harris family photos

today i had the pleasure of taking pictures of the harris family...here are the pictures that i've got edited so far...hopefully they will be done tonight!  i may not be the best photographer in town, but i guarantee i'm the fastest ;)  ps-amber, they'll look better on the cd too...there's something i'm supposed to do so that they look good online, but i haven't learned that part yet :)

invitations de photoshop

so, i've always dreamt of creating and printing my own invitations and photocards...a girl i used to work with created absolutely fabulous ones...and i was always so envious of her talent...so of course she's the one i went to when i needed wedding shower invitations, wedding invitations, and programs...she did an amazing job and was able to recreate those i had found online...and of course it's way cheaper to create and print your own...well now that i've got photoshop, my dreams are being realized...i know that's pitiful...that such unimportant things are realized dreams...but i'm okay with that...so when ashley asked me if i could put together brooklyn's birth announcement with a matching shower invitation, i was all over it...here is the one that they found online...

http://www.etsy.com/listing/76890858/photo-birth-announcement-baby-girl-hot

and being the uncreative person i am (i'm a doer not a creator), i set out in attempt to mimic that exact design...after about 3 hours (and looking up every single how-to step...i love you google!), this is what i had...

brooklyn's first photo shoot

i had the privilege of doing a photo shoot with little miss brooklyn yesterday...and it went better than i ever could have dreamed...she did an amazing job!  she was so sleepy and cooperative...and she didn't pee or poop on anything...that's about as good as it gets right?  as much time as i spent looking online to get tips, watching tutorials, and finding the perfect fabrics and props i just knew that i would get all the shots i wanted...but as is typical with most of my photography, i have so many regrets...shots i wish i would have taken...things i wish i would have realized or paid more attention to during the shoot...for instance, they say never take pictures looking up the baby's nose...got plenty of those...most of the great pictures you see online are of the baby's whole body...that didn't cross my mind so much...i got a few which turned out okay, but not like deb's (the woman who rebecca and i took our photography classes from)...granted deb has been doing this for 25 years and is amazing, but why can't mine be just like hers after only one session?!  i must come to terms with the fact that i'm not a born natural and that i might just have to work at becoming even semi-professional...so here are pictures of mine and brooklyn's very first baby shoot...enjoy!

my husband...such a champ...

so, corbin and i went out this morning trying to find good light and good locations for a family shoot i'm doing next weekend...fortunately, it was partly cloudy, so you could take pictures almost anywhere with no harsh lighting to worry about...unfortunately, it was partly cloudy, so i couldn't tell where i would or would not be able to take pictures if the sun is out next saturday and not too many catch lights...which makes the pictures a little boring right?  and i shot the whole time with a 3.2 f-stop...on the one close up you can tell it had great focus...the other shots not so much...note to self...stop using only 3.2!  i need to love other f-stops...especially since i'll be shooting a family...5.6 needs to be my friend...so here are the results...corbin thought they turned out really good...in his unqualified opinion...but sometimes you need a little encouragement...especially when you constantly feel like your work is pretty much a disaster...

original...no catch lights :(

  perfect portrait 3

 

velvet peach

butterscotch vintage

 original

 perfect portrait 3

 vanilla pop

 velvet peach

velvet peach then butterscotch vintage

 original

vanilla pop

original...no catch lights...again!

 perfect portrait 3

butterscotch vintage...corbin's favorite...

 original...i like the idea of this picture, but the focus is all wrong...fail!

 perfect portrait 3

vanilla pop

 original

perfect portrait 3

 original...this one had excellent focus...

 perfect portrait 3

vanilla pop...my favorite...

all in all we had a great time...he was such a great sport and did whatever i asked...and now he's by himself in the living room as i've been back here editing and posting...poor thing...off to spend time with my fantastic hubby!