Hey Girl, Nice Shot

Matilda Jane is Everywhere

It seems I can't visit a children's photography blog without seeing Matilda Jane Clothing on the little girls!  And why not - they are so CUTE!   My own Matilda Jane order just arrived this week and I couldn't wait to grab Abby and take her into the backyard in one of her outfits!  Today I took her and several outfits to the Mercer Botanical Gardens but I haven't had time to get to those picture yet but here is one of the few I took the other day in my backyard.  Doesn't she look like a little doll?  Anyway, if you are a children's photographer definitely turn your clients on to this line of girls clothes (and they have stuff for mom too!).  You'll have a wait for the clothing to arrive (about a month out right now, I think) but you'll forget all about the wait when you open that box!  I hope to get to proof some more pictures this weekend (and I have upcoming shoots with some other families with some of these clothes) but in the meantime here are some other places I've seen the Matilda Jane Clothing recently:

• Jessica Strickland:Theh McGee Family
• Madison Ave Photography: Catalog Shoot
• Leah Profancik: The Twins

And see more pictures at the Matilda Jane Blog - because everyone has one!

Sunset Picture - Constructed

Last night I had a sunset shoot with a really fun group of kids ages 4, 6, and 8.  We had a good time running around the park, and we couldn't have asked for better conditions.  On of my favorite pictures was a picture of all three kids near the edge of a pond.  Originally I had hoped to get all three kids looking out over the pond but the youngest was kinda all over the place.  As it turns out I ended up loving this picture because she is not looking out like the other two because she is definitely different from them.

So, here's the picture straight out of the camer with power lines and all.  Shot in RAW I did tweak the conversion settings a bit.  ISO 100, SS 200, F-stop: 3.5, 50mm, no flash.

So, the first thing I did was get rid of those darn power lines.

Next, I ran the Boutwell Studio Totally Rad Action: Oh Snap! which gives the picture a contrast and saturation boost while defogging it.  I dropped to opacity of the action group down to 30% though because I really just wanted a little bit of a boost.

Next, I ran the Boutwell Studio Totally Rad Action: Warm It up Kris.  I dropped the opacity of this layer to 67% (really, I just eye ball these things).  I also applied a layer mask to take some of the warm back out of the grass so it wouldn't end up orange looking.

Next, I created a curves adjustment layer to bring up the midtones a little bit to lighten up the faces mostly.

Finally, I ran Nik Color Effect filter for Brilliance and Warmth on the picture.  This intensified the warmth of the picture to highlight the sunset and gave the color a pop too.  I used a layer mask to back some of the color off the children's faces where I felt the effect was too strong.

Finally, I felt that the picture was a little too centered so I cropped out a bunch of the left side.  The "finished" product which was used for the client sneak peek:

Portrait Busy Season

If you are a children's portrait photographer...October is a REALLY busy month as families start getting their holiday portraits scheduled.  If you are in HOUSTON you are extra busy because the weather is just becoming reasonable for outdoor pictures.

So I've been a little slow posting here because, well, I've been really busy taking pictures, speaking at Mom's groups, and processing orders.  Lots to share so I'll be back soon, promise!

Video Share: Baby Pictures

I hope to someday make a video showing the process for doing an in-home photo shoot to show moms what I can do and what they DON'T need to do (ie. clean up ahead of time). It turns out that the photographer in this video did just that: a shoot in a cluttered room with minimal equipment and clean black background pictures.  The video totally reminds me of myself when I get a bug about taking pictures of my kids at home.  I race around to set everything up.  Get the baby dressed or undressed as the case may be, and snap some quick pictures.

12 Tips!

Today in my inbox I had my Photojojo newsletter. This week they are linking to twelve rules you are too smart to need.  I'll admit I'm not too smart and I found many of them super helpful.  Check them out yourself:

12 Essental Rule from Popular Photography