Free Portrait Sessions in February
Nights are still long and the days gray. But my Fairhaven studio is nice and warm, with flattering lights and a variety of backgrounds. I’m ready to play with some new photography ideas this month and have a special offer for a few people who are also in a playful mood.
During the month of February I’m offering a few free “Play Date” sessions in the studio. I want to try out some new lighting techniques, experiment with posing, play with new multi-image and digital processing techniques I just learned, and create some new studio samples I can use in my marketing throughout the rest of the year. Continue Reading »
One of the joys of a winter garden in the Pacific Northwest is fragrant shrubs. We planted a Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ in our front garden many years ago. This vase-shaped shrub begins blooming for us around the first of December and carries through until March.
‘Dawn’ was selected as one of the Great Plant Picks both for its fragrant pink tubular blossoms during the winter and for its bronzy foliage in autumn. It’s hardy in USDA zones 5 to 9, grows best in full sun, and is somewhat drought tolerant. In our Bellingham garden it gets a moderate soaking, along with everything else in the same bed, once every three weeks during the dry months of July-September. Continue Reading »
As a photographer you want to control where the folks viewing your images look. A strong focal point, or center of attention, in your photos will almost always make them more powerful and more interesting. We’ve all made pictures, shown them to a friend, and gotten the “what the heck were you taking a picture of?” response. Most of those should go in the trash can. They should have been tossed before you even showed them to anyone.
Where you put your main subject in the frame is most important. If you’ve been around photography or art for any period of time you’ve likely heard of the “rule of thirds” or the “golden mean.” That’s a technique for positioning the main subject at one of the power points within the frame. I’ll write about that in more detail another month.
This month I’d like you to think about using differences in brightness, color, or sharpness to direct attention within the frame. Continue Reading »
Sometimes the boring stuff we face as digital photographers is really important. Backing up all of our master photo files is one of those “must do” tasks. Backups take time. Backups aren’t fun. Backups can save our a**.
I touched on backups over a year ago in my Digital Condoms post. It’s time to return to the subject. Like the previous post, this one is motivated by a friend’s hard drive crash catastrophe. Continue Reading »
Put your best face forward in 2012 with a brand new headshot. For January only we will be booking 30 minute professional headshot studio sessions for only $99 (reg. $149). You will receive one retouched portrait of your choice in high and low resolution formats ready for your website, social media, and print. To book your headshot appointment for January, call us at 360-671-6851. Continue Reading »
Thick, leathery, glossy, evergreen foliage makes salal (Gaultheria shallon) desirable both in the garden and in the florist’s palette. This time of year you won’t find either flowers or fruit on salal — those will come in the warm months — but the foliage provides a comforting green layer at the edge of woodlands. Salal is particularly common along the Pacific coast from southeast Alaska all the way down to Santa Barbara county, California. It also grows up into the middle elevations of the Cascade and Coast Ranges. Continue Reading »
What’s fun, fast, better than expected, and more socially acceptable than a nooner? That would be making photographs with your smartphone’s camera.
It seems that everyone has a smartphone these days, whether it’s an iPhone or Android. The advantage of a smartphone camera is that you usually have it with you. Plus, it’s small and easy to use. The disadvantage is that the technical quality isn’t as good as a “real” camera and you pretty much have to accept whatever the automatic controls give you. Continue Reading »
Oregon-grapes are among our wonderful broadleaf evergreen shrubs here in the Pacific Northwest. There are several species but the two most common natives are Berberis aquifolium, tall (or shining) Oregon-grape, and Berberis nervosa, low (or dull) Oregon-grape. There are also numerous horticultural cultivars, some of which will begin blooming in late December.
Continue Reading »
Bring your kids to the Holiday Port Festival this weekend, December 2-4, to visit with Santa and get a beautiful keepsake photo of them with the jolly man himself. Continue Reading »
Is your entire family gathering at your place for Christmas or another winter holiday this year? Has it been longer than you can remember since your last family portrait?
We have a limited number of portrait sessions available in late December to accommodate your family’s schedule. Call 360-671-6851 now to get on our calendar. Continue Reading »
