Baltimore, Annapolis, and DC Photographer: Karey Crain Photography

Baltimore's Inner Harbor

2011-02-09T22:28:00.001-05:00

Tap, tap, tap... is this thing still on? Anybody out there? I'm not dead. Just taking a long break from blogging. These are some favorites from the fall....

Thanksgiving, 1990

2010-11-24T07:26:00.000-05:00

This was Thanksgiving Dinner at my Grandma and Grandpa’s house. I’m the little girl in the lower left. That was before my awkward years – but we’ll save those issues for another post. I’m sitting in between my mom and my uncle. And I see my dad’s shiny head at the other end of the table. My little brother must be the one in the high chair and my Grandpa is at the head of the table enjoying one of Grandma’s famous rolls. And that empty chair beside him must have been hers. Grandma was most likely running to get something from the kitchen or finishing that one last thing – always delightfully engaged in service to others. Or maybe she was the one taking the picture. Whoever it was, I’m thankful someone thought to pick up the camera.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Rondeau Family

2010-11-09T12:28:00.002-05:00

It took a long time and several tries for us to get together and make this session happen. So on the day of our shoot, my heart sank when I pulled up to the park where we’d agreed to meet and the gate was locked. I looked up and saw the sign: “Closed Tuesdays.” How didn’t I notice that before? It never occurred to me that a park would be closed every Tuesday. Luckily, the ladies at the nearby library pointed us in the direction of another park which turned out to be a great setting for portraits.
Look at this cute family! Amy put lots of thought and effort into their outfits, and it really shows. Our location was right on the Chesapeake Bay, and this wall you see throughout is part of an old fort – Fort Smallwood. It’s just south of Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner. I thought maybe there was some awesome story about Fort Smallwood, but alas, Wikipedia has failed me!

Poor little Gavin… It was chilly that day, and he was done after 20 minutes of shooting. Unfortunately for him, we were just getting started! Things only got worse when someone took Elmo away. I felt so bad for him, but just kept on shooting – that pout! the utter despair! – and ended up with some of my favorites of the whole day. Does that make me a bad person?
After a few moments, we let him have Elmo again, and all was right with the world!

Sweet Lilia was not too sure about me. I think a good photographer has to have to ability to make children feel at ease and open up in front of the camera. That’s something I’m working on – I don’t feel like it comes naturally to me. But there was a moment in the middle of the shoot when Lilia decided it would be ok let me see who she really is. I’m so glad she did! Such a beautiful little girl!
And a few more random favorites…

Thank you, Rondeau family for braving the elements and an unfamiliar location to spend the day with me! Hope you love them!

Sparkly Smiley Eyes

2010-11-05T15:00:00.001-04:00

I’ve been trying to figure out how to do what I do when my little guy no longer does what he’s supposed to do: Nap! That used to be my editing time! I’m sure I’ll figure it out, but in the meantime, I had to post my favorite shot from my family portrait session with my friend Kristi, and her family. Ryan is so smiley and adorable!

In the Orchard

2010-10-18T22:33:00.001-04:00

I couldn’t believe it when I saw this weeks I Heart Faces theme – In the Orchard. Really?! I just set up an awesome orchard shoot last weekend! I figured I would take this serendipitous coincidence as a little motivation to edit and post one of the shots from this session.

Many thanks to my gorgeous sister-in-law, Kimberly, and my very cooperative brother, Matt! Love you guys!

Now head on over to I Heart Faces to check out the other awesome orchard themed images!

Lesson (re)Learned

2010-10-12T14:18:00.001-04:00

Friday was a gorgeous fall day. I decided to take a little drive with my little guy – hoping he’d take a nap on the way. I wanted to go to Centennial Park in Columbia, MD where they have a great walking trail around a gorgeous reservoir. When we arrived at our destination, however, my Lincoln was still wide awake. Which meant that his nap would be on the way home, which meant that it would be way too late, which meant that bedtime was going to be way too late, which meant that I was not a happy mama.

Well, I thought, at least I have my reflector in the back of the car and I can set it up and try to get a few good shots of Lincoln. Why didn’t I remember that it’s IMPOSSIBLE to keep that kid in one spot for more than two seconds?! Lincoln played near me while I set up the reflector, but as soon as it was up and I was ready to shoot, he was trying to engage me in a rousing game of “Catch the Two-Year-Old”. I literally got two shots of him – one of half his face as he started to run away, and one of him crying when I caught him and put him back in the right spot.

I was deflated. Not even my back-up plan was going right. I even called my husband to grumble, wishfully thinking that he might be able to use his magic wand to fix it all.

And then I looked around. It was truly a gorgeous day. There was a new beautiful something everywhere I looked. I let myself breathe and observe and I walked away from our afternoon with some of my favorite nature shots and wiggly two-year-old shots(!!) that I’ve taken in a very long time. There is beauty all around, if we will just relax and look for it!

Moments

2010-09-30T22:01:00.001-04:00

This one screamed for the Black and White Treatment – so much so that I switched my camera to B&W Parameters before I took the shot, rather than converting it later in photoshop. Bedtime stories are just one of those timeless things. Right now, Superduck by Jez Alborough is a favorite. I’ve renewed it from the library three times now (meaning that we’ve had it for almost 9 weeks), and I think I’m just going to have to buy it. If you’re in the bedtime story phase of life, you’ll definitely have to check it out! Fun to read, fun to listen to, and fun to photograph!

Reflectors

2010-09-24T13:49:00.001-04:00

(I’m back.)

When I was at Skip’s Summer School in Las Vegas, I decided to purchase a reflector to make better use of natural light. A little premature for where I am in my photography journey? Probably! But I know it’s going to be well worth it in the future. I took my husband out recently to play with it, and I was amazed at the difference it made. These are all straight out of camera. Matt was being super silly (because who isn’t uncomfortable in front of the camera?!). And I’m posting these small so he won’t be too upset! The sun was at Matt’s back, and my giant reflector was to my left, bouncing all the sunlight right back onto Matt’s face. That extra light filling in what would normally be dark makes such a difference! Now I just need to figure out a way to keep my giant reflector from becoming a giant kite!

Share |

Fix-It Friday

2010-09-03T10:27:00.001-04:00

Well, since my fix is basically the same every week, I think I’m going to stop boring you with the details! Every week, I just blabber on and on about blah, blah, levels layer, blah, blah, bump the saturation and setting that layer to soft light blending mode… See? There I did it again!

But it just goes to show you that after playing around a while, you find a style that really works for you! I just never get tired of that bright, fun, natural look!

Krystal

2010-09-02T09:50:00.001-04:00

While we were in Las Vegas, my friend Krystal and I decided to take some headshots for each other. Along the way from our hotel room to the conference center there was a mile-long hallway that had some awesomely painted walls. They made for amazing backdrops – and matched Krystal’s Chacos perfectly! I don’t own a pair yet, but Krystal swears by them! In the conference center, there was a modern stained glass window that matched Krystal’s logo perfectly – I had to get a few shots of that, too! You can check out Krystal’s shots from that day here.

Best Muffins Ever

2010-08-31T15:15:00.001-04:00

As I was making these muffins for the eleventy-millionth time last week, I thought – MUST.TAKE.PICTURE! These are sure to become a family favorite – the kind the kids beg me to make when they come home from college – and I wanted to remember where we were when I first discovered them.

I found this recipe for Dark Chocolate Raspberry muffins (click here – you know you want to!) in the spring, and I put it off for a while thinking the recipe was a little too fussy. I finally tried them once, and we were hooked. Since then, I’ve tried them the un-fussy way (just use Quick oats and forget about the soaking!), and they come out perfectly every time!

One fun thing about the recipe is that they have a list of suggestions for mix-ins, so you can branch out beyond dark chocolate and raspberries, should you ever have the desire. Personally, I don’t think I’ll mess up a good thing! I’m making myself hungry, so off to the kitchen I go!

Fix-it Friday

2010-08-27T09:38:00.001-04:00

Time for another fix-it friday, this time with an awesome submission from the lovely Angie Arthur of I heart Faces fame!

I always like to keep things simple – especially when I’m just playing around for fun! My usual go-to post-processing steps that I showed you last week just didn’t quite work with the beautiful backlight that Angie has captured here, so I ended up modifying it a little bit. Here’s the B&A, with more details to follow:

It needed a bump in saturation, but my usual Soft Light blending mode just made the shadows on the left side of her face too dark, so I masked out her body, leaving that effect on the grass and the background. Then I created an identical layer – bumping the saturation up to +25 just like before – and then set that layer to Screen blending mode, which lightens up the shadows. That washed out the background, so I masked out everything but her body. All told, it probably took around 2 minutes. That’s my kind of fix! Here’s the Layers Palette with the layers for my first fix – on the upper right, above.

After that, I decided to play around a bit. On the lower left, I added a new Hue/Saturation layer, set to Colorize, Hue 35, Soft Light blending mode, to create a little bit of a vintage feel. And on the lower right, I used CoffeeShop’s latest tutorial: Buttercream Black and White.

Quick Photoshop Trick: Levels

2010-08-26T08:45:00.000-04:00

Do you ever load your photos from your camera onto your computer and think, "Hey! What happened?! That’s not how it looked in real life!” Sometimes, my photos just look a little… blah, for lack of a better word. Take, for instance, this shot, taken from my window seat when I landed in Denver earlier this month. In real life, the sunrise was illuminating the clouds and reflecting off the mountains in the west, the grass was this gorgeous shade of green, and everything was just generally more vibrant.

Not too impressive, right? This is how the photo came straight out of camera.

Digital cameras are almost universally guilty of blanketing our images in a gray fog which really takes away from the beauty that you saw in real life – the beauty that made you pick up your camera to record the scene in front of you. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there’s a pretty quick fix in Photoshop. The steps I’ll show you are for Photoshop Elements, which is what I use. They’ll also work in the full version of Photoshop. You can also do the same thing in GIMP, which is a completely free photo editing software, but things are set up differently there, so you’ll have to poke around to figure it out.

To start this fix, we’re going to focus on the Layers palette, which is circled below. If you look closely, you’ll see a row of icons under the word “Normal.” The second icon in that row is a half-gray/half-white circle. This is the adjustment layers button, and you’re just going to click on that.

A box drops down with lots of options, and to get rid of that gray fog, we need a Levels adjustment layer. Clicking on Levels will create one for you.

The Levels box will pop up, and show you a graph, called a histogram. The histogram is basically showing you a graph of all the tones in the photo. The left side is for dark tones or shadows; the right side is for light tones or highlights; and the middle is for what’s in the middle or midtones. As you can see on my histogram below, all my tones are in the middle. There’s nothing really dark, there’s nothing really light. For whatever reason, my camera interpreted the scene this way, and that’s what’s giving me that gray fog.

What you’re going to do is click on the little black triangle and move it in towards the center to where your graph starts to rise. Same thing with the white triangle. The graph will look the same, except that you’ve told the computer that the lightest tones in your photo are white, and the darkest ones are black. This will help the computer interpret your photo closer to the way your eye saw it.

Now, click OK, and sit back and admire your handiwork. You can click on the little eye icon next to the Levels layer to toggle that layer off and on so you can check out the difference between your before and after.

Meet Isaac: Super Adventurer

2010-08-25T08:50:00.001-04:00

Isaac and Kristen’s session was a *surprise* for Fathers’ Day, so I kept it under wraps for a while! Now that it’s safe, I wanted to show you a few fun shots that really show some personality.

Isaac LOVES to explore. He’s into hiking and all kinds of outdoor recreation – just like his dad. So it was really perfect when he insisted on wearing his backpack and his cute hat for our photo session. Kristen is a super sweet, easy-going mom, and after asking him “Are you sure you want to wear that?” she embraced it too!

I love that these shots really capture who Isaac is right now. I hope they will always snap his parents right back to this time – that the photos bring back all the little details of this fleeting stage. That’s my goal when I’m behind the camera.

Creative Outlets

2010-08-24T13:00:00.000-04:00

As a mom, there are lots of things I do that must be done again and again. Dishes, for example. No matter how recently I’ve done them, there’s always one more that’s just been placed in the sink. That’s why I think moms need a few creative outlets. It’s nice to work on something that will get finished and never be undone. Obviously, photography is one of those things for me.

Another one I recently picked up is quilting. Oh my goodness, I can’t tell you how much fun I’m having with this. After stumbling across a few quilting blogs like Cluck Cluck Sew, Film in the Fridge, and Oh, Fransson, I decided to try it. I wanted to make a “big boy” quilt for my little boy. He’s still in a crib, but someday he’ll move up into a twin size bed, and I wanted to make a twin size quilt for him.

Do you know how big a twin size quilt is? Yeah, neither did I! So it’s much larger than I anticipated, and I think I’ll have to make a couple of little baby quilts to practice on before I actually quilt this one. I’ve put so much thought and effort into piecing it all together and embroidering the label and everything, I would hate to mess it all up now!

Here are just a few shots I took of my progress as I went along, and below is a very bad picture of the finished quilt top. I’m *almost* done with the back (also pieced a little), and then I’ll just have to get on it with my practice quilts so I can finish this one before Lincoln graduates from high school! :)

p.s. I had the following conversation with a friend regarding my priorities:

Friend: How do you know how to embroider?
Me: That’s what Google is for, my friend.
Friend: Oh, I never think to Google things like that. I usually Google stuff like how to get the gunk out from between the tiles in my shower.
Me: (wondering if there’s any gunk in my shower – probably is) Hmm, yeah… I never Google stuff like that! Too busy embroidering! :)

Fix-it Friday

2010-08-20T11:40:00.001-04:00

I Heart Faces has a great photo to work with today!

This beautiful shot was submitted by Dana Suggs, and it’s really perfect to showcase some of the problems our cameras give us and how quick and easy it can be to fix them with a couple of little tweaks in photoshop. In about thirty seconds, you can go from before to after.

Here are the steps I used. First, comes a levels adjustment layer, where I make the brights a little brighter and the darks a little darker. Next, there’s a photo filter adjustment layer, where I added a warming filter to, well, warm things up! My last step is a hue/saturation layer, where I bumped the saturation up to make things more colorful. Then I set that layer on Soft Light blending mode.

These are the steps I find myself taking on probably 95% of photos. Quick, easy, and lots of impact. That’s very much my style!

A quick note about Christmas cards

2010-08-19T10:11:00.001-04:00

A few of you might already have all the gifts planned, bought, and wrapped, but if you’re like me, Christmas might not be on your radar yet! But it’s really the perfect time to plan, especially if you would like to have a family portrait taken to send out with the Christmas cards.

I’m only accepting two sessions per month at the moment – to leave a little room in my life for the important things – and for Christmas delivery, your session will need to be booked on or before November 15th. That means I’ve only got a few sessions left, so if you’re thinking about getting a family portrait taken to include with Christmas cards, call me as soon as you get a chance!

As a special gift to my fabulous clients, I’ve designed a few Christmas cards, so your cards will stand out from the pack! You’ll receive a digital file containing card of your choice, featuring your favorite photo(s) from your session and a personalized message. Around the holidays, there are always special photo card deals from Shutterfly, SeeHere, Snapfish, and other sites, and I’ll pass those along when I see them. You could also have them printed through White House Custom Color – my awesome photo lab, or at your local drug store. Totally up to you, your taste, and your budget!

Tractor Time

2010-08-17T07:46:00.000-04:00

I know you probably weren’t expecting to see photos of a backhoe when you clicked over here this morning, but I’ve decided to share a little more about my personal life on this blog – mainly so those of you who don’t know me in real life yet can get a little glimpse into who I am and how I tick.

Right now, my life revolves around Lincoln and all his little boy obsessions. Anyone who wonders where gender differences come from probably never had children. His love of tractors, trucks, cars, dirt, basketball, football, baseball – such boy things! – came from somewhere deep within, because I’m a girly girl, and he hangs out with me all day long. He probably got his love of sports from his dad, but neither of his parents gets very excited over heavy machinery!

At my parents’ house recently, my dad hired someone to dig up a portion of the yard with a backhoe. Lincoln was glued to the scene, and eventually, we gave in and got out the camp chairs! My brother and my sister-in-law very graciously watched with us for a while.

The great thing about photography is the ability to freeze a moment in time, and go back to that moment whenever you want. At Skip’s Summer School, Dane Sanders put it this way: (this is a loose quote) As photographers, we squeeze your life at this moment into an 11x14, so you can relive it whenever you see it again.

When I see these images, I will instantly be taken back in time, and I’ll hear that little voice saying “Tak-ter!” I’ll remember kissing those soft cheeks, and I’ll remember how he ran around without pants all the time. I’ll remember the little tractor that he hijacked from Grandma and Grandpa’s house, and how it became “Yink-in’s tak-ter.”

Oh, gosh, I’m tearing up a little, and the next time you come to my house, you’ll probably see a huge gallery wrap on the wall featuring Lincoln and his tractors! Sheesh!

I just love that we have the ability to freeze time like this. It’s truly a miraculous thing.

What happens in Vegas gets posted on my blog!

2010-08-16T14:55:00.001-04:00

I just got back from a fantastic trip to Skip’s Summer School in Las Vegas. I am not much of a Vegas person – partying and gambling? No, Thank you! – so I felt a little sheepish even mentioning to people where I was headed. If I had my pick, I would choose a destination with more natural beauty, fewer crowds, and less debauchery. But for the chance to listen to and learn from a group of amazing photographers and to spend a few days with one of my college roommates – Krystal of Images of U Photography – even Vegas was worth it! It was so much fun to hang out with Krystal again – we’ve seen each other a couple of times since college, and we talk on the phone and email pretty regularly, but there’s nothing like spending every waking moment together for four days – without children! – to really feel like you’ve reconnected!

I learned so many things during the conference – about photography, about business, about myself – and I’m definitely planning on sharing some of that, but today I thought I’d just share some photographs I made on my trip. One of my biggest takeaways was that I don’t want photography to become my JOB. Meaning that I don’t want it to be something that I get tired of, something I only do when I’m “on the clock.” I always want to keep those creative juices flowing and I want to create powerful images for myself and for others. And if somebody would like to compensate me a little, that would be just fine, too! {smile}

Sidenote: I was just thinking what a luxurious life I lead – most people have to actually do something for a living, but my sweet husband takes good care of me, and I get spend my days doing exactly what I want to be doing: playing mommy with my super fun little boy, and all of this!

Hope you enjoy these images – none of them are prizewinners, but each one represents something I love about photography. Color, interesting lines, forms, reflections, faces, and nostalgia.

Westover Family Reunion – Maryland Family Portraiture

2010-07-28T22:48:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday morning, I had a the pleasure of meeting the Westover family who had gathered from Texas, Utah, Hawaii, and right here in Maryland. We met up at 8 a.m., and none of us anticipated that it would be the hottest morning Maryland has seen all summer! These guys were such troopers, even though we were all, shall we say, “glistening” by the time we were done! Here’s a little sneak peek – hope you love ‘em!

This little guy and his curls! Oh, my! If my little boy had curls like this – he’d never get the camera out of his face!

Tina’s family didn’t have to travel too far – they just live a little ways from where we do!

Charlotte and her family drove in from Texas – and still managed to look amazing!

Little Steven and his family won the prize – they flew in from Hawaii!

Grandma and Grandpa with the kiddos

Mom and Dad and their four great children

By the end of our shoot, this is about how everyone was feeling – DONE!
It wasn’t just the kids who were ready for some cold water and some air conditioning!

Thanks again, for letting me capture your day!

Baby Bennett – Finally!

2010-07-19T14:57:00.001-04:00

I am a bad, bad blogger! The past few weeks have been nothing short of insane for me. Maybe it wouldn’t have phased anyone else, but when I – a true homebody – looked at my calendar at the beginning of June, there was a little part of me that

wanted to go hide under a rock until it was all over! We had a fantastic time on all our travels: visiting family in Utah and Pennsylvania, camping with my girls – I’m one of the leaders for the 12-18 year old girls at church, and a last minute (and much needed) trip to the beach, a 2nd birthday for my little guy, and with some bad summer viruses thrown in for good measure – I’m just catching my breath!

And so it is with an ashamed little tail wagging between my legs that I post these photos – almost TWO MONTHS after I took them! Yikes! I hope they are worth the wait, Jody!

Bennett was one month old at the time of his session. The other newborns I’ve photographed have been between one and two weeks old, and those weeks make a difference! Bennett was so alert and attentive – watching his mommy everywhere she went! Bennett’s family wanted a shot of him in his blessing outfit – similar to ones they have of his big sisters. We’ve got lots to choose from – I just picked one of my favorites to put up on the blog. I love how sweet and bright-eyed he is!

This was a fake sleeping shot – I just happened to catch him in a peaceful looking blink!)

Couldn’t resist one with his beautiful mommy…

…and his proud big sisters!

By the time we got around to photographing the siblings all together, everyone was getting a little tired of it!
We managed to get one cute shot where no one was looking too annoyed with me, or blinking, or everyone looking off in different directions! :) If this doesn’t cut it, we can try again soon!

What a cute family!

Thank you for letting me capture this sweet time in your lives!

A is for Awesome!

2010-05-19T15:22:00.003-04:00

The Anglesey family got their two adorable A-named children out of bed early so we could spend a fun morning in the park together. If that isn’t dedication, I don’t know what is! There are very few things in this world that are worth getting your kids up early for, but family portraits should be on the list. The light is great, the children are fresh and happy, and everyone has more patience. Besides, what child wouldn’t want to get a head start on the day, when it involves running around the park and having lots of fun?! Thank you to the Angleseys for being so photogenic – you made my job easy!

celebrating mom

2010-05-11T14:31:00.003-04:00

My mom, reading a book from my childhood to my son – she’s a mom to two generations now!

Click the iheartfaces button above to see more celebration of motherhood!

Kati & Blake

2010-05-11T00:10:00.001-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I had the distinct privilege of attending a workshop put on by Mary Schwartz of Birchtree Photography. I first “met” Mary through I{heart}faces a couple of months ago, and she is a great photographer, and a great blogger. I love how she takes the time to respond to every single one of my comments. We discovered that we have quite a bit in common, and when she announced that she was going to hold a workshop this spring, I decided I couldn’t not go! Mary is based in Pittsburgh, so I decided to make a trip of it and visit my family while I was at it!

Kati and Blake were our models for the first portion of the workshop. When I write that, it sounds so blah – just wait till you see the photos! These two are strikingly good-looking, have fantastic personalities, and boy, do they know how to work a camera! See what I mean? When I pulled these up in Lightroom, I thought I was looking at a magazine!

Kati – You are so fierce!

I love these last two!

Many, many thanks to Kati and Blake for being so easy to photograph, and to Mary for her coordination and instruction!

Matthew and Kimberly: the big day, one year later

2010-05-10T08:37:00.001-04:00

In honor of their first anniversary yesterday, I thought I’d post a couple of my favorites from Matt and Kim’s wedding. Matt is my brother and Kim is the best sister-in-law I could have ever asked for! They were married last year in the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints near Washington, D.C. Going through their pictures again, I couldn’t believe how many great shots we got around these east doors! So many to choose from! I love this dramatic black and white shot. M&K – You two make these doors look good! :)

Matt and Kim are really sweet together and they’ve got a fun, playful sense of humor. I loved this image of Kim winking – I didn’t even realize we got it until I got home and got everything onto the computer.

Happy Anniversary, guys!

Baby Alexander

2010-05-07T14:08:00.001-04:00

This little guy is near and dear to my heart! We are great friends with his parents, Steph and Ricky, and we’ve been so excited for them to meet their little man! When he was born, he was whisked away to the NICU where he spent a pretty scary first week. My family joined with many others in prayer and fasting for Alexander, and we were OVERJOYED when things began to look up, and he was released to come home. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on him and freeze these sweet newborn moments so his Mommy and Daddy can always remember exactly what their little miracle was like.

If this isn’t a perfect baby face, I don’t know what is!

Can’t get enough of those baby toes :)

He was just fakin’ it – he was awake in the frame right before this one and in the one after!

(can’t remember if this one was a yawn

or a desperate plea for help! “Who is this woman, and what is she doing to me?”)

I’m pretty sure he was looking at my son in this one.

Remember how I said I’d get a babysitter next time? Um, yeah… about that…

Alexander was stealthily sticking out his tongue the whole time, and it took several tries to finally catch it!

I’m so glad we did!

If it seems like all I do is newborn photos, it’s because it seems like everyone I know just had a baby! Next up on the blog will be something different!

Baby Elena

2010-04-23T19:11:00.001-04:00

I recently had the pleasure of getting to know this beautiful young lady, Miss Elena. She was only 6 days old at the time
and she is just incredibly precious! Congratulations, Alexis and Kasey, on your perfect little addition to the human race!

Elena gave me one little smile in her sleep and I’m so glad I caught it!

Look at these baby blues. And the dress!! {Please can I have a girl next?}

Perfect fingers and toes…

I really enjoyed this session, because it was a learning experience for me.

Lessons learned:

1. Tummies must be very very full.

2. I should really get a babysitter next time or my little guy will do lots of grabbing (pictured below),
and I’ll end up taking most of the photographs one handed while I hold my son on my hip!

Congrats again! I couldn’t be happier for you!

Baby Jonah

2010-03-30T14:37:00.002-04:00

It was my pleasure to spend a couple of hours last week getting to know this snuggly bundle of sweetness: Baby Jonah! I tried to narrow it down, so it wouldn’t be such a huge post, but I just couldn’t resist these. Hope you love them, Bonny!

Bonny brought along the blanket her grandmother made for her when she was born (below). It’s such a blessing to have treasures like this one to remember our loved ones by, isn’t it?

At this point, Jonah woke up, and started giving me the “Who are you, and why are you messing with me?” look.

Baby toes, what could be better?

Thanks again, Bonny, for giving me the chance to record these fleeting moments!

Aliyah

2010-03-22T14:45:00.001-04:00

Over the weekend, we stopped by to visit some friends of ours so we could wish this little cutie a Happy Birthday! We lived just down the road from each other in Oklahoma, and when we moved east, this family followed a few months later (‘cause they just couldn’t live without us – just kidding!). We live a few more miles apart here, and we definitely don’t see them enough! We had a great time catching up, and our little boy had a great time getting to know (aka smooching!) the birthday girl! We’ll have to keep an eye on him! We even got a few cute photos before my battery ran out. I am getting more and more forgetful – my mom calls it “Half-heimers” – and I had left my spare battery at home. Sad that we had to cut it short! And here’s Aliyah with her beautiful mommy! Thanks again for having us over! Congratulations on being the mom of a 1-year-old!

All Bundled Up

2010-03-16T12:47:00.001-04:00

It’s that time again… time for me to quit being such a slacker and post a little something on my blog! When I saw that this week’s theme on {iheartfaces} is “Bundled Up!” I thought, OK, which of the MILLION pictures of bundledupness that I took this winter should I use?! We got so much snow this winter, but I am happy to report that it is all gone! And the sun is shining! And now, if I want to see snow deeper than my baby is tall, I have to take a look back on those million pictures and reminisce. And shed a little tear… or not! :)

Can ya tell I’m a little done with winter?

Now go out and sit in the sun, or at least make yourself a mug of hot chocolate before you head on over to {iheartfaces} to take a look at all the “cool” submissions for this week! Brr!

Fix-It Friday

2010-02-26T14:09:00.001-05:00

I thought with my husband out of town for the week that I’d get a lot of blogging done, but in fact, it’s been exactly the opposite! I decided to join in on Fix-It Friday since I finished another project and still had a few minutes of naptime left!

I threw in a little lens flare just for fun!

Happy Weekend to you!

LightScoop – changing my life!

2010-02-23T07:59:00.000-05:00

My prayers were answered, and the UPS man brought my new LightScoop on Friday afternoon. I’ve had a few gloomy, rainy days to test it out, and I must say, I LOVE IT! There are certainly situations in which it’s not a workable option – outside, for example, or in an area with really high ceilings – but it has definitely given me the freedom to shoot in circumstances that I wouldn’t have even attempted before.

I took an action shot in the mirror during bathtime on Saturday night. Gives you an idea of what’s going on. It’s basically an angled mirror that clips onto your camera using the hotshoe. The flash reflects off the mirror, then off the wall and ceiling behind you, and back onto your subject, diffusing the light so it’s not as harsh and direct as the pop-up flash usually is.

And here are some examples of what my shots looked like SOOC (straight-out-of-camera for you, mom!) without flash, with direct flash, and with the LightScoop. I was pleasantly surprised at the difference it made!

First up is my kitchen. The light in there is so bad that it used to be impossible to get good food shots. Either too blurry because the shutter speed was so slow, or blown out and yucky looking with the flash. I’m not saying that my curry looks that appetizing with the LightScoop, but it is much better, if you ask me!

Bathtime is another tough one for me. The bathroom has no windows and I could never get the white balance right! My shots were blurry and orange. LightScoop saved the day. I got my first bathtime keepers!My bedroom, on the other hand, often has great light! But today was gloomy day, which made my no flash shots pretty blurry. The LightScoop allowed me to speed up the shutter without sacrificing that flattering, diffuse light.

I am pretty sure this is the best $20 I’ve ever invested in my photography! What else can you buy for that little that makes this big a difference? My husband’s answer was a memory card – I guess that’s important, too! But you know what I mean! I’m a happy camper!

i heart faces: Hands!

2010-02-22T10:36:00.001-05:00

I love chubby little baby hands, and this little guy was seriously into our game of peekaboo!

Now I’m off to i heart faces for some “handy” inspiration!

{Sorry about that… I’m so not punny!}

Photowalk 1: Annapolis {part 2}

2010-02-18T14:19:00.001-05:00

It’s time to finally wrap up my first photowalk! When I went through the file to see what I hadn’t posted, there were only a couple left to share with you.

First off is a little close-up. I sure hope you don’t get tired of seeing this little guy, because I never do. Straight out of camera, his eyes were black and dull, and CoffeeShop’s Eye Bright action really helped sharpen them up and give them some definition. If you use Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, you should really check out CoffeeShop! She has some fantastic tools and tutorials – and it’s all free!

Here’s another one of the little guy – I thought about cropping this one down, but I like how the stroller and the silhouette frame the image and give it a place and a time. I think it adds to the story.

I wasn’t sure which way I wanted to take this shot. Vintage? B&W? Ehhh… Why decide? Why not do them all?! Now that I just posted them, I’m realizing I should have done something about that ugly CFL bulb! It’s definitely not believable as a vintage shot!

Which one do you like best?

my favorites this week from I ♥ Faces

2010-02-17T10:30:00.000-05:00

Now, I certainly haven’t gone through all the entries – not even close! I have no idea how Angie and Amy and the judges do it! – but I wanted to share some links to a few of my favorite images that I’ve come across as I have browsed the entries.

I was drawn to this one by the title of the blog since I’ve got a little Lincoln Log myself! I love the color and motion in this gorgeous shot from Kelly at Our Lincoln Log.
I think the light in this shot by Laura Cioccia is fantastic! Such beautiful light and a very funny story to go along with it: Laura Cioccia Photography
It’s probably because I have four feet of snow outside my door, but I really, really love Mum-me’s springtime shot of these beautiful little girls playing ring around the rosie over at Pics ‘n’ Poems.
The emotion in this shot is perfect, not to mention that it’s just a gorgeous capture! Heather Nan Photography
I absolutely love this twirling shot from Monika at Two Peas for Me.
Rachel Durik of Savor Photography contributed this image which is an awesome example of slow synch flash http://www.savorphotographyblog.com/?p=223
Here’s a beautiful ballerina in a setting you wouldn’t normally expect: Creatively Chic Photography
This shot of a bride and groom getting down with one of their grandmas is to die for! Birchtree Photography

I know there are many more fantastic shots I haven’t found yet. I didn’t even make it through 100 of the 350ish entries! But you know… I am expected to take care of my child and take a shower and stuff like that, so I’m just going to have to call it a day!

p.s. I just ordered a Light Scoop from Adorama and I cannot wait for it to arrive! So I’m just going to go say a little prayer for the UPS guy right about now! Please come quickly!

Share |

i heart faces: I wanna dance!

2010-02-15T10:54:00.003-05:00

Let me set the stage on this one… because it’s too funny not to share.

My brother called me up one day last spring and here’s what he said:

“Hey Karey, so I’m getting married in two months

and we were wondering if you would take the pictures for us?”

I was shocked on many levels.

My reply was:

WOW!

After I congratulated him, I said,

“And about photographing your wedding, it depends on how picky your bride is!”

I had been playing around with the camera for years, but I had never even thought about shooting a wedding!

I was (and still am!) at the stage of taking a zillion pictures and the picking out the few that turned out great.

So, after being reassured that my future sister-in-law wasn’t too picky,

I agreed to do it.

{cue nerves}

{for two months}

{glad their engagement wasn’t longer}

I borrowed a lens from another sister-in-law,

and pumped myself up by remembering that I had done the exact same thing to my awesome friend, Krystal,

a couple of years before when I got married, and she did a fantastic job!

On the big day, I showed up with my Canon Digital Rebel XT, my kit lens,

and the borrowed one (can’t even remember what it was!)

hoping and praying for the best!

Out of nowhere, one of my cousins showed up.

My cousin is a big photo buff, with an even bigger budget.

He brought his Canon 5D and his Canon 5D MkII and a huge array of lenses and some speedlites.

He handed me the 5D MkII with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens on it.

And I said, “Uhhh, if I drop this, I will have to sell my firstborn child to pay you back!”

He graciously placed the camera strap around my neck and told me to go for it.

And go for it, we did.

We got some amazingly beautiful pictures of their perfect wedding day!

This story is turning out to be too long, but we’ll just fast forward to the couple’s first dance as husband and wife.

For the first time all day, I had a little trouble with the camera. It wouldn’t focus!

Luckily, my cousin was shooting and he was focusing just fine, so it wasn’t all lost,

but I was surprised when I reviewed the pictures to find this out of focus shot that I loved.

Somehow, the camera focused on the detail of her dress in the lower right hand corner, and the rest is a soft blur.

It's not technically or artistically perfect, but it totally captures the sweetness of the moment for me.

I love their smiles.

I love the strands of hair beginning to cascade down from her beautiful up-do after a long day of celebration.

And I love all that heart bokeh that was totally there right behind them. *wink, wink*

OK. Thanks for listening to my long, long story!

Now head on over to I Heart Faces to check out all the beautiful dancing shots!

-Karey

Happy Sunday and Happy Valentines Day

2010-02-14T10:13:00.001-05:00

1st John, Chapter 4, Verses 7-12, 16, and 20-21

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

• • •

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

• • •

20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Love these verses. I just recently started keeping a “God is Love” journal. There are so many evidences of God’s love all around us. We just need to take the time to notice and give thanks.

Happy Sunday and Happy Valentine’s Day!

Photowalk 1: Annapolis {part 1}

2010-02-13T08:06:00.000-05:00

My first photowalk of the year was on Martin Luther King Day. We try to take advantage of Matt's days off to go see things we haven’t seen before. We had great weather that day, so it turned out to be the perfect day to spend some time exploring. We live pretty close to Annapolis, which is such a charming place! Old buildings, quaint shops, brick sidewalks, it’s just a great location!

This is my husband. He's my reluctant, but well qualified model. :)
And here's our little boy, my sweet assistant and favorite subject. The photos above and below were taken on the stairs of the Maryland State House. I love that granite! I’m pretty sure my husband was grabbing the back of his jacket here, to make sure he didn’t fall down.
Since it was a holiday, the area was mostly deserted, but right in front of the State House, there was a political rally about Maryland's tyrannical gun laws - right up my husband's alley!
Their blue shirts said, "Ask me about my empty holster.” And they were all wearing empty holsters. As demonstrated below.

I'll post some more from this day next week. Until then, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I ♥ Faces: Fix-It Friday

2010-02-12T13:34:00.001-05:00

Look at this little cutie pie! Her mom complained about the distracting background, so I decided to do something a little fun and funky that would enhance the photo, not detract from it. I also worked on evening out the two sides of her face, and brightening up her beautiful eyes.

Read on for the details…

First, I opened the JPG in Camera Raw – I love that you can do this!

I made one copy to recover the blown out side of the face, and another copy to brighten up the shadowed side.

Then, in PSE7, I dragged the second copy on top of the first and created a fake PSE layer mask by creating a Levels adjustment layer that didn’t adjust anything, and clipping it to the upper layer I filled the layer mask with black, then used a low-opacity white brush to paint in the brightening effect on the shadowed side of the face.

Next, I made a composite layer by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E, and used the quick selection tool to select the baby – switching between the + and – brushes to get my selection pretty close. Then I hit Ctrl+J to copy this selection to a new layer. Now my top layer consisted of my subject – the baby – and the rest was transparent (turn off the other layers to see the transparency grid).

My next step was to open the damask wallpaper layer I wanted to replace the background with (found here), and a few textures from the Textures for Layers group on Flickr. Then I dragged the wallpaper and textures so they showed up just below that top layer, and just played around until I found a look that I liked. I settled on this one, set to Soft Light.

I ran CoffeeShop’s Eye Bright action, painting in the effects on those baby blues with a soft low-opacity white brush.

At this point, I thought it looked ok, but it was missing something. I tried a little trick I learned from a workshop by Jessica Sprague. I created a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, checked the Colorize box in the lower right hand corner, and set the Hue value to 35. This creates a sepia look. Then I clicked OK and set the layer’s blending mode to Soft Light. And there it was – the special something it had been missing before. I think this layer helped tie together the subject and background, whereas before, they were a little too disconnected. Then I sharpened for the web and called it a day!

Be sure to visit I ♥ Faces to see all the other awesome contributions!

Welcome!

2010-02-12T13:00:00.001-05:00

Thanks for stopping by my new photoblog!

I really hope that my posts will be enjoyable and informative and I can't wait to get to know you! Please check out the following links to get a feel for what I'm all about:

about me
projects
gallery
contact

Make yourself at home and let the conversation begin!

Hope you all enjoy!