Pure Joy

I wish I could fly. I guess it has been passed down to my son. Well all the kids like to jump of course. But YY gave me so many opportunities to shoot him in midair yesterday.

I captured these joyous moments with the help of my off camera flash. It was set up on the left side of the images and there was natural light from the window on the other side. You can see the flash on the wall, shadow from the umbrella.

YY is a darling boy. Always looking for fun or candy. Lately mac and cheese.

Note to self: clean kid's face before shoot. So much easier than photoshopping it.

For Jonae

A friend told me on Sunday that she loved my pictures. I sure love takin them. Glad to have a fan.

Thanks Jonae.

Wesley

Wesley was such a great model. We did a shoot to get some good images for a picture on his wall. He is such a sweetie. This first one was him standing on a hill and me on the ground getting the perspective I was looking for. Lookin strong.

The Big Day. Baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. A very important step. It was a wonderful day. Raining and overcast. We had friends and family there. The spirit was strong. We are so grateful to be apart of this wonderful work in the church. The boys are all preparing to be missionaries. We love teaching and helping our boys to become independent and strong. Knowing right from wrong, and striving to do good.

It was also a special day for 2 of his friends and the 3 boys sang the Army of Helaman song. They did great and it was wonderful to see them so grown up. Ethan and Collin congrats to you as well.

Sunsets, My Passion

Everyday, I look to see if it is going to be cloudy and I study the sunset. I am never up in time for the sunrise although I would love to go. Mornings are also the busiest time for moms. (As mom everywhere will attest.) You have to have some clouds. Clouds just make it happen. These special days happen every once in a while. It almost makes me cry. I want to capture every one. Just the way it looks to me. As I see it.

So when a photograph is taken of a sky, any time, many things happen. You either get a blown out sky and a well lit fore ground or a dark foreground and a well lit sky, dark and colorful. So pictures like these take 2 pictures. HDR's take 3.

This post is about how to blend the 2 pictures together. See this first picture, how the sky is blown out in spots. Those details are lost. Can't be recovered by darkening or burning. And how the foreground is dark in the second picture. If you were to just lighten the picture, the detail would be lost and pixilated.So, drop one picture on top of the other and create a mask. Next to that little fx lower right. there is a box with a circle inside. That is a layer mask. Then hit B for brush and paint away the blown out sky and the dark, colorful, beautiful sky will appear. Yes it is magic.

Then flatten the image. On my mac its command-alt-shift-e all at the same time. Then I ran this action called rusty cage. Then I ran an action called selective sharpen, from pioneer woman.

Overlay a texture. This one is kind of grungy. Stretch it to cover the image and then change the layer mode to overlay, (in the picture below it says Layer and below that normal, drop down menu to overlay) change the opacity, add a layer mask to remove it from areas.

There it is. I redid it for the pictures. And i think I forgot to sharpen the one below. Oops. Still love it to pieces.

This one is the same process with out the texture.
The picture below is 4 in one. So 2 light, 2 dark and masked together. I just ordered a print of this one. 10X20 for the wall. Been waiting for the right day.

Wyatt's 3rd Birthday

Can you guess what this is.?

Yep. YY's Elmo Cake. He picked it out a month before his birthday and was so excited about it.

Bubbles in the back yard with some good friends. We just had a little kid party at the house during the day.
Emmett got into it.
Nope it really wasn't his birthday. Didn't show up on the calendar again this year. Maybe next year. Lived 3 years but hasn't had a birthday.

Our little YY likes to watch Lion king right now. Alot. Loves it. Thank heaven it is one that I don't mind. It is so fun having these babies. Yes, I still call him my baby. I really don't know when I will stop. YY and Mitt are good friends and it's fun to see them play together.

Wesley's 8th Birthday

Warriors preparing for war. Toilet paper fight. That is what Wesley requested. No Problem!

Was it a big mess? Yes, but... the boys cleaned it all up. 5 Minutes flat. Good kids

Wesley's cake was Despicable Me. Super cute.

He had a great birthday, great time, great friends. Thanks to all that came.

Cali for nia

Disneyland on Thursday. It is a good day to go. Nate and I really enjoy taking the boys to the magical kingdom. Indiana Jones Ride. One of our family favorites.

I didn't get a picture of the tower of terror but here is a little insight that I find interesting. Nate likes rollercoasters, but doesn't like T of T. The up and down motion bothers him. Then we come to find out that Andre (his brother) doesn't like it either. But his problem is the same as Burton's. It is too scary. Andre says that it freaks him out a little more everytime he rides. HaToy Story Ride. Probably my favorite ride ever. It is amazing.Eeek. Slow Shutter makes my heart Flutter. I snuck away from the kids and Nate. They rode the jungle cruise and I took some night shots. It still amazes me. There were a ton of people in and out of this picture but they are gone as you can see in the final image. 30 sec for this one. F/8 200 isoPirates was 20 sec. F/13 200 isoThe astro ride was 15 sec F/13 400 iso Oh I loved Burton's little face in the Nemo Ride. So sweet. And those eyelashes. Just kill me.Hey, Me with my boys. Grizzly Bear Mountain Ride. This is one of the boys favorite rides. It usually has no line when we go which makes it loads more fun. I like to get pictures of them when they are getting started and then again in the end. This one is HDR. That's why it looks a bit cartoony. But I still like it. I missed getting them when they come down the big falls but got em at the geyser.

Wesley got "Nailed." That's what the boys call it.We spent a little time at the beach. YY had to be forced down the stairs. He thought we were going to make him swim and no amount of "no Wyatt we are not swimming" would convince him. Nope only him being down by the beach and sitting for 15 minutes and then he was ready to punish the ocean for being cold, by throwing back it's gifts of sticks and weeds.Tyler's shell. This one is also HDR.

The sky was so amazing on Friday last week in Laguna. I actually just used 2 different photos to make this one. Masked in the dark sky on the brighter picture. Nothin like a dark sky. Makes me feel grounded. Happy. I love the rain.

I convinced the boys to sit for a couple pictures. Not Tyler, he wasn't in the mood. I got #2,3,4.

Happy Birthday to my Sweet Wesley! He is now 8. What a delightful helpful child. Love him so much. He is an amazing person.