So, I'm not very experienced at new born photography. I've heard other photogs say that you really need to get their pics done in the first 10 - 14 days or you loose that new born "curl" that they have. Wasn't sure what they were talking about...I learned yesterday. The baby I photographed in November was about 12 days old, the one I did yesterday was almost 3 weeks. It was gone. Sad. Got some cute pics of him, but not the kind I really wanted to do. I'll have them edited soon, but I need to get approval from mom before I get to share them with you.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow. We have a family Christmas Party tomorrow at my house. I'm hosting, but I'm not in charge, so I'm gonna use all those tips I posted for you earlier and see if I can remember them all and get some better Christmas pics this year.
Portrait Photography in the Salt Lake Valley. Specializing in on location, natural light.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
In Home Studio | Jessica Lloyd Photography
A friend had a baby a few weeks ago. Sounds like the perfect opportunity to try my hand a baby pictures again. I just finished setting up my studio (ha, pvc pipe and a huge piece of white fabric) in my dining room, by the sliding glass door. I'm pooped! I remember why I don't want to do this in my home. It's just exhausting. I had to move the living room furniture to make room for the dining room furniture to make room for the studio. Man, I wish this Crohn's didn't interfere so much with my energy levels.
Anyway, coming soon...Baby Pictures!
Anyway, coming soon...Baby Pictures!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Are you ready for Christmas yet? | Jessica Lloyd Photography | free session
Are you ready for Christmas yet? I'm not. I'm still working on my crazy, huge Mom's presents. But the kids are done (besides the candy from Santa, if I buy that now, I'll be too tempted to eat it for them), my hubby is done, all the other relative are done, the angel tree gift just needs to be delivered. I'm getting there.
I had quite a few facebook posts from people that are interested in helping me learn how to use my Christmas presents. I'm offering a free session and one 8x10 for anyone willing to go out and play in the cold with me after Christmas. If you are interested, email me at jessicatlloyd@gmail.com. Tell me who you are, who I will be photographing, your phone number, best time to call, and when you are available after Christmas.
I had quite a few facebook posts from people that are interested in helping me learn how to use my Christmas presents. I'm offering a free session and one 8x10 for anyone willing to go out and play in the cold with me after Christmas. If you are interested, email me at jessicatlloyd@gmail.com. Tell me who you are, who I will be photographing, your phone number, best time to call, and when you are available after Christmas.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
My Birthday | Jessica Lloyd Photography | Magna Utah
The settings I use on my camera for my super shaky daughter are usually geared toward higher shutter speeds than what you'd usually use. She set it this time. She used the portrait mode (low shutter speed, big aperture) and the flash compensated for her shake. I have a Gary Fong diffuser on my pop up flash.
Oh, oh, oh, my Christmas present from my mom came yesterday! I'm getting a 5 in one reflector, 42 inch and an arm to attach it to my light stands!! Woohoo! Too bad I have to wait until Christmas to use it. My mom hates shopping on the internet, but usually that's where you can get the best deals on photography supplies, so I ordered it for her and had it shipped here, so that I could make sure what came was what was right (and so I could check it out :-D). She's coming to get it and wrap it. Can't wait to try it out! Anyone want to schedule a session? I have no idea how to really use the beast and I'm gonna need practice.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Halloween Winner's Session | Family Portraits | Murray UT
Saturday, December 11, 2010
How to take pictures of puppies | Photo tips |Jessica Lloyd Photography
Yesterday's post brought up a request for how to take pictures of a puppy. Well, since I've got rather limited experience with puppies, I thought I'd just give you the little bit of info I did pick up when I took dog pictures and add a few links for you to go read up.
First I recommend that you use a fast shutter speed. If you are shooting in automatic, then the best way to insure that you are using a fast shutter speed is to take the pictures in really well lit space.
Second, have someone stand behind you to draw the animals attention. They should be holding a treat or a favorite toy that can be used to reward the dog when it behaves the way you want it.
Remember puppies and babies/toddlers are really similar and you can use just about any trick you would use on a toddler on a puppy. Have someone hold the puppy, follow the puppy and snap pics as you can and hope for a good one, distract them with treats/toys/funny noises.
Here are a few links to web articles by people who know more about this than I do.
Puppy Photo Tips
More Puppy Photo Tips
And one more
First I recommend that you use a fast shutter speed. If you are shooting in automatic, then the best way to insure that you are using a fast shutter speed is to take the pictures in really well lit space.
Second, have someone stand behind you to draw the animals attention. They should be holding a treat or a favorite toy that can be used to reward the dog when it behaves the way you want it.
Remember puppies and babies/toddlers are really similar and you can use just about any trick you would use on a toddler on a puppy. Have someone hold the puppy, follow the puppy and snap pics as you can and hope for a good one, distract them with treats/toys/funny noises.
Here are a few links to web articles by people who know more about this than I do.
Puppy Photo Tips
More Puppy Photo Tips
And one more
Friday, December 10, 2010
Tips for Successful Holiday photographs | Jessica Lloyd Photography | Photo Tips | How To
It's getting really close to Christmas, so I thought I'd share a few tips to help you get better pics.
1. Take the camera with you. :) Be sure to have the battery charged or take extras. Same goes for memory cards. Most of our Holiday pictures are taken inside or out in the dark night. Be sure you have a flash and use it (bounce it if you can or use a diffuser to soften it).
2. Assign someone to take pictures. You know how you divide up the food assignments and activities? Do the same with pictures.
3. White Balance. Do you ever get pictures where the color is just off? Maybe the walls are yellow or blue instead of the white they really are. It's the white balance. Most cameras have a setting for white balance and the icons typically look like a sun, clouds, a light bulb, etc. That's your white balance. If your auto white balance isn't getting the colors right you need to set it manually. So if you are in a house with incandescent lighting, choose the corresponding setting. If you are in an office/church with florescent lighting, pick that one. If it still doesn't work out, you can always fix it in post processing, but that's a whole other tutorial.
4. What to photograph? Besides everyone at the party? The food. The preparations. The decorations (use the macro setting). The gifts. The baby throwing a tantrum. Declutter you images by choosing one thing to be the focal point and fill the frame. Christmas pictures can be overwhelming because there is so much going on in them. Instead of taking a picture of the whole event taking place, get the parts individually. When you take pictures of opening presents, use the burst setting to take multiple shots at once, that way you won't miss those great fleeting expressions.
5. Christmas lights are fun, but they can be tricky to get them to look good in pictures. The time of the day is key here. Too late and all you get are the lights and everything else goes black. Too early and the lights don't show up at all. Sunset is prime. Compose so that you get lots of sky and shoot from a low angle (lay in the snow and have someone take a picture of you taking a picture LOL). Use the Tungsten white balance setting, if you have one. It will make the lights pop and give your sky an beautiful royal blue color. You'll need to use a long shutter speed and no flash, so a tripod or a bean bag to balance the camera on will be helpful. If that's not available, use both hands and brace yourself on something. Once you've got the setup all right, take shots about every two minutes until the light is just right. It will happen somewhere between when sunset starts and dark. That's a very short window of time, so you'll need to get set up either a bit before sunset, or really quickly. The best time to get this shot is before when they look the best to your eye, so don't worry about missing out on the view because you've been messing with your camera, you'll get to see the best lights.
6. Group photos are best taken at the beginning of an event when everyone is fresh and still cooperative, before the kids are tired and cranky.
Happy Shooting!
1. Take the camera with you. :) Be sure to have the battery charged or take extras. Same goes for memory cards. Most of our Holiday pictures are taken inside or out in the dark night. Be sure you have a flash and use it (bounce it if you can or use a diffuser to soften it).
2. Assign someone to take pictures. You know how you divide up the food assignments and activities? Do the same with pictures.
3. White Balance. Do you ever get pictures where the color is just off? Maybe the walls are yellow or blue instead of the white they really are. It's the white balance. Most cameras have a setting for white balance and the icons typically look like a sun, clouds, a light bulb, etc. That's your white balance. If your auto white balance isn't getting the colors right you need to set it manually. So if you are in a house with incandescent lighting, choose the corresponding setting. If you are in an office/church with florescent lighting, pick that one. If it still doesn't work out, you can always fix it in post processing, but that's a whole other tutorial.
4. What to photograph? Besides everyone at the party? The food. The preparations. The decorations (use the macro setting). The gifts. The baby throwing a tantrum. Declutter you images by choosing one thing to be the focal point and fill the frame. Christmas pictures can be overwhelming because there is so much going on in them. Instead of taking a picture of the whole event taking place, get the parts individually. When you take pictures of opening presents, use the burst setting to take multiple shots at once, that way you won't miss those great fleeting expressions.
5. Christmas lights are fun, but they can be tricky to get them to look good in pictures. The time of the day is key here. Too late and all you get are the lights and everything else goes black. Too early and the lights don't show up at all. Sunset is prime. Compose so that you get lots of sky and shoot from a low angle (lay in the snow and have someone take a picture of you taking a picture LOL). Use the Tungsten white balance setting, if you have one. It will make the lights pop and give your sky an beautiful royal blue color. You'll need to use a long shutter speed and no flash, so a tripod or a bean bag to balance the camera on will be helpful. If that's not available, use both hands and brace yourself on something. Once you've got the setup all right, take shots about every two minutes until the light is just right. It will happen somewhere between when sunset starts and dark. That's a very short window of time, so you'll need to get set up either a bit before sunset, or really quickly. The best time to get this shot is before when they look the best to your eye, so don't worry about missing out on the view because you've been messing with your camera, you'll get to see the best lights.
6. Group photos are best taken at the beginning of an event when everyone is fresh and still cooperative, before the kids are tired and cranky.
Happy Shooting!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
I love my new phone!
I finally talked my husband into upgrading our phones and plan. I'm loving it! I'm sure I'm not gonna love the bill, but this is fun having the internet on my phone.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Baby Smith | Jessica Lloyd Photography | Magna UT | Portraits
This cutie is my daughters' half sister. She's about 10 days old here.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Magna Sub for Santa | Magna UT | Charity | Christmas
Magna Sub For SantaRan by Magna Fact: A Charitable non-profit organization
For 17 years Magna Fact has helping families in need and this year the need is even greater. The number of families requesting help has doubled.
Magna Sub For Santa has a Christmas tree in the Magna Post Office with over 100 children's names on it. These children all qualify as Poverty Stricken. They won't be getting Christmas gift without our help. Imagine a small child waking up on Christmas morning and running to the tree only to discover that Santa didn't visit their home. It breaks my heart to think about it.
Please be Mr. or Mrs. Clause to a child this year. Be their hero. Go to the Magna Post office and choose a child's name and make this Christmas Magical.
You can contact Kathy Webb if you need more information. 801-250-4811
For 17 years Magna Fact has helping families in need and this year the need is even greater. The number of families requesting help has doubled.
Magna Sub For Santa has a Christmas tree in the Magna Post Office with over 100 children's names on it. These children all qualify as Poverty Stricken. They won't be getting Christmas gift without our help. Imagine a small child waking up on Christmas morning and running to the tree only to discover that Santa didn't visit their home. It breaks my heart to think about it.
Please be Mr. or Mrs. Clause to a child this year. Be their hero. Go to the Magna Post office and choose a child's name and make this Christmas Magical.
You can contact Kathy Webb if you need more information. 801-250-4811
Crop Because You Care Auction Session | Jessica Lloyd Photography | Newly Weds | Murray UT | Wheeler Farm
Monday, December 6, 2010
The Meaning of Family Photographs
I found an interesting website article this morning and thought I'd share it with you. It reads like a research paper, but it had some cool tidbits about family photographs and what they mean to us as a society. There is a part where it talks about how there are more pics with the first kid than with subsequent kids. That was true at our house, until we went digital...now there are TONS of pics of all three of my kids. I did really well at getting my first child's portraits taken at regular intervals, but the other two have less professional ones done. Did you do that too?
Another part that I found interesting was that photographs can be therapeutic. They can help with memory loss. I have a friend who fell and hit her head recently and she's really struggling to remember things. I hope she has lots of pictures to help her along her journey of recovery.
Anyway, it was kinda fun to read about photos and how they impact our lives. If you get a minute, take a look. I've attached a link to the article.
Meaning of Family Photographs
Another part that I found interesting was that photographs can be therapeutic. They can help with memory loss. I have a friend who fell and hit her head recently and she's really struggling to remember things. I hope she has lots of pictures to help her along her journey of recovery.
Anyway, it was kinda fun to read about photos and how they impact our lives. If you get a minute, take a look. I've attached a link to the article.
Meaning of Family Photographs
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Christmas Shopping
When do you start Christmas shopping? When do you finish? In a perfect world, I start my Christmas shopping the week between Christmas and New Year's. But really I try to start about July. I'm almost done...but I've got one person on my list that is so HARD to shop for. Do you have one of those? I've got a great idea for you...Gift Certificate for Custom Portrait Photography. Contact me and I'll hook you up!
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Camo Nintendo DS Lite
I have a son, he's 7. His favorite thing in the world is Camouflage. He's getting a Nintendo DS Lite for Christmas. I couldn't find one in Camo, so I bought him a black one. I went to this great sign store in Salt Lake City and bought a sheet of Camo vinyl. I used my Silhouette to cut out the vinyl to fit his DS! He's getting a Camo DS!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)