ashleyannphotography.com » SnapShops & Tips

Sister and her cousins

AshleyAnn — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:00:58 +0000

So…last night Chris and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a photo session. Granted, we are nearly approaching our 11 year anniversary, but better late than never. I’ll talk more about the session and why we did it at a later date, but here is a peek my sweet friend & photographer Shannon sent me. This is just from her phone and it makes me so happy. I can’t wait to see what the ones with her ‘real’ camera look like. I wore cowboy boots and a flower garland – it was pretty dreamy…kind of like my man.

And totally unrelated ~ I took some photos of my new niece a little while back. I didn’t want to post them because my sister was using them for her birth announcement. Well, the announcements have been mailed. I’m a proud aunt. I thought I’d share the settings. All the photos were taken with my 24-70mm f/2.8 lens.

ISO 160, f/2.8, 1/200

Skinny little newborn legs…oh how I enjoy a good baby stretch! ~ ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/160

Of course we had to get some pictures of the sisters together! ~ ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/125

ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/125

I thought about sharing some more cute pictures of my niece or ending the post with that one of the two girls. Then I could pretend I’m a photographer that just so easily gets photos of a toddler and newborn together. But, that isn’t so much me. How about a look at what the majority of the attempts to get a sibling shot looked like?

ISO 320, f/2.8, 1/125

And, you don’t think FireCracker was going to miss out on pictures with a baby do you? We tried for some cousin shots. ~ ISO 500, f/2.8, 1/160

ISO 500, f/2.8, 1/200

Toddlers and babies are hard work! We got a couple ‘keepers’ that I’ll let Lesley share if she wants to…I kind of like the “outtakes” myself.

what I would change

AshleyAnn — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:00:38 +0000

Real quick since so many asked yesterday….places to find cute tape:

Craft sections at most stores now. I’ve seen tape in the dollar bins at Micheals, at Hobby Lobby, the Dollar store, etc. You can also find it by searching etsy and google. The more you buy at once online the better – saves shipping costs. This type of tape usually isn’t in the ‘tape’ section of stores. I tend to find it with the scrapbooking embellishments. A sweet reader living in China sent me some beautiful floral tape. I hope to find a little shop when we travel this summer. Maybe I’ll bring an extra suitcase to fill just with great tape!

Last week my boys found piles of ‘helicopters’ at my sister’s house. Well, most were actually in the road in front of her house. They filled a butterfly cage to the very top and we brought all those crazy things home. When they were ready, they set them soaring. This was a shot I got with my phone:

Two things about that shot drive me crazy.

1. My oldest’s hand cropped out.

2. My daughter’s hand cropped out.

In the SnapShop course, some students choose to share photos with me for a bit of feedback. Critiquing photos is both easy and hard for me. I can spot things I’d change, but I hate giving the idea that every photo I take follows all the things I teach those taking the course. The fact is many of my pictures have plenty of room for improvement. Though I share photo tips here and in the course, my own photos can always use tweaks too. I am a mom before I am a photographer. I get caught up in the moment and don’t think through all the little things that make a great photo. And just because the photo isn’t ‘technically’ great, I still keep them and share them here.

Sometimes it is easier to learn from others mistakes, so I thought I’d share a few things I would change on some of the following pictures if I could take them again.

I’d wait until he was not talking before I snapped this photo.

I like this one.

I would NOT crop out his feet.

Again with cropping the feet. There is no good reason to crop them out. They should be included.

I’d move my angle to either include more of her or crop her out completely.

I’d make sure she was in focus, he was cropped out or all the way in and I would not crop off her hand & feet.

I like this one. Some would say that is a bad crop on her, but I like it.

Again with cropping the feet. I’m not sure what I was thinking on all of this. I kind of like the younger brother only halfway in.

And again…I cropped the feet. I’d like the younger brother a bit more included or all the way out.

Lesley, we’ll need to come get more helicopters so I can try again!

So…a different kind of photo tip post….helpful for anyone?

raising a post-it note fan

AshleyAnn — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:00:11 +0000

So, I must set the record straight concerning yesterday’s post. For all those that wondered, no I do not chew tobacco I do frequently put my lens caps in my back pocket and then forget where I put them…searching all over the house. Yes, I’ve got a little redneck in me…but not that much. What makes it even funnier is that my recent Design*Sponge post involves an old spittoon. I was prepared for comments regarding trampoline use, but not tobacco use. I laughed so hard when that was pointed out. I was also not prepared for all the comments regarding how a woman’s body changes after having kids. Thank you for all the laughs yesterday!

I did go back on yesterday’s post and add the camera settings. Several of you asked for those. I also thought I’d add them today.

I’m a list maker. A post-it note junkie. My little miss has evidently picked up on the wonderfulness that is the post-it note. She doodles away and passes them out to everyone. Her Pappy stopped by and he got a few personally autographed versions.

All shot with my Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

ISO 100, 1/250, f/2.8, 70mm

ISO 100, 1/320, f/2.8, 70mm both

ISO 100, 1/250, f/2.8, 70mm

ISO 100, 1/320, f/2.8, 70mm

ISO 100, 1/320, f/2.8, 70mm both

ISO 100, 1/320, f/2.8, 24mm

ISO 100, 1/320, f/2.8, 70mm both

ISO 100, 1/250, f/2.8, 70mm

ISO 100, 1/320, f/2.8, 70mm both

ISO 100, 1/250, f/2.8, 70mm

I’m really not sure how that much personality squeezes itself into someone so small.

For those interested, I edited these using RadLab. Here was my ‘recipe’:

Oh, Snap! 97%

Warm It Up, Kris! 46%

Flare Up Faded 44%

Pool Party 57%