Creating a wedding party - dinosaur composite image.

What does it take to take....

We have all seen the original with the huge t-rex chasing the bridal party ...and of course if you have shot a wedding on planet earth in the past 6 months you have had at least one request to recreate this image.

Best advice I have for you is to cover this stuff in advance with your client so they understand the additional work (and cost) these images take. It is not as simple as just lifting the original dino out of the image and plonking it into their wedding photo.

So what goes into creating such an image??...Well firstly, let's visit copyright infringement, you have to make sure you are staying within the law when creating such an image.

Then of course you need to find a dino that has a clean background to make it easier to cut out and layer into the wedding photo...Oh and the little matter of it being big enough...if you are not working with at least 1000px across you are going to get a big old ugly pixelated mess.

Then lighting...you have to match lighting between the two images...if you are lucky and find one that match at least some..but you are still going to have to burn/dodge and brush them until they match perfectly...and that goes for the edges as well...you need to make sure there is no residual "old background" surrounding your dino...well that is unless you are trying to recreate the B movie effects of the 70's eg: Godzilla lol.

Then you have to find just the right placement within the photo...where are the majority of the wedding party looking...ok so that is where the head of the dino needs to be.

and if you do it right, it will be AWESOME...

and should take only a couple of hours :)

Exciting Changes Coming....

Second Shooting for  Fayelin Olivia Zebley Photography

I am so excited to tell you about all the upcoming changes at Photography at Our Country Home.

I am introducing EVENTS. These will be themed shoots that are taken to the next level. The numbers will be extremely limited  and for just one day due to the nature of the shoot and the availability of a styling and makeup team. 50% non-refundable retainers will be required at time of booking.

The first one will be a Vintage Circus theme on the 28th of Sept..Visit my Events Page on Facebook  for more details.

You will also notice that, come September, my pricing and packages will change.

I will be limiting how many sessions I book per month, so I can give each client the very best service and each session all the attention it deserves.

I will not be offering "mini sessions" in the foreseeable future as they put too much demand on my time and take away from my full session clients.

I thank each and everyone of you for your continued support as I continue to grow my craft and my business to better serve you.

Blessings, Kelsie

Flowers for Memorial Day

This gorgeous red mini honeysuckle vine is just starting to bloom along the fence right behind the headstone of a returned WWII vet...They seemed to be standing to attention and saluting this old soldier.

Cleaning up the background

After a client makes their selection, is when I do the final edit to their images.
I remove blemishes from faces, brighten eyes, remove stray hairs...

and remove any background clutter that really has no business being in my photograph, as you can see in the examples below.

The power pole and lines are a distraction from the main subject, the for sale sign and mailbox unsightly white blotches, also drawing your eye to the wrong part of the image.

Once these are removed, the young girl and her shadow become the mail focal point of the photo.

The road becomes nice clutter free back country road with leading lines again bringing your eye back to our main focus.

Cleaning up your background both prior to taking a photo and/or in post production with Photoshop, is what will  help set your work apart from being "just another snapshot"

If you are wondering why I did not do this for all the images I take for a client, depending on the photograph it can be very time consuming, so would be a waste of my time to put that editing time into photographs that may not be selected.

Testing a Canon EF 35-70mm 1:3:5-4:5 A Lens

A friend was cleaning out and found her old 35mm Camera with a Canon EF 35-70mm 1:3:5-4:5 A Lens attached and since the camera was not working (she thought, I got it shooting and advancing the film again) she asked me if I would be interested in the lens for my DSLR.

Settings 1/125s 4.5F ISO 100 35-70@70

It is a little noisy and chunky sounding...Could just need to be loosened up a little more...The zoom was stuck when I first got it (could have been the reason her 35mm would not fire for her)

I am going to play with it for a few more days and see what it can do...might be fun to see if it will function as a macro...also would like to get a person in front of it and see if it is any good as a portrait lens.

Kelsie

Older siblings are important too.

While last night's shoot was to capture those precious turning 1 memories, it is also important to make sure we do not leave out the siblings...While Master One was taking a juice break, big brother Hayden and I took a moment, to take a short walk and capture a couple of shots of him too.

Thank you Hayden for being such a big help at getting all the smiles out of baby brother...You are a rock star.

Birthday Boy by the River

Since Facebook has rendered me powerless to post for the time being, I will be posting some sneak peeks here on my blog. Never know might get me motivated to update the blog a little bit more often lol



Master Avery turned one this month...and I was thrilled to be chosen to capture these future memories for his parents...He is just cute as a button and all boy...It was a very challenging day for this lady photographer to keep his focus so close to the Suwannee River, with noisy motor boats just calling out for a little boys attention. Despite the distractions, he did an awesome job being adorable.



And this would be an perfect example why we call this the golden hour...The only thing I did to this photo was brush the shadows on the baby with a 10% shadow to give him a little more pop, but the background is just as God and nature made it...the sun reflecting back up off of the water...truly magical.

A Whale of a Cake Smashing Time

It is always fun to match the Cake Smash theme with that of the Birthday Party theme.

If you are interested in booking a cake smash for your little one, make sure you give me plenty of notice...If you would like to use the images as birthday invitations you need to plan ahead and book the smash about 3 or 4 weeks ahead of when you would like to be dropping those invites in the mail.

If you want to display prints from the cake smash at your party, again you need to make sure you plan ahead and you get those selections back in within just a day or 2 of receiving your gallery so print orders can be placed and have time to ship to you before the big day.

Happy Party Planning
Kelsie

Wildflower Sessions 2013

How quickly they grow.

 I can hardly believe how quickly time has flown this past yr...I am starting to see babies come back as toddlers and it just seems like 5 minutes ago I was doing their baby photos.

The cutest little pirate is now a big 9 months old and we are planning his cake smash session already.

I could not help but to reuse the treasure chest from his first session in his latest one.

Kelsie

Golden Hour Dancer

Ever wondered what a photographer means by "the golden hour" ...It is the hour before the sun goes down, the lighting is simply magical and perfect for photo taking...This was taken last night as my little one practiced her twirling as the sun went down...Yes we were supposed to be putting the goats up...But this was much more fun ♥

Blue Vintage Trunk

So excited today to find this gorgeous trunk at the flea market...I haggled the lady down to just $11 for it.

Usually I would wait on an actual session to show off a new prop but this one is special...So talked my daughter into a very quick shoot...Love her "Foot Loose" feet in this one lol.



Great size for the little ones, not to big and not to small...She smiled pretty for mommy for a few minutes.

Then her and the cat deemed photo time over.

But HEY! MOMMA GOT A NEW COOL PROP :)
so it is all good.

Spring Flower

We made a trip over to Hawthorn this morning...I snapped a few images of some old buildings but just loved these little purple flowers in front of an old abandoned well house?

Take with my 50mm 1/8
1/250s  F6.3 ISO 100

Baby Boy Master Z 14 days old

Touch of the classic ... Was so excited when I found these mini hats at Disney ♥

Touch of vintage blue for a boy

Keeping it simple

Torturing those I love most...

The new bulbs for the umbrellas arrived today... I AM IN LOVE...though my models were not the most keen...still have lots of playing to do but will need to find a more co-operative model.

1/125 f 2.5 ISO200 35mm 

Cake Smash - 1st Reaction Sequence

This is what a cake smash is all about...that first reaction.

I love this sequence so much...Lil Man is so classic in every way.

Birthday Girl

Studio is set for a Valentines Day shoot

I love building sets...it is one of the things that draws me to photography....To be able to create a fantasy room/location/decor and capture it forever with my camera.

Today I wanted to share with you how I like to do it.

Tomorrow I have a Valentines Day shoot for a 2yr old...I did not want to be to cliche in my approach but still capturing the essence of the theme...I try to always keep true to my own style...which means it has to be filled with things I personally love.

Are you feeling the LOVE theme of today's post yet?...You will *grin*

I love soft and vintage...I love cute and shabby...I love just small touches...I love girlie...I love sparkle...and I totally ADORE to use piece that have a history to me (or my clients)...This stool has been around for yrs in my husbands family and there is a photo of him seated on it as a 4yr old boy... *LOVE*

Set pull back details:
Backdrop is one of my fave king size bedsheets..A gorgeous soft beige damask pattern.
The base board was painted with a very subtle crackled finish.
The floor drop is "White Barnwood" from TheGrandFormat.com it is actually 60x50, but I have it tucked under at the back...it is sitting up on a foldup table top I am using as a "stagelift"...I have some picnic table clips I use to hold my floor drops in place so they don't bunch up or slip around during a shoot.

More prop details:The stool I have mentioned already.
The hearts hanging on the "wall" are paper doily hearts threaded with 1/4 white ribbon.
The pink fan I found at the dollar store and just had to have it because anything pink, sparkly and just a buck is a MUST have for any girl.
The pink and red hearts on the tired plate stand are styrofoam...and of course sparkly.
and then everything is draped with gorgeous shiny pearl necklaces.
I also customized my white teapot and a matching teacup for this shoot but they are not show...You will have to come back and see the photos from the session to get a look at those.

Lighting:
Continuous lighting is in place...I did find the bulbs that came with my set are just a little dull so I have brighter ones on order...In the meantime I have my softshoe flash oncamera with a defuser to help fill in until they arrive. Behind the round defuser on the left is another light to give me light behind the subject as well.

Lenses:
I plan to shoot with my 35mm f2 lens...but will have my 18-55 on hand as well...You never know when working with a new 2yr old.

Hope you LOVED the little behind the scenes look thru my eyes.
Blessings Kelsie.

8 day old twins in the studio

I could not resist taking the new babies into my studio and giving them a "new born" session...hmmm goats are not very good at standing still...

In fact they ran around the studio taste testing everything and hiding out behind the backdrop playing peek a boo with me...

Finally they did get tired and take a break and stood still...and even faced the camera...but refused to co-operate and sit in any props....I think I will stick to the human newborns whom can't walk yet lol.

First test shots

My new lighting and backdrop stand arrived yesterday...so what is a girl to do but pull it all out (with the help of a 4yr old) put it together and snap a pic...I have not played with placement of the lamps or even adjusted the height for my subject...whom as you can see was just as excited as me to take it for a test run.

Yes I do actually work with this level of crazy on a daily basis.
Styling and Hair: Models Own 

On a more serious note.

I do wonder when she got so big.. Love her

Blessings Kelsie

New Studio Space

So many exciting things happening at Our Country Home...I am in the middle of putting together a studio space for the little ones (or a single adult) ...My new 35mm lens has arrived Wednesday and the lights should be delivered Monday....In the meantime I made do with the lighting and lens I had and celebrated with Master One and we smashed a cake.

Happy 1st Bday little man.

Now this is how it should be done...face first.

Then maybe a little bit of hands

and then some feet.

Me and his momma (and my husband) were just dying laughing at the amount of fun he was having..I am surprised anything was in focus I was shaking with laughter so hard.

A little before the cake...5alarm cute

Such a classicly handsome little guy.


Thank you Master T for coming by and Christening the new space with me.

Blessings Kelsie

Some 50mm lens love.

 Playing with my 50mm while the wee one played with her Angry Bird toys

1/100s 1.8F  ISO800 50mm