Photos by Lie

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Not long ago I had asked a group of friends on Facebook if they wouldn't mind volunteering for me to photograph them. The main purpose of this is to help me build up my portfolio. Well, its growing now :)

Here are a few photos that I took yesterday with a friend of mine, Hannah, and her dog, Cleo. We took a trip out to Brackenridge Park and I worked on my posing skills lol. Honestly I wish we had picked a different location. Mainly because there weren't a lot of opportunities for 'natural' photos... There was way too much visual noise everywhere (in the form of signs, other people and trashcans...) I think I got a few good ones in there though. Hannah was very happy with them which meansI did my job well right? I'm just taking it as a good learning opportunity :)

Oh - some cool news, I have another person wanting infant shots :) Never thought 5 quick pictures of a cute baby could set off a chain like that!

Photo of Hannah cropped from the waist up. She is to the left side of the frame, torso facing the right and head towards camera. You can see giant horizontal tree limbs behind her as well as a blanket of thick green leaves. There are dappled shadows on hannah's neck and torso from the sun shining through the leaves onto her.

Hannah and her black great dane Cleo standing on a small bridge. Hannah is leaning on the black metal fencing of the bridge smiling towards the camera. Cleo is half way out of the left side of the frame with her front half and head in it. She is also looking towards the camera with her tongue out and ears back in apparent enjoyment.

Hannah with her black great dane Cleo standing on a bridge. Hannah has an arm up leaning on the black metal fencing of the bridge and she looks like she is talking to Cleo, with her head down in her direction. Cleo is standing perpendicular to hannah looking out of the right side of the frame.

Photo of Hannah and her black lab Cleo, Cleo is standing in front of hannah closer to the camera and in focus while Hannah is in the background and blurred out. Hannah is leaning against a large stone wall and Cleo is standing sideways to the camera with her ears all the way back with a goofy look on her face

Hannah and her black Dane Cleo posing for a picture. The image shows cleo with her front paws on hannah's shoulders while Cleo is licking Hannah's chin in a big Dane kiss. Hannah is leaning her head all the way back trying to keep her lips away from cleos tongue. The image is cropped from Hannah's chest up, you can see a the lush green leaves of a tree blanket in the background behind their heads.

Hannah and her Black Dane cleo on the edge of a creek wall. Hannah is sitting with her legs hanging over and facing the creek, her head is turned to the side facing the camera. Cleo is standing behind Hannah looking in the direction of the camera with her ears back and her tongue out in a goofy grin.

Baby Logan

So you know those pictures of MJ I put up. Well I had uploaded them to my Facebook so I could tag the parents in them and guess what happened just from those 5 pictures?! I got a gig! Their best friends saw the pictures, loved them and asked if I could photograph their baby as well. He is a cute little baby boy, almost 3 months I believe and the mom loved the pictures so much that she said I would have to come back at 6, 9 and 12 months to take more pictures. They were my very first paying clients! I love that I got such a good portfolio building session from them and he's such a cute baby. I'll quit jabbering and just get on with the picture posting!

Photo of a close up of baby Logan's face with focus being on his mouth and bottom portion of his nose. He is in the process of forming a small bubble with his lips which is in sharp focus. His mouth is situated in the bottom right corner of the frame with his eyes back in the top left corner - his eyes are slightly blurred out giving a good depth of field.

Photo of baby Logan laying on a white fluffy bed cover. He has a naked torso and his arms are spread wide. The photo is taken from a sideways shot of him so he is looking to his right at the camera. You can see light from the window that is on his left spilling on to his face and chest.

Picture of baby Logan laying on a blanket. The picture is taken from directly above him and he is framed on the very left portion of the photo so there is a lot of negative space on the right. He is looking straight up towards the camera and has a nice catch light at 5 o clock in his eyes. The photo has been converted to black and white making it look very dramatic.

Photo of baby Logan in his blue and brown striped overalls. He is laying on a white blanket and the camera is viewing him from slightly above the left side of his head, he is looking in the direction of the camera and has the sun creating a nice catch light at 5 o clock in his eyes.

Photo of baby Logan being held by his mom. The photo is taken from behind her as he looks at the camera over her shoulder. It has been converted to a black and white so his eyes are quite dark with a bright catch light at 2 o clock. You can see mom's shoulder and the side of her face with her ear sitting in the top left corner. Lucas' head is pretty center in the frame and his hair is winged out on his left side.

Here are a few of Big Brother Lucas :)

Picture of big brother lucas laying on his back on a white fluffy bed cover. He is in a diaper and is holding his feet up in the air. He is sideways to the camera with his head on the right side of the frame and butt on the left. He is looking at the camera from around his arm which is straight up in the air holding one of his feet.

Photo of older brother lucas leaning on the window blinds and looking in the camera with an almost smirk on his face. He looks like he just got caught doing something he wasn't supposed to do but had fun doing it.

Friday, March 25, 2011

More of Baby MJ

Here are a few more photos of MJ. He's such a pretty baby, it wasn't hard to get good photos of this kid!

Close up Image of a baby boy's face and chest. He is on a green play mat and wearing a grey shirt with monkeys on it. His mouth is partially open and he is looking at the camera with big dark eyes

Close up Image of a baby boy's face and chest. He is on a green play mat and wearing a grey shirt with monkeys on it. He is looking towards the ceiling with his large dark eyes

Close up Image of a baby boy's face and chest. He is on a green play mat and wearing a grey shirt with monkeys on it. He is looking towards the left top of the frame

Close up Image of a baby boy's face and chest. He is on a green play mat and wearing a grey shirt with monkeys on it. His Hands are up close to his face and he is looking towards the ceiling

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Before and After: MJ 3 Months

Here is my submission for Pixel Perfect's Before and After Blog Hop.

Let me introduce you to Baby MJ! He is my (future) nephew, about 3 months old and the first baby I have ever photographed! Let me know what you think!

Photo of a baby on a green play mat with big dark eyes

SOOC

Close up of a baby's head, laying on a green play mat, He has big dark eyes and he's looking at the camera

Edited Version

Taken with my Nikon D5000, 35mm Prime Lens, f/4.0, ISO 800, Flash fired
Edited in Adobe Lightroom 3

Monday, March 21, 2011

Critique this Blog Hop by Pixel Perfect

Another Photography blog that I follow, Pixel Perfect is having a 'Critique this' blog hop today. I am submitting this photo that I took not long ago of Darrell and his guide dog Egypt. It was a very muggy day but I had that itch to take pictures so we went out on the balcony and snapped a few shots. I wish it had more colors in it but other than that I think it came out pretty well.

I consider myself an intermediate photographer, I know my way pretty well around my camera, can do a fair amount in Adobe Lightroom, my editing software and currently have my first paid photography 'gig' set up in May. Well, here it is, let me know what you think!

A close up picture of Egypt, yellow lab, head and neck in focus, and Darrell, a young man blurred out sitting in the background. The image is taken from slightly below the labs head making her look regal and powerful. Darrell's face, while blurred out can be seen in a slight smile while he looks at Egypt.

I used my Nikon D5000, 18-55 mm lens. It was edited in Adobe Lightroom 3.

I'm open to whatever critiques you have so bring it on! Please, feel free to do so to my other posts as well. It would be really helpful :)

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Little bit of sun

A few photos I took over the weekend - experimenting with sun-flare through some tree branches.

Focusing on seeds hanging off of a tree branch with a sun flare coming through the top of the frame. The flare caused the edges of the branches to turn shades of yellow, pink and green. Blue sky can be seen along the edges of the photo.

Focusing on several tree branches with hundreds of seeds hanging off them. There is a sun flare coming through the top of the frame. The flare caused the edges of the branches to turn shades of yellow, pink and green. Blue sky can be seen along the edges of the photo.

Image of thick tree branches with small round seeds hanging off the limbs. There is a sun flare coming through the very middle of the frame, it causes the smaller limbs around it to be outlined in yellow and orange. You can see a halo of blue sky all around the flare out to the edges of the frame.

I think Pet Photography is my calling....

I have always loved taking pictures of my dogs but lets be honest, labs are not always their most photogenic when they are in action. Lots of floppy skin around their faces and necks make it hard to get a good shot without a completely goofy look. Goofy looks aren't always bad but when that is all you have to work with it can sometimes be frustrating.

I was very excited this weekend to get to take some action shots of a dog with basically zero percent floppy skin.

Photo shoot with my brother's pitt bull Zeda:

Image of a black and white pitt bull standing in a grassy field looking towards the camera. There are blurred out trees in the background

Image of a black and white pitt bull in the middle of a jump, 3 of her four paws are off the ground. She is in the middle of a grassy field.

Image of a black and white pitt bull with a pink collar running in the direction of the camera. She is in a grassy field with trees in the background

Image of a black and white pitt bull looking up to the left top corner of the frame, she is in a sit position and the image is cropped where you can see her shoulders and head.

Image of a black and white pitt bull standing in a rock and grass field, she is looking out of the right side of the frame with her mouth open in a wide smile

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Photos By Lie = photos by nata(Lie)