Eye c u

"ALL OUR SOULS ARE WRITTEN IN OUR EYES"

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My 20's Man

So I haven't been blogging much lately. I have been trying to get my other blog ready for the one year birthday & 100th post. Which is today by the way. Happy Birthday to THE TYSON TIMES! I will promise to try and be better. How can I expect my blog to start thriving If I can't keep up with it. I gotta start going out there and taking more pictures too. Definitely a must!!! Well I had a mini photoshoot with my son recently. I put him in this adorable outfit and after many attempts inside the house where he just would not sit still for me, we moved outside where I got some AWESOME shots. He reminded me a little 20's man waiting for his wife to come home. AWW how adorable it would have been if we had a little girl by his side. maybe i can find one for next time.

Outside was perfect because he was a little out of comfort zone so he was able to follow direction more [well as much as an 18 month old could] and able to sit still for longer periods of time. Here are a few of the shots i got. As you can tell my photoshop skills are getting better as well.

aww my little baby is growing up!

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Photo of the Week: Grandma Stacey & Tyson

a picture I caught while doing a mini photoshoot with Tyson of him and his grandma Stacey. I didnt really have many pictures of them together so glad this one came out so nicely. I was shooting Tyson and Grandma was walking up behind me and as soon as he saw her his eyes lit up and he went for the hug. This picture is just beautiful. Time to make a scrapbook page with it now. :)

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First [kinda] real shoot [with people]

So a friend of a friend is starting this online clothing boutique called House of Plum Red. She had a photoshoot last weekend for her website so she can get started and get the site up and running. Well she needed assistance with the photography and I, very willing and anxious to learn more, of course volunteered. I warned her though that I am far from professional and I know not much more then shutter speed and aperture. She was still willing to have me help. So nice! Well days before the shoot the photographer cancelled and i was SUPER worried that I was going to be the only one but then as God has been helping her, she got a new photographer. ::whew:: because we know id dint want to responsible for messing anything up. So once again I was assisting. yay.

Well when I arrived I really wasn't too sure exactly what I would be doing. Thinking to myself "what did I get myself into, I really know nothing about photography just yet, i only take pictures of plants...". Well most importantly I knew nothing about lighting, esp indoors. my class had just begun that process and then it was over. poor me. i get inside and see the inside of the house setup to shoot with all the professional lighting set up and the nice camera and stuff and then i really felt out of place. well immediately i was welcomed and introduced to the real photographer, Andrew Lee, who was VERY nice and assured that I could learn some from him. He started asking me questions and i had NO IDEA what he saying at certain times yet just as eager to continue learning. I was to at the least take some "behind the scenes" pics of all the girls and stuff. This made me breathe a little easier as I knew my pictures weren't going to be near as good as the real photographers considering I then noticed how lighting is such a big deal esp when shooting fashion and indoors.

I started taking pictures of the girls getting their hair/makeup done and the clothes and preparation. I wanted so badly to be able to shoot the actual girls so while they were shooting for Andrew I stood afar and shot them myself. Hoping that with some good editing, my work could still be seen. I got a few good shots but quickly saw myself how lighting makes all the difference in the world. GOOD thing i wasn't the only photographer there. The only thing I noticed I needed more help with as far as being the "behind the scenes" photographer was that I need to be more assertive and confident. I was kinda shy being that I had never shot people before [besides my son] and I although I got some great shots I'm sure I could have gotten more if I would have spoken up a little more and talked to the models more about taking pictures for me. I could have even grabbed them aside to do a mini photoshoot with me. Andrew assured me that this part was indeed the hardest obstacle when shooting people for a first and you need to realize that they are people and you just have to tell them what you're here to do. Maybe next time I can do that.

I learned a lot from being at the photoshoot. Everything was so professional. There were people doing hair and makeup. A stylist to help put together outfits, runners to help on the side with little things, and wonderful models to work with. I was glad it was someone I sorta knew and I definitely felt more at ease. In t he end Andrew asked me for my contact info and said that he would contact me if I were ever interested in assisting him in the future which of course would be ideal for me. I'm determined to l earn more before then though. Maybe get some better equipment to help me out. I quickly realized how serious I need to take this work if I really want to do something with it on the side, if not full time. I need to put my heart and soul into it and dedication. I was only doing this on the SIDE SIDE SIDE, so far meaning that "when I had time" but i realized I have potential to really be good and make some decent money, I just have to learn all I can and invest in some better equipment. Seeing how professional Andrew was made me strive to be as good.

Hope you enjoy some of my work. I didn't share too many of the behind the scenes pics I took. These are the mostly shots I caught from afar. Thank god for zoom lens right.... and photoshop. The quality of mine weren't nearly as good ad Andrew's but photoshop gave them a little justice.

Hope you enjoy and keep a look out for HOUSE OF PLUM RED opening sometime mid November 2009. The clothing is awesome.

I'm suppose to be helping again this Sunday but depending on my daycare schedule it might not happen. Wish me luck. I'd love to shoot with these ladies again.

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Photo Challenge: Halloween Dress-up

So this week over at I♥faces the challenge is Halloween dress up. Ever since I got my son's costume I have been dressing him up in it all the time just because I think its so cute. One of my favorite parts is how his curly little hair sticks out.

I love that I get to share this picture with everyone. Hope you like my little "King of the Jungle" as much as I do!




Click on the button above to check out all the amazing entries for this week's challenge.

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Fix-It-Friday: Puddy

So today was Fix-It-Friday over at I ♥ Faces. I haven't remembered or had time to do any of these lately but today I had the chance. To tell you the truth I cant remember much of exactly what I did but I can try to explain.

BEFORE:




AFTER:


So the first thing I did was lighten the whole photo. This allowed me to get rid of the shadow [or lighten it] that was over his face. Of course we want to see his beautiful face. I then Just used the COLOR POP action from MulletGod on his sweatshirt and on the puddy to make them stand out some. Next I used Selective Color to make the puddy more green and glowing. Then I simply added a texture on the background. ALL DONE!

How easy was that. The main thing was to just get the shadow off of his face. Once that was done the picture was alreayd ten times better.


Go and visit: http://www.iheartfaces.com/ to look at the other entries for Fix-It-Friday

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Photo of the Week: Jessica & Nyana

I took this pic once again on my first day using my camera when we went to Santa Cruz for the day. Love that a lot of my pictures come from that day and I didnt even know how to use my camera. lol

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Before & After: McKenzie

My friend Natasha saw this blog and wanted me to do some touch-ups for her of pictures of her daughter McKenzie. I love that she trusts my work. She onyl wanted some simple things like hte lighting, softened skin, bright eyes, etc. Easy basic stuff. For now, since I havent had much time to work on photoshop I granted her with her wishes and did the easy stuff. When I get more time hopefully I can play around with them and see If I can make something cool for her.
for now here are the before and afters

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Photo Challenge: BLUE

So this week's theme over at I♥faces is BLUE. It can represent the emotion of feeling blue but also must have the color strongly featured. I think mine does a good job of representing both.

This picture was taken on one of the first photoshoots I went on upon receiving my SLR camera. And when i say photoshoot it doesnt mean professionally. :) We went hiking and I had just changed my son's diaper and he didnt want to get back in his stroller. His sad face is just absolutely adorable but I'm sure he didn't appreciate mommy whippin out the camera and snapping pictures while he's upset. I immediately thought of this picture because at first I was thinking of portraying the feeling but coincidentally he was wearing blue as well...and we cant forget those beautiful blue eyes.

Click on the sticker below and check out the other entries.

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Photo of the Week: Jessica

I have always loved this shot since the first time I took it. I always wanted to do something cool to it but could never figure out what since by itself it's pretty awesome. No touch ups no nothing. I think mainly its just the clear blue sky of a background. And the fact we are taking a picture of each other.

This was on the second mini nature photoshoot I went on with two of my other friends. We all had new SLR cameras and wanted to go put them to use. I wish I could see the one she got of me on the other end.

Send it my way Jess.

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Head Shot

So people have been telling me FOREVER that I need to get my son into modeling. I thought so as well but it just wasnt high on my list. Well randomly the other day I was thinking that maybe I should try to make good use of my camera and try taking some pictures to send it to see how they would come out. Man did I discover photoshops wonders.



So here's my original. SOOC (straight out of camera). Definitely not a bad picture at all but doesnt stand out too much and if I'm gonna send them in I want it to catch someone's eye. Particularly good considering he was crying before this and I couldnt get him to smile at all so happy I caught this while he was happy.

Well I used photoshop to try and enhance his features. Of course I used my favorite "PERFECT PORTRAIT" action from CoffeeShop to soften his skin, bring out his eyes, and give the overall picture just a vibrant color. I added his name to the bottom to give it more of a professional look. To me, this literally looks like it could be a professional type headshot. I mean of course besides that fact that I cut the top of his head off, but I couldnt get him to smile again after this so I had to work with what I had. Now to the printer to print them out and start sending 'em in.

Wish him luck!

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Real Random ;)

So the same day I went to Santa Cruz, the first day I got to buse my camera, as I mentioned in the previous blog I was taking pictures of any and everything. Well I took this random picture of this family walking back from the water. For some reason I really like this picture. Not only is it completely candid but I would love a picture like this of my family and I just walking on the beach. The only thing I would change would be for the mother to be walking a little closer to the husband and son. [[at least I assume they are a couple]].

Maybe there is a future business idea behind this. hmmmm?

ps: do you like my new watermark I created. After I made the new banner for the blog I decided I need to start branding my pictures. I think it makes the picture look even more professional. what do you think?

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Photo Challenge: Contemplative

So the Theme this week over at I Heart Faces was "Contemplative".

So I have kinda been waiting for this theme because I love this picture of Justin. This was the very first day I ever used my DSLR camera. It was two days after Christmas and Justin hadn't seen our son and I for about a month [we had previously broken up and I had moved across the state]. We took a family trip to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I was sooo excited about my camera that I was taking pictures of any and everything. We had always discussed moving back in together and before this picture I had made the decision to move back to LA in a few months [i moved back in March of '09]and although I don't know what Justin was thinking, I imagine he was thinking about being back in each other's lives.

As you can see by the none clarity of the picture, I didn't know how to use my camera very well [still dont--i finally start my photography class on Tuesday] but I still like the light circle around him and one of the reasons I loved this camera versus my digital cameras in the past is I love how it blurs the background. I'm not too good with photoshop yet, as far as just instinctly knowing what to do to make a picture look awesome but after hours of doing and re-doing this picture, I had to make myself just be fine with this final product!!!

Catch some more entries over at http://www.iheartfaces.com/

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Fix it Friday: Angel Eyes

So being that today is Friday there was a Fix-It-Friday over at I Heart Faces. It is a picture of a precious little girl named Addie.

BEFORE.

When I saw the Before picture I immediately was focused on her gorgeous eyes. I knew I had to make them stand out and that would be the focus point.

AFTER.

I created a new layer and selected her eyes and changed the curve balance slightly up on the RGB and the B and G seperately. This alone gave her eyes this stunning crystal blue look. I also changed the brightness/contrast a little. I then flattened the image and used the healing brush tool on her cheek and under her eyes a little. I guess she had a black eye in this picture according to the blog but you could hardly tell. I then used the "Picture Perfect" action [my FAVORITE if u can't tell] to soften her skin a little and color pop her eyes. The action also made her skin lighter and brighter.

This picture was not named and after I edited it I thought she looked like a little angel so I named it angel eyes myself. I just love her crystal eyes.

Head on over to I Heart Faces and check out all of the other contributions.

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