{Photographer's Choice} - Michelle

For this month's theme, I simply chose photos of two of my daughters that I have taken recently. My oldest daughter, Kara, loves to have her photo taken. Loves. (Well, 95% of the time.) Great for me, right? Sometimes I'm not prepared, though, when she asks me to take her picture. This was one of those times. I had other plans for her and this hat that included the great outdoors, but when you have a willing model asking you to grab your camera, you go grab it. Well... at least I do.

Canon 5D Mark II; Canon 24-105 f/4L; 88mm; 1/50 at f/4; manual mode; ISO 500

Florabella Collection texture

And the second photo is from a fun series with my youngest, hamming it up for the camera. I have a bit of an obsession with sharp eyes and catchlights. To get great catchlights, I like placing my daughters in front of my north-facing sliding glass doors in my kitchen with two side-by-side windows. Together, they provide a lot of light and I really like how the light coming through the windows makes their eyes pop. I also purchased a $6 remnant from the fabric store and hung it over a bar stool behind Mia. Voila - I get to use my kitchen "studio" with natural lighting, without viewing any dishes in the background. :)

Canon 50D; Canon 85mm 1.8; 85mm; 1/250 at f/1.8; manual mode; ISO 200

Click here if you want to see more silly Mia faces. You are guaranteed a smile. :)

March Theme

Hi Mamarazzi's! Our new theme for the month of March is

{Photographer's Choice}

That's right! Instead of us choosing a theme this month, we're going to let YOU choose! That means you can post a current picture or go through your archives and choose up to two of your favorites. The same rules still apply: please post your camera settings along with up to two photos, and use post scheduling if necessary to try and keep it at one post per day. In addition to your settings, we'd love to hear if you have a photography tip or trick that you'd like to share!

As always, I look forward to seeing your creativity and talent!!

{red} Cindy

Nikon D50...manual...no flash...Focal Length 50mm...Aperture f/2.2...Exposure 1/400...ISO 200

Well, technically, it still counts as February if we haven't announced a new theme, right? I should have posted these earlier, but I had big plans to take photos with this cute little red tutu and hat with my new camera. And those plans just didn't happen. I've had computer problems all month. And washing machine problems. And a dead car battery. And a flooded basement. That last one just did me in. I had this photo of my daughter, Abby, in the back of my mind, in case I didn't get to anything new. I took it in January during one of our bigger snows of the year. I love the colors against the snow. Click here to see a few more from this shoot.

{red} by Stefanie

Nothing like waiting until the last minute, I always say.





I took some pictures today of my sweet, old-and-getting-older dog Velvet for a post over on my blog. And as I looked at them, I realized they just might work for the {red} theme here as well.

Ideally, I'd have taken some different pictures of something, well... human, but I didn't. There's always next month :)


Nikon d90
ISO 800
shutter speed 1/100
aperture 4.0
focal length 50mm
outdoors, overcast

Red {Hana}

Well, this month is nearly over and I realized I hadn't posted a photo for this months theme. I didn't have a whole lot of "red" photos other than Christmas images and we're a bit past all of that. Last week however I learned that one of my fave craft stores, Hobby Lobby, carried paper parasols in all different colors and they were only $5 each! Score! So I went and picked up one in every color!! Here is one of my practice shots...and it just so happened that I used the red one!



Nikon d90
ISO 200
shutter speed 1/320
aperture 2.2
focal length 35mm
no flash
edited in PS CS3

Red {Patricia}

Enchanted Forest



This is part of a fairy tale or Enchanted Forest theme I am shooting. You can see a few more @ Capturing-Life

Nikon D300
ISO 200
f/11
1/13
24mm



Nikon D300
ISO 200
f /7.1
1/50
50mm

Shot in the late afternoon in tons of snow. I was knee deep in it!

Patricia

{Red} Donna

Michelle is an impossible act to follow! I'm not sure I've ever taken a photo as good as either of the last two she posted but I suppose it's time to step back into the spotlight and share something anyway! :)

Here's my sweet girl, Gwen. If she ever decides that being a professional Knight isn't paying well enough, I'm sure she could fall back on a career as a hat model.

Camera: Canon 5D
Outdoors, overcast, no flash
Mode: Program
Lens: Canon EF85mm f/1.8 (our favorite portrait lens)
Focal Length: 85mm
ISO: 400
Aperture/F-stop: f/4
Shutter/Exposure time: 1/320

Post processing: Lightroom 2 where I toned down the red just a bit.

I added the sweet little bokeh of hearts in picnik (on flickr) Usually I don't fancy up my photos this way but I think this particular edit is elegant and fun. Especially with Valentines Day right around the corner.

By the way, I think I might actually prefer this photo in black and white. I just posted it on my blog if you'd like to compare the two. It's interesting how photos takes on a completely different feel when stripped of their color. Instead of the bold pop of red, you can really see the lovely contrast between her pale skin and dark hair. I'm finally starting to really appreciate black and white photography.

Red was a fun theme though. I don't think there's a color that speaks more clearly and passionately in photography than red.

Update: I'm adding this photo of Maddy that I took just this morning. Her Chinese dress was such a pretty shade of red that I couldn't resist:

Camera: Canon 5D
Outside, morning scattered clouds, no flash
Mode: Auto
Lens: Canon EF85mm f/1.8
Focal Length: 85mm
ISO: 400
Aperture/F-stop: f/4.5
Shutter/Exposure time: 1/400

Brightened and color corrected in Lightroom2.

I posted several photos from this photo shoot in black and white on my blog today. Maddy was in such a silly mood and the photos were too cute not to share.

{Red} Michelle

While red in February typically signifies Valentine's Day, it also is a very meaningful color when celebrating Chinese New Year - also celebrated in February. In Chinese cultural traditions, red is associated with good luck and good fortune. Two of my daughters will be performing in one or more CNY celebrations this year, along with their Chinese dance class. So when the costumes arrived, it was no surprise to me that they were predominately red. Because the costumes were so ornate, I wanted to avoid placing them in front of a cluttered background, so I wanted to give something new a try. I purchased 5 yards of inexpensive, wide white muslin fabric and tacked it to our fireplace mantle. I pulled the muslin as far as it would go towards the camera and had my girls sit or stand on it, providing a plain white backdrop and floor. I used three flashes - one aimed directly behind my girls towards the fabric to eliminate any shadows the other two flashes might cast onto it. I used the adjustment brush in Lightroom to lighten and brighten the fabric a little and removed any creases in Photoshop CS4. (Both relatively quick edits.) Voila - a white backdrop that cost me about $12 (purchased at 50% off, of course).

Canon 50D; Canon 24-104 f/4L; 24mm; 1/40 at f/6.3; manual mode; ISO 200

Canon 50D; Canon 24-104 f/4L; 24mm; 1/20 at f/6.3; manual mode; ISO 200

Other: Canon 580 EXII, Canon 430 EXII, Lumopro 120; one softbox, one umbrella, one Cactus V4 transmitter, three Cactus V4 receivers

To see more from our costume shoot, visit us here.

february 2010 theme

Hi Mamarazzi's!! :) Our new theme for the month of February is

{red}

The rules regarding themes are still the same: please post your camera settings along with up to 2 photos pertaining to the theme, and use post scheduling if necessary to try and keep it at one post per day.

I'm really looking forward to this one and seeing all of the wonderful creative ideas you ladies come up with!! Happy Valentine's Day! :)