Blessed and Honored to shoot by Nicholas Viltrakis' side!

I've been neglecting my blog and I apologize....I've been busy with crafting jewelry for my etsy store but also with photography as well. Being a mommy of two sweet little girls is also time consuming, many of you can probably relate to me! :)

Last Saturday, we had an organized photoshoot in Lebanon, Ohio....several photographers and models were present and we had a blast! It was a great learning experience and networking with other like-minded individuals was/is exhilarating to me!

Here are a few of my own photos and if you want to see some of Nicholas Joseph Viltrakis work (he's got some awesome pullback shots of all of us in action), check his blog out here.

Nicholas Viltrakis

Spring...oh how I love thee!!

I got Spring fever! I'm cleaning like a maniac while my camera is collecting a little bit of dust since I'm so busy getting our spring cleaning done (out with the old, in with the new).

I'm still managing to go out and take a few pics every other day so here's a few recent shots from this week.

Today's Post - Self Portraits

I have been told that I spend way too much time behind the camera and not in front of it by many of you! :-) So, as per your request, here's a few new pictures of me! I much prefer to be behind the camera but a photographer has to be as comfortable in front as in the back.... so I'll do my best to take more self-portraits in the future.

Hope everyone has a great weekend....it's going to rain here in Ohio! YUCK! :(

A walk in the cemetery!

I'm still feeling under the weather... today I've been sneezing like crazy! Anyway, I was to start working out today (with weights) but I opted for a good slow walk instead. There's a huge cemetery near by and opted to head out that way with my MP3 player and my camera in tow :)

Here's some shots that I got from my walk tonight :) Enjoy!

I have many loves...another small addiction of mine, BEADS!

Being a mommy of two little girls, I must admit that it has been the best! I can't image it any other way...all the "girly" things that I get to do with them and at the same time drive my husband nuts!! They have been an inspiration to everything that I do! They inspired me to start a small business in 2007 of handcrafted children room decor items (painted knobs, customized switch plates and outlets, wall hangings, shelves, personalized clocks, etc.), personalized children's books, photography, and now jewelry beading!

Here's a few of my recent bracelet pieces! I mostly do bracelets since they are the most popular. I had started doing them with wire and clasps but just recently discovered the advantages of using heavy-duty elasticized cording! It's flexible which the child can put it on and off without mom's help and quite honestly, it won't break as easily as the wire one would.

Most of my bracelet vary in prices starting from as low as $2.00 up to $30.00 (real sterling silver bracelets with precious stones, etc.).

Here's a few recent bracelets of mine. The flowers in the middle are handmade by me...they are made of Polymer Clay! They are pretty sturdy but are still fragile, I wouldn't recommend wearing them while horse-playing or around water :).

My new love - 70-200mm Lens!

I've been wanting the Canon 70-200mm 2.8 IS lens for months but it's high price was out of my reach at this time... I've been looking at some alternatives but never couldn't quite justify "not" waiting for the Canon....until I came across a deal that I just couldn't pass up!

I purchased a "new to me" Sigma 70-200 2.8 HSM lens for about $550.00....v.s. over $1800 for the Canon... yup, a deal I coudn't pass up.

Here's a few images that I took of my daugther Katherine...all of which were taken at ISO 100, f2.8, and approximately at 159mm....shutter speeds varied but they were high enough for a fast moving child :) It was snowing a little bit so, if you see white dots, that's snow and not dust! LOL

February 13th - 1 hr Wedding Shoot

Here's a few recent shots of a wedding...sorry so short, I have a lot to do tonight! :-)

Valentine's Day!

This year is our 13th Valentine's Day...as a married couple, 11! It got me wanting to take a picture of our wedding rings, however, my lovely husband literally refused to remove his wedding band for me! He said "It's MINE and it belongs on my finger"... I proceeded to remind him that he plays/fiddles with his ring all the time and that he almost lost it during our trip in Canada this past Christmas...but that didn't go too well for me! lol

So, here's my wedding ring! There's a story behind this ring... me and husband got married with my engagement solitaire ring as I had yet to find the wedding band that I liked. We were married 10 months before I actually found what I liked. I wanted it to look like a flower! :)

I love editing....as much as taking pictures!

UPDATE: I have three wedding booked thus far, which means, I'll only be taking a few more and that will be it for the year as far as wedding! My goal is to have one or two a month for 2010. Editing is going to be tedious and time-consuming as I'm building my portfolio!

I have an upcoming wedding this weekend, just a quick 1hr wedding shoot to get a few formal shots in.

Ok...moving on to today's post......

I have an addiction to editing, I truly do! It's not a matter of taking crappy pictures and fixing them, I rather not waste my time on those but instead, it's about taking an already pleasing picture and turning it into a work of art...

Here's a before (which only required but 15 seconds of editing) and the after (adding old paper texture, vintage color play, and rounding of the corners).

It's been 10 days since I last posted...time goes by fast!

I'm such a slacker...actually no, I've been pretty busy learning! I can't very well spend all of my time on the internet now can I ? :) Actually I could cause I can spend days and days of doing mindless research and get lost in the World Wide Web.

So, here are some recent shots that I have done..... I'm really anxious for the weather to be prettier so that I can go outdoors but I can't complain too much since I'm also learning a lot of technical photography stuff too. Enjoy the pics!!

Here's a few cool effects !

So, I've been playing around with some of my photos. Here's a few cool effects (some subtle, some more drastic/playful)..

1. Here's my daughter Cassandra , all too serious on the left...I wanted to add a little smile to her face... see the edited new version on the right... subtle but yet still noticeable.

2. My step dad makes beautiful handmade violins, each one taking over six months to be complete (carving, gluing, drying, varnishing, curing, etc.) ... and by the way, he tests his violins for another few months after...so, technically it can take a year before his violin gets into the hands of his/her lucky purchaser! In this photo, I wanted to make the violin stand out, it was competing for attention with the statue, clearly, the statue is the "prop" to lean the violin against, it's not the center piece of the photo! So, with some photoshopping "light" effect, I made it stand out a bit more. I'm sure there's more I could do to it but for now, the spotlight effect seems to make the violin stand out a bit more.3. Here's another subtle but cool effect... my poker hands! This is the hands of my husband and his best buddy from NY (twins seperated at birth I tell ya!! lol). This is not a vignette effect but a all around darkening of the edges.
4. Lastly, I played around with my own self-portrait. I personally prefer a more natural look but I understand that some people like the contrasty more edgy look, therefore, I decided to step out of my comfort zone a little bit and "play"... here's the result...the picture on the left is my retouched portrait and the one on the right is the contrasty/edgy look. You'll notice that the image on the right looks sharper then the left and this is because of the various processing steps that I've done to it, it makes the one image on the left look more soft when in fact, it's nicely sharpened.

That's it for today folks! I got some learning to do and errands to run! :) Till tomorrow....

P.s. don't forget to post a comment, I'd love to hear from you!!

The finished edited corporate headshots are done!

Here's a quick review of the four headshots I did this week.

The background was the same for everyone, just different processing was done according to skin tones. I could have made them all the same but they are going to be posted separately so the slight differences will not be as noticeable.

This was a fun job and can't wait to do more!

Carole

My First Corporate Shot... Thumbs Up!

Just got done with a session today (corporate headshots)...but I have to share this candid shot of one of the employees.... I honestly felt like she did, THUMBS UP!! *LOL*

The setup took me a little longer then expected, I was working in a small space, which made it a little challenging but doable. Also, I have to figure out how to photograph someone with glasses, glare is somewhat of a challenge!?! :)

Here the shot I was talking above..... I haven't retouched this picture at all yet, she's naturally BEAUTIFUL!! :) Lucky girl!