addictive

See I told you this would become addicting! =)

High Dynamic Range

I'm pitiful when it comes to regularly blogging. Six years ago I would blog every day, sometimes multiple time in a day. Now I'm lucky if I blog once a month. =)

This year, 2011, for me has been about getting back some of the creativity I felt I lost last year. I'm more interested in trying out new things and learning techniques I've never tried before.

Lately I've been seeing a lot of HDR images on the web and of course the reason I became interested in the first place was because of a contact I have on Flickr.

So I did some reading up on the topic, gleaned a few tips & tricks and set out with my camera and tripod to shoot a series of photos.

I shot a series of 3 images using auto exposure bracketing at -1, 0, +1 and complied them in Photomatix tonemapping. I didn't do any other post processing. Mostly I wanted to see what the images looked like without extra work. Considering this is my first try I'm pretty pleased with the results. I can see this new technique becoming a serious addiction! =)

Want to give it a try? Read more on Auto Exposure Bracketing and HDR photography and check out some HDR software.

all dressed in white...

A dear friend of mine asked me to do her bridal portraits back in April. She finally got engaged to her childhood sweetheart, a journey that began 14 years ago. She was so radiant and excited and in love, she was just a pleasure to photograph. We had 2 great sessions, one that was more traditional and one that was more urban and modern. My faves are from the more modern shoot, especially the one of her on the stairs. Yesterday Nancy & Joe said "I do"....Congratulations!! =) for more photos visit HERE!

The Sophomore Recital

My sister-in-law is a music major. And last week she had her sophomore recital. She wanted to do a photoshoot with her hair & makeup all done and in the dress she was going to wear for the performance. So we headed downtown and had about 30 minutes in which to get a few shots. These are a sampling!

rough rider? easy rider? nope sexy rider(s)...

After the shoot with the brothers on their motorcycles I decided that my husband & I needed a few shots of us together on his motorcycle. So I set the camera on a tripod, set the self timer and ran (in 5" heels) back to the motorcycle and hopped on with a second to spare before the camera clicked! These were my favorites.

guys & motorcycles

I'm so behind on my photo blog. I've had like 4 photoshoots that I haven't blogged about. *sigh* So here are 4 brothers on their motorcycles. They wanted to get a few shots of them together, riding, looking badass and just for the overall cool factor. For a couple of shots I rode on the back of one of the motorcycles. 4 down, 1 to go and the 5 oldest brothers in the H family will all be motorcyclists. I believe a motorcycle club is about to form! LOL!

fresh start.

An old friend from high school who's mother I use to scrapbook with recently had her first child. They asked me to do some "newborn" photos of little Whitley. It's been since the birth of my youngest daughter that I've had the opportunity to do newborn photos. It was fun to see how many creative shots you can come up with of a sweet little baby sleeping!