It's Holiday Photo Time!

What a crazy time of year - family to visit, decorations to hang, presents to buy, joy and stress wrapped up in a green and red package.  And for many it is also holiday photo time.  My super smart clients hire me to do a holiday photo session in October or November (and yes, we can even squeeze them into December for those procrastinators, of which I am one.) They know they will get some lovely family portraits in the beautiful outdoor settings we enjoy through winter in our southern climate (gotta love it!)  Then they can purchase prints and enlargements of their beautiful family and/or little ones to proudly frame and hang in their home and give to family and friends.  And most folks like to buy digital negatives (i.e. images on CD) to use for holiday cards, gifts, photo books and more.  Its like a two-fer, well, more of a five-fer!  Very smart, indeed. 

So the family I am featuring in this post was really all about having fun.  And why should a photo shoot be drudgery?  At my photo shoots, fun is a requirement.  As long as we are having fun, we'll get great photos.  Don't you think the two are strongly correlated? So we did this shoot at Deepdeene Park in Druid Hills - my clients' choice.  Its a hidden little park with a deciduous forest and creek to explore.  I love how I get to discover cool new places around my Atlanta/Decatur home that I never even knew existed.

To start the shoot off, I unloaded my equipment and props from the car after meeting the family at the entrance of the park.  By the time I had made it from my car back to the entrance where I was setting up our first shot, the kids were 400 ft. away, down the hill, running across the far edge of the huge grassy field.  And they were having a ball!  I was so glad to see their joy and I could just tell that we would have a great shoot.  Their parents corraled them back up the hill and the fun began.  As the shoot progressed, the family got more and more comfortable and by the end they were one big pile of laughing bodies! (You'll see what I mean.)



 

 

 

 

I have edited the images in this post with a beautiful black and white treatment called Velvet Ash.  Actually, its not true black and white as there is some color added.  I simply love black and white processing and sometimes an image just begs me to make it b&w, as these did.  However, my clients usually prefer color so I always provide them with plenty of those. 

 

Here are a few color images from this session.  I'll let you decide which you prefer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decatur | Atlanta | GA | Holiday | Portrait | Photography 

Fur Babies

I haven't had the opportunity to do much pet photography, but when a chance encounter happened with the most adorable little Miss Chika - a Pug, Chihuahua, Jack Russell Terrier mix - I knew I had to grab my camera out of the car and shoot off a few frames.  This little girl was the impeccable model.  So poised.  So delightful. Striking a pose at every turn.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was like she was saying, "Look at me. I'm a super model."   If all pets are as easy to shoot as she was (and I'm quite sure they're not!) I'm in! Bring on the pet shoots!

 

And this last one has to be my favorite.......

 

 

There are so many possible captions for it:

 

1. So dogs really blink during photo shoots like people do!?!

2. I think I'll take a little cat nap while you fiddle with that big black box you are holding.

3. I'm on my break - I can't be bothered right now.

4. This is what it would look like If dogs could purr.

 

Etc, etc, etc!

 

 

 

 

 

| Cindy Jackey Pet Photography | Decatur | Atlanta | GA

Sun Drenched Photography

'Golden Hour'. 'Godbeams'.

These are words to make a photographer drool.  Well, they make me drool anyways!  I recently made it outside to do an early evening portrait shoot that captured the moodiness and warmth of the setting sun. 

 

Hidden Cove = Hidden Jewel.

I discovered a jewel of a spot for outdoor photo shoots.  Hidden Cove Park in Decatur, GA.  It is a little known naturalistic park tucked away in a residential neighborhood in the NW corner of Decatur.  With grassy fields and long sight lines, it’s to die for in the early evening.  If you visit, you’ll most likely have the place to yourself.  Here are a few of the shots I got. 

My Fav.
 

Another pretty one.

 

      This one was taken just five minutes later. 

 The sun had set below the trees. Still pretty, but not the same! 

So, how is it done?

Technical Info (How-To).

Let me begin by saying, you cannot get this look with your camera on auto.  Or with a pre-set such as 'landscape' or 'portrait'.  This is a manual shot.  So use this chance to take your camera off auto and play with it.  The secret to success is: spot meter your subject and shoot directly towards the sun with your subject standing between you and the sun.  Play around with positioning.  Take some shots with the sun in the photo blaring right at you.  Look at the lovely flare it produces. That’s the fun of digital photography – instant feedback and a delete button.

Traditionally, the golden hour, which produces the wonderful light we are trying to capture, occurs one hour before sunset.  For your shoot, you'll want a clear day with the sun very low in the sky but still visible.  Here in the Atlanta area, we have all of these gorgeous old-growth trees to consider.  That means back your session time up to two and a half hours before the expected sunset, as the sun will set below the trees long before it sets below the horizon.   I took the first two shots above at about 5:45 PM, then the sun set below the trees.  The actual sunset time was more like 8:00 PM.  Here are links to two cool sunset calculators that will help you plan your shoot.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/events/weddings/planning/sunset

http://www.sunrisesunset.com/USA/

Notice that this golden hour light does tend to read rather flat.  The sunlight acts like a mist filling the air and knocking the colors and definition down a few notches.  So, bathed in sun = low contrast and you may need to bump up the contrast and saturation in post-processing.   I also found that the focus becomes softer in this type of light.

Well my dearies, you now know the basics of sun drenched photography, so get out there and try it (and don’t wait as long as I did!)

 

Cindy Jackey | Decatur | GA | Photography