Baby Bump

This is my good friend Holly and her cute family. They are anxious to meet their little baby who should be here very soon. They are still unsure if they are going to be having a little boy or girl, but they are excited to find out! I LOVED this session... we lucked out with one clear day last week. No wind or rain got in our way. We even saw a little sun. I am so glad it's finally time for outdoor photos again! I also loved this location, the tall grass was perfect...

*Favorite*  ... though I have a lot of favorites...

Just having some fun...

You may have noticed that I kind of stopped doing the joy of LOVE class... I was having fun and all, but I just couldn't keep up every day. I know. Pathetic excuse. Anyway... I am still here and having fun with my kiddos. This photo I took the same day as I took these pictures. I am still in love with the photos from that session with my kids. I am always going back to them, imagining them on my walls all over my house. Here is a photo I haven't posted from that session, but I love it. I also used a new action that I found today... check it out, it's even free (I love free!)

Also, have you checked out [FRAMED] yet? If not head on over to their site... today the show was about two of my favorite photographers Becky Earl and Diana Palmer. They are brilliant and I loved the show! Definitely a must see. 

Day 8: Gift from the Heart.

What my loved one has given or promised me? That is the theme for today for the joy of LOVE class. I started looking around the house for gifts that my sweet hubby has given to me. I started taking some random... and kinda boring photos of stuff. I got a little bored... gift from the heart? As much as I love the things my husband has given me, these two have been the best gift ever...

My husband not only gave me the opportunity to have these two kiddos in my life... but he has made it possible for me to be a stay at home mommy. I LOVE what I do and nothing could be better.

You may or may not have noticed that I kind of skipped out of the past three days of the class.... I hope you didn't miss me too much! Sometimes things just don't get done... and that is okay :)

Day 4: What They Wear.

My kids had fun with the theme today. I pulled out all of their shoes... even the ones I put away for the winter. They had fun putting on one pair, taking them off and putting on another pair. Perfect activity for a winter day... right? ;) My kids love having a choice in what they wear. Especially shoes. Makiah wears a different pair every time we leave the house. Sometimes I have to sneak the pair that I want her to wear into the car, that way I can change her shoes when we get to where we are going. 

Today's lesson (for the joy of LOVE class) talked a little bit about metering. I find that I usually lighten most of my photos in Photoshop after I load them onto my computer. So, what I try to do is meter +2/3 overexposure (having your meter set two lines (stops) above 0). That way it exposes the photo a touch lighter than the "correct" exposure (having your meter set at 0). I took a few photos with the +2/3 exposure, but it didn't work. It was much too bright being so close to the window. So I stopped the exposure back down to 0 and it looked much better. Each time I take photos I play around with my settings and the light until it looks just how I want it. That way I can minimize editing later on... though I still like to play around in Photoshop for finishing touches. 

Understanding Exposure by, Bryan Peterson is a great book to learn more about metering, shutter speed, aperture, and getting that perfect exposure. I am always going back to this book for insight and tips that help me so much. 

(My kids had so much fun lining up all of their shoes in a row... I love that they had as much fun as I did while taking these photos :))

Day 3: Then and Now.

I decided to take a twist on today's theme... I hope that's okay :) And I am totally cheating because the picture below was a picture I took last week... not today. So, the theme for the joy of LOVE class today is: Then and Now. What Willette wanted us to do is take a "then" photo of someone we love and compare it with a "now" photo. This way we can compare the changes of the person we choose from then to now. Well... this is what I am doing, but with a twist...

I decided to take a photo from a year ago... when I was first getting started with photography. I want to compare the style of this photo to the style I am now incorporating into my photography. Both pictures were taken of my son, the top in January of 2010 and the bottom in January 2011.

Then (January 2010)

Now (January 2011)

Similarities: Evan still looks the same (he hasn't changed much at all), he is posed the same, both b&w, both taken by a north facing window (to get that yummy natural light).

Differences: In the top photo I told Evan how I wanted him posed, in the bottom photo he posed on his own. The top photo is staged in front of a black backdrop, The bottom photo was a more natural setting. I used a wide open aperture to blur out the background. The crop is different (though both are cropped in camera), the top crop is more traditional... allowing the viewer to see Evan's whole face and arms. The bottom is more... umm... abstract maybe? I like it, I like that you can only see part of his face... it's different. For the top photo I remember having Evan looking at my husband who got him to smile for me... probably by saying "say cheese!" In the bottom photo... I don't think I said a thing. I was just letting him do as he pleased and I like how it turned out. He looks like he is deep in thought. 

I love both photos. I probably always will. But I am really enjoying the change in my photography style. I am surprised at how much it has changed in only a year. I love that I can take the same person... and the same pose and get two very different photographs. 

Day 2: How They Look

I love my boy's facial expressions when I take photos of him. I have so many different series of photos of his laughs, smiles, tears, droopy eyes... etc. Here is my favorite from a series of photo's I took today for the joy of LOVE class. The theme is How They Look, and I just love how Evan looks in his hat...

There is still time to join the class :) I love to have an excuse to take pictures, edit and blog... join in, it is lots of fun!

Day 1: What They Do.

During this month I will be participating in a online photography class (YEAY!) I really, really needed something like this to keep me going through the winter. I have neglected my camera way too much lately. If you are interested in joining in on the fun this month then check out THIS link. Willette is offering a FREE online class that goes on throughout the month of February. The class is called The Joy of Love, and it gives us the opportunity to take photos of the ones we love all month long. Today was the first day of the class and the theme is What They Do. I have so many loved ones in my life that I would love to take photos of... but these two kiddos are the ones that I spend each day with (so you will probably be seeing A LOT of them during this class :)). 

One of the many things my kids do is... take a bath! Evan and Makiah love taking baths and if they had the choice they would probably stay in there for hours on end. 

The lighting in my bathroom is... no good. I set the ISO to 800 and I had my camera set to Aperture priority (Av) with the aperture set at 2.8. I changed my white balance to Tungsen light (I usually just leave it on AWB), since the lighting in the bathroom is so yellow. I would love to have a bathroom with windows... just so I could take better photos in there. I love bath time pictures of kids! 

After bath time I took these photos in my room facing the window. I wanted to get some natural light photos in the mix. After shooting off a few shots I looked at the pictures and they were BLUE (ummm change your settings Jessica!) I changed my ISO to 400 and set my white balance back to AWB and ahhh much better :) Makiah was getting grumpy so I only got some pictures of her wrinkly toes.. .she wouldn't even look at the camera. 

Head on over to check out The Joy of Love class... it will be well worth your time!