Lil Miss Kylie

Same story... Mothers Day pics for Kylie's mommy (Kylie's mommy is my older sister)! Kylie is totally a tom-boy... so really these pictures don't suit her personality... but she sure is cute anyways! I think a baseball cap and a truck would have suited her better... but it is just to fun to dress up little girls!

and just for kicks... a picture that suits her personality...

Little Miss Olivia

For Mother's Day I am surprising Olivia's mom with some pictures of her daughter. I just finished them up and even though it will be a belated Mother's Day present... I am sure she will love it!

This is Olivia's signature face. She doesn't smile very often. She always has this pout face and she can get away with it because of those beautiful blue eyes! I tried for about 10 minutes to get her to smile... just once... but the harder I tried the harder she pouted... so I settled with the sweet dramatic pout face!

Week 18 - Photo Challenge “Laughter”

This week's theme is laughter. I struggled with this one. I had lots of smiles... but not a lot of laughter. I really wanted to find a photo that made me laugh when I saw the picture "Kind of like a contagious laughter" but not sure if I quite accomplished what I was hoping.

To see more entries visit here http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/.

This is my child's entry. I had a few that I really loved that I wanted to put in too but I finally concluded that this one fit the "laughter" theme the best. Madison was absolutely adorable in her Easter Dress and I new the instant I took this shot of her smiling it would become one of my favorites!

Here is my adult entry.

This picture is of my "FIRST" wedding shoot ever! (As you can tell because of all the beautiful casting shadows) But regardless of it not being a top quality shot... her expression is priceless. She was wearing her husband's top hat and he was getting the garter off her leg with his teeth... and well the dog didn't like him under there and was trying to attack him. It was hilarious! This dog brought so much laughter to this wedding!

Giving the not so good snap shot a better chance at "WOW"!

This was taken of my boys last minute for my mom for Mother's Day. It was taken in the mid of the day with lots of shadows and two uncooperative boys! Thanks to photoshop my not so good candid shot turned into something that Grandma would be proud of!

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Week 17 - Photo Challenge (Kids Category) and (Adult Category)

This weeks theme is hats! To see more fun entries click here http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/. This weeks guest judge is Jodi Friedman.

I learned something new about these photo contests! I learned that they post their themes in advance! I was wondering how people posted their amazing photo's so fast when the theme was only just posted... BUT they post them ahead of time. So I new this week's theme would be hats so I had such a fun idea for this theme! I ordered a hat and everything. I ordered the hat last week and I just got the email today saying it just shipped out.... (sob) It won't be here in time for the contest so I had to dig through some old photos that I had.

This one is of my daughter at 6 months old. I used a petal blanket as a prop and bought a fun bonnet and matching petal bloomers to match! She has the most precious little smile in this photo! This was one of my first photo shoots with props, lighting and a backdrop... one thing I learned about this is "TAKE YOUR TAGS OFF BEFORE YOU USE A PROP!" LOL! Has that ever happened to any of you or were you all smarter then me?

Here is my Kid Entry...

Here is my adult entry.

When I took this picture in Sayulita Mexico I was trying to capture the expression on his face more then the hat (Not knowing I would ever enter it into a contest). If you look closely you can see all the layers of hats he is wearing.

This man walked the beaches of Sayulita and sold hats. I actually bought a pretty pink one from this man! I have always loved this photo because the expression on his face is priceless! People in Mexico were so friendly, peaceful and happy. They were not like us in America where we are busy, stressed, busy, stressed. It was an amazing experience to see life from a different culture.. In Mexico they are all about family and it seems like here in America most of us are all about money and material items. Sorry to preach... but it just makes me take time to appreciate God and all the small things in life that he has blessed me with...

So there you have it! My entries into the contests this week!

Fix-It Friday #12 – Hands-On Photo Editing

My first fix it friday! How exciting! To see more great fix it fridays posts click here

http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

This reminds me of one of the thousands of pictures I have of my boys at the park. This picture reminds me so much of the typical care-free boy... playing, smiling, and being just a "boy!"

So I wanted to bring that into my photo.

What did I do

Step 1- I took out the hot spot in his faces

Step 2- I adjusted the coloring in the photo using Nik Software Filter- Graduated Neutral Density

Step 4- I softened his skin using Nik Software Filter Dynamic Skin Softener and I enhanced the foilage in the background

Step 5- I added a "touch" of Glamour Glow to the photo

Step 6- I crossprocessed the photo using Nik Software Filter L07

Step 7- I used a textured background in a new layer and used a Pin Light (opacity 43%) into the photo for an old textured look

Step 8- I cropped the photo

Step 9- I added the typing "All Boy" into the photo

Step 10- I added a white and blue border

How fun was that! I learned new stuff about out to edit shadowing on photos and can't wait to use them on some of my old and future photos!

Here is the original

Here is the one I edited

This is what I have my eye on

I am READY... SO READY for the upgrade! I sold my Olympus E-500 camera today and two of my lenses. I still have my Olympus E-1 for sale and my macro lens (and lots of accessories) but other then that I am ready to go!

I can't imagine my life without Olympus but I can dream of all the possibilities I am going to have with my new Nikon. I am currently raising funds for my new baby and still have a ways to go... but I can dream for now! I have two lenses also that I have my eye on but I think I will wait on those and purchase them later.

Here is the future addition to my family! Can't wait to meet you :D

Week 16 - Photo Challenge (Kids Category)

I'm so addicted to these contests now! I love ALL THE ENTRIES! Everyone does such a great job and the creativitiy is outstanding!

Here is my entry in the I ♥ Faces contest this week. To see more fabulous entries visit here http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/ and don't forget to leave comments for people! This week's theme was reflections. I didn't have much to choose from on this category (Boohoo) but I found a few up for consideration.

I think I will enter this one for the kids entry... Why? Because it's unique! This slide was found at a park in Myrtle Point Oregon. I swear it was 2 stories tall, dangerous, and slick... but my boys loved it!

This will be my entry in the kids contest...

This is my entry for the adult entry. This picture is of my older sister Jenny. She was doing some finishing touches before the wedding.

Week 15 - Photo Challenge (Adults Category)

This will be my first entry in the I ♥ Faces adult contest. To see more great entries click here. http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

I forgot I had this picture of myself that I took almost 3 years ago. There is a great story behind this photo... and yes I am going to share it with you (lucky you!)

My father is a self taught photographer and when I would visit him he would take these incredible pictures of me. I thought at times... wow maybe I'm not that ugly in real life (:D. I always deleted pictures of me when I took them or someone else did because I always looked so horrible in them.

Me knowing nothing about photography at that point came to a conclusion that it wasn't the person behind the camera that knew what they were doing it was the extremely expensive camera that could take a nice photo. So of course I decided to buy a nice camera. My first camera I purchased was a Olympus Evolt 300. I found a great deal on it on Amazon and bought it. When I got the camera a week later I dragged all the kids to the park for a photography adventure. I soon realized that my "amazing" camera that I thought I bought was no better then the cheap point and shoot fuji I had already owned. Well I take that back... the camera was better.... but I wasn't.

While we were taking pictures at the park on the way home (It was extremely hot that day) we got into the car and gulped down lots of water. I took my camera and decided to take some pictures of me (hoping they would be "photography perfect!) So I was in my driver seat taking pictures of me. They just weren't very good. So I got this bright idea I would BLAST the air conditioner and get a picture of me with my hair blowing in the wind...

So with my camera was up on the steering wheel, the air conditioner blowing around the hair, and me pretending to be some model looking away into outerspace, this was the ONLY one out of dozens of pictures that managed to survive all these years. I have a tendency to go back at all my thousands of photos and deleting the ones I don't like. So I figured maybe there was a reason it was still around...

Week 15 - Photo Challenge (Kids Category)

This will be my second entry in the I ♥ Faces contest. To see more entries by others entered click here. http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

This week was a GREAT LESSON for me to learn! I saw the self-portrait contest and read it needed to be of a face and assumed it meant of your kids only. I read it had to be taken in your hand without a tripod... etc and I was like... I have plenty of those! After I posted a picture of my son I went back to look at other entries and was wondering why people were posting pictures of themselves with their kids.

After re-reading what I didn't really read in the first place (just glanced) I realized that this was a lesson learned. I wonder how many people looked at my entry wondering what I was thinking! :D

I don't normally take pictures of myself. If I do they get deleted because I think they are terrible pictures of me! (I am my biggest critic). This picture is of me and my niece. She is like my second daughter. She is six weeks older then my daughter and they are each others best friends. She comes over to play 3 times a week and we have so much fun. Everyone thinks that my daughter and her are twins. She brings so much joy to our household and we enjoy every moment with her.

What are little boys made of?

What are little boys made of?

"Snaps and snails, and puppy-dogs' tails;

And that's what little boys are made of."

Birthday Messes!

In this picture I took an ice-cream cone and pink frosting to make it look like ice-cream! It was a mess but it sure was fun! She got mad when I took her frosting cone away from her!



Nothing is more exciting then your child's 1st birthday! Make it personal by adding a little special touch to their birthday cards!

Precious little girls

My name is NO NO but grandma calls me precious. - Author Unknown

For more inspirational quotes go to this site.

http://www.great-inspirational-quotes.com/

I HEART BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS!

There is something about black and white portraits that I just love! I think it is amazing (Well if it is done right) how black and white can bring out the eyes in a way that is just so incredible and so beautiful!

BEFORE

AFTER

Week 14 at I ♥ Faces!

This will be my first entry in the I ♥ Faces Photo Contest (http://www.iheartfaces.com/)! I just love all the entries that people post! They are so refreshing and creative! This website is so amazing and gives amateur photographers a chance to see what others around them struggle with in photography and also to give everyone ideas!

This one was taken last year of my daughter right before Easter. It was the impossible shot for me to take. Trying to make a 4 1/2 month old sit uncomfortably in an akward ceramic teacup without crying or falling over took about a dozen shots! My husband stood to the left of her in case she fell over while my four year old held reflectors to the right of her (well at least he tried)and then there was me trying to get my daughters attention by yelling loudly so she would look at the camera! I am so lucky my husband has so much patience with me and my photography!

This was taken in our backyard for her Easter Pictures. We gave it to all the grandma's and grandpas! I just love her facial expression... and the tulip... well I can't even believe she held on to it!

She is my little angel... and I can't wait to enter more pictures of her in these contests!

HAPPY EASTER!

H A P P Y E A S T E R !

All we need to do is add a little easter dye and it would be the most perfect little easter egg!

Using Pictures to Tell Stories without Using Words

Storyboards to share a story

This was an unforgettable moment for me shooting photography! In this photoshoot the little boy fell in the pond at Ann Morrison Park!

Feeding the ducks bread- $5.00

Taking pictures of kids outide- $150.00

Watching a boy fall in the lake with lots of funny faces- PRICELESS!

You can find and download this template at

http://coffeeteaphotography.blogspot.com

THANK YOU FOR LOOKING AND AS ALWAYS

~ I HEART COMMENTS ~

Baby Feet Are Oh So Sweet!

Baby Feet
Submitted by: CroppinCarmen
Author: CroppinCarmen

My sweet, adorable babies' feet

Why are baby feet so neat?

They're precious and new and oh so sweet,

My little ones' dear little feet.

And now I make this print of your little toes...

So in years from now we all will know

How precious and tiny one day you two were

And how proud we are that we can see

Those little feet grow to be the best they could be!