I'm not sure what happened nine months ago, but I have been so busy photographing newborns in the last few weeks. I am NOT complaining... babies are a favorite here at Spicer Photography! Throw in a few dogs and I'm lovin' it! We try to capture these images in the first two weeks of life. Here are just a few of the sweet little babies I have had the honor of photographing recently (and a couple of the lucky dogs too!).
Two baby girls getting the love... "I am the baby! Ya gotta love me."
I thought baby "V" had lots of hair (girl on right below), but then along came baby boy "JJ" with the best head of hair I have EVER seen on a newborn.
The first image below is Barkley (from the previous post) featured on the front of the birth announcment... the next one is Lola checking out what all the fuss was about as we were TRYING to set up the pose (I love the looks they are giving each other).
I think this quote from Charles Osgood is appropriate for the parents AND the photographer:
"Babies are always more trouble than you thought - and more wonderful" Well said...
Categorized In:
baby
|
cave creek
|
newborn photography
|
photography
|
scottsdale
One of my favorite subjects to photograph is dogs. I love dogs, and they always make me laugh. This guy was the perfect subject! Barkley is a Vizsla, and has the best expressions. I met him when I went to his home to photograph a newborn (I will share his image with the baby after my client sends out the birth announcements, but I would hate to spoil the fun for anyone that might wander in here and see it here before the announcement hits the mail, so for now this post is all Barkley). So since the session at the house was for the baby, I asked my client if she could bring Barkley to the studio when she came to see the newborn images so I could take a few images of Barkley just to humor me. So here a few from our little mini-session.
Categorized In:
arizona
|
dog
|
pet
|
photographer
|
photography
|
scottsdale
Here is my collection of photographs taken in January for my "photo a day" project... and yes, if you count these you will see that I missed five days so I should call it my ALOMOST a Photo A Day Project. Still, I'm proud for the days I DO grab my camera and take a few minutes just for myself to get some fun images. February images are well underway, and I will share a few as we go. For now, enjoy a look back to January:
Categorized In:
arizona
|
photographer
|
scottsdale
For those of you who know Neela (my assistant during sessions, and a wonderful photographer on her own I might add) here are a few from her most recent session. As a fellow photographer, Neela knows just how hard it is to capture images of children in general, but especially YOUR OWN KIDS! So I try to do these sessions for her whenever possible so that she can actually have images of HER with the kids. Anyway, I thought those of you who know Neela would like to see her with her lovely husband and their two sweet and funny little girls! Enjoy...
Categorized In:
arizona
|
children's portraits
|
photography
|
scottsdale
I love still life photos... just pick your objects, find the right lighting, arrange appropriately, and have fun. Today's subject comes courtesy of the local farmer's market. I bought a bunch of flowers and took them home and put them in a vase. Later in the day when I walked past the flowers and saw them against the backdrop of the art on the wall I decided to make this my photo of the day. Then to illustrate the point of using different backdrops to get a new look, I moved the vase outside against the sky, and also used the water in the pool as a third look. I did not do a studio set up since I wanted to illustrate what can be done without studio lights and backdrops. In a later blog I will do a studio still life and discuss studio lighting techniques. The lighting you choose - from soft, ambient light, to high-tech lights - is critical in determining the mood of the photograph. Play with your own still life images using different lighting and backdrops to see how the same subjects can look so different.
Flowers inside against art on the wall gives a soft romantic look...
Outside against the sky a totally new look...
And against the soft reflection of the pool a nice color contrast...
Stay tuned for more fun with still life photography!
Categorized In:
arizona
|
fine art photography
|
photographer
|
scottsdale
I have been PRETTY good about my photo a day project, even though I don't post all of them here on the blog, but yesterday I got busy and forgot to get an image before we were suppose to meet some friends for dinner. So I took my camera with me to the restaurant and decided to play with a low light situation without flash. Using a very high ISO (1600) allowed me to still hand hold the camera (shutter speed was 1/30 with a wide open aperture) to capture this view of the provisions delivered to the table prior to the pizza. The pizza disappeared too fast to get a shot without everyone's hands in the way! So next time you find yourself in a low light situation, try using a higher ISO and refrain from using the dreaded pop-up flash!
By the way, yummy pizza at Pino Cafe at Mayo Blvd and Scottsdale Road if you are in the area! And yes, it is owned by a frenchman, go figure.
Categorized In:
arizona
|
commercial
|
family
|
pet
|
photographer
|
scottsdale
I wanted to get a quick shot of this cute little baby (we had just done a larger family reunion and were wrapping things up, but I just couldn’t resist this “over mom’s shoulder” grab shot as she was walking away) but the background was not pretty and the light fading fast, so using a wide open aperture (that is a smaller f-stop number for those of you just starting out) I was able to blur the background and just focus on her face. Learn your f-stops and shutter speeds so that you can quickly make the proper choices to either sharpen or blur your backgrounds based on the look you want to achieve (obviously in landscape images you may want a greater depth of field to get details in both foreground and background, but as a general rule for portraits you want less detail in the background so that the eyes stay on the faces in the portraits. Take your camera OFF the AUTO mode and play with apertures and shutter speeds until it all makes sense for you. Have fun…
Categorized In:
arizona
|
children's portraits
|
photography
|
scottsdale
cherie commented on February 25th, 2010
Pam You captured him perfectly! Thanks :)