Comet is a Saluki-Golden Retriever mix and now lives with my husband and I (and our other Golden KC). We adopted Comet from the Arizona Humane Society last weekend and he has curled up in my heart already. What a sweet gentle dog he is. I am always amazed that two totally different species of animals can get along so well together. Makes you wonder why humans can't all get along better... oh well, that's another blog topic!Anyway, I just wanted to share a couple quick images from the studio.I’m sure once he gets used to the camera and the goofy lady behind it, I will get lots of great photographs of this lovely dog.
Here is a fun and easy "self assignment" for photographers... go out and look for reflections or shadows to photograph. I don't know WHY I am attracted to these types of images, but I think they are interesting. A photograph of a subject as a reflection or shadow allows for a lot of creativity. Here are just a few ideas to get you started. Have fun...
A Bench... and a building reflected in glass... these images are all around you.
Water always makes for a great reflection image...
Have fun looking at the world in a new way and see what opens up to you!
If you are not on my mailing list you may have missed the current newsletter with a few special offers, so I thought I'd post them here as well. By the way, my newsletter comes out just twice a year but is packed with info and dates for special events like our always popular portrait safari to the beach, so feel free to contact me to get on the mailing list for the newsletters (and your name and address are kept private so no need to worry).
So, the first special offer is for anyone who books a session before the end of April... you will get two FREE 4x6's to give to someone special - just in time for Mother's Day. If you can't book a session before the end of April but still want to give a gift of portraits to that someone special, gift certificates are always available (and mention this blog and get a discount on your gift certificate!).
Since we are on the subject, here are just a few of the other upcoming dates to keep in mind:
Mini-Sessions in the Studio will be on June 5th... Reduced session fees and NO minimum orders.
San Diego Beach Portraits will be done between July10-18! Contact me NOW to get on the "interested list" and I will keep you posted as it gets closer to July! These sessions are so much fun, and the memories we capture will delight you!
I will keep you posted on the blog as these dates get closer, but in the meantime if you want to get on the list for any of these offers just give a call or email me with contact info.
Congratulations to all the graduating high school seniors!This is the time of year that we get busy with senior portraits.The weather is great for these outdoor sessions, and we really work with the seniors to capture the look they want.I love photographing seniors (what a nice change from photographing two year olds!) and the seniors I work with enjoy the sessions as much as I do! Let me know if I can create a fun high school senior portrait for you (or someone you know).
" You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own... and you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go..."
Dr. Seuss
Good luck to all the seniors! Go do good things...
It is the last day of March already, and I haven't shared too many of my images from my "Photo A Day" project, so here they are (in no particular order) for the entire month of March. It has been a fun project so far... hope you enjoy the images, and then get out there yourself and use your camera to focus in on some details of your day!
I love that quote by Emerson. And the earth is laughing now, so thought I’d take a minute a do a tip of the day on photographing wildflowers. Not a lot of hard and fast rules here, but a few general things to think about when you are composing your images.
Shutter speed and aperture – IF it is a breezy day and the flowers are moving as you try to zoom in on them, a fast shutter speed (at least 1/200) will help to avoid motion blurring. Also play with your f-stops to decide when you want most everything in focus (use f-stops of 8 to 22), or just one flower with the background blurred (try f-stops of 2.8 to 5.6). There is a sample below from my rose bush using two different apertures to show this difference.
Photograph from different levels – Again it depends on the look you want, but as a general rule if you are photographing small flowers (like the poppies shown below) you will want to get down low so that the flowers become more prominent. If the background is not good you can even get down lower and get the bug’s eye view with sky behind the flowers. But if you want to get just one bloom completely in focus you will want to make sure that the camera is parallel to the bloom (like the close up of the rose which was shot from directly above the bloom). So move around the subject and play with what works best to capture the look YOU want.
Most importantly, leave no trace that you were there. Leave the flowers just as you found them, and try not to trample the plants around you just to get the shot. That way we can all enjoy them while they last, and have our images to enjoy once they disappear for the year. Enjoy!
Greater depth of field using small aperture (f-stop 1/16) Aperture wide open blurs background so flower is clearly the focus here.
I wanted the greater depth of field here so the mountains AND poppies were in focus, so I stopped down to f-22.
Sometimes a "Bugs Eye" view is best (there was a road and cars in the background that I didn't want to see)
I love extreme close ups! But try to keep the lens parallel to the subject on something like this.
Meet Taylor… I first photographed Taylor nine years ago to capture his holy communion, and NOW he is preparing to graduate from – GET THIS – high school AND college next month. Say “WHAT?” Technically his college graduation occurs two weeks before his high school graduation so he may be the first person I have ever known to graduate from college before getting his high school diploma. Obviously smart, and going on to U of A in the fall to continue his studies (hoping to end up at John Hopkins someday in the near future). So I just HAD to dig out this old photo of him from 2001 and post one of the ones from last week and give a big shout out to Taylor (and his Mom too) for doing such a great job! Good luck to Taylor, and all of our grads this year! "Oh the places you'll go..."
Hi! I'm Pam Spicer... I am the owner and Photographer for Spicer Photography located in far north Scottsdale, Arizona. My specialty is photographing children, families, high school seniors, pets, and executives. I am married to Jerry and we share our home with our golden retreiver KC. Thanks for checking out my blog! I hope you will check back often to see what's new at Spicer Photography. Oh, and it would be really cool if you tell someone else about my work and help spread the word. Thanks!
