The long, dreary and grey months of the Winter nee The long, dreary and grey months of the Winter need a little bit of color, so here you go. 😍 Love this chest of drawers. Discovered it buried in a local shop and bought it specifically for the green color (one of my favorites). Vintage Coke crate was a $10 score from a garage sale place on Facebook some ten years ago. And the assorted markers in Roy G Biv order (natch) that aren’t used anymore because my kids have sadly left that phase. 🙃
Weekend Photos in Review, old school still photo s Weekend Photos in Review, old school still photo style, hope you had a good one! ✨
A friend was taking a trip to Ireland and asked if A friend was taking a trip to Ireland and asked if I wanted her to bring me back anything. Would you believe me if I told you I asked for salt? I love picking up different varieties, whether we’re traveling or I’m just visiting a new shop. Maddie grabbed me a super cute one from her trip to Paris last year, and the Magic Unicorn Salt I get locally is another favorite. What’s yours?
One of us hops like a bunny down the steps, has a One of us hops like a bunny down the steps, has a serious case of FOMO on the daily, gets hiccups more than anyone we know and has perpetual bed head. She’s quite the unique roommate but may be exactly what our home needed. 💛
I haven’t had a bagel in ages, but when I saw th I haven’t had a bagel in ages, but when I saw that @njdotcom had picked six bagel shops at the “best in the state,” and one was reasonably local, all the sudden I needed one. I was never one to fall prey to peer pressure, but I’m very definitely a marketer’s dream. 😂 Alfa Bagels is on Route 10 in Randolph and has a good assortment of bagels, including all the usual suspects, but with a few others like rainbow, Asiago and French Toast throw in for good measure. Their bagels always seem to have a nice chew, which I appreciate and I love their sesame one. My go-to order lately is a double toasted flagel with lox spread and tomato. Their lox spread is a little ho hum, but the bagel is delish. Check them out next time you’ve got a craving (or get motivated by a local news story 😝). What’s your bagel order?
✌🏻 ✌🏻
When you really really really want to be best frie When you really really really want to be best friends. 💛
When a stressful week with deadlines ends with Nat When a stressful week with deadlines ends with National Cheese Lovers Day, how could I not partake? Tbh, I wasn’t especially hungry, and the appetizers are always the best section of any menu, so the queso blanco from El Mejicano in town wasn’t too hard a choice. It’s smoky and cheesy and I could have licked the bowl clean, but a girl’s gotta have some boundaries. Happy weekend, friends! ✨
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Sweetnicks

Food and Life

Photography: Tips and Tricks

August 16, 2011 · Narrative, Photography

Now that I’ve officially hung out the shingle on my new photography business, the pressure is on more than ever.  It’s one thing to be at a family function, be the resident photographer and only get one or two good shots, but when people are paying me, it’s a whole different ball game.  I have to produce.  And then some.  This is, of course, a first class problem.

At my niece’s second birthday in June, I was the one charged with capturing the day.  With the flurry of activity and a group of little ones under foot, there aren’t too many moments when you can say, “Wait, can you do that again?  I didn’t get it the first time.”

My first line of defense?  Take a million pictures.  And I’m not kidding.  The total for two events that weekend surpassed 600.  I wanted to do right by my sister and, hey, my niece is only going to turn two once.  The more pictures I have to play with at the end of the day, the better the outcome will be.

After your picture-taking session is over, the work has just begun.  Downloading your pictures.  Fixing lighting.  Red eyes.  Cropping out an errant hydrant, passerby or light pole.  And then sometimes resurrecting a bad picture.

There are two pictures from my niece’s birthday party that are an excellent example of how a few simple changes can yield a completely stunning, and otherwise previously hidden, photo.

My creation
When I looked through the dozen or so photos of Sadie and her birthday cake, I was getting a bit discouraged.  There wasn’t one “that’s it!” shot.  So I did the next best thing.  I took the best one of the lot and started playing with it.  Darkening.  Lightening.  Cropping.  Sepia tones.  Black and white.

The end result is a awesome picture that highlights Sadie, her cake and her big moment.  A true Phoenix from the ashes, that picture came from an original that was completely unworthy of showing a client.

The next picture was an original of Sadie and Sophie looking at the balloons outside.  I got inspired by the vintage nature of Sadie’s dress and started playing around with it.  I cropped Sophie out (sorry, Soph! xoxo), and made the photo black and white and a smidge lighter to blur out the background a bit.  I adore the end result and it tells a story all on its own, while the original would have just been skipped on by.
My creation

*You can see the larger pictures of these examples in my Flickr photostream right here. When I make the collages, it crops them a bit so you can’t see the whole photo.

So a piece of advice? When you download your pictures, whether you’re taking them for fun or finance, don’t automatically discard the ones you think are bad. Play around with them. Crop them.  Make them tighter.  Lighten them.  Switch up the coloring a bit.  These two pictures of Sadie are in the Top 5 of my favorites from that day. Undiscovered gems that might have stayed undiscovered had I not started playing around with them.

Have a picture that you want a bit of help with?  Photo editing is one of the services I now offer from my Etsy shop.  Drop me a line and I can work a bit of magic for you.

Sorry folks, no bonus photo today.  Nursing a terrible migraine, and as soon as I hit publish, I’m done for the night.  Thank goodness my mom brought over dinner for us (and comfort food to boot!) and saved the day.

xoxo

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Posted In: Narrative, Photography

Comments

  1. Casey says

    August 16, 2011 at 11:06 pm

    I love your photography and wish you the best in this new venture. I will keep you in mind should I need something!

    Reply
  2. Joanne says

    August 17, 2011 at 6:20 am

    Ooo sorry about the migraine! Hope that sleep knocked it out of you.

    I adore that photo of Sadie by the window. Gorgeous.

    Reply
  3. Ramona says

    August 17, 2011 at 11:35 am

    Sorry you feel bad. Glad your Mom was able to help you out.

    Reply

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The long, dreary and grey months of the Winter nee The long, dreary and grey months of the Winter need a little bit of color, so here you go. 😍 Love this chest of drawers. Discovered it buried in a local shop and bought it specifically for the green color (one of my favorites). Vintage Coke crate was a $10 score from a garage sale place on Facebook some ten years ago. And the assorted markers in Roy G Biv order (natch) that aren’t used anymore because my kids have sadly left that phase. 🙃
Weekend Photos in Review, old school still photo s Weekend Photos in Review, old school still photo style, hope you had a good one! ✨
A friend was taking a trip to Ireland and asked if A friend was taking a trip to Ireland and asked if I wanted her to bring me back anything. Would you believe me if I told you I asked for salt? I love picking up different varieties, whether we’re traveling or I’m just visiting a new shop. Maddie grabbed me a super cute one from her trip to Paris last year, and the Magic Unicorn Salt I get locally is another favorite. What’s yours?
One of us hops like a bunny down the steps, has a One of us hops like a bunny down the steps, has a serious case of FOMO on the daily, gets hiccups more than anyone we know and has perpetual bed head. She’s quite the unique roommate but may be exactly what our home needed. 💛

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The long, dreary and grey months of the Winter nee The long, dreary and grey months of the Winter need a little bit of color, so here you go. 😍 Love this chest of drawers. Discovered it buried in a local shop and bought it specifically for the green color (one of my favorites). Vintage Coke crate was a $10 score from a garage sale place on Facebook some ten years ago. And the assorted markers in Roy G Biv order (natch) that aren’t used anymore because my kids have sadly left that phase. 🙃
Weekend Photos in Review, old school still photo s Weekend Photos in Review, old school still photo style, hope you had a good one! ✨
A friend was taking a trip to Ireland and asked if A friend was taking a trip to Ireland and asked if I wanted her to bring me back anything. Would you believe me if I told you I asked for salt? I love picking up different varieties, whether we’re traveling or I’m just visiting a new shop. Maddie grabbed me a super cute one from her trip to Paris last year, and the Magic Unicorn Salt I get locally is another favorite. What’s yours?
One of us hops like a bunny down the steps, has a One of us hops like a bunny down the steps, has a serious case of FOMO on the daily, gets hiccups more than anyone we know and has perpetual bed head. She’s quite the unique roommate but may be exactly what our home needed. 💛
I haven’t had a bagel in ages, but when I saw th I haven’t had a bagel in ages, but when I saw that @njdotcom had picked six bagel shops at the “best in the state,” and one was reasonably local, all the sudden I needed one. I was never one to fall prey to peer pressure, but I’m very definitely a marketer’s dream. 😂 Alfa Bagels is on Route 10 in Randolph and has a good assortment of bagels, including all the usual suspects, but with a few others like rainbow, Asiago and French Toast throw in for good measure. Their bagels always seem to have a nice chew, which I appreciate and I love their sesame one. My go-to order lately is a double toasted flagel with lox spread and tomato. Their lox spread is a little ho hum, but the bagel is delish. Check them out next time you’ve got a craving (or get motivated by a local news story 😝). What’s your bagel order?
✌🏻 ✌🏻
When you really really really want to be best frie When you really really really want to be best friends. 💛
When a stressful week with deadlines ends with Nat When a stressful week with deadlines ends with National Cheese Lovers Day, how could I not partake? Tbh, I wasn’t especially hungry, and the appetizers are always the best section of any menu, so the queso blanco from El Mejicano in town wasn’t too hard a choice. It’s smoky and cheesy and I could have licked the bowl clean, but a girl’s gotta have some boundaries. Happy weekend, friends! ✨

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