Garage Light

This photo was taken the beginning of September, when I was first learning to use my camera in "Manual" mode. I had heard so much about the great light one can get in a garage, so thought I'd try it out. My children were, shall we say, less than cooperative--they ran for the street every time I would let go of them to put the camera up to my face. After 15 minutes of frustration I gave up and took them inside, but when I emptied the card later I was happy to find this one:





I can't wait until the weather warms up, so we can give the garage another try.

Newborns

Newborns are currently my favorite subject to photograph! They are always sleeping (well, except at night when they are supposed to!), don't run away, are easy to pose, fit in all sorts of cute little props, and you can photograph them pretty much anywhere without having to worry about what's in the background. Of course, they do tend to piddle on things during naked baby shots, and I have heard horror stories of babies who refused to sleep during an entire three-hour-session (!!), but my last newborn session went really well, and he slept right up until the end when he got hungry. For all my moving him around, he would occasionally open an eye to peek at me, then back to sleep he would go! So much easier than a toddler, that's for sure! :) He was so easy to work with that I tried pretty much everything I could think of and took about a million pics! Here are a few (okay, a lot!), as promised:

Baby Rocker

In December one of my friends gave birth to a little boy, Ryker. I had the honor of doing his newborn pictures, and after about an hour-and-a-half session I was getting ready to leave when baby Ryker's daddy voiced his one request for some unique photos. I'm not sure whether I will have a chance to do something like this again, but I sure hope so! It was a great idea. The irony is that my daughters are fascinated by this new baby, and my oldest one misprounces his name so it sounds more like Baby "Rocker". Coincidence?













I will post more photos of this little "rocker" tomorrow!

Playing with CS3

I recently downloaded a demo of Adobe Photoshop CS3 to see how vital it is that I buy it. It's a bit pricey, but editing is so much faster since you can use actions. I've always wanted to try out some actions, so after spending some time chasing my kids around with the new camera, I uploaded the photos and ran a few actions on them. I love the results! ...but still not sure I can justify spending $500+ on CS3! ;)


Only a couple of my oldest daughter really turned out...she wanted to take pictures of ME instead, so she ran off to dig out her toy camera.



Tried hard to get both kids in the frame, but with the 50mm you have to back up a bit--and the window was behind me. Oh well, I still like the shot for some reason.



(Note camera in front of older child's face--I cropped this one)




Okay, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this photo...I love what the urban acid action did with my little one's eyes and hair. :)


Grandma and Grandpa came over to see the girls and I took photos of them hugging and interacting.





Okay, bad crop on this one--it was composed just fine in the camera, but the woodwork in our house reflects light badly, and the door behind her was so bright it had to be removed from the photo...but isn't her expression just adorable???




This is my oldest showing off her new doll that Daddy got her while he was on his business trip.





I guess I could put CS3 on my birthday list. Hehe

Taking it for a spin

My first day of trying out the D200 with the new 50mm 1.4! I managed to bribe my 18-month-old over to her toys by the window so I could get a clear shot. Of course she was not going to look at the camera, so I pretended to cry...and not only did that make her look, but it made her laugh! Hmm...sadistic little booger!

Anyway, here it is...I considered removing the toy from the background, but since I was just playing I decided it's not worth the amount of work. :) Besides, it demonstrates the nice depth of field I can get from this lens...oooo!

Finally!!

After much anticipation, my new (used) D200 arrived at 2:00 PM today via UPS, along with my new 50mm 1.4 lens (hello camera, goodbye $$!).



iIt has been a harrowing ordeal, but after:



1. Realizing I didn't have the right memory cards

2. Trying to watch part of an introductory DVD with my children harrassing me the whole time

3. Making a trip on black-ice interstate to Best Buy to purchase two CF cards that were NOT budgeted for

4. Panicking many times about breaking everything

5. Lamenting the fact that by the time I got a card the light is GONE...yep, it's nighttime, so all I've got is lousy overhead lighting and the kiddos are in bed. :(

6. Inability to attach the lens properly--hello, mounting index???? there is none!!!

7. Testing with the old lens to make sure I wasn't crazy (okay, I am, but for different reasons)

8. Multiple checks of the manual

9. Multiple checks of the menus

10. Inability to get the computer to recognize the card in the drive......it is now 12:00 AM and I have FINALLY gotten everything working properly so that I could share with you my very first photo, taken only a few short moments ago:







*Whew!*

It's gorgeous, admit it!!!! Hahaha (I should add this is unedited--this shot was just an effort to make sure the lens would autofocus!)



Oh, and don't worry, I did not really risk my life just for the CF cards. I had to go out of town for something else and we made a detour so I could get some, but hadn't realized the roads were bad until we were on them! So I figured as long as we were out risking life and limb I might as well get my memory cards!



Can't wait to play with it some more tomorrow!

Big Excitement

I finally bought a new camera! Well, a used camera, but new to me! It and my new lens (and backdrop stand!) should be arriving tomorrow via UPS. :) I think I know what I’m going to be doing all weekend! I am very excited, and nervous too, to use a bunch of new equipment. So, who wants to be my guinea pig???

Since I’m so late getting this started, I’ll probably do quite a bit of reminiscing with a few entries. Here are some favorites from my nephew’s last session, when he turned 6 months old:

a little different processing on this one:

a personal favorite:

Welcome!

Thank you for visiting my new page! The purpose of this blog is to showcase some of my work, talk about my latest experimentations in the world of photography, and post business-related announcements. I may also spend some time entertaining my loyal fans with mindless chatter. I hope to soon have a business website as well for clients, but for now this is it.

I’m happy to share my journey into the photography business and look forward to your feedback!

Enjoy, and thanks for looking!
-Rachel