i LOVE it!

i’m trying to win a sweet camera bag.  and a seat in the love affair workshop in dallas.

Check out the LOVE AFFAIR BLOG and enter to win a Kelly Moore Bag & a seat to their upcoming workshop in Dallas!! http://www.loveaffairworkshop.com

before & after {pixel perfect blog hop}

It’s Thursday and that means it’s time for another Pixel Perfect blog hop!  This one is always fun to participate in – I LOVE seeing how other people edit their photos and what they think of my edits!

I’m using a photo from the shoot I did on Sunday.  I love the shot, which happened after the sweet baby boy spit up and his parents laid him back to clean up his legs!  I happened to be sitting in a great spot!  I used a Canon 40D camera & Speedlite 430EX flash (bounced off the ceiling).

Here’s the before.

And the after.  I fixed the exposure a bit in Adobe Camera Raw (I shoot in RAW+jpg, so the above still really is the SOOC).  Then I ran a black and white conversion in CS4 and upped the contrast a bit and changed the curves to more of an S curve.  That’s it!

Click on the button to see more or enter your own!

Family shoot {Los Angeles}

I photographed this family yesterday in LA. I had so much fun! Their little man is 7 weeks old and was very happy to be photographed. Except when we put him in the succulents. 🙂 We did some photos in their home and were blessed with a gorgeous day to shoot some outside as well – we found an awesome leafy wall and tree, and those were my favorite spots.  Thanks for a fun afternoon, Andy and Miriam!  🙂  I’m looking forward to seeing you again in June!

I saw this awesome mirror and knew I had to use it.  He LOVED checking out that other baby!  🙂

I love that she’s the only one looking at the camera in this one.  And look at how that sweet pea is staring up at his mama!  Melt. My. Heart.

Look at those EYES!

i heart smiles!

This week on iheartfaces, the challenge is “smiles”.  It’s tricky to get these boys to smile without it being fake.  My trick?  I sneeze.  They laugh.  I snap.  🙂

before and after

It’s Thursday, so time for another before and after!  I’m donating this week’s prize, but I wanted to participate anyway!  🙂  (Click here to go to my website to see the prints available to the winner!)

This is from an engagement shoot a couple of years ago, but I went back and re-edited it.  Before:

For the after, I used CS4, brightening it, then using my favorite action to boost the color and saturation a bit.  I shot this at one of my favorite spots – Duke Gardens in Durham. It makes me smile to look at this place.

best. husband. ever.

Yes, my dearest has won this title, because in the last week he has hung up new blinds in our bedroom, killed a ginormous spider in the kids’ playroom, and brought home cake for me. 

trying to win…

Check out http://www.loveaffairworkshop.com!  They’re giving away prizes & a seat to their workshop on the blog this week! Go enter to win!

i {heart} collages

I really do.  Really.  I make one of my kids for my mom of that month’s favorite photos.  I was pretty excited to learn that this week’s i heart faces challenge was a collage!

Here is one of George and Lila, who are two hilarious people.  They’re also gorgeous.  Or handsome.  And about as nice as can be!

Click the button below to see more collages!

my big kid.

“Mommy, can I tell you something?”

“I would love it if you did!”

“I love you. Times the biggest number. Times infinity.”

My four-year-old son is seriously a sweet pea.  Seriously.  And possibly a math genius.  True, he has his moments when he could make me a crazy person.  But he’s most often respectful (saying please, thank you, and may I rather than I want).  But today he was in rare form when I picked him up from school.  The car is where the above conversation took place.

Needless to say, I had a cheesy mommy grin on my face the rest of the way home.

Then he sneezed and said “I just bless you’d.” 

before and after

Another Thursday, another before and after!  I really enjoy seeing what everyone does for these!
Here’s mine.  These are two of our dearest friends, and they agreed to let me shoot them so I could work out some ideas.
Before:

After:

I used TRA and CS4 .  If you use photoshop, these actions are awesome!