Father's Day Coming Up ~ Try Picture Day

With the economy in turmoil and a "back-to-basics" ideology blooming it's time to rethink Father's Day gifties! When Lorie hired me to take photos of her family last weekend it was a Father's Day gift to Del ~ she just couldn't imagine buying him another watch and really wanted to give him something special! Not to worry...if a professional photo shoot is out of your budget you can d0-it-yourself ~ it's all about about the love and sentiment! Here is a photo of Del with the adorable Kennedy that beats out a watch any day of the week!

Photo Day:

Most of us have a little point and shoot camera that stands neglected in the den corner taken out for birthday's and holidays. Grab those cameras and make a day of it! Go to the beach or the city, shoot to your hearts content! Go ninja-style and just let your family do what they do ~ then start shooting! There's this crazy notion that you can't have professional looking photos with a point and shoot! So Wrong!!! Be creative...it's digital...if you don't like it you can delete it! So now...here are three tips to get you moving away from the "everyone-say-cheese" pics: 1. Try a different perspective ~ pull out a step ladder ~ I take a 3-step ladder on all my shoots. Sometimes I group everyone on the ground and take a picture from above them or shoot lying on the ground and looking up. Here's a photo of Jen...I took it sitting on the train tracks! 2. Go for details ~ take a photo of hands or feet, close-ups of faces ~ I took this shot of Nicole and Riley and love that all you really see of Nicole is her nose! Another detail shot I love are of my feet at Versailles last year..we'd been walking around London and Paris for two weeks and I had worn through all my socks...these were my last good pair!!! It tells a better story of travel than any other photo I took! Most point and shoots have tons of cool features now ~ try a twilight portrait setting in low light ~ this is great when taking photos at night! Or go for black and white or even purple toned pics ~ try it for some instant fun! Note: If using twilight portrait setting don't move until the photo is taken and tell your subject not to move either...there's a flash but it takes a moment for the camera to capture the picture.

It's all about getting a unique and interesting photo to hang on your wall or put on dad's desk!

There are also a lot of great programs that you can use to edit your pics ~ try different crops and filters...have fun with it!

Now...take your prized photo to a professional printer! It makes all the difference in the world!!!

That's all for today!

~back to camera

San Clemente Beach Family Photo Day

I had the awesome pleasure of photographing Lorie and her family this weekend in Laguna Niguel! D.J., Kennedy and Ally are all adorable little imps and I can't tell you how smart and beautiful they are! Del and Lorie are amazing parents and as I'm going through all the photos I can't begin to pick my favorites...there are too many!!! Here is D.J. and Lorie hanging out with a bunch of balloons... Ok..now come on y'all...are they beautiful or what? This photo melts my heart! D.J. at the shore...he rarely stops moving but stood for a minute relaxed at the shore...I'm so in love with him! Here is little Kennedy...I swear I did not pose her :-) Isn't she a doll? Thank you so much for letting me hang out with you guys at the beach! I had such a great time and look forward to editing many more photos this week of them! ~back to camera!