Last week we had, quite possibly, the most perfect summer evening.  Pool, pizza delivered to pool, dining al fresco, watching my little man be his funny self.  Walking back from the pool I snapped this image.  I was walking forward, camera down low pointing back at Brayden, and got lucky.  It’s not perfect, but I love it.  B wearing his shirt with one arm out because, duh, that’s how all the cool two year olds wear their shirts these days.  And Chuck walking behind carrying all of our pool stuff and left over pizza.  I love it.

Last week I blogged about one of my favorite lenses, the Canon 16 – 35.  It’s a great lens, but like with any wide angle lens you will get a bit of lens distortion on the edges.  Nicole asked if I had ever tried the lens distortion tool while editing, but I hadn’t.  I didn’t even know if Photoshop had one!

Flash forward to this past weekend.  The good people at Adobe were kind enough to send me a copy of Adobe Lightroom Photoshop 3 to try out for myself.  As it was loading I was reading about all the new features and one of those features was a lens distortion tool.  It’s super awesome because you simply pick what lens you were using and it is fixed automatically.  The have most Canon, Nikon, and Sigma wide angle lenses to choose from as well as a couple of Sony and Tamron lenses.

Here is the original image taken with the Canon 16 – 35 2.8:

Here is the corrected image:

The change is subtle, but I think it looks great!  You can really see the difference when you look at the block wall in the background.  See how on the original image it curves up on the sides (on the top and bottom of the wall).  On the corrected image it’s just a straight line.  Pretty cool and it was so easy!

I’ll be doing a full review on Lightroom when I get to know how to use it and work it into my work flow.  But, I am really impressed.  Especially with the noise reduction.  Wow!  It’s amazing!

Last weekend we took a trip up to our Alma Mater to watch the football team scrimmage.  We got up there early to show Brayden around campus.  He really could care less, but it was fun for Chuck and I to reminisce about the days when we were young and fun and lived in the big city.  Ah, the good old days!

I don’t want to put any pressure on Brayden or anything, but if he wants to go to that other school across town he will have to pay for college on his own.  I took lots of picture for blackmail to remember our trip.  If Brayden is anything like me he will not like UCLA just to spite me.  That’s something I would have done to my parents.

After a stop at the campus store to stock up on all of our UCLA gear, we stopped at Bruin Walk.  This is where Chuck and I would eat lunch together when we were both on campus.  Blossom would eat lunch on the grass behind us.  And another fun fact, the scene in Legally Blonde where Elle is at Harvard and they are sitting on the lawn in a circle introducing themselves, that was filmed on that lawn as well.  I got to meet Reese Witherspoon while they were filming.  Love her!

F 2.8, 1/500, ISO 250

I love how little he looks in front of all the big buildings

F2.8, 1/5000, ISO 250

Taking a milk break in front of Royce Hall.  Because when he goes to UCLA milk is the only thing he better be drinking!

F2.8, 1/5000, ISO 250

F2.8, 1/5000, ISO 250

F 7.1, 1/1600, ISO 250

I really wanted to name Brayden, Brayden Bruin.  Chuck wouldn’t let me.  I wish we would have.  How cool would that have been?  Then even if he wanted to go to USC there’s no way they would let him in!

F 2.8, 1/500, ISO 250

Just a week and a half until football season starts!  It’s the happiest time of year (as long as we are winning!).

I don’t like flash, but it’s necessary for weddings.  I haven’t used a flash for a family shoot in probably three years.  For weddings, here’s what’s in my bag:

3 Speedlites (2 580EX and 1 580EXII) – I use one camera flash and two off cameras.  If you want to know how to use off camera flash I suggest you take the same workshop that I did this past Spring – Off Camera Flash workshop with JVS.  I went specifically for the wedding lighting, which was a very small part of the workshop.  But, it really helped me understand my Speedlites much better.

Lots and lots of rechargeable batteries – I think they recycle faster than normal batteries.  And it’s also environmentally friendly and more cost efficient in the long run.  Make sure you label the batteries with the date you bought them so you know when it’s time to eventually retire them.

3 Quantum Turbo Batteries (one for each flash) – Do you ever have that problem when using your flash where it will take one picture and then it won’t fire again for 10, 15, 30 seconds?  You end up missing the shot!  And that stinks.  With the Quantum Turbo batteries your flash will have extra power and will recycle much faster.  It’s a bit cumbersome and you have to wear it on your pants, but the new version is much lighter and it’s totally worth it to not miss the shot.

I love the natural look when using 3 Speedlites for the dancing shots

I don’t usually do a lot of off camera flash for portraits, but when you’re stuck in a dark casino you have to do what you have to do.  These were taken at the Wynn Las Vegas last year.

Off camera flash is also great for ring and detail shots

Where have I been all week?  Potty training.  OMG.  I have never talked about poop and pee more than I have this week.  I have danced around with undies on my head.  I have been peed on.  I put a little portable potty in the back of my car.  With plastic bags.  That I’m going to have to change.  Gross.  I have said, “Remember to tell Mommy when you have to go to the potty” over and over and over.  And since when did I start calling the toilet a “potty”.  I hate the word potty.  I hate it almost as much as I hate the word “panties”.  It’s like nails on a chalkboard.

My friend Christie shard the 3 Day Potty Training method with me.  It’s worked pretty well.  We had some regression on the morning of Day 3.  On Day 3 we were both tired and had major cabin fever, which I think played a role in the major accidents we had.  The afternoon of Day 3 were good and so far Day 4 has been great.

I may have started a little early.  But, my boy is stubborn and I thought it would only get worse as he gets older.  With my schedule it’s really hard to find 3 full days when I can be home all day so we just went for it.  Plus, we have a new nanny starting next week and, to be totally honest, I want new carpets.  Totally selfish, I know.  But, there is no way I’m getting new carpets until this kid is potty trained!

I have a great picture of B on the potty (see!  I said it again!), but I’m choosing not to blog it.  I’m going to give the kid some privacy.  Don’t get me wrong, I totally texted it to the Grandparents, but the whole world doesn’t need to see it.  Here’s a more blogable picture of my happy boy playing in the pool this morning.  We’re finally getting warm weather in Orange County!  Yeah!  Hope your weekend is great!

F 2.0, 1/4000, ISO 125

Next up in my camera bag is my essential wedding lens.  The 70 – 200 2.8 IS lens.  I don’t know about you, but I cringe when I see a wedding photographer (or even more likely, the videographer) who feels it’s necessary to be in the couple’s private space all day.  They walk in front of the guests and stand right in front of the bride’s mom and dad to get “the shot”.  They feel they have to stand right in the middle of the aisle to get the kiss.  They practically dance with the couple during their first dance.  A wedding day is filled with so many intimate moments.  It should be the bride and groom experiencing those moments together.  Not the bride, groom, and the photographer.  With a telephoto lens, like the 70 – 200 2.8, I can be out of the way and still get “the shot”.

One of the biggest compliments I’ve received was when a couple came to meet with me about shooting their wedding.  They had been guests at a wedding that I shot.  They didn’t even realize I was there until the reception.  They were so impressed that I had gotten such great shots without even being seen by the guests.  That’s my goal!  Don’t get me wrong.  Sometimes if you’re in a big church or it’s a huge wedding you will have to get a little closer even with the 70 – 200, but you still don’t need to be totally intrusive.

I have this lens on my camera for the ceremony and during the reception for toasts and first dances.  The lens is very versatile since it’s a zoom lens and it covers a good range.  The “IS” in the lens stands for image stabilization.  If you’re going to invest in this lens, I wouldn’t try to save a few (hundred) bucks and go without the image stabilization.  With a telephoto lens like this you will need it!  The IS will help a lot in getting a tack sharp image.  Especially when shooting in low light situations and no flash (like a church).

A lot of photographers will use a lens like this for their family and engagement shoots.  I choose not to because, well, I’m lazy and I don’t like to lug it around.  It’s a pretty big and heavy lens.  But, the results for any type of shoot with it are great.

Here are some moments captured, very non-intrusively, with the 70 – 200.

Dear Brayden,

Today you are officially closer to being a big 3 year old rather than a 2 year old.  In your own words, “That’s crazy!”.

I know I say this every single month, but I am continually amazed with how smart you are.  I know every mom thinks this.  That there kid is the smartest kid in the world.  But, you really just might be.  It’s hard for me to comprehend that only two and a half years ago you were this little blob who couldn’t do anything besides cry, eat, and poop (and you did all 3 of those things a lot!).  And now you are this boy.  A really funny and smart boy who can articulate thoughts and has a huge personality.  You are a person.  And it’s so weird to me that this person was the same alien in my stomach that constantly had the hiccups and made me eat so much I would cry.

You are a little sponge that just soaks everything in.  Sometimes it takes awhile.  But, then one day, you will randomly just start taking about things that I had been trying to teach you.  You have a puzzle of the United States (because your Mama loves geography!) and you know that Aunt Connie lives in Washington, Uncle Don is from Maine, President Obama lives in the White House, and that you live in California.  You can almost spell your whole name.  When we were at story time making your name tag I asked you to spell your name as I wrote it.  You said, “B R A Y D”.  That totally impressed the little old lady librarian.    Speaking of story time, you love it.  On Wednesdays we go to two story times.  One at the library and then we go straight over to the book store for a second story time.  I’ve started buying you the Disney story books and you love them.  We read one before bed every night.  Your favorite is Dumbo (you don’t like it when Mrs. Jumbo gets angry) and also Peter Pan and Alice and Wonderland.  You don’t like Jungle Book.

You also continue to get more and more funny.  Your knock knock jokes are the best:

You:  Knock, knock.

Me:  Who’s there?

You:  Brayden.

Me:  Brayden who?

You:  Brayden Mama Dada!  Hahahahaha!

We think it’s so funny because you think you’re so funny.  We try to teach you real knock knock jokes, but you don’t think they are as funny as your knock knock jokes.  Then there are your random sayings like, “Aw, shucks!” and we have no idea where you get them from.

My favorite thing you said to me this month was when I told you that I love you so much and you responded with, “I love you so much too, Mama!”.

At the wedding that I shot this past weekend the mother of the bride gave an amazing speech.  That groom had gone through a lot in his life and his mom realized one day that he had lost the sparkle from his eyes and it made her so sad.  He got the sparkle back when he fell in love with his bride.  I know life isn’t going to be perfect, Brayden, and that’s what will shape you to become the man that you will be.  But, I hope you never have to lose the sparkle that you have in your eyes.  I love it so much and I will do everything in my power to see that it never, ever goes away.

Love,

Mama

For my everyday shoots (engagement, family sessions, etc.) I carry my Shootsac.  The Shootsac is great, but it only carries 3 lenses and maybe your keys and chapstick.  For weddings I need something more substantial.  In addition to my Shootsac (which I carry the lenses that I know I will need right then and there, plus my phone and extra batteries) I also use the Airport Airstream Roller from Think Tank.  I love this bag for some many reasons.  Let me count the ways:

1)  It fits in the overhead compartment on airplanes.

2)  It has a lock.

3)  Not only does it lock, but you can also lock it to something.  That’s rad when you’re shooting a wedding and you need to leave it for a few minutes.  As someone who is super paranoid about getting her gear stolen, that’s cool.

4)  It has a special compartment for my laptop that can also be locked.

5)  The dividers inside the bag can be rearranged.

I’ve just about outgrown this bag, but will be upgrading to the Airport International next.

And if you order through this link to Think Tank, you get a free gift with your order over $50.  How rad is that!  You can get an awesome gift like the Pixel Pocket Rocket, which is my fav!

The most recent addition to my camera bag is the Canon 16 – 35 2.8.  I had been needing a wide lens for sometime and once I rented this one I knew I had to have it.  Canon also makes the 17 – 40 lens, but it can only stop down to a 4.0.  It’s about half the price, but I opted for the 16 – 35 2.8 so I could use it in lower light situations if need be.  I love this lens and really don’t know how I lived without it.  Especially with HUGE bridal parties like I had at my wedding last weekend:

This lens is so wide that there can be some distortion on the edges.  If that look bothers you then you need to be catious about that when shooting with it at 16mm.

I use this lens for detail and dress shots:

And also on engagement shoots:

Family shoots:

And everyday with Brayden:

I use this lens for just about everything.  I don’t really know how I lived without it before!

This week (and maybe next) I will be doing a feature on all the equipment I carry in my camera bag (and Shootsac) with explanations of why I use it and examples.

First up, the 100mm Macro.  The Macro lens isn’t a necessity, but it sure is a lot of fun! If you’re shooting weddings it is the lens for shooting ring shots and details.  I have used it on some newborn sessions, but honestly, it gets so close it kind of scares me.  Too much detail in a person isn’t always a good thing!  I use the Macro for ring shots, jewelry, and detail shots at the reception.  Here is a shot from my wedding yesterday of the Bride’s Grandmother’s crystals that she wore.

I love ring shots.  Always something fun to do if a reception is dragging a bit.  Here’s one of my favorite

It’s just a great lens for capturing the really small details that you really want to focus on and isolate.  At weddings it’s sometimes the small details that mean the most.  Here is a ring that was the Bride’s Grandmother’s engagement ring tied to her bouquet.

There is a newer version of this lens that I’m dying to get my hands on!  Looks beautiful!  But, really for as often as I use this lens (not very often) it’s just not worth the money at this point to buy the new one.