deal that might only appeal to a small number of people…. and I’m OK with that :) I feel like it would be such a fun thing to offer every year, and I do hope there is interest!

To receive more information and to book a session, follow these 3 easy steps.

Fantastic Fall Family –Boston, MA Family Photographer-

2010-11-06T21:01:00.001-04:00

So I didn’t put up a sneak peak for this family. I’m making up for it now.

Happy Birthday- Part II |Boston, MA Family Photographer|

2010-10-30T14:02:00.001-04:00

So I don’t normally do two blog posts for one session nor do I usually blog twice in one day, but both of those things will be happening today :)

This first one is a follow up to Lance’s Birthday, found here. The session was so big and I worked so hard for so many families on this one day, that it felt like several sessions wrapped up in one!

Check out my first time ever creating a panoramic! I love it!

And some of the party guests!

One of my most favorite shots from the day. Really wanted to surprise this one in their gallery, but I can’t hold it to myself anymore :)

And good news for the party guests- Being members of my moms group, you get the Haverhill Moms group discount of 20% any portraits from the party that you purchase from me :) Use the code 20OFF at checkout! Sara will be in touch with you regarding the password to the gallery within the next week. Thanks again Sara and family!

Coming up next: A great family fall session, blogging later today!

Lance’s Birthday | Boston, MA Event Photographer

2010-10-25T22:52:00.001-04:00

You know what I love? I love when people cherish pictures. I sometimes wonder if I am crazy for taking so many pictures, for spending so much time shooting and uploading and downloading and editing and posting. But why do I do it? Because I absolutely love the joy it brings, not just to me, but for other people to see and share my experiences.

And that all sounds cliche, I know… But sometimes I just stop and think about how much I LOVE what I do. I think about both my photography and my schooling and my son- and everyday, I do what I love!! How great is life, seriously?

So that is why when I shot this birthday party, I was excited. It is not that often that people hire a photographer to shoot their child’s birthday party. And after shooting these pictures and processing some of them, I am so hyper aware of how awesome it is- How amazing that this family will have this session forever? On their mantel, in an album- just an entire memory of the day to have, hold, share, enjoy, cherish, and remember. Because at the end of the event, what else do you have? I cannot say enough good things about this family- I just totally enjoyed their company and loved this shoot. LOVEEEED :) I hope you enjoy these pictures, Sara, Lance and Mark… and everyone reading.

Thank you, for being you, Sara…. And Happy Birthday, Lance.

My Favorite Boy- Boston, MA Family Photographer

2010-10-23T14:53:00.001-04:00

My favorite favorite favorite boy in the world is getting really big. He is almost 5 (coming up in December!). How weird is that to say out loud- “I have a 5 year old.” AHHH. And I just turned 28… time goes by so quickly. He is in his third year of preschool! He has been going to the same preschool since he was nearly 2… almost exactly 3 years ago. (Different curriculum every year, of course.) And next year- kindergarten!

He has PCS… big time. (Photographer’s Child Syndrome). Symptoms include:

ruining an otherwise lovely shot with this kind of expression:

Refusing to smile:

And excessive silliness.

I still heart all of those pictures.. I really, really do!! There is nothing more rewarding in my photography journey than being able to have pictures that I truly love of my own child. I don’t have to troop to Sears and have a wrinkled backdrop and 10 minutes of a teenager going “say chheeeessse”. I get real emotions and real expressions… and real personality.

And there’s dancing and opportunity and laughter. I can see who he is when I look at these pictures. In these next shots, I asked him to dance for me. He loves to do the robot.. all while saying “I’m a robot. I’m a robot” and coming after you like a ninja robot. It technically constitutes as dancing because he wiggles his butt while he does it.

And as the sun went down, the moon came out… during that tiny moment of the day when the sun and the moon are out at the same time? And our conversation is always the same- “Mom, the moon is FOLLOWING us!!!” (This shot is so imperfect… it’s dark, it’s grainy, he fades into the trees… it might not be in focus… I still love it.)

“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” -Anton Chekhov

Editing - Boston, MA family photographer

2010-10-17T21:55:00.001-04:00

I did a session about a month ago (twins’ session) for a fellow photographer. What’s wonderful about shooting another photographer is the true appreciation for the art, the understanding of how much work goes into it, and the ability to have in-depth conversations about lighting, exposure, posing etc. The family was so nice- I promised mom that I would share my editing tips and what better way to do that than to use one of her images from her session!

This is the SOOC (can these boys be any cuter!!)

A little sharpening..

A little soft light..

A touch of brightness

A fill layer to soften it all

Play with different colors to get different results. I like a baby blue. After you choose your fill color, drop down and choose “lighten” from your blending mode. Then drop the opacity to taste. Remember that less is more. I also mask back the eyes usually.

Next, I play with levels- for this particular shot there were zero blacks (you can tell by how hazy the picture is how much blacks will be there) so I brought those in a bit. As a rule of thumb, you want to bring your black slider (in most pictures) in to the place where it touches your “hill”. I’m not a huge fan of contrast and heavy darkness in pictures, so I do about midway. I also lightened the midtones just a smidge to lessen the shadow on his face.

Next I ran Portraiture on its own layer, and lowered opacity to about 30%. I just use the default settings for that. Before and after!

~Tyler~ | Boston, Ma Senior Photographer

2010-09-20T20:58:00.001-04:00

So, Tyler used to be the little kid that lived next door to me. Suddenly, he’s a senior in high school and all grown up! I miss living next door to this family- they are such fun people. They were one of my very first clients when I started out two years ago! I couldn’t narrow down what to share, so I’m sharing a lot. And I still have soooo many more to go. This session was SO fun.

I like the serious faces.. :)

Tyler brought his girlfriend Kimmy with him to the session. They are really cute together!

And the last pictures as the sun went down…

Thomas & Samuel – Boston, MA Family Photographer

2010-09-06T22:46:00.001-04:00

(Love this song, it goes so well with this session!)

So I travelled up to NH to photograph these gorgeous little boys over the weekend. Twins, they are, but you have to look closely to notice the details of their alikeness. One is fair and the other is sandy haired. Both are sweet in their nature. In the short time that I got to know them, I saw their personalities and I saw these little people that have clear likes and dislikes, and a mom and dad who dote over them!

Two little boys- so different in how they look, but then they turn and hold the same pose… Thomas was happy to sit with the balloon. He was happier when we let it go and we said bye to it!

These boys look fantastic in black and white..

Loved this session! Thank you Arnoldy family!!

New Kittens, New Lens, New Schedule!

2010-08-31T23:17:00.001-04:00

ISO 1600, F2.8, SS1/125, 75mm

My life has been more than hectic this summer. It just hasn’t seem to slow down much but I can’t complain! My house is in order, doctors appointments for both of us are all caught up on, my photo business has flourished with a new website, new clients and fancy blog.. and I am pretty ready to start my second year in grad school. My internship starts in two weeks! I don’t know how much I can publicly say about the agency- but I will be doing in-home therapy for families/teens with mental health crisis’. I am both excited and a little terrified- I have never held a professional level job like this before! My prior work experience is hands on work with individuals in group homes- but it’s always been the grunt work. This is why I am going to graduate school though- to move beyond that and hopefully to greener pastures.

With that in mind, my business will be taking a back seat. I will be taking a very limited number of clients through October (perhaps one or two more for October, September is booked), and from November forward I will be putting families on hold and only accepting newborn requests. I’m sure to hold a newborn special at that point, so if you are due then, please inquire now so I can ensure your spot!

ISO 1600, F2.8, SS1/125, 75mm

Yes those are ADORABLE KITTENS! These shots were taken with my new lens, that I’m SO excited to have! I have thus far shot, and built my entire business upon, my little 50mm 1.8 lens. For those not so knowledgeable about photography stuff, the “nifty fifty” is a prime lens (it cannot zoom) that is your very basic beginners lens. It’s nothing fancy, costs less than $100.00 and is very light weight! I finally invested in me (go me!) and purchased both my new website (now at www.kellylindseyphotography.com) and my new lens (a tamron 28-75mm 2.8!). Of course, the day it was mailed to me, I had this crazy back spasm that had me flat on my back for 3 days straight. The only thing I could do besides cry in my cereal was take pictures of these little kittens that would climb up my bed to visit me! Luckily, I had family to take Caleb for 2 straight days while I just laid there (watching TV for 2 straight days is really not as fun as it sounds!). But the kittens totally made me smile and I enjoyed their company.

ISO800, F2.8, SS 1/125, 75mm

Lastly, I said my next blog post would be about my Maine vacation. And it really needs to be :) If only I were further along in processing those 400 photo’s! I have a few to share, though, and it was an absolute blast. Caleb, last year and this year:

Wrestling (I totally waded in up to my neck with my camera! :O Remember how I said the 50mm doesn’t zoom… ? )

Caleb tubing with Becca (why does this picture make me cry every time I see it?? I don’t know if it’s just the happiness from him or how big he is getting or how his face lights up every time he talks about Becca… but this picture totally does it for me!)

the older kids tubing

OK I thought I was done, but at the end of my card, I had taken pictures of something that I have to share with everyone. I have a group of aspiring photographers that I mentor- they are really the best group of women. I could not have hand picked better people to just be around. I got the sweetest package in the mail from them- two newborn hats, lovingly knit by the fantastic Janete Mannis of J. Mannis Creations.

I want to thank every single one of them, for thinking of me, and supporting me. And I just love you guys! <3 Someone please book a newborn with me so that I can use these fantastic hats!!

Henry’s First Birthday | Boston, Ma Children’s Photographer

2010-08-18T01:04:00.006-04:00

So I got to shoot my first official birthday party over the weekend. My friend, and fellow photographer Jennalle Dunn (www.jennalledunn.com), planned the best day for her little man. The location was fabulooouuuus. A huge yard, with plenty of shade for cooking out, lots of room for people to hang out.

All the little details were beautiful

He thoroughly enjoyed his cake smash!

This was such a great day. I wish I had hired someone for my son’s first birthday. I hope you love these like I love them.

Scott Danger | Boston, Ma Newborn Photographer

2010-08-14T00:28:00.001-04:00

I just love saying his name- Scott Danger. Hi there, Scott Danger here. Danger… Scott Danger. It’s a beautiful thing to have your four year old name their baby brother and my friend Katie is just cool enough to do it.

“We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.” - Woodrow Wilson

Dream peacefully, Scott.

Fix-It-Friday plus other stuff!

2010-08-08T00:25:00.001-04:00

So I’ll start out with the fix it friday stuff. I Heart Faces hosts this every week and it’s a great community if you enjoy photography. Lots of talent there. I was SOO pleased last week when they recognized my last blog post found here, and posted it on their facebook fan site, found here. Check them out!

Here is the straight out of the camera (SOOC)

First things first, crop to 8x12 ratio, unsharp mask (USM) @ 60, 1.3, 0

Tackle white balance and exposure first and foremost. I’m going to start with the WB because I know for this photo it’s going to affect my exposure greatly. His face is close to blown, and I know that when I correct the cyan and bring it warmer, that red channel in his face will go completely out of gamut. You can tell that it’s on the cool side of WB several ways. First, I can see a lot of shade/shadows in this photo and cameras pick this up as cyan. (Think: sun is warm, shade is cool). Second, I can eyedropper click the whites of his eye and see they are in the blue spectrum.

Note that this trick isn’t always accurate. The whites of eyes are NEVER completely white. Especially in children who tend to have a light blue hue to the whites of their eye. You have to take a lot of photo’s and look at the whites of a lot of eyes before you can start to differentiate when your seeing a natural soft blue hue in the whites of an eye, or a cyan eye.

So… naturally the next step is to correct that and I used my own action, warmer, which looks just like this:

Its a simple curve layer adjusting the red and blue channels.

Next I used the patch tool to fix some blemishes (I didn’t bother with the under eye bags for this shot) and then did a little portraiture since it’s my new toy (thanks Sarah! ;) )

I noticed after I corrected the WB that the red channel did, in fact, blow. I then eye dropper clicked on an area of skin I thought was good looking, duplicated the background layer, then simply used the paint tool and painted on the skin that was blown (the side of the nose, the hands). Then lowered the opacity of the layer to like 15%.

Last step is personal for me… I really love blue fill layers. It makes a picture hazy and sweet. Some people dislike them, and that’s fine, just skip right over this part! To do the fill layer, just go to Layer>New Fill Layer> Solid Color and choose a soft blue. Then in your layers panel, drop down your blending modes and choose “lighten”, then drop the opacity to taste. I think mine was at 15%.

And here’s our SOOC and Final.

SOOC

Final

And in other news- I just returned home from a MUCH needed vacation! I am still trying to catch up from my last session as well as update the blog and get my PDF pricing to those that have requested it. My summer digital sale has ended and I will be posting my end of summer special very soon. It will coincide with a new portrait package that I’m offering and I am very excited about this package- it will have a gallery wrap canvas and a storyboard offering in it and when those items come in the mail, they totally take your breath away.

Oh and the image boxes that come with the digital collection- to die for!! This is from my most recent order. I design the entire box by hand:

and the following order, I went for something bolder (I blotted out their name as they wished me to do so in their contract)-

I’m going to be expanding the image box into some of the print packages so that this is available for anyone who goes the print route for their order. After seeing it in the mail, I knew it was a keepsake that would generate a lot of interest and most importantly, it is timeless.

Next post up will be my vacation photo’s- I can’t wait to share them. I vacation in a tiny town north of Augusta, Maine every year and I lovvvvvvve that everyone makes it a priority to go every single year and how lovely it is to be with each other. My family is BEAUTIFUL and I am not biased in the least and I could really go on and on about them (and probably will in my next blog post! :) ) I want to just post a couple that I’ve edited so far.. This bridge is at least 30 feet high and my cousins have no fear.

I really wish I had a wider angle lens to be able to take in more of the environment there. So there’s my big long update blog post. Will post more vacation shots as I get them edited!!

Littlest Hero - Boston, MA Family Photographer

2010-08-03T01:15:00.001-04:00

Before I leave on my mini trip, I wanted to get this post up here. It’s been on my to-do list for an entire week. So now its almost 1am the night before I have to leave and I realized I still hadn’t done it :) So here it is! Enjoy this family, like I did. I hope I could convey what I saw- this family as a unit, a mom so in-tuned to her daughter, a sweet son that couldn’t have been more polite… just a family you hope to get at any session. Thank you, Alexis for opening up to me and letting me take your pictures.

Thanks to

for making the session possible for millions of children with special needs. They are a fantastic organization, so please check them out if you have a moment.

And also to

for sponsoring Random Act of Kindness Week. So get in on it… what’s your random act of kindness this week?

Four and a Half

2010-07-21T11:50:00.001-04:00

Sometimes, having a four year old drives me a little crazy. I am sure I’m not alone in this. It’s this age where you have this child, who is still your baby, acting like a sassy sixteen year old. I have been told “I told you so”, “Ya right”, “I don’t THINK so” too many times to count this year. And the lovely one that he picked up from my own mother.. “Don’t even think about it.” Isn’t it great when they turn those phrases around and throw them back in your face? Or, even better, when they say it to a complete stranger in the grocery store and you pray for a sink hole to open up, right there in the produce section?

Even with all that…. quirkiness….. there is something so amazing and wonderful for every age. As he learns more and more advanced vocabulary, it still comes out wrong half the time. Such as, our favorite book to read at bedtime is Where’s Waldo? and Hop on Pop. In our house, it is called “Where’s Walder?” and he’ll “give me a mint” when I’m trying to guess where Walder might be at. Ice cream is still “I fream” and he still says “I la you” instead of I love you. He has been telling me lately, “that doesn’t make any sense, mom!”. He named a caterpillar “cocoa rockstar” today and is keeping him in a jar in our kitchen. He laughed uncontrollably at a woman in Where’s Walder because “she’s wearing a yellow shirt!”. He still sleeps in my bed.

I’ve always prioritized him. Even though I’m a single mother, I’ve still managed to be a stay at home mom, and I’ve always worked around HIS schedule. If he is at dad’s house, I work. If he is at preschool (2 days a week), I work (and go to school). It hasn’t been easy, nor are we rich. But because I limit how much I work (and go to school), I increase how much time I’ve gotten to spend with him. And when will I ever get this time back? Have you ever sat down to really think about how each day passes, each moment passes, each night passes… and we never get it back? I don’t want to ever lose sight of how important our time spent is.

As I enter the very last year of being a stay at home mom with him, (I really can’t believe he will be going to Kindergarten a year from now!) I am so saddened that it’s coming to an end. I know I should look forward to new beginnings and I do… but the days of playing in the yard, taking walks and bike rides, cooking lunch together, eating ice cream out of the carton at noon… are all coming to a close. So, I think this is about as personal as I have ever gotten on this blog, but the love for your children should never be underappreciated. Every day is a gift and it’s not a given. Hug your babies tonight!

Fix it Friday, July 9th!

2010-07-09T20:15:00.001-04:00

Time for another Fix-it Friday with I heart Faces.

Here’s the picture, straight out of the camera (SOOC)

I don’t love the tilt, but when I rotated it, cloning and patching was proving REALLY difficult so I’m going to move on from that. First thing, white balance and exposure. Her skin is blue from sitting in the shade. So to warm her, I used a curves layer bumping red and yellow to counteract the cyan and blue.

It’s actually still pretty cool, so I duplicated my warm curve layer by pressing CNTRL J. It was TOO warm after that, so I lowered the opacity to about 60%.

Next, the issue of exposure. She’s underexposed and needs to be brightened. I decided to go with a screen light layer this time, which brightens and lightens.

I had lowered the opacity to about 50%, screen light layers are pretty powerful. Next, I wanted to bring out the colors, so I ran my color popping action, Popper.

You can do it by hand by selecting different colors in the scene and playing with hue/saturation. Next, I want to further pop the image by selective contrast, which I’m going to achieve by using my burn tool, set on “shadows” at 3%. It’s important to do this on its own layer so that your in control of how strong you want it to be.

Then, before flattening, I dropped down and chose “soft light” for my blending mode and brought the opacity down to 55%.

Beyond white balance, exposure, and contrast (the basics), I like to do a few creative things. It varies on my mood, the picture, and … my mood. :) I decided to try out a radial blur (at 25% opacity), and I masked her back in.

Right now, I think my processing is pretty harsh. Some will like the heavy contrast and pop, I prefer to mute some of it, make some haze. To do that , I flattened. Layer>New Fill Layer> Solid Color. And from there, I chose a soft blue.

This will cover your picture entirely in that blue. So, to alter that, just choose “lighten” and drop the opacity. I went with 33% opacity and 62% fill. I think I’m about done now. Here is the SOOC and my final.

SOOC

My Final

A Sweet Newborn on a Hot Day

2010-07-06T16:09:00.001-04:00

Despite weather that has us all wishing for clothing that comes with its own central air conditioning device, the sweetest family came for a shoot yesterday.

Baby A was only 8 days old and absolutely perfect in every way.

He was so bendy and poseable at 8 days old. A testament as to why it’s important to bring them young! These shots would not have been possible at an older age.

And this is about the only age when double chins are cute. And I think he knows it. ;)