In Bloom Photography

Wednesday

Emily & Keith's E Session :: South Florida Wedding Photographer, Hillsborough Beach Country Club Weddings

My sweet little bride Emily has been so patiently waiting to see her engagement photos! I LEFT for South Florida about 12 sessions back and came back to a full schedule.... so needless to say I've been working hard to catch up!! Wanted to get this post up to give her and Keith a taste of what we captured while I'm finishing up the rest! We shot these at Spanish River Park in Deerfield Beach... I just love this place... it was definitely my go-to spot for my last trip down!!! Thank you to my sweet friend Kelly from Spirit Led Photos for assisting on this one!!

Very much looking forward to photographing their wedding at the beach in October!! It will be here before we know it!! :) Eeeeek!

Gorgeous!!!

Tuesday

Franki & David :: New Orleans Wedding Photographer

To skip all my sentimental ramblings and just see the photos already, click here!!!

This wedding was particularly special to me, you see... the sweet little flower of a bride you'll see in these photos has a piece of my heart!! My husband and I first met Franki during her sophomore year of high school. She was brought to the youth group at our church by a friend and we had the privelege of watching her faith bloom and grow as she met Jesus there each week. Franki was one of the ones that actually GOT it. She didn't just talk the talk, but I watched her make daily decisions to be a Christ-follower... even when it was difficult. Over the years Miss "Franchesca" and become closer and even did a few Bible studies and met from time to time for coffee & conversation. She became our prized babysitter... even to this day have not found her equal in the way she loved and cared for my sweet babies! Eventually, she went off to Tulane University and we moved to Texas. It was tough goodbye. :( We've been lucky enough to have ONE visit back home at the same time a few years ago... I got to introduce her to my sweet Lyla Grace and visit with her for an afternoon.

I had known about David for while and really, everything I'd heard about him seemed wonderful. It's funny, I'd always viewed Franki as a friend/little sister but when David came onto the scene the "mother instincts" kicked in!! Who WAS this guy??? Could he possibly be WORTHY of our Franki?? It would take a very special guy to win her heart.... indeed! :)

I was beyond honored when my "Franks" chose me to be her wedding photographer!! Not only did this mean I got to BE there to witness my sweet Franki all grown up (ha!), but I got to be up close and personal alll day long with both of them!! What a precious time it was. David won me over pretty quickly. It really wasn't anything he said... it was the look he had in his eyes when he looked at her. That said it all to me. You can so see it in these photos too... I can't tell you how many times I teared up both on the wedding day and while processing these images. I'm so grateful that Franki waited for God's best for her. She waited and trusted.... and God is glorified. :)

The entire day was filled with a certain sweetness... lots of Pinterest-y details that they so carefully planned. They were surrounded by dear friends and family and thinking about the whole thing just makes my heart all warm and melty. :) It was a beautiful day Franki and David. Matt and I were deeply honored to be there with you both. The Lord's hand is on you and we are so excited to watch as his plans unfold in your marriage! Fiercely protect what God has given you. Rely on His specific promises in the hard times, and always laugh together like you did on this day! (tear, again) Love you both! To see a preview of their day, click here!!!

Thursday

Welcome Baby Cash :: Abilene Newborn Photographer, Abilene Family Photographer

I first met Cash's mommy, Mari, during an interview I participated in about water-birth at home on KTXS News. She was lovely and come to find out, she was not just working... but doing a little personal research herself!! She was newly pregnant! I was delighted, months later, when she contacted me to do her son's newborn session! Baby Cash was a delight to work with and I'm just in love with some of these images! Just wanted to share a few faves!

My blog is sorely neglected these days. I'm currently 23 session deep in post processing so it's a wonder I'm even taking the time to blog!? :)

One of my most favorite images from the entire session! Loved Chris's genuine expression as he looked at Mari... just precious!

Another favorite!!

Snuggly-wuggly!

A Little Editing Fun....

So... I had a sweet client-mama-friend of mine message me this morning on Facebook to tell me that she took her daughter and son out to take pictures in the Bluebonnets last night! For those of you not from Texas... Bluebonnets are these beautiful blue/purple flowers that spring up every spring... and they just so happen to be the Texas state flower! The very popular thing to do is to go take pictures amongst them... which I'm planning to do myself next week with my babies (stay tuned.. have some very special Pinteresty fun planned there!). Well, my sweet client was messaging me to tell me (in her words) that it takes more than just a nice camera to get great pictures!! I could totally relate to this just on the mama-front because I think it's just tough to take pictures of our own children!! I lamented with her a bit, admiring her for even trying..... and went on with my day! WELL... a bit later she posted the photos she took and I immediately got excited!! It was obvious to me that she was shooting with a DSLR, not a point and shoot, and I knew right away which lens she was using. The first thing I noticed was the beautiful "bokeh" in the image... or the pretty creative blurr you see in the back ground. The second thing I was excited about was the fact that she went just before sunset when the light is just gorgeous. Her little girly was apparently not excited about cheesing for the camera.. but I just loved this image because it just felt so natural and unposed!! These are always my favorites in the sessions I shoot anyway! But, I did notice a few things that could be tweaked (and only a pro would even notice these). It was a lovely snap straight out of camera on an automatic setting... but I asked her to send me a few of her faves so I could play around with them a bit. I've had quite a few people ask me lately about my post processing and how I go about it. From time to time I've had client's ask me if I can spruce up an image for them and I don't hesitate! Anyway... here was the process for this image:

The straight out of camera image above(sooc)... very sweet image, beautiful bokeh, shot on a Canon t2i with the 50mm f1.4 lens in auto-portrait mode. The first thing I see is that the white balance is a tad on the magenta side. This is because the sun was setting (or had set) and the sky was reflecting a very pink light onto her skin. When I'm editing an image, my main concern is the subject's skin tones... is the exposure nice and bright? Are the colors correct or do they need adjusting? In this image I thought her skin tones could be warmed up a bit to reflect her true skin tones. Which brings us to the next version of this image....

So, here (above) I did a basic color balance and reduced the magenta values and brought in a bit of yellow and red so that her skin tones looked correct to me. Since I adjusted the whole image, it also corrected the color cast on the foliage. I liked the result and it achieved the goal I was trying to accomplish!

The next thing I did was run a color process action (actions are a fancy term for a sequence of editing steps that are pre-made and make life easier for a photographer, you can buy them, or create them yourself!). This action sharpened, brightened, and increased the saturation a bit. When I did this, I noticed that under her chin, under her arm, and in the creases of her eyes she had a bit of a orangy/red color cast from her pink shirt. This can happen very easily when you are dealing with vivid colors in clothing, the reflection of the green grass, or any strong color that might be reflecting it's colors onto the skin. So, I ran an action that by using the brush tool, removes individual colors wherever you want it to.

Once I was done with that stage..... I just felt like this pic would look great with a vintage haze... so I ran my favorite vintage action and voila! The finished product!

Here is a side by side comparison of all 4! :)

Now, there will be someone out there that says... "I liked the first image better?!" ... and of course, to each his/her own! There are no absolutes (ok, well maybe there are some) but post processing is a matter of taste and we all see differently. This was my take on this particular image! I was so impressed with her picture from the get-go... by far the best mommy-shot image of her kiddos in the famed Bluebonnets I've ever seen! :)

Tuesday

6 Months of Sweet Ava :: Abilene Children's Photographer, Abilene Family Photographer

I'm telling you, I've just had a big, huge dose of adorableness in my studio here recently! These little girly sessions are just killing me with cuteness! Ava was no exception!!! She was such a champ to let Mommy change her so many times and still be happy for her photos! Her eyes are just gorgeous.... I'd kill for her eyelashes.... which have BEEN long and luxurious since her newborn session!! :) I just love it when families choose my first year package.... I get to watch them grow and change! Wonder what 9 months will bring?! :)