Nicholas' Newborn Session

First things first--check this out, one of my water drop photos is being featured on I Heart Faces! Click here and check it out!!!


Now, you may remember this beautiful mama, from this Beach Maternity session.  Well she recently gave birth to beautiful baby boy Nicholas.  It was a challenging session because little Nicholas never fell asleep once (despite heating the house, keeping if fed, and every other trick I've read!) but in the end I was glad he stayed awake so I could shots of his beautiful eyes.

I also loved that the parents wanted pics with their little one.  I think I prefer this more "lifestyle" style of newborn shots, as opposed to the "sleeping baby on a blanket" style.  This just feels more "me" and since I'm  still struggling to figure out my photography style, this is a good thing for me to learn!
 

This little family is so adorable, I had so much fun shooting them!

Feel free to tell me in the comments which row you like best or any suggestions for improvement, it's how I learn! :)

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Tuesday Tips & Pics - Swapping Heads Tutorial

I'm sure a lot of you know how to do this already, but if not, it can be an extremely handy tool.  I find the "swapping heads" technique especially handy when shooting families.  It's so hard sometimes to get everyone looking at the camera and smiling.

Here's one shot I grabbed this weekend while doing from my friend's sisters family.  You may recognize the kiddos from a shoot I did of them a couple months ago.  This time, their mama Julie, wanted some family pics as well.  I was so excited to get this shot and see that both kids were actually looking at the camera! But I knew Julie wouldn't love her smile in this.



So I grabbed this picture where I liked Julie's smile better but the kids' faces weren't as good.



So I used the selection tool to draw a square around Julie's head and copied it and pasted it onto the first photo.



I lowered the opacity of the layer so I could line it up perfectly and size it just right and then I put it back at 100%. I added a layer mask by hitting the button the yellow arrow is pointing at below and then painted on the layer mask with a black brush around the edges.



If I mess up, all I have to do is switch back to the white brush and go back over it again. When I was done, I flattened, and did my final edits, and here was my result!



And here's the before and after:

Link up what you've been shooting below!

 

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Peru Part 4 - Machu Picchu

Those of you that have been following my Peru series know I have been saving the best for last - our day at Machu Picchu.

This is one of those places that no picture can truly encapsulate.  The wonder of seeing this magical place in person cannot truly be described.  However, I'll give it a go :)



We woke up at 4:15am in order to catch the very first shuttle to the top to be there at opening.  See that big mountain the back of that picture? One of the first things we did in the morning was go on a hike to the top of it! Click HERE to see me struggling up the steep stairs to get to the top!

This is walking up to the base of the mountain we are about to climb, called Huayna Picchu.  We had planned on doing this hike for quite some time, and I had seen many pictures of the mountain, like the one below.  But after seeing it in person, I almost refused to do it! The mountain looked so huge in real life, I couldn't believe it took a mere hour and a half to walk to the top! It didn't seem possible, but my boyfriend talked me into it (by so sweetly suggesting we could turn back at any time) and I'm so glad I did.  It ended up truly being a highlight of the trip!



This is a picture of me at the top, taken by my boyfriend.



The hike up the mountain puts you at about 1000 feet over Machu Picchu.

Here was our view of Machu Picchu from the top of the Huayna Picchu.



After the hike we had fun exploring the ruins.



This is my boyfriend taking a picture of the mountains. We like taking pictures of each other taking pictures :)



The Incans had quite a view!

 This is one of my favorite shots, taken towards the end of the day, after most of the crowds had died down. A couple of llamas started grazing.

Each of those structures used to be a house! I wonder what this place was like when it was a fully occupied city!

I really love this next shot too. I often remove people from my travel photos (um, I may be guilty doing that on a few of the photos above) but I think the people really help with the perspective of this shot and helps show the grandeur of where we were. 

We had a beautiful blue sky the whole day, but towards the late afternoon when the sun started to set, some ominous clouds rolled in and we heard a bit of thunder in the distance.






And I posted this photo before, but I can't resist posting it again. My boyfriend, Kevin, captured this of me and I just love it.  If you've been following me for a while you know I absolutely love taking jumping pictures and now that we nailed this, I may have to take a picture like this wherever I travel!

Phew, sorry this post was so picture heavy, it was so hard to narrow done which ones to share!

Oh. btw, I had to stop allowing anonymous comments on my blog.  I was getting way too much spam.  I hope this isn't an inconvenience for anyone!

 

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