I was working downstairs yesterday (earthquake mode) and Brayden was playing when suddenly it got quiet.  Very quiet.  And quiet usually means Brayden is getting into some sort of trouble.  I looked back to find B sitting on the stairs playing by himself.  He had found a bowl and a wooden spoon and was stirring and eating something (my guess is ice cream).  I walked over and he offered me a taste.  It was so cute.  The first time I’ve ever seen him play make believe.  Of course I had to grab some pics!  All taken at 2.8, ISO 400, shutter speed 1/160ish.

Stirring

Eating

Excitement

And then he’s tired

I LOVE wedding season!  I had the most amazing wedding that I can’t wait to share with you all.  Holy cow!  It was beautiful!  Since I was so busy with the wedding over the weekend I spent some quality time with Brayden today so sorry this tip is coming a little late.

This weeks tip for you Pro Mom*togs is to buy the best equipment you can afford.  I get a lot of emails asking if people should buy this camera versus that camera or this computer versus that computer.  If you can afford the best, buy the best.  Why?  Because the better the equipment is the easier it’s probably going to make your life.  Plus, you will end up buying the better equipment down the road anyway.  So, if you have the money to do it do it sooner rather than later.

Last year I was working off of my Mac Book Pro and it was taking forever and a day to get anything done.  It was so frustrating!  It shut down constantly.  It would take 5 minutes to run one action.  It took me a lot of time to get simple and easy things done.  After I had Brayden I just couldn’t take it anymore.  I didn’t have time to waste.  So, I upgraded to the iMac.  I had been thinking about it for months, but wasn’t quite sure where the money was going to come from since I wasn’t working at the time.  Well, I emptied my bank account and it was worth every cent.  I could get my work done in a quarter of the time that it took to get my work done on my laptop.  It didn’t shut down.  It didn’t make funny noises.  I could multi task and do several things at once.  I didn’t have to delete every session right after it was done to make more space.  And guess what?  My bank account went right back up because I was able to book more sessions since I was able to spend less time in front of the computer.  

When I bought my 5D a couple of years ago it made my life easier because I was able to get the color I wanted out of the camera so I was able to spend less time editing the images after the fact.

And this is why I’m so adamant about not buying third party lenses.  You will end up wasting your money on lenses that are mediocre when you could save for a couple of months and have a great lens that you will never want to trade in.

Whenever I invest in an expensive piece of equipment, whether it be a computer, lens, or camera body, I have not looked back.  It has made me a better photographer and has made my life much easier.  And as moms we need to make our lives as easy as possible!

For those who are interested here is my set up.  And, no, this isn’t my office.  I took this today and my computer is downstairs because of all the earthquakes we’ve been having. We live very close to Yorba Linda, which has been experiencing an earthquake swarm for the past couple of months.  I’ve been lucky enough to not feel most of them, but last Thursday we got 3 good jolts in a few hours.  My husband will move my whole set up downstairs  when we have earthquakes because I’m too scared to by upstairs.  Yeah, I know, I’m a baby.  I’ve lived in California my whole life.  Been through all of the big ones.  But, I hate earthquakes.  Hate them, hate them, hate them!  Below are my BIG iMac and my little Mack Book Pro.

Thanks for the love this week, ladies! I totally appreciate it!

Stones of Rememberance

Diandra Ann Photography

AW Photography

Yesterday I had a shoot with Baby Oliver (who is just the cutest, by the way). I’ve read on a few photographers blogs that they use a macro lens for their baby shoots so I thought I would give it a try. I love my macro. I have the Canon 100mm 2.8.  It’s great for details at weddings, but I had honestly not thought to use it on babies. I loved it though! I didn’t get as close as I would have liked because Oliver was an active little dude, but I still love the results. Here are two taken with my macro. You can see the rest from his shoot on the DrewB blog!

I will admit it.  We’re not the greenest family out there.  We don’t use cloth diapers.  I don’t buy organic clothes.  I recycle, but probably not as well as I should.  I try to use the reusable bags at the grocery store, but I do tend to forget them.  It’s not because I don’t want to be green and help our environment.  It’s just that with life happening I kind of… forget.  

What are some simple ways that you make your life greener?  

My neighbor has a Baby Planet stroller.  They are awesome because they help you to recycle them once they are done.  If your stroller still has a little life left in it they will help you to donate it to someone else who can use it or if your stroller is completely done they will take it back and recycle it.  How cool is that?

I love these totes from Whimsy Press.  I got my BFF this one 

They have a lot of rad “green” products and everything is 60% off right now!  Just use the coupon code “2009″.  Their recycled gift wrap is pretty awesome too!  And I wish they made this onsie in a bigger size for Brayden.

Happy Earth Day!

Gold stars for Laura, Bree, and Stephanie!  They were right.  We worked on One Bad Trip.  I can’t believe you remembered that show.  I honestly didn’t think anyone watched it

My tip for Pro Mom*togs this week is going to be short and sweet because I’m actually doing what I preach.  This weeks tip is to take time for yourself and get inspired.  Once a year I try to go to a seminar or workshop with a photographer that I admire and get reinspired.  It’s so great to see how other photographers work and shoot and it’s a good way to challenge yourself to see what you can improve upon.  No matter what your skill level is there’s a workshop out there for you. 

As you read this I am in a workshop with Jose Villa in Santa Barbara.  I love his clean and fresh images.  The way he poses his couples is so effortless.  They look like they are out of a J. Crew ad.  I’m excited to see him work and hear what he has to say.  And this seminar comes at a perfect time as my wedding season officially begins on Saturday.  It’s going to be an insanely busy couple of weeks, but I’m beyond excited for my weddings.  And after 3 crazy weekends I will be hoping on a plane for Kauai!  Yeah!  Happy Monday, friends!

Oh, and here’s a shot of Brayden from last weeks shoot before the boys tore up the set

I’m a little behind on blogging this week.  Wedding season  has officially begun!  Yikes!  It’s going to be a crazy few weeks!

A HUGE cyber hug to those who blogged about Mom*tog this week!  You all rock!

The Horn Family

Sparks Rocknblog

Danica Nelson Photography

D & D Photography and Design

Life’s Perfect Pictures

On Tuesday my friend and coworker from my MTV days, Joy, came down to visit.  I haven’t seen her since our last show together way back in the Spring of 2004 and even though it’s been 5 years it just seems like yesterday.  The show we worked on was a road show, which means that we traveled all over the country (and out of the country) and when you’re with someone on the road (and spending many, many sleepless nights together) you get to know them really fast.  You know all of their quirks, their likes and dislikes, and they become your family.  I swear Joy knows me better than a  lot of my oldest friends!  The show we worked on was pretty high stress and very high drama so we went through a lot together!

Well, a little less than 4 years goes by and I heard through the grapevine that Joy had a baby boy two days before Brayden was born!  How cool is that?  Joy and her hubby, Steve, work on all the raddest shows now (Top Chef!) and are big time in the industry.  But, with little Hudson here now, Joy is working on getting into photography so she can stay home with him.  She came down for a play date and a little photography lesson and we had so much fun catching up.  It was just like old times except with two toddlers and no transvestites or strippers (yeah, that’s the kind of show we worked on!).  

We tried to get our little guys to do a photo shoot together, but this is what happens when two 14 month old boys get together.  They tear apart your set!

And I will give a gold star to whoever can guess what show we worked on.  Think Spring Breakish show that ran for two season on MTV in 2003 and 2004…

Since we were talking about camera bodies and how they differ I wanted to share these images with you.

 

When I shot those boot pictures last week I left my 50 1.2 on my 30D.  I grabbed my camera before I went to my mentoring session on Saturday and guess what?  I grabbed my 30D instead of my 5D.  When I started shooting the camera felt kind of funny and I was having to stand much farther back when using my 50 than I normally do.  Then I realized what I had done and I was SO mad at myself.  I was pretty nervous about how my images were going to turn out because I hadn’t shot with the 30D in sometime.  It definitely didn’t focus as fast as the 5D and it had trouble metering.  But, when I got home and saw my images I was pleasantly surprised.  I think they turned out pretty good!  Goes to show you don’t have to have the fanciest equipment to get good shots.  You can see the rest of the images here.

While I was pregnant and after I had Brayden I got a ton of emails asking how I balanced shooting weddings and being pregnant.  Did I tell my brides I was pregnant?  Did they get mad?  How did I make sure the weddings were covered?  The key to making it work for me was networking.  I had two very good friends (thank you Trista and Jasmine!) who were able to step in and help me cover my last two weddings for me.  I knew that I wanted to be there if I could, but at 36 and 37 weeks pregnant there was a high probability I might not be able to make it.  I wanted to know that if I couldn’t be there my brides would be well taken care of and that the photographers who were there would treat the wedding as if it was their own.  And while I was able to make it to both weddings and everything turned out great, I did get into a car accident the night before my last wedding which landed me in labor and delivery until 2am.  It was really scary, but I knew Trista had my back.

Networking is important not just when you are pregnant, but at any time in your career.  What if you or your child gets really sick and you can’t make it to a wedding?  Through networking I know that I have good photographer friends who would cover for me if I needed them to and they know that I would do the same for them.  And being a photographer and working on your own can be lonely at times.  While I don’t have someone sitting in a cubicle next to me I can email one of my friends and they will totally understand my situation and will offer up great advice.  

There’s no need to be competitive with other photographers out there.  There’s plenty of work to go around!  My friends and I even share a joint calendar so if I’m booked for a date I can send the bride to one of my friends who isn’t.  And they do the same for me.  

I always suggest to photographers to reach out to other photographers in their community who are at their same skill level.  They can help answer questions, refer work to you, and will be there with you as your business grows.  It’s an awesome way to make friends, help your business, and to ensure that you have help if needed!

And just because I looked so ridiculous, here’s a picture Jasmine took of me shooting at 36 weeks… standing on a chair.  How did I even get up there???

SO happy it’s Friday! Too bad while everyone gets today off of work I have to go scout a location and Chuck still has to work. And he has to work on Saturday too! Boo! Well, I’m doing a mentoring session anyways, but it would have been nice to have the morning off.

To the people who emailed me yesterday about the pictures – yes, I know the file names showed which camera took which pictures. Did I care? No, not really. If I did some special code name I would’ve forgotten what my code names meant and then I wouldn’t have been able to tell you which camera took what picture. You people are hard to please sometimes!

So for those of you who did not put their cursor over the images here’s the order:

5D Mark II

5D

20D

30D

I was a little disappointed with the 5D Mark II’s performance. I really like the 5D image best, but I have yet to actually use the 5D Mark II for a real shoot so I will wait to give my review then. I should also say that I only bought the 5D Mark II because my 5D is broken. The LCD shows up all pixelated and rasterized. I can fix it if I bang on it, but for weddings I don’t want to count on that. I’ve been more than happy with the performance of the 5D up until now, but with it breaking I realized I need a reliable back up and would rather not use my 30D at weddings as my backup.

I wrapped up my first Mom*tog Pro session this week. I had so much fun getting to know Amanda and answering all of her questions for her. But, most of all I loved seeing her improvement. I was hoping that she would improve, but really I am blown away by how much she learned in such a short time. And I’m even more excited that she has decided to start her own business after finishing our session. Yeah! I just wish she didn’t live on the complete opposite side of the country from me. Our boys would be the best of friends if we lived in the same town

At the beginning of our session I asked Amanda to send me her best images so I could see where her skill level is. Here are a few she sent me:

Good images, but lots of room for improvement.

After discussing inside light she took this image

I think it’s an excellent image straight out of camera, but she was then able to edit it to this:

Wow!

Next, we discussed outside light and she took this image (which I am absolutely in love with and will be so mad at her if she doesn’t print this BIG and hang it in her house)

And she edited it to this

LOVE those eyes!

Here’s what Amanda had to say about her Mom*tog Pro experience:

I sincerely cannot gush enough about DrewB’s Mom*tog Pro sessions. In
one week, she improved my photo shooting & editing skills a thousand
fold. She gave me all the information I needed to know about taking
pictures, editing them, the business side of things and how to
maintain a work / life balance. When she says that she will answer
“ANYTHING and EVERYTHING” – she will! She answered every single one
of my questions and offered up extra information – plus she was fun to
work with. It’s not just for “Pros” (which I’m not) because she
tailors the program just for you. I liked my photography before the
Mom*tog Pro sessions but now I LOVE it and probably the most important
thing is that it has made me more confident as a photographer.

You can read more about her experience on her blog. I’m just so happy I found a way to be able to help Mom*togs across the country! It was seriously so much fun! We didn’t spend all of our time discussing photography. We did talk a little about my experience working with Justin Timberlake back in my MTV days

But, I digress. Thank you Amanda for your kind words. I look forward to seeing where your new business takes you! Remember to always have fun with it!

I’ve been getting a lot of emails asking me to discuss photoshop on Mom*tog. For the most part I will not be discussing any photoshop on this blog. Before you start writing your hate mail telling me that I’m just out to make money hear me out. The goal for Mom*tog is to teach moms (not professional photographers) how to take better pictures of their kids straight out of camera. Because you need to have a good picture with good lighting before you even begin to photoshop it.  I don’t think mom’s should be spending a ton of time photoshoping each and everyone of their images.  I mean, who has time for that?  The goal is to get good images right out of the camera.  So, if you want to discuss photoshop then a Mom*tog Pro session is for you. During those sessions I can go into depth about your specific lighting situations and how you can use photoshop to enhance an already good image.  I have several booked and will only be booking these sessions during weeks that I do not have weddings so space is limited. Use the contact button up above to get more information!

Oh, and by the way, my friend Kathy told me to enter this photo contest. And guess what? I won! The prize is a $1000 glider. I really wanted a nice glider for Brayden’s nursery, but we couldn’t afford one that I wanted. Well, now I have one. 14 months too late, but I’ll take it

Have a great weekend and I hope the Easter bunny is good to you all!

I think I missed a bunch of you awesome people spreading the Mom*tog love this week.  I’m  having a hard time keeping track of my stats.  Mom*tog is blowing up with well over 1500 readers a day!  Woohoo!  And I owe it all to you wonderful bloggers who are sharing the Mom*tog love.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Kentucky Mama

Well Blended Family

The Mentillo Family

A Day To Remember

Joy’s Hope

Before I tell you which image was taken with what camera, can you guess?  I used my 20D, 30D, 5D, and 5D Mark II.  All images were taken with very similar light (it was a partly cloudy day so it was changing a bit) with the same settings ISO 200, 2.2, 1/80 and no post processing.  These are straight out of camera!  To be fair this was taken with my 50 1.2, which is an amazing lens.  I didn’t get very creative with these shots.  I just wanted to shot something that would sit still, wouldn’t cry, and that I didn’t have to clean the green boogers out of it’s nose before I shot it.  

I will reveal the results later today.  I can tell you that the 5D Mark II sure felt nice!  I can’t wait to play with it more!  I need to program all of my settings into it and make it mine.  I also need to put a pretty camera strap cover on it.  But, I had no energy today so maybe tomorrow.  I’ve been up since 2:30.  I maybe went back to sleep from 6:30 – 7:30, but man oh man, I’m exhausted.  Early to bed for me tonight!