Williamsburg Wreaths

My stroll around Williamsburg to see the gorgeous holiday wreaths they put out on display every year didn't exactly go as smoothly as I would have liked. A rain forecast meant that we had to smoosh all of our weekend activities essentially into one day so we attempted to walk around to see the wreaths right before Logan's naptime, which was just a bad idea. So between temper tantrums and me holding a toddler who couldn't make up his mind on whether he wanted up or down, I did manage to sneak in a few pictures of the wreath displays before we threw in the towel and headed back to the car. If you'd like to see the full collection of pictures, visit my facebook page and feel free to join my fan list!

Twinkling Lights | Virginia Beach Children's Photographer

This picture didn't go exactly how I had envisioned it. The layout of our living room was a little awkward to get the shot I wanted, but I thought I would share how to get the twinkling lights in a picture like this one. You know when you squint your eyes and look at a street lamp the lights turn into a starburst? Well, the same thing happens when you close up the aperture. Think of it like your camera is squinting. I took two pictures for this shot, both from a tripod. The first I set the aperture as high as it would go, to f/32 and got the twinkling lights effect. Then we brought Logan over to the tree and he started pointed out the lights and ornaments. The second shot was taken using bounced light off the flash, I angled it towards the top of the wall directly behind me and set the shutter speed back up to around 125 so it would freeze Logan's small movements. Then I merged the two photos in photoshop and came out with this final product. Try it on your tree and see what you come up with!

Yarr | Virginia Beach Children's Photographer

Wishing everyone a safe and Happy Halloween!



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Forgotten: A Photographic Series

I'm always drawn to these abandoned houses and buildings. I sit there wondering and imagining their life...the kids running around in the back field. The dog sitting on the front porch watching the cars pass by on the road. I wonder what circumstances led to their abandonment. Why were they forgotten? I pass by them every so often. Sometimes I am lucky enough to have my camera with me.

I thought I would start sharing this series with you. It's definitely a work in progress. I see a couple worth sharing every year. If you'd like to see more in this series, visit my facebook page and become fan!

Blog Assignment: Add some flare!

I'm starting to love working with couples more and more. There is always a spark, a justifiable passion that interconnects the two and places them in their own little remote bubble miles removed from where I stand with my camera. Jenn and Nate were the lucky ones who responded to my request for a local couple to model for this particular blog assignment and they definitely brought out their love and appetite for each other during our shoot. This past week was spent learning about lens flare. I know I've done it in the past, but I've never just sat down and played with the exposure and location of the sun flare for use artistically.

A few things I learned...

Always work on fully manual exposure. Use your display screen and histogram to determine whether you nailed the exposure correctly or not. Most of the time I was going against what my in-camera meter was saying was the proper exposure.

Block the sun either with your subject or your hand to let the camera focus on the subject, then bring in the light. The camera has a hard time focusing in such bright conditions.

Try to pay attention to where the sun trail is falling on your subject. A couple of shots I wasn't able to use because there was a overly bright sun spot right on my subject.

Avoid looking directly at the sun. I'm sure this type of assignment takes it's toll on your equipment as well, but I always tried to keep the sun behind my subject until the last second and then step out and frame the shot.

Here are a few shots. If you like these and want to see more from this shoot, head over to facebook and join the fan pages! You never know when I'll need another local model!

D Family: Sneak Peek | Virginia Beach Family Photographer

I know how patiently this family has been waiting to see their group shots so I thought I'd throw in another sneak peek for them! This is from our double take with the D family!



Here's a mini sneak peak from our beach shoot with the D Family! This precious little girl is surrounded by some pretty fun cousins who always manage to keep me entertained!

Cara: Sneak Peek

Cara is the newest Associate at William E. Wood and Associates, Realtors on Laskin Rd.! We did a session out at the beach for her professional headshots. Here's a sneak peek Cara!