One last photoshoot of those amazing fall leaves

While I'm currently going crazy with Christmas decorating in the house and nothing to show for it yet, I thought I'd pay a little farewell tribute to fall in honour of the upcoming American Thanksgiving this weekend. 

I will miss our fall walks in all it's colourful splendour.

But then again, winter walks are equally as beautiful, aren't they...

Eeeee... bring it!

(2010 shot but we did get our first snowfall this past week!)

Fall vs. winter... what's your preference?

Family Photos (and some tips)~

So this weekend we had some family photos done.  Reason 1 is that Christmas Card season is soon upon us, and Reason 2 - as I mentioned in my Living Room Progress post -  is that I want to do a gallery wall, and I wanted an updated photo of the family to use in it.  And to be honest, I've also been wanting to do family portraits in an orchard for.ev.ah.  Well, when we moved a couple of months ago, we landed in an area of Utah chock full of orchards.  Can I hear a "woot woot"!? 

We traded photographic services (the Hubby, if you'll recall is a photographer) with our neice who is also a very talented photographer.  And she did a fabulous job!

Here are just a few of my faves....

And since we've been in the photo business for a while, I thought I'd offer a few tips to make your family  photos fabulous (aside from hiring a good photographer)...

• Wear solid colors...although there is a trend right now toward families wearing patterns, solid colors always look classic and draw attention to your faces which is, after all, what you're trying to capture.
• Try to avoid wearing white against your face...unless of course, you are a blushing bride, because it tends to wash you out.
• Although you don't need to be match-y, match-y coordinating outfits go a long way toward creating an attractive group photo. 
• If you're planning on having your photos done outside, book a time in the early morning or later evening.  That's when the light is best, and you'll avoid harsh shadows on your lovely faces.
• And  a personal quirk of mine is to remember that not everyone has to be smiling in a photo to make it a "good" photo.  In fact, some of those where the kiddos are goofing off or even sad are the best ones because they show life as it really is.

Most of all HAVE FUN!!! Photos are meant to bring joy, right?

Have a great day~

31 Days / day 5 - new vignettes with my top 5 photo tips

I have the chance to do a little creating for HGTV.com. They gave me a theme to work with, so I've been playing in my spare time to whip up something new for them.

And because this is a Blog to Biz series, I'll confess I'm not compensated for this. 

So why do it?

Because one day I hope to be compensated somehow someway, so I consider this my resume. :) And I love working with them!

HGTV.com does call me from time to time when they spot something on my blog they desire to feature and I love the relationship we have.

There's never even a guarantee something will be used, but some generally are so it's worth it to try.  So off we go!

Staging is one of my fav things to do. I love creating brand new takes on traditional ideas.

I liken it to pulling out all your toys and playing. :)

Playing playing playing... love how these hydrangeas dried the perfect tone for the aqua jars.

Can you guess what the theme is?

So anyway, let's learn something while we're at it.

My top 5 photo tips

1. Photo Edit

I like using Picasa the most for the blog, but will at times play in Photoshop Elements if submitting for mags. Elements is a price efficient and easier to use version of Photoshop so it's a very worthwhile investment if you're newish at all this.

In Picasa, I generally:

sharpen

lighten

play with the saturation feature (indoors I generally remove, outdoors I increase)

deepen

add a slight blue gradient to outdoor sky photos

2. Take LOTS of shots

Taking various angles of any given angle offers you more chances for the perfect shot. Just keep working that camera until you've exhausted all ideas possible.

And know... I delete MANY. It takes oodles of shots to land just a few good ones so don't be camera shy on this one. Digital is free to process so no holding back!

before

after


3. Slightly airbrush skin

Whenever I take a closeup skin shot, I ever so gently airbrush it in Picnik (found inside Picasa). Just know when to stop otherwise it'll look like... someone airbrushed you. :)

Now know, it's not that I'm trying to be super vane or anythingl. If you submit online or to mags, you want the potential 'blow ups' to look nice, not all... whatever. Ya know?

 Others add lemons to their vases... so I added some clothespins and raffia into the water just for a fun twist. :)

4. A covered patio offers awesome diffused light

Taking shots on my covered patio offers the best light. It's diffused and generally always weather safe. However I'll totally admit if it were sunny the day I took these photos, they'd turn out a little crisper. (you'll see a sample below) Weather plays a huge part when you shoot on (ahem) automatic it seems. :)

5. A brighter day makes for better pics

Well look who joined me...

Take a look at this photo. It's taken on that somewhat gloomy overcast day. 

FYI: I didn't add a blue sky gradient to this one because of the patio roof being present, otherwise I would have. White skies tend to wash out a photo.

Here's a shot on a slightly brighter day. There are more highlights on Teddy's fur and the image is also sharper.

But my kitten always looks good in my eyes regardless. :)

Days with better light ALWAYS translate to better photos, even if outdoors. The trick is to ensure the light is diffused and not direct.

Anyway, I'll be doing more vignettes over the next couple weeks so I'll be sure to share some unique ideas when they're done. Cuz I wanna add to this list. :)

My own HGTV features to date:

 trash to treasure features headboard features Christmas tree features

And on Day 6... I'm going to brave up and make a BIG announcement. Well, it's BIG for me anyway. And I'm putting this in here tonite so I don't chicken out and let you down therefore letting myself down.

See you tomorrow.... unless I run back into hiding again... :)

This just in! Wanna hint? Go read my instalment on Brooke's blog today. Her topic is about making money on one's blog. Way perfect.... You can read that HERE.

All 31 Day posts to date are HERE.

Visit Day One for each listing HERE.

Equine Art Print~

Maybe you've noticed the trend toward equine art in decor lately.  If not, allow me to show you some of the pretties I've been seeing....

Source: veranda-interiors.com via Wendy on Pinterest



Elle Decor



Ballard  Designs



Tonic Home

I love horses.  They are such beautiful animals.  So I've been enamoured with all of these pretty horse prints for a while now.  And I've been wanting to add a print to our dining room.  Luckily after showing them to the Hubby, he starting liking them just as much.  However, because he is a photographer, he didn't want to purchase a print, he wanted to take one himself.

I was all for that!!

Luckily, we live next to a pasture just filled with lovely horses.  And one day I found the Hubby out there with his camera, just talking to the horses and taking their pictures.  Those horses, turns out, really love the camera.  In fact, they couldn't get enough of posing for pictures.  It was really quite funny!

But then the photos sat for a while.  Every few days the Hubby would ask when we were going to print one up, but I would always brush it off with some complaint about the cost of framing a large print.  Little did he know I had something up my sleeve.

You see, the Hubby's birthday was last week.  So I chose one of our favorite prints from that series, and edited it to  make it a  monochromatic black on white print.  Then I had it printed, and framed it in a large 30"x40" frame from IKEA (only $29.99 - can we hear a Woot Woot!)

While he was gone one evening, I put it up on the wall...and this is what he came home to...



He loved it...and was actually very surprised (and yes, happy) to have it as his gift this year!

We just love us a little equine art! 

A workshop photography kind of DIY

 

Twice a year, my friend Dan hosts an artistic workshop that focuses on routered and hand sculpted work combined.

These are my samples you've seen in my own home. I have quite the collection growing, as I help at the workshops. But this round,  Dan had something else in mind. He wanted me to specifically take pictures, and LOTS of them.

See, here's the deal. When my point and shoot was starting to fail, (story HERE) I borrowed Dan's camera to get by for the Copy Me Challenge. But that didn't fly for long.

"Go get a camera!"


"No!"


"Yes!"


"No! It's too expensive!"


"Get one, because at my next workshop, I want you to take the pictures with YOUR NEW camera! Mine's on the way out. Now go get it! Today!"

"... no...  wimper... OK!" (tires screeching down the driveway)

Don't you just love permission for those expensive items? :)

 So I gave my new camera a real workout, figuring out the white balance challenges I was having the day OF the workshop. Whew...  and made out like a bandit with 570 pictures. And not one of them yellow. :)

Naturally, not all 570 turned out! However you're sure to get a great few if you take that kind of volume.

So... here's what I did this past weekend.

~ The great folks that made the event come to life ~

dad and daughter, above (isn't that the coolest?)

husband watching wife... (love this!)

~ The tools of the trade ~

~ The masters that taught ~

~ The silent learning moments ~

~ The artistic son that made me proud ~

 ~ The sillier moments to further brighten the day ~

Heavy texture x 10000000  means a heeeaaavvvvyyy brush!

If you hate your bug, a good cry always helps.... :)

The big camera dual... "Gotcha!" " NO, I got YOU!" x 20 clicks

No, you will not get a good pic of me! I'll goof off and make sure of it too!

~ Special moments caught ~

Grampa and grandaughter, above

Taking moving photos is sooooo much different than still shots. It was a whole new learning curve. But it was a pleasure to give it a whirl with kind folks in an environment that was a given for me.

Thanks Dan, for the fun opportunity! And a big hello to the wonderful group of folks that made me laugh and smile all weekend long. Thanks for some great new memories!

So... how did I do? :)