Ursula | KE365 | Day 114

Had so much fun photographing little Ursula again. She is such a happy kid, always smiling and exploring life. Does she have a gorgeous smile or what?

*LOVE* the profile shot of her, she was captivated my the gorgeous river.

Self Portrait in a Portrait | KE365 | D97

I snapped a few images of some framed pictures in my mom's house just so I would have them. This one below was me as a child with my first pet, Tiffany. I found it almost as interesting to capture my own reflection 20 years later looking back on some fond memories.

Shot with 50mm lens at 1/80s at f/1.8, ISO 800

Harvesting the Garden | KE365 | D57

It has been crazy and a bit hectic this week, but we found time to slow down again to harvest grandma's garden. The challenge with taking images of a small child so often is trying to get exactly what you need (the child!) focused.

Over the years I have seen that this profession is so different from others, photographers are always so willing to share their tips and tricks or pass on awesome new technology or shoot locations. I'm not sure what it is about being a photographer that makes you want to give back, but I'm guessing it might be similar to what I have experienced where I was shown so much direction, critiqued, given tips and tools all from people who had nothing to gain other than the satisfaction of helping someone else. I myself had a lot of questions asked lately from some that are in the beginning stages of learning the world of photography and trying to become professional and even from fellow moms and dads just trying to get some clear pictures of their kids. Since I was shown so much help I love being able to offer the same to others who appreciate the art of photography as well.

I often get asked how I could possibly get such clear images of my daughter, especially when they see what a ball of energy she is first hand. The first answer is practice, and a lot of practice. There are also some technical tips that will help like paying extremely close attention to shutter speeds and sometimes you just have to give up on manually focusing.

One of the best lessons I learned from Mrs. D. my first photo teacher in high school was that if you are shooting hand held you should go no lower than 1/60 with your shutter speed if you want to avoid motion blur. It is possible to go lower, many can even get to 1/30 of a second and still stay away from motion blur but this takes many years of practice and an extremely steady hand to achieve.

For this image I shot at 1/125 because it was a well lit evening and Kailyn was extra energetic. I really didn't want everything in focus since the subject was her little hand learning how to pick the fruit, so I lowered my f-stop to 4.5 to help blur out some of that background area and put the focus right where I wanted it.

Since the beginning of this 365 journey I have had more and more people reach out to me and let me know how it is affecting them, what they are learning, what they like/dislike about my images and style and a lot of other amazing things. It means a lot to me to hear and I end up learning a lot about myself from what they say and I experience. It cracks me up that a few years ago when I was becoming official with my business my good friend Darrin Ballman was looking over my images to give me a opinion and some feedback. One of the things I remember most of what he said was, it needs 'pop' or contrast or something. Basically it was just too flat. Lately I keep getting complemented on my contrast and color and although I had years of schools, working and managing photo stores it took until Darrin said just the right words to me to open my eyes and really see what the problem was. This is why it is so important to study other photographers, network with them and learn from each other. It really ends up improving the industry as a whole.

So on that note just a little tip for achieving a boost of color without having to do too much is to up your contrast and add in some blacks. If you are a photographer hopefully you are shooting RAW and you can do this easily right when you are processing out to JPG. If you are a parent you can do this easily just by having simple program like Photoshop Elements.

Please feel free to message me or comment below if you have more questions and I'll address them in upcoming 365 posts.

childhood KimberlyElaine365 D25

All of us have done it, wished we could be kids again. Ahhh, the greatest thing ever... childhood. No real responsibilities, endless playtime, the innocence and naivety to all the world's troubles. The great thing about being an adult though, is that you can sit back and really appreciate why this time is so important for little ones and you can almost enjoy it as much just watching how much fun they are having. Knowing this will stand out in their memory for a long time and getting satisfaction from knowing you helped them learn, grow and enjoy life.

Today was somewhat similar to D4 Conquering Fears in that Kailyn was quite apprehensive when we first arrived at the fountain. But it didn't take too long this time and she was off having a blast, all the kids were.

Kailyn, as usual was quite vocal. ;)

This is one of my favorites of Kailyn from the entire summer so far.

This too ;) Just for a second, she's actually still and just taking it all in.

Somehow in the middle of this week I decided I needed a new blog. This one just isn't cutting it for me anymore. I need larger space and more creativity with layout. I had my new blog nearly set to go, which is why my posts are somewhat delayed. Being the designer at heart that I am I just couldn't put it out there yet, until it was right. So for now I decided that I would continue my posts here and as soon as my new systems are up and working I will post the new links.