Mini Photo Shoot with Jaleel King!!

Today we got to hang out with our photog friend, Jaleel!

After he attended a function with us in the morning, he took a few shots of me and Fred with our cameras and we are very thankful to him!  It was a lot of fun and and definitely a different feeling being in front of someone else's camera, and getting to see the world through their eyes!

Check him out at www.jaleelking.com!!

Over the next few weeks we will be attempting to amass a bunch of more-current pictures of ourselves with the help of a bunch of our awesome photog friends, as we spend most of our time BEHIND the camera rather than in front.  But I already wholeheartedly admit I'm a backseat photographer.. yeah.. that's me LOL!! I'm warning anyone who may take a pic of me in the future LOL!!  But Jaleel was very awesome and put up with me so thank you HAHAHAHAHAH!

Here's some of my faves from the mini shoot!

And here's a pic of Jaleel in action - OMGOSH isn't his hat SOOO COOL!!!

And to end off, here's a few random pictures of my Fred that I took throughout the day :)

The Steeds - Virginia Family Session!

Hello everyone!  So excited to share with you my first far-away family session (I think?)  I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to Virginia a few Mondays ago and spend time with the Steed family!  What a wonderful time it was, as we took some images in their house and then traveled to historic town of Occoquan, VA, which was such a cute little town!  It started drizzling but that didn't stop us from getting all our images in!!

Kevin is a fellow photographer, here's his website:  http://www.kevinsteed.com

I felt so honored to be asked to take pictures of a fellow photographer and his family, although at the same time, I was admittedly a bit nervous!  But Kevin, you have such an awesome, fun, beautiful family and it was just like hanging out with some old friends :)

Check out the slideshow!!

It was crazy because little Nathaniel actually crawled on his knees for the FIRST TIME at this session!  Up until that point, he had been doing sort of an army/stomach crawl, but he got up on his knees and crawled for several feet!  It was so awesome to be able to capture this moment!

 Julian is such a precocious 3 year old!  I was amazed just how much he already knows.. I thought I was talking to a 6 year old for real!

Fun times between father and son!!

Nathaniel is so chill and.. did I mention ADORABLE!

L-O-V-E!

Our last shot of the night, I am under an umbrella across the street taking this shot at like 200mm hehehe!

You know the drill - leave some love for the family (and for me if you like what you see HAHAHAHAHA) :)

Teaser: Marmo Family!!

Here's a teaser from a family session I did last Saturday!  Thank you to the Marmo Family for allowing me to spend some time with them :)  I can't wait to show you the musical talents of these two girls!

This week is going to be crazy, but I hope to crank out all my family sessions as well as my Rock-the-Dress session later this week!

Mini T-Shirt Shoot in 10 Minutes with Mini-Tutorial

So, I had a chance to shoot a few t-shirts for Dan, a friend from high school who now has his own t-shirt printing business!

It's just a little project as he decides what types of product shots he wants for his website, and also, it's something new and different for me, as you know I like to do here and there.

Dan's business is called T-Shirt Time Printing, and here's his fanpage!  If you like what you see, become a fan and show a fellow small business your support!

Thanks to my friends Dee and JP for helping me out with this project.  They may become the face of T-Shirt Time Printing hehehehe!

Now for the mini-tutorial:

To take these shots, I literally had 10 minutes in between lunch and my first choir practice of the day hehe.  It was a Sunday and my Sundays are filled with church services and choir practices :)  Not to mention, it was a bit cold outside and you can't have people walking around in just t-shirts for too long during this time of the year lol.  But my friends aka my male models were great sports so they toughed it out hehe!
 
I used one off-camera flash with no modifier, to camera right.  For the brick shots, I could've went natural light, but I don't think it would've popped as much.

Below please see the natural light shot.

92mm, 1/160 sec, f/4.5

It was.. alright.. or 'aight' hehehehe.  I mean, I could've went with it but.. I wanted the brick to be a bit darker.  So, I adjusted my shutter speed and aperture to make the background darker, how I wanted it to look in the pic (with the intention of adding flash back in to light my subject properly again).

100mm, 1/250 sec, f/5.6

Once I added my flash, which I set manually and adjusted until my subject was properly lit, this was the result.  There's really no set formula for what setting to put your flash on.  It's trial and error unless you use a light meter, which, I do not (I commend those who do, I just haven't been able to get around to it lol).  But for me, if the flash is too bright, you can either fix it on the flash, or you can have your flash stand (or person holding your flash) move back a little.

Some light still does spill onto the background b/c I didn't have too much space, and my subject is about 6 feet away from the wall, but it is still a bit darker than with the natural light, and also, my subject has some nice shadows to add more depth to the photo and the t-shirt.

So yeah, here's my mini product shoot in 10 minutes.  Longer ones to come :)  I figured there are a few things I need to adjust and pay more attention to, which I will do so next time!  But it was a fun experience, I love trying new things!

Kyle Michelle Weddings - Kristin + Meghan

Here are some more photos from my session with two beautiful sisters - Kristin and Meghan!  Contrary to what may think due to their sheer beauty, they are not professional models, but have their own wedding planning service - Kyle Michelle Weddings :).  They are based in West Depford, NJ like me, and so, if you are planning your wedding and need help, or you know someone who might need help, they are awesome! 

Hope you like!!

JP Gets His Master's Degree!

Currently sitting on a plane for our upcoming wedding, gotta love technology and being able to blog anywhere... Here are a few more of JP's graduation and family portraits :)  We were able to present his images to his family last night and some of the ones below are their faves :)

Grace - My Soulfriend!

So, I got to shoot my best friend the other day, with a camera.  We went to the Philadelphia Coal Piers with the South Jersey Photography Group which was great!

I love my soulfriend, Grace!!  Here's one of my favorites!!

Photog talk:
Natural light was coming in from camera left, but b/c I did not shoot from the same direction of the light, I used the light to make my subject more dimensional, so you see shadows on my beautiful friend's face which helps give the image more depth... :)

Engagement - Sheila & Mike!

I really had a smile on my face as I went through each image during editing!  This couple was so much fun and I can't wait until their wedding next month!  I hope you enjoy the photos, this couple is DEFINITELY head over heels for one another.  So sweet, silly, and funny!  It was so easy to take pictures of them, we went to different areas in Philly, hung out, and had a blast :)

Thanks so much Sheila and Mike for flying out to my neck of the woods to do your engagement shoot, and also for the privilege of covering your upcoming wedding in Florida!

Sheila and Mike - Engagement! from NTME on Vimeo.

Hey fellow photogs:
Should I do a "How I Do" blog on the image below, or did you figure it out already? ;)