Jessica, one year ago

Last year at this time Larry, Mike and I met Jessica at Helen's Garden in League City to take her Quinceanera portrait. Larry brought a couple of speedlights and umbrellas, and one of us brought a ladder. I was still trying to learn off camera flash and portraiture and Jessica needed a portrait to commemorate her coming of age ceremony in the Mexican American culture, which happens when a girl turns 15 so it was a good opportunity for all of us. She was a trooper in the August heat and let us shoot for over an hour all around the garden. Today she turns 16.

Nikon D200, 60mm lens at 2.8 and 1/320th, 2 speedlights shot through umbrellas in clamshell set up, ISO 200, shade whitebalance

What a difference a blending mode makes

I had the most wonderful shoot a couple of months ago with this adorable baby girl. I had brought a large white backdrop and didn't really know how to incorporate other backgrounds I brought, or how to effectively use the baby's home environment so ended up using the stark white in most of my images, thinking I could use some layers in Photoshop to add color and pattern...but it never looked right. I was able to add layers and change their opacity and hue but had so much trouble getting it to look good around her wispy hair and the fuzzy yarn of the blanket. Then I read Steve's post about changing the blending mode to "multiply" and when I did that the difference was incredible --- her little wispy hair reappeared, just like magic! It just reinforced to me how much I still have to learn about editing images. Thanks Steve!

Fussein Lake, Germany

Before I started learning about how to take good landscape images, I always thought a bright blue sky was perfect...now that I am a little farther down the road on my photographic journey I know that clouds make a sky much more interesting. I could take a stab at adding them with some cloud brushes in Photoshop, which thanks to my friend and mentor I do have, but decided to be real for this post! I was so happy to finally get a chance to do some shooting on our April 2007 trip to Germany after several days of flying down the Autobahn at rather high speeds. Our American friend who married a German girl and lives there now took us to Fussein to visit a castle and on the way we passed this idyllic scene. I was still shooting in jpg then.

Camera: Nikon D70, 18 - 70mm lens at f22, 1/60th, ISO 200, in jpg

Post processing: Levels adjustment layer to set black and white points, Curves for Contrast, a Selective Color layer to add cyan but reduced the opacity, Touch of light on trees, Boost action by Pioneer Woman at 40% opacity, sharpened with the High Pass filter.

Another good learning experience

I had the opportunity to photograph another child, this time 3 year old "J". I learned more about how I need to approach photographing kids who do not know me and what I should discuss with the parents before-hand. She is a very cute little girl who has strong opinions about what she wants to do or, as was usually the case this day, not do! We were having a great time towards the end but the environment was not the best for how I like to shoot, so I may have more opportunities to try again in other places. It was a great learning experience and I think this is my favorite shot from the day, even if she is rather serious. I know exactly how she feels to have that black box pointed right at you!

Nikon D200, 50mm lens at f1.8

Post processing: increased exposure and blacks in ACR, in PS cloned away umbrella strap, lightened undereye circles with the clone tool in lighten mode at low opacity, Touch of Light action on her face, Bring on the Eyes action, Curves layer in luminosity to brighten child only, CreamSickle action at 25% opacity, sharpened with the highpass filter

Sonny and Cher

"I got you babe" is what these two must be singing. It was just about a year ago I photographed these hatchlings and this is one image I had not posted. The nest remains in my hibiscus bush and I saw a female cardinal actually in it not long ago, but she did not lay any eggs and I have not seen her return.
Post processing: Used the whitebalance tool in ACR and increased blacks, in Photoshop cloned away hot spots on branches, hue/sat layer to reduce reds, Touch of Light on birds, Touch of Dark on nest, Levels for global brightness, sharpened with the Edge, Edge Downer by Kubota to darken edges. I did not increase saturation but can see the green leaves look unnatural, the morning sun was shining through them so that is the only cause I can think of.

Blue Bayou 2

Looking back in my file from this day, this shot was 20 frames before the one I posted yesterday so the heron posed for us for quite a while. This time I processed it differently, and of course left the motion blur as the heron landed.

same camera settings as yesterday
Post processing: increased exposure, blacks and vibrance in ACR, in Photoshop added a Curves layer for contrast, sharpened with the Edge, then ran Fresh and Colorful action by the Pioneer Woman and Dragon Old World Color by Kubota

Blue Bayou

My husband thinks I should post some of my older images, so this one is from November 2007. But truthfully, I owe this shot to Steve. He is the one who got me out before dawn, along Armand Bayou at Bay Area Park this time, and I saw and experienced nature like I never had while growing up in this area. This morning at first not much was happening, but the fog was interesting and the sunrise was too since I usually am not up that early to see it. And then birds started swooping around, small ones at first. I had my camera on a cheap Velbon tripod at the end of the boardwalk and was composing a shot of the fog and trees and reflections when a Great Blue Heron flew into the frame and landed on a stump in a perfect spot in the composition. He even stayed long enough for me to get several shots. Not until I processed the image did I see the bird on the bare tree branch in the background. It was a great experience and surely contributed to my enjoying nature photography so much, so thank you Steve.

Nikon D200, 70 - 300 mm f4 -5.6 lens at f10 and .4 shutterspeed, +1 exposure compensation, ISO 100, fine weather whitebalance.
Post processing: (this was done when I was just learning Photoshop!) Duplicated the background layer and cloned blur from around the heron, Curves for contrast, levels for global brightening, levels for black and white points, selective color layers to reduce blue hue, no record of sharpening at all.