Fall time in Europe

Awhile back, Biceps and I saved our pennies and vacationed in Europe for an entire month. This morning, as I sat in my housecoat with coffee in hand, a slight rain drizzled outside. While the water splashed on my windows, I was reminded of the mornings in Europe we huddled together waiting for our train, usually snacking on some sort of pastry and wishing we had packed warmer clothes.
We wouldn’t trade those moments for the world.

This tiny little town of Hallstatt, Austria is less than 1,000 people and only accessible by boat. We flitted about in the off-season, unencumbered by the usual tourists-drinking coffee and hiking its mountains. It was quiet, to say the least-except for the occasional cow bell.

 

The path to Neuschwanstein Castle (Schloss) is lined with ever changing colors-which can be seen in great depth-if one is too cheap to pay for transportation up the mountain and decides to walk the 5 million miles on foot, uphill….

 

Simple. Beautiful. Fun to climb for the first 20 minutes, then prodded on with the promise of coffee for finishing the hike by a certain someone with a name that rhymes with Ticeps.

 

I wanted to rent a house and live here forever. But then I realized I wouldn’t be able to see my parent’s or Biceps parent’s or my brothers or my cats…..needless to say, no house was rented.
We were thankful to see Europe in the fall, the colors were vibrant, the tourists were sparse and the weather just cool enough to warrant a jacket a handful of coffee.
I would love to go back soon. I hope Biceps is reading this. Hint, hint…..

The Ghost of Biceps

On this day, I thought it fitting to be a little spookier than usual. A little woo-hoo and what not.
One must ask oneself, is what I’m seeing about to see an apparition or perhaps a ghost? Is this the dreaded and feared “Farty Spirit of Biceps”?

Or could this be a simple slideshow built for my pure amusement?

You’ll never know, (insert evil laugh).

Using Reflectors with Portraits

My poor Biceps.
He is my guinea pig of choice when it comes to trying out new techniques in photography. I don’t think he really minds, though. In reality, he can be quite the camera hog….but that’s another story for another day.

Using different reflectors (gold, silver and white) along with the sun’s natural light, here is a look at what you can do with your portraits.

Shot with my Nikon at 1/180, F stop 6.7
I sat on the ground with a white reflector propped up on my knees. You can see the light bouncing in his pupils if you look carefully enough.

Shot with my Nikon at 1/200, F stop 8
Same positioning, but using a gold reflector which warms skin tones. I use this quite often with family portraits.

Shot with my Nikon at 1/350, F stop 9.5
Here, I used a Nikon Speedlight SB-800 flash, pointed directly at Biceps, along with the gold reflector. The flash created definite shadowing underneath his chin.

Shot with my Nikon at 1/250, F stop 8
I moved my gold reflector as close to Bicep’s face as I could, without it being seen in the shot. The gold definitely intensifies his skin tones.

Shot with my Nikon at 1/250, F stop 9.5
This is the same shot with silver reflector which cools the skin tones. I’ll use this when wanted a colder look to a portrait.

Shot with my Nikon at 1/350, F stop 9.5
Lastly, I added my Speedlight Flash to the silver reflector, creating a colder, harsher portrait. This is a good technique when shooting fashion.

Biceps was such a good sport. I think I’ll keep him.

Snaptures Changes!

Since January, I haven’t been able to blog for any of you. My website seemed to die overnight and I was left to pick up the pieces. After many months of trying to repair it on my own-unsuccesfully, then moving into the realm of hiring someone to build my site, and then many more months of manually importing all of my old posts…I now have a functioning website.

During the interim, I didn’t forget my passion and continued prepping for the day that I would blog again.

Camera by my side, I kept shooting, waiting for the day to be near you once more in cyberspace.

So, here’s a little of what happened while we’ve been apart:

I have been photographing couples, families, babies…and of course, this cute dude with his guitar.

I’ve been busy writing my column, “Together in Tulsa” which is featured online and in print with This Land Press. I’ve been able to meet so many wonderful couples, learn their stories through interviewing them, and of course photograph each one.

Of course, with two new kitties in the house, I’ve been busy photographing their antics. They are “heck on wheels” according to several sources. However, I think they are cute as all get out. Even when they give me a “drive-by-catting”-for no reason.

Lastly, I’ve been using different filters, effects and processes. Biceps is usually my guinea pig.

I will be covering several tutorials, sharing my latest portraits and links to my writing and published photographs. I can’t wait to see what creative shots you have come up with since I’ve been gone!