Just a "Mommy shot" today

Not technically correct in the least, just a "Mommy shot". My models are not cooperating at all as of late. He insisted on laying down! Im (sorry, my apostrophe isnt working for some reason) off to a scrapbook retreat this weekend! Yeah! 5 friends and I are going to a "craft house". Should be lots of fun! Im (you dont know how annoying this apostrophe thing is... whenever I hit it it goes down into the "find" box.... grrrrr....) going to work on an album of both Greg and I when we were little. Ive been wanting to do this for many years and finally can since Greg scanned in all his childhood photos which have been on slides. Anyway... hoping to catch up on all my photog buddies blogs this next week! Its been rather busy around here... have no idea doing what though!

Yeah!!!

My wonderful hubby made my diffusion box/panel this past weekend.  I attached the material on this morning and had some plays with it!  I think I have found a set up I like!  These are horrible shots of the boys as far as expressions go... however I have to take what I can get!  These are SOOC nothing done to them.  I think the box has solved my color cast problem as I'm not seeing any....(except for the Nikon red just a tad).   I'm hoping to start scheduling some PB sessions soon!

More panel work

I bribed everyone with suckers today. I have stooped to the level of bribery, yes.... out of all the shots of all 4 kids I liked this one the best... I also did a b/w conversion as well... kind of like the softness of the conversion, but maybe for younger child??? I think it would be good for newborn picts. Still playing with a good set up for the panel. I'm going to try a new set up hopefully tomorrow....

Still playing with diffusion panel!

And a black and white for fun!

What a couple of weeks! Haven't gotten here much! So, the Father/Daughter shoot went well! I was so blessed to have my admin assistant! Without her it would have been a disaster!!! I will post some images soon. I need to get the photo releases from my assistant... I do have to admit, I enjoy sessions much more. It was challenging to build a raport in a few minutes... especially with the young ones! I rather felt like an assembly line. Good experience though!

So, I'm still playing with my diffusion panel. I think this is the closest I've gotten. It's a bit overexposed so I've turned down the lights a bit since I took these. My meter is invaluable. SO much easier!!! I'm thinking the lighting here is a bit flat. I think I need to move my reflector. Anyway... my children are only up for posing so much... they are really sick of it right now! Maybe I need a manequin child!

All these photos are straight out of camera... nothing done but resizing. I think I'll try and shoot a few more... knock the light down just a shade and try again. I think I got rid of the yellow cast by getting closer exposure.... thinking of painting the walls gray.

Making progress!

Well, I am making progress! Here's the best of what I've worked on today... my scruffy hubby! He's in a drama at church on Sunday and he has to be scruffy... I really like this photo of him! Anyway... I'm nailing exposure which I'm very proud of. I've been working on that for a VERY long time! I wish I had gotten a light meter sooner! So now hubby is going to help me fashion a softbox of sorts to surround my big diffuser to try and get nice clear catch lights. They are fuzzy here, but I think the light looks better than yesterday. What do you think?

Oh, and this is why you get to see hubby and not a kiddo!



And a black and white for good measure... playing with my conversion technique...

Diffusion panel?

Well, I went out and got some Sport Nylon today to fashion a diy diffuser. This is my first try, but I'm not overly happy with it... I used a set up I found suggested somewhere, however, I don't like it. But, it' s a place to start! I used one strobe straight in front of him bounced into an umbrella behind the nylon (the nylon was doubled over and about 2ft by 6 ft) I used an umbrella for fill to the side, but I don't like it because of the 2nd catchlight. I'll do some more playing tomorrow! I'm struggling with how to get enough light to expose moving children correctly, but not getting the lighting too flat.

Saturday is my first paid job! I'm looking forward to it! I won't have a lot of time to post between now and then, so most likely I will update after the dance shoot!

The Pout

Here's some more white work. This is a bit putsy with having to mask and blow out the background. Looking forward to the time when I can buy an additional light and softbox so I can blow the background while shooting. Unless someone has an easier way in PS this is just way too time consuming. Kinda fun to play with an image or two though...

We have an official pouter in the family (besides me that is!) Our littlest man has perfected the expression... caught this one as this expression is usually what I get when I ask him to pose!