When I’m trying to figure out a new lighting technique or I want to test something out in studio, I usually like to try it out on myself first. Yes, it takes a little extra work setting up the tripod, figuring out focus and using the remote, but I know that I won’t bore myself… I won’t have a tantrum… I won’t say “I’m done” after a few frames. LOL

So this is what I was up to this afternoon during nap time…

Last week I bought an issue of Cosmo. Let it be known I hate this magazine, for many reasons, but on occasion I will buy a fashion magazine so I can study the pictures. I try to figure out how each one is lit, and I also take note of the posing. There were two really common lighting techniques being used in the ads: both of them could probably classified as butterfly lighting. One of them was soft – glamorous. The other was harsh and non-diffused. I want to try both – today I tried the softer version.

I put my SB-700 in my extra large soft box, directly above the camera, almost to the ceiling and pointed it down. At first I held a reflector at my waist, but the light was far too flat for me, so I nixed it. I blame this on the size of my studio space, which is fairly small and white, so often the room itself acts as a reflector. I also blame this on the size of my soft box – it’s quite large and usually produces very soft shadows. I love it.

I put a second flash on the background, diffused with an envelope.

It’s very flattering light –  and I will probably be using this for seniors from now on – I love the look!

I am going to try the harsher variation soon. I think I will replace my extra large soft box with my small one and see if that does the trick. I might even try a bare flash, we’ll see… I’ll have to come up with an edgier background to match the mood of the lighting.

I am so blessed to be up to my ears in work right now. I never, NEVER, anticipated my business taking off so soon. Granted, I’m still in the red, but it doesn’t look like that will be the case for too long… as long as I can be disciplined and resist the urge to keep buying gear. That is the hard part!

There are some things that I could not live without right now when it comes to photography. Here is a list of things that I will never regret investing in:

1. 50mm 1.4G – awesome, awesome lens!
2. SB-700, shoot-through umbrella and triggers – soooo many things I can do with these!
3. Lightroom – I can edit and export so quickly, it frees up time to do other things!
4. The $50 worth of extra RAM I bought for my iMac. What a difference!!
5. My D90. It’s not a full frame… but that’s the only downside. This camera has been good to me – and it takes pretty much any Nikon lens. Love it!!

One time I was taking pictures at a rehearsal and someone laughed and asked me, “did you know your flash is backwards?” My flash was in fact pointed behind me, but it was on purpose, not by accident.  Bouncing your flash is a way to turn a large surface into your main light source, rather than your tiny flash head.  I usually swivel my flash and point it at a 45 degree angle and slightly up, depending on what is behind me.

This photo was taken in Micah’s light-challenged bedroom, and it’s nearly completely lit with my flash:

My flash was pointed behind me and to the right. It doesn’t look “flashy” and that is why I love using this technique.

Usually what I will do is meter for the ambient light, then underexpose by 2 clicks (which on my camera is 1/3-2/3 stop) – then I’ll fire the flash in TTL mode. This adds directional light without being too contrasty.

It takes practice to get used to moving your flash head around and knowing where to point it, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll never go back.

I wanted to share something out of my “bag of tricks” that has been working really well with 2-year-olds and getting nice big, natural smiles: my stinky camera!

I first tested this on my son, but when I found that it worked on 2 other toddlers, I knew it was a winner! Now my camera doesn’t actually stink, but these cuties don’t know that. After I set up the shot, I bring the camera to my nose, do an exaggerated sniff and exclaim, “oh! my camera is so stinky!” while scrunching up my nose. I love the results! At my last session, I tried not to overuse it, but to my surprise, it never got old!

This past weekend we visited Eric’s family in Ohio – we stayed until Tuesday. On the ride home, we drove through Chicago around 11:30pm and the traffic was crazy!! It took us an extra half hour to get home. I started getting really bored in the car, so I took my camera out and decided to play!

Traffic bokeh!

I’ve been working on a new photography technique and I am just enamored with the results. What I do is shoot at sunset and twilight, underexpose the scene by 2/3 stop, and use my strobe in a softbox to throw soft directional light onto the subjects. It’s so pretty!

The effect it creates is a deep, rich background and very nicely lit subjects. The orange sky behind them acts as a hair light, separating them from the dark background. The processing is minimal on these.

Aren’t they cute? If you’d like to see more, visit my photography blog here.

When Eric and I got engaged, we had our friend Jennifer take our engagement photos in Lake Geneva in front of the Riviera, where we had our wedding reception. One of them is framed on our living room wall above our couch – a 16×20. There have always been a few things that bugged me about the photo though, mainly the fact that I have a lipstick smudge on my teeth that I didn’t notice until it came back from the lab. Ack! Then there’s the issue that I forgot to wear my engagement ring (really Kim?), but that can’t be fixed.

Well I decided to get rid of the lipstick, but once I opened up the photo I started doing all sorts of other things to it, and then I ordered a new 16×20 of the edited version from my pro lab. Here’s the before & after. Can you see what else I did to the photo?

It’s too bad I can’t go back in time and put on my darn engagement ring! I thought about flipping the photo so that my ring would appear to be hidden, rather than missing, but then Eric’s mole would be hopping to the other side of his face like something out of Robin Hood Men in Tights.