A Cherry On Top Photography Blog

We had a blind play date with a friend of a friend recently.  It was fun!  She had some photography questions, so I told her to come on over and bring her camera with her.  She also brought her cute baby boy with her for us to use as a practice subject.  Ahhh, how I love those sitting-but-not-yet-crawling days!

So, I guess you could say I had my first “mentoring” session.  It was a practice run, and while it was a lot of fun, I know I’m not ready to do it for real just yet.  Amy says she got a lot out of it, but I didn’t feel like I was very helpful to her.  It was hard to stay focused because we were also trying to keep four kids entertained.

Amy had lots of a good questions and I’m going to include them in my FAQ’s for Photographers page.  The main thing that kept coming up was the use of on-camera flash.  Amy says she uses her flash all the time in her home and bounces it off of the ceilings.  I told her she might be able to teach me a thing or two about that!  I don’t know much about flash photography.  I bought a nice flash two years ago to shoot a couple of weddings, but I haven’t touched it since.  There have been times when I wish I knew how to work the dang thing, but most of the time, I can get what I need by bumping up the ISO.

I avoid using an on-camera flash because when they are pointed directly at the subject, the resulting image can appear flat and boring, and flashes also cast big ugly shadows behind the subject.  For those reasons, I prefer the look of natural light, so I encouraged Amy to put the flash down while she was here.  I know a couple of photographers who can bounce a flash and get great pictures consistently, but it’s not easy to do and I am not the girl to teach her!  Lucky for me, she is already taking a class on flash photography.  I told her I just might have to join her there!

The image above was taken with natural light.  He was sitting about five feet in front of a small window that was about three feet above him, to the right of the camera.  You can tell where the window is by the catch lights in his eyes.  He was at a 45 degree angle to the window.  (Camera settings: f 2.2;  SS 1/350;  ISO 320)

This next image was taken with similar settings and a flash (set at very low output).  It didn’t turn out too bad considering I haven’t used a flash in two years!  I bounced it off the white slanted ceiling behind me.  Notice he has two catch lights in his eyes now?  One in the middle (the flash) and one at about 2 o’clock (the window).

There really isn’t a whole lot of difference between the two images, probably because the flash output was so low, but I just wanted to post the results of our little experiment!  The benefit of using a flash (if you know how to use it properly) is the fact that you can take pictures of your kids anywhere in the house, and at any time of the day.  You don’t have to wait for the perfect time of day and then get them up close to the window.  So I guess I should really practice with mine some more, for those times when there just isn’t enough natural light!

Thanks for stopping by Amy!  It was nice meeting you and your sweet boys!

Location:  The Playroom

We were so excited to find warmer temperatures outside today.  We spent the majority of the afternoon playing at the park.

I get asked this question a lot by photographers:  “How do you take photos of a child in motion on a swing?”  My answer:  Set a high shutter speed and f-stop, then take about a gazillion images and hope for the best!  Seriously, that’s all I do.  I try to get them in focus, but it’s pretty much luck when I do.  I just toss out the ones that are blurry.  I usually get one out of five in focus.  My camera settings for these swinging shots ranged from f 4.0; SS 1/400; ISO 100 to f 8; SS 1/200; ISO 400.  I kept changing them.

She looks like she is just dangling here, but she was actually swinging pretty high!  She wasn’t sure what to think about the swings at first.

Abbey gets compliments on her long lashes all the time.  The lady who cleaned her teeth today said something about them, which is what inspired me to take this image…

Madison was in full motion here too, which is how I got the huge grin.  I can’t believe it’s in focus!

We were the only people at the park, except for the occasional jogger.  It was such a gorgeous day!  Where was everybody?

Madison likes to play with mulch, and eat it too.   She is easy to please.

Photography Tip: Look for open shade and set your subject just inside it, like so…

If they step outside the shade, you will get highlights or “blowouts” in some areas.  Notice the bottom of her sweater and pants.  You want to avoid this.

Please note: I am posting these images solely for teaching purposes!  I would never give images like this to a client!

This is another example of her stepping out into the sunlight.  Notice the un-even light falling across her face?  This is one of my worst nightmares when taking pictures.  It totally ruins an image for me.

The next photo is an example of color cast.  Notice that she looks like she might be the offspring of an Oompa Loompa in this photo?  That’s because the light is reflecting off of the slide and bouncing onto her face.  Again, just posting for teaching purposes…an example of what NOT to do!

I despise shooting in midday.  I avoid it whenever I can.  But she looked so cute munching away on her popcorn chicken in the stroller and the canopy provided a little bit of shade for us.

We went out again this evening and found some better lighting.  I love this image that Brian took of them in their matching outfits, looking at their shadows…

I want to take the girls back to this hill after the grass turns green!

This is one of the toys she picked out of the basket at the dentist’s office this afternoon.  It’s a sticky sun…

Whew!  That was a ton of pictures!

It’s supposed to be even WARMER tomorrow, so don’t expect to find us at home!

So, I said I was going to post more every day “real life” images on my blog.  Unfortunately, this means lugging my huge camera everywhere we go, which is a pain when you already have to carry a twenty-pound toddler on your hip and steer a three-year-old around.  But I know years from now, I’ll be really happy I did it.

This is what we did today…

I have to brag on Abbey for a minute.  She did AWESOME at the dentist’s office!  She sat very still for a long time while they cleaned her teeth.  She knew there was a prize waiting for her at the end of the visit.  They always have a basket of rubber frogs and lizards to choose from and she remembered that from previous visits.  It’s amazing what a ten cent prize will do for a kid.  Maybe I should have a basket of surprises in my studio for all of the kids who come through!  I wanted to get a picture of Abbey picking out her prize, but I was busy supervising, making sure she didn’t take more than she had earned.  Plus, Madison was trying to eat everything in the basket.  It was past her lunch time.

By the way, they said Abbey’s teeth look great!

Photography Tip: I have started switching the camera’s White Balance to “Tungsten” for indoor photos lately and it helps tremendously.  However, when I did that at the dentist’s office, the photos turned whitish blue, probably because they were fluorescent bulbs overhead, not tungsten bulbs (duh), so I switched the camera back to Auto White Balance.  I did not adjust the color at all in PS and I think it looks pretty good.  (Camera Settings:  f 2.5; SS 1/200; ISO 500)

Somehow, this image didn’t make it into last night’s post.  I thought it was a neat one too.  It was my attempt at getting a more creative angle…

Photography tip of the day: Get down to your kids’ level!  Try to see the world through their eyes.  I was laying flat on the floor when I took this (on my right side).  The front door was directly behind me, putting light on her face.  I tried not to worry about the angle, as much as getting her face in focus.  I was working with a wide aperture, so I had to nail the focus!  Notice the dog and the floor just in front of the camera are blurred, which is what I wanted to happen.

Camera settings: f 3.5; SS 1/250; ISO 1000  (50 mm 1.8)

This is our dog, Makenzie.

I got really, really bored this afternoon and decided to take some photos of her.  I never take pictures of her anymore because her looks don’t change that much.

Makenzie is 7 1/2 years old.  She was our first baby, before had our real babies.  She is about as sweet and smart as they come.  She used to get all kinds of special attention from us, but since the girls came along, she spends most of her time in the backyard or laundry room.  Now that Madison is walking, I’ve been letting Makenzie come into the house more often to play.  She makes herself useful by cleaning up crumbs that have fallen around the bottom of the high chair.

Abbey tells me about a million times a day…”Mom, I’m Makenzie.”  If I don’t say anything, she will keep repeating herself, getting louder and louder until I acknowledge that she is indeed Makenzie.  Sometimes she will even yell it randomly from her room upstairs, when she is supposed to be sleeping.

I have been inspired by Ashley Ann to take more everyday photos of my children (and pet).  No matter what they are wearing or how dirty the house is…I’m going to try my best to do this, so get ready to see lots of posts about my kids!  I know many of you already know who Ashley Ann is.  She’s seems to be pretty famous in the blog world!  I haven’t met her in person yet, but I know I will someday!  She lives about twenty minutes South of here and we chat online from time to time.  She is one of the most inspiring people I know.  She takes amazing pictures, crafts, decorates her house really cute, donates things to people in other countries, is raising three boys and a girl, and she still manages to find the time to write the most amazing posts about all of the things she is doing.  Not only that, but she also takes pictures of all of her projects as she goes along and then posts tutorials on how to make them.  I can’t find the time to make anything these days, let alone take photos and post tutorials!  And I have half as many kids as she does!  She amazes me.  If you don’t already read her blog, you should start.

I’m just finishing up the rest of the photos from this session.  It was the kind of session where we all left feeling like we hadn’t gotten anything.  Ava had more energy than her parents and I combined, and we spent much of the session just watching her dance around the studio.  Her parents might have left exhausted, but I think Ava had a ball.  I can almost hear her giggling as I look back at these photos…

“Miss Ava Grace was sitting on the beach, basking in the sun, when all of a sudden…”

I have no idea what prompted this expression, but doesn’t it look like she has just spotted a shark in the water?  Or a very large crab crawling towards her foot?  I barely caught it because I was laughing so hard and nearly dropped my camera.  What a silly girl!

This session was rescheduled about a million times.  First she was sick, then I was sick, then she was sick again, then it snowed for like a month straight, then it rained…you get the point.  Well, the weather was finally halfway decent today and we took advantage of it!  And it was totally worth the wait!  I needed this shoot so badly.  I needed it for my own sanity.  The winter weather has left me cooped up in this house for far too long!  I have never been so eager for spring sessions to begin, and this was the perfect session to start them off!

You might recognize Miss Emery from our 2009 Top Twenty Contest.  She was the WINNER!  I can’t take full credit for that image though.  Emery is one of the most cooperative subjects I have ever worked with and she makes my job very easy.  Put that together with tons of blond ringlets, an adorable smile, and her mom’s great taste in clothes, and we end up with great shots every time!  She is also very smart and says the most hilarious things.  She had me cracking up the whole time.

I loved her cute little pout…

But then we wanted to get a smile out of her, so Mom mentioned a boy’s name and she gave us this adorable little smirk…

A conversion…

Her Mimi rolled her hair for her pictures today.  Thank you Mimi!  Her hair looked gorgeous!

Thank you for bringing her out today Misty!  She really made my day!  I’d love for you all to come by for a play date sometime so we can just hang out and listen to what funny things Emery will come up with to say!

Location:  Main Street, Collinsville

I had fun playing dress up with this cute little lady this morning.  I’m getting ready to go out on another shoot, but I wanted to share my two favorites from this session…

She kept saying “Yee-haw!”  I guess she thought it was a cowgirl hat she had on.

I have been photographing this cutie since she was just six months old!  I couldn’t believe how grown up she looked today!  And did you notice I made an appearance in the first one?  Ha!  Ha!

Location:  Studio

I love spending my days with these two silly girls.  I woke up this morning to Abbey playing with my hair.  I rolled over and smiled at her.  She giggled and said “I came and snuggled with you Mommy!”

I got out of bed and went to get the Pudge from her crib.  She was full of smiles for me.  She’s had one cold after another for the past couple of months and just hasn’t been herself, so it’s really nice to see her grinning all the time again.

We took Abbey out of school this semester because it was just too much…for all of us.  She was doing great, but getting her out the door in the mornings was not fun, at all.  The mornings were too early and the days were too long.  I’ve really enjoyed having her home again and she seems much happier now too.  I know we made the right decision.

I think Madison enjoys having her big sis around too!  They are playing together more and more, but Madison still wants me within arms reach at all times.  It’s like having an extra shadow…a very small extra shadow…following me all over the house.  And if I move too fast and she can’t keep up, she will let me know about it real quick!

Abbey spends the majority of her days sitting at her coloring table, making one masterpiece after another for me to hang in the kitchen.  We are running out of space to display them all!  She also enjoys watching the Olympics on television and pretending she is an ice skater.

Madison loves to point at everything she sees.  She especially likes to point at things with faces.  If she sees a stuffed animal, doll, or figurine sitting up high on a shelf, she will point and grunt until I get it down for her to get a closer look.

She is such a goofball.

We have really missed her silly, scrunchy-nosed grin over the past few months!  I was starting to think it must have been a phase, but then she started feeling better, and the same day the runny nose went away, the scrunchy nose came back!  Yay!

My girls are everything to me.  They are the reason I get up in the morning.  They are the reason I became a photographer.  They are the reason I blog.  They are the reason I do everything I do.  I feel so lucky to be their mama and I hope and pray that I am doing a good job at raising them.  I hope they will have many happy childhood memories.  I hope they will always know how much I love and admire them.  I hope that they will grow to be beautiful, strong, creative, smart, kind women and that they will share their talents with those around them.

And I hope that they will always share a close bond with each other.

Um, we might have to work on that last one a bit…

Being the younger sister is rough.  I can totally relate.

It was freezing outside when we took these photos, but the sun was shining and we were so excited to find promise of warmer weather to come…

Somehow, Abbey knew those were Tulips!  As I leaned over to take the above photo, I asked her what spring means and she said, “Tulips!”  Then she told me about an incident last summer.  That child’s memory is phenomenal.  She said “Remember when the frogs came out in the dark, and you told me to go to bed, and I cried, and then we put the froggies to beddy-bye?”  That exact scenario happened last summer.  She was so excited to see those frogs (huge toads actually) and she was carrying around five or six of them at once.  It was getting late and I was getting grossed out, so I told her it was time to go inside and take a bath and she flipped out!  I made her put the toads in the flower bed and she laid them all in a row on their backs.  I was laughing too hard to take a photo of that.  I told her we would see the froggies in the morning, but she could see that the frogs weren’t staying on in their beds, and she lost it.  She started screaming her head off and I was afraid the neighbors might come out to see what the commotion was about, so I yelled at her, took her inside the house and sent her to her room.  I felt really bad about they way I’d handled the situation.  I knew she was just tired and wanted to say goodnight to her froggy friends.  I hoped she was too little to remember the incident, but I guess not!

(Photo from August 2009)