November Brag Post - Rudy T.

My November Student of the Month was Rudy T. from my Advanced Photo class.  He was an easy pick, because he's been impressing me with his work since last year.  I seen a whole lot of photographs over the past four and a half years that I've been teaching photography, and sometimes I feel like I've seen it all before.  I absolutely love love love new ideas, and I think that is what stops me in my tracks as I pass by Rudy's computer.  He also persists with editing until it looks exactly the way he wants it.  Rudy's work definitely stands apart from the rest, and I can't wait to see what else he'll create this year!

Snow Day

We took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway up into the Mount San Jacinto Wilderness Area.  It has been a long time since I've seen this much snow, and it was beautiful!

October Brag Post - Elvia G.

Ok, so it's already November 1st and I'm just now getting to my October Brag Post... I guess it could be worse.  I've been further behind before.  Anyway, my October Student of the Month and the subject of this Brag Post is Elvia G.  Elvia has been standing out since very early in the year.  Her work is excellent and full of creativity!  She's also done some extra photography at a couple of football games which is always helpful.  On top of that she's got a great attitude, and since she's in my first period it's such a great way to start off the day.  :)  I want to also give credit to Elvia's photography partner Sara L.  She's a terrific photographer as well, and if I could have co-Students of the Month it would definitely have been Elvia and Sara.  They are certainly a force to be reckoned with--already winning two class wide competitions.  Way to go ladies!

Alice : 3 Months

This little lady was ready for her closeup!  She was happy throughout all of her pictures with bright eyes and lots of cute expressions.  To be honest, I was having a hard time planning beforehand what we'd do with a 3 month old--still too young to sit up, but much more alert and awake than a newborn, so I knew we wouldn't be able to do the scrunched up pics I had planned for Gracie.  It turned out to be a really fun shoot with lots of great props provided by Alice's Mom, and in the end I am really happy with how her photos turned out.

Most of these were shot with simulated window light--a softbox shot into a big white sheet.  The really bright ones were shot in front of an actual window with sheer curtains.  Either a single Speedlight or a large reflector was used for fill.

Alice's Dad is a DJ, and I think this one might be his favorite :)

My "Babies and Toddlers Challenge" Entry

The day of my much anticipated dual photo shoot--with 1 week old Gracie and 3 month old Alice-- didn't start off so great...

 I got few test shots in and then dropped my camera.  Ugh, what an awful noise that makes.  The body survived, but the lens--my beautiful 85mm baby--did not.  It looks as though the filter was the real casualty, but it's so stuck on there I can't tell just yet.

Luckily, I had brought a 105mm macro along for the detail shots, and except for a little lost light I think it worked great. The photo below was the second shot I took--about 5 minutes after the lens casualty. It was definitely a pick-me-up and set the tone for a great day of shooting. Grace was a trooper and looked beautiful in all of her pictures :)

Here's the photo on DPC.
My scores were high throughout the challenge and the comments were very positive.  In the end I took 5th place and earned my highest score yet: 7.0723.  This was my first time working with a RAW file, and I think I'm hooked.  More on that later, and many more of Grace's portraits soon.  =]

Bubble Beards

It's been a while since I posted pics of my boys on here.  They were making bubble beards in the bathtub the other night.  I thought these were super cute and I really liked the editing.  In fact, I liked it so much I created my own action so it'll be quick and easy to re-create.  I've never tried this before, but if you like the effect you can download it by clicking here Mrs. V's Warm B&W Action BUT you must also have downloaded and loaded Pioneer Woman's Action Sets 1&2, because my action uses two of her actions.  Actually you should load the Pioneer Woman actions regardless, because they're the best--hands down my absolute favorite and most helpful action sets--and they're free!  If you try out the Mrs. V action you might need to tweak the following items after it's done playing to get the exact effect you're looking for:

-Adjust constant slider on Chanel Mixer layer.

-Reduce opacity of Curves layer

(One of my steps will stop you and tell you to mask the skin tones on the Lighten Things layer.  If you're not editing a photo of a person you can skip this step.  Just press play to continue.)

Let me know if it doesn't work.  Or, if you have no clue what an action is or how to use one ask me.  I'd be happy to show you.  :)

Venice - Take Two

Went to Venice last weekend to visit my cousin who was feeling homesick, because back in the Midwest, where we're from, everybody was celebrating Oktoberfest.  This time the whole gang came along, so I'm surprised that I managed to get any pictures at all.  The weather was nice and cool and there was even a dance party on the beach, which the boys enjoyed :)  I had wanted to photograph the Art Walls anyway, so I felt pretty lucky when I saw that they were being repainted.  A few of the guys didn't want their faces in the photos, but mostly everybody was focused on their painting and didn't mind me snapping a few pictures.

I liked the message on this wall:    please respect real art.

As in "Don't tag up my art wall, Jerky!"

Here's one from earlier in the day.  Ansel and Emerson liked the mural because it had a shark and an octopus on it!  :)

And one lone HDR for good measure.  This was an address on our way to the boardwalk.

43 Dudley Avenue

While we were there I learned something that I thought was pretty interesting.  The guy I photographed last time I went to Venice is a local celebrity.  His name is Harry Perry, and you can see him in the newest Red Hot Chili Peppers video.  Here is my pic of him.