Portrait Practice

Sarah and Cristina willingly agreed to model for me on a spur the moment portrait session we did while they were over one day. I'd been wanting to practice taking portraits at a wide aperture and they were at the right place at the right time. :)

It was early in the evening, so the sun was low and there was lots of open shade, my favorite type of lighting.

Thanks for letting me practice on you, girls!

My Siblings // Autumn Portraits

The other evening, quite randomly and suddenly, decided I wanted to take some fall pictures. The lighting was perfect for portraits, although it was a bit chilly outside. I had Tiana, Alina, and Daniel dress in some fall-ish clothes: sweaters, boots, scarfs, and such. I was able to try some new poses, which I found on Pinterest. There are so many awesome ideas on there! After we finished, we went inside and ate candy corn. Yep, I like fall.

Selfies

For quite a while now I've been wanting some new headshots of myself. The pictures I'd been using for my profile picture here on Blogger and my about me page were two years old, so I though it was time for an update. But the problem was, taking pictures with the timer was difficult. The camera can't auto focus when the timer is being used and running back and forth from behind and in front of the camera is tiring. 

So I finally got a wireless remote for my Sony. It's very simple, just two buttons: the shutter release and a shutter release with a two second delay. It focuses before snapping the photo and was only $7 on Amazon. And I love it!

I was finally able to get some beautiful headshots that I love. The forest area next to our house made a perfect background for some simple and classy portraits.

Which shot is your favorite?

It's a Winter Wonderland Outside

Ya know how I mentioned in my last post how the snow wasn't sticking? Well, it wasn't very long after I published that post when it really came down and it decided to stay. Now, four days later, we have a seven and a half inches of snow covering the ground.

Sunday Tiana, Daniel, my mom, and I went on a walk around the neighborhood, which is one of our favorite things to do when it snows.

Oh, and just before we left, Tiana made this tiny little snowman.

I though the fire hydrant looked pretty cool covered in snow.

After walking our usual route, we thought it would be fun to walk across the street to Starbucks for drinks. We ended up getting chocolate doughnuts as well.

Daniel eating his doughnut and peppermint hot chocolate.

Yes, I did decided on a cold drink, even tough it was only thirty degrees outside.

At the table outside the store, someone had build this snowman on the table.  The eyes, mouth, and buttons were all coffee beans.

I Heart Faces - Best Face Photo of 2011

I have lots of favorite photos from 2011, but this photo of my brother Daniel is one of my favorite portraits I took. It was just a quick snapshot taken in our living room when I noticed the great lighting. I just love how sharp and clear his eyes are.

Christmas Light Bokeh

Now that we got our Christmas decorations and lights out, I thought I would play around with taking portraits with Christmas lights bokeh.

I set two bar stools at the top of our stairs and draped a tablecloth then Christmas lights from them. I placed Daniel a few feet from the background and use my widest aperture (f/1.8) to get the nice bokeh. For the lighting, I opened up the front door, which lets lots of natural light on the staircase.

I Heart Faces - Black

The I Heart Faces theme is really simple this week: the photo just has to have black in it somewhere. I don't have to many photos that happen to fit that theme, but then I remembered this shot of my siblings that I took last month. I love the soft lighting that was in our backyard morning, so it was perfect for pictures.

Project 52: Week 42

{42/52}

Daniel was having fun playing space ship with the laundry baskets in the living room. I don't have to many portraits of him, so when I saw that the lighting was perfect, I took a few quick shots. I love how this one turned out.

Renee: 2012 Senior

Renee and I have known each other since we moved into the same neighborhood, right across the street from each other, eleven years ago. Back then we had fun riding bikes together, playing in the playhouse in my backyard, baking chocolate chip cookies, and playing basketball together. Now she'll be graduating from high school this spring. My, how time flies!

Our first stop was the beach. There were very few people at the beach, only a couple of fishermen, which was perfect for us.

We woke up to dark, overcast skies that morning. However it wasn't long before the sun peaked out. I couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather!

Once we finished shooting at the beach, we headed to the town center near our house. I was able to capture some gorgeous portraits there.

Love her eyes!

This is one of my favorites.

Sadly there was no water running out of the fountain, but it still made for a beautiful photo.