On being a 'Photo-Parent' *Pic Heavy*

    I cannot tell you the countless times people have admired the images I have taken (or J has taken) of our children. People always comment on how our kids are lucky to have photographer parents and that they must be pros by now so taking a really great image of them isn't really that difficult. This post, this one right here...the one you are reading..I am writing to debunk the theory that it is easy to take pictures of our children. Because in reality..it is anything but easy.

    I got the idea in my mind to do a super cute, very boyish photo shoot of our youngest boy, Z since he will be turning the big 2 next week. This is how it went...a story through pictures.

Here is the outfit I chose for him, cute right?

He would not sit still, this ball was the exception in the pictures I was willing to make at first

Classic...what are you doing mama?

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And a visit from the puppy...

Z thinks he looks better with his vest half on...

And now, for some reason he thinks it's time to play sleep!

Surprise Mom! I tricked you, I wasn't sleeping!

Hey mama, take a picture of my ball! (This is me catching him throwing the ball at me...)

This orchid leaf didn't taste as expected....

Ut Oh...Mama's not smiling ...

.....Better look cute for a second!

She keeps saying "Look, Z!" So I will look at the wall...hehe

I am so funny!

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Oh, she said do not touch the strobe cord...I'll have to ignore that

Lil' Stinker

This giggle, the entire time, is what makes being a photo-mom worth it. Even though it takes hours to get the shot you really adore...looking at your 'outtakes' and remembering the moments during your photoshoot is really what you will remember. Every single one of these pictures shows our little Z's personality and I would not change him for anything. He is so obnoxious, and so independent...and our little man is going to be two <3

Z

Painted Rainbow

I would like to share with you my thoughts on a recent shoot we did with Kirst. Where the idea for this came from was...well, I don't really know. I woke up one day and told J I had this idea..and it was hard to explain. But from the turnout of the images, you can see that it came out great. The headpiece was pretty simple to make, but the white pallet wasn't the easiest thing to find. We wanted something small enough that it didn't take away from the model but something big enough for the design, and wow effect we were looking for. I think this achieved that effect. We chose a white pallet because we felt it would be more fashion like than the typical brown wooden ones you find in the store and I did want to paint the wood because I did not want the wood grain design it would leave behind. We wanted a clean look...well, as clean as you can get throwing paint all over someone..

I used a simple kit set of brushes for the prop brushes. They cost me around $10 at Michael's. The paint on the headpiece [NOT the model] is acrylic so that it would harden. On the model is a combination of face paint and non-toxic Crayola kids paint. I used the tubes to the acrylic paint in the headpiece and I glued the brushes on in no particular order. We painted the models face white so that the paint would show up better in portraits. Similar to a mime effect look.

I like this creative edit I did on this shot. It brought out the color of her eyes but left the color of the paint. I think it turned out well, and it was a very fun day!

Lady Bea

Alien Invasion

So I wanted to share with you a recent shoot we did. I think it turned out magnificent. I created the headpiece using hot glue, model paint, gems, glitter and just a bit of focus and time. I created several pieces and then added them all together. I think it turned out well, however I do wish I would have made it a bit longer down the back. J and I collaboratively did the body art for this set and I think that it turned out amazing and perfectly as planned. The paint is suppose to be crackle, and look like molting skin.

Here is another view. The paint we used was silver and purple metallic tempera paint. It was sprayed with hairspray to make the crackle effort more..well effective. With any water based paint, there are a lot of touch-ups needed, cracking and peeling are to expected with sweat/water/time.  We used a brush to apply the paint. J added on the base coat of silver, then I went and swirled in the purple, and J went back over and blended with silver. It was a simple yet time consuming application. Amie [Our model here] did fantastic.

 The nails were also an addition that we felt added to the concept. They are false nails, obviously. I took two or three nails and glued them together using the nail glue provided in the nail kit. Then I trimmed the tops to be at a point and used an emery board to smooth out the 'claw'. I painted the nails with a matte model paint for the no shine effect and while wet I added a gradual glitter from the tip of the nail to the center. I wanted them to be glamorous like the rest of our design.The eyes are contacts purchased from SillyFarm.com. They were quite pricey but well worth the cost.

This was a very very fun shoot, and a great day with great people. I am excited for us to work with Amie again, and implement another fantastic concept.

Hope you enjoyed this set!
Lady Bea

Photoshoot with Cyn!

There is nothing more breathtaking then getting that one shot you can't take your eyes off of. All you think is wow, I took that? And you remember why you got into the game in the first place. Every single time we shoot with Cyn, that's how I feel with at least 1 of her shots. She is a fantastic and very pliable model and will pretty much try anything no matter how weird it sounds. So, we shot Cyn yesterday and I have a new favorite shot in my portfolio....

We have several shoots coming up, so be on the lookout for more work. This image was shot with a Nikon D90 with a 24-105 lens, 7.1 Apeture, 1/125Shutter White balance measured on a grey card then set on flash, and 100 ISO with Paul Buff strobes. I edit in Lightroom then CS5.5

Until Next Time...

Lady Bea

Photoshoot - Katzen

          Today we shot with Katzen, a model we haven't worked with before. To be honest, sometimes I get really nervous working with someone new. I guess that's only normal for anyone. Anyways, she showed up and she was ready to shoot, opened up right away and for me that was awesome. The concept of our first shoot was Flapper Girl. Here is my best shot from the look...(Jim's shots are MUCH better)

         I think that the look that Kat gave was perfect for the style. In Lightroom I did lower saturation, increase blacks and contrast, lowered opacity and adjusted the lens (added the darkening around the edge). After opening in CS5 I healed a few blemishes, nothing major, and burned the eyes a bit to help them stand out. We did three looks total..and she killed every single one of them! She is an awesome model to work with and we would recommend her! =)

  ....here is my favorite of the shoot as a whole....(so far)

I just love love love love this shot!

Until Next Time...
Lady Bea

Photoshoot Tomorrow!

So another thing I wanted to share on my blog was my photography. We own a studio called Studio 1 Eleven and since our new little man, Zachary, moving and full time school work we only seem to shoot occasionally anymore and it really stinks since we both love it so much (Jim and I). Anyways, we are shooting with a new model tomorrow so I am excited about that. I will share my best image here and tell you why I like it, how I took it etc. I hope that you will comment or give some feedback on what you think as well. In the meantime, I thought I would share an image from our last shoot. Kirst, whom is a favorite model of ours, came and shot with us and we got some really really nice shots! My favorite was one where she was wearing her latex cat woman suit.

We shot using Paul Buff Strobes
My camera had the following settings:
1/125 shutter
F9 Aperture (My camera's sweet spot)
ISO 100
WB was on Flash

Here is the image I liked best!

 

And truthfully, Kirst requires little to no editing. All I did to the image was lower the exposure a little because my camera tends to overexpose, I increased the blacks and contrast and lowered the opacity. I removed a few, and I mean a very few, blemishes. Otherwise, Kirst just looks this fantastic right out of camera! We are shooting with Kirst again in May and I suspect that I will be uploading another fantastic image then. In fact, my very favorite picture in my portfolio is one I took of Kirst. <3

Tomorrow, I will update with the shoot we are doing in the morning! Hope you enjoyed this shot as much as I do!

Until Next Time...

Lady Bea