{Ingrid B. Design's Spring 2012 Clothing Line}

It's SPRING!  And pretty  much summer her in AZ.  And for Spring & Summer Ingrid B. Design's has made some very fun, color outfits for girls...she never disappoints!   Everytime I see something new of hers I'm amazed at her eye and her sense of detail.  She has a very creative and beautiful eye for fun coordinates for every season.  I love love love the yellow top with the black lace, and the stripped dress (the fabric is so soft}, and the ruffling on her floral skirt...um, perfect!!!  I was lucky to have these beautiful friends of ours help model.  Brielle has a hard time being serious around friends (as you can see in the image above) - most of the time it's faces that I can't post here lol.  She's just a goof which makes it a challenge sometimes lol.  But these three girls work so well together.  Aren't they adorable?!  I love their different looks.  The girls were so eager to searching for ladybugs so I ended the session early so they could be 'kids' and find ladybugs.  Brielle modeled the outfits again the next day so we could get more shots and she fell in love with the flowers that I had set up.  Again, she wanted to find ladybugs so she could put them on the flowers.  Here's a peek at Ingrid B. Design's Spring 2012 Collection.  :)

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{SOLD OUT!}

Just wanted to follow-up on yesterday's status about my Critique Class. It  'SOLD OUT' in less than 24 hours - yay!  There may still be some 'silent seats' available.  Let me know if you're interested or if you have any questions.  For those of you who signed up - I'm so excited to work with you.  I would love to be in touch with you prior to the class starting.  You can bounce things off me and ask any questions about the critiquing process  (although I know Kelli will be in touch with you prior to the class's official kick-off).  E-mail me at kara@karamayphotography.com and let me know if you have an active seat or a silent seat and we can do a little corresponding and maybe you can tell me what you're unsatisfied with in your current photos if there's something particular you're concerned about.  I'm looking forward to our class.  Thank you so much for signing up.

 

{Registration is OPEN in just under 2 hours!}

Can your images be better, but you're not sure how?  Getting honest, constructive feedback with a video showing you how to modify your image may be one of the most valuable next steps for you and your business.  My Chic Critique class registration is open in less than 2 hours!   And I'm looking forward to working with excited photographers that want to take their work to the next level.  The 4 week critique is $69 and if you want to just watch and not have your photo critiqued it's ONLY $34.   Check out the link to sign up and for more information.  I'm so excited to work with those who sign up!  :)

UPDATE:  After registration being open for only a few hours - there are ONLY 2 spots left!  Seats are going fast!  I can't wait to work with those of you who've signed up.  Thank you!!

{Project 26 - 'Takes My Breath Away'}

It's that time again!  We all took a little break this past week so I apologize for the lack of posting.  But we're back and excited about this weeks theme as well as some new, very talented photogs we've added to the group.   Check the circle and you'll see - oh and one more new photog will be joining us starting next week.  I love these girls and I'm excited to see their vision with this project also!

So this weeks theme had my brain spinning 'takes my breath away'.  That could be SO MANY things!  So much these days takes my breath away, some good and some bad.  I was trying to figure out what truly makes me gasp, what makes my jaw drop and what leaves me breathless.  Is it a beautiful sunset?  This week we haven't had the typical beautiful sunsets so that was out.   Is it buying a new house?  Um too stressful to talk  about - its definitely leaving me needing to take lots of deep breathes ha.  Is it when my kids give me kisses and tell me sweet stories before bed? Always, but I couldn't put that into a picture this week.  Is it a sweet note from one of my children?  Yes - I love sweet notes.  But this week I found a home that had tragically been abandoned due to a fire.   THAT took my breath away. A little strange, right?  Not something that would typically cause most to gasp.  I know.   I shouldn't have gone into the home but I couldn't turn away.  I was in awe the entire time as I carefully tip-toed through the remains of this once, beautiful home.  It was sad and eerie walking through each room of the house seeing children's books, stuffed animals, clothes, cards, notes, books, and even homework (times tables) strewn about.  I wonder what happened?  Is this family okay today?  Why were these things left behind?  Where do they live now? I was sad for them - their beautiful home was completely destroyed.  :(  I didn't touch anything.  There was a card from a child to his Grandfather on the ground surrounded in shattered glass, but I didn't open it - I kind of wished I had.  It just seemed too personal and I was already in a home I wasn't invited into so I left everything undisrupted.  It was a rainy day so the picture  below was taken inside my car looking out of my windshield toward the abandoned house.  Once I was inside I saw through one of the broken windows a playhouse in the backyard, a little tattered but it still had a sparkle of wonder.  I'm sure it was the place of many magical memories to the children who once played in there.   There was also a large pool with a built in table and seating area in the pool and a spa that was covered with boards.  It was empty except for rain water and dirt, it was faded and worn.  Again, I was sad for the family that once enjoyed happy times there.  I could've spent hours exploring, but the rain was coming down hard and the thunder rattled the house spooking me a bit.

I also added one more thing that took my breath away this past couple of weeks.  We're planning on moving soon to a neighboring city, so not too far.  But one of Brielle's classmates is feeling the pain of our move already.  The last image below is his note to Brielle.  It melts me.

Anyway, these are the things that 'took my breath away' this week.  Continue through the circle and see what Martha Schuster's  - I see the Moon Photography  posted this week.  Yes, she's new to the group!  *squeal*

One last thing that took my breath away this week.  A love note from a boy in Brielle's class.  I covered his name just in case you're wondering why there's  white space.

{'Shop Talk' - Shadows with Hats}

Yes!  It's 'Shop Talk' Friday! I love these days when I can post anything photography related!  Today...it's hats and the shadows they create.   I love using hats to accessories my clients, unfortunately sometimes those cute hats can create flat eyes and loss detail.  But there's an easy fix to brighten things up that brings life to the eyes in the process.  This is before any edits are made.  I like the image but the visor makes her eyes darker than they are and there's loss of detail as well.

To isolate the area under the visor, I used the lasso tool (feathered at 30-40%) and selected the areas under the visor.  I then selected the 'Curves tool' and only adjusted the shadows and mid-tones up a small amount.  Depending on the image you may need to adjust the highlights as well.  A little goes a long way with this tool.

Once the curves adjustment has been made you'll see that the eyes have popped and her skin from chin to forehead is pretty even with the shadows.  I didn't want to eliminate ALL the shadowing under her visor since I wanted it to look natural and their naturally will be a small amount of shadowing when your subject wears a hat.

After some  saturation and contrast - here's the final image.  :)  Easy peazy!  Let me know if you have any questions.   I love getting your e-mails with comments and requests.  :) Keep'em coming!  kara@karamayphotography.com

{Rocker Baby Nation: The Raven Collection}

Matilda and I have been working hard on preparing for the debut of her latest baby - the stunning 'Raven Collection'.  This new collection  is so well designed.  Not a single detail was left out in her creation - she truly is an amazingly talented woman!  I was in awe over the design, every detail, the black & white combination (it's still so girly), and the amazing construction.   I'm honestly speechless.  Matilda - YOU ARE AMAZING!  Thanks for trusting me to follow your vision.

Click here to go to her site.

{Project 26 - 'Bus Stop'}

It's that time again.  It's Friday's Project 26!    This weeks theme is 'Bus Stop'.  I wasn't feeling it for 'bus stop' so I took a few steps outside of the box and used a 'stopped bus' as the inspiration for this weeks theme.  My kids don't take the bus to school (I like to drive them) so they aren't on buses regularly.  I didn't know how I was going to find a bus, let alone one I could go into.  Then I thought.  I searched.  And I found.  I can't reveal too much more than that since I didn't exactly have explicit permission.  All I can say is - I did it!  Yay.  Here's a little peak into my 'bus' theme for this weeks photo. {and yes, I can't seem to ever just post one picture, I have to have a few.}

 Check out  Valeria Zaiat |The Red Balloon Photography  Our group has been busy with work and other life happenings so participants are posting when they can. So this week has a teeny-tiny number of participants.

{'Shop Talk' - Correcting Blue Hues in the Whites of Eyes}

As I was looking through my photos thinking about the things that catch my eye when I look at a photo and begin to edit.  One of the things I always notice are the whites of the eyes.  I NEVER EVER lighten them since that will make eyes look unrealistic, ghostly, zombie-ish, not good.  But I do however look at the hue of the whites.  Sometimes the resulting photographs appear with a very prominent blue hue.  When my photo is warm but the whites are blue - that bugs me {personal opinion}.  So here's what I do to fix this.

Here's the before photo (all editing complete except for the whites of the eyes being too cool for this image) :

Final Image:  Small very subtle change but a more color cohesive photo.

{Re-emerging Retro Styles -FaithWorks4U & Florabella}

I feel like I've been absent for a while...and I don't like that feeling.  I've been wanting to blog these Retro Dresses by FaithWorks4U - I am in love with everything Faith makes (you've heard me say that before).  I've probably mentioned this before, but I think I was meant to live in the 70's - I'm so drawn to this look/era.  Whenever I get clothing to work on for Faith I literally gasp when I open her packages.  My mind goes into la-la land and I envision what I want to do with the dresses and the shoot.  This one was one of my favorites to photograph and Brielle loved her hair in a loose, ballerina bun. On a different note: I get asked a lot about the what I do to get certain looks in my images.  I edit my photos to my liking with my own actions and for these I applied about 10%- 15% opacity using several of Florabella's Lux II Actions. A little goes a long way.  I also love her newest set Retouch & Make-over.  She really put some critical thought about these actions when she made them.  Just thought I'd mention that. ;-)

This first dress is the '1970's Style Square Neckline dress'.

The Simply Sweet Summer Dress.  Love both of these dresses so much!

 

{Shop Talk - Lens Distortion & Fun Accessories for your camera}

Let's talk Lens Distortion.  Lens distortion can be an artistic blessing or an annoying curse, right?  Lens distortion happens a lot with cameras that have zoom capabilities. It's most apparent when there's a straight edge in the image near the edge of the frame. This distorts the image.  But there is an easy fix in Photoshop!!  If you go to 'Filter' - 'Distort' - 'Lens Correction' you can alter the annoying warping that takes place in some of your images.  It's most apparent in architectural images and in the lines of buildings and doorways.   More detailed steps are shown below.  Easy, right?

Now let's chat about camera accessories - specifically, camera straps!  Who doesn't love a fashionable and fun camera strap that's comfortable too?  There are so many cute ones out there.  I have one I love that's no longer sold :(  Here's some of my favorites currently available on Etsy:

I love this and want this to be my next camera strap.  I think it would be a great conversation piece too! It's made by Rosebud Lips.  I LOVE IT!!

These are unique, fun ones that I really like too. Love the crime scene strap - how creative!  And below that is a wrist strap with a masculine style that works for men and woman.  The sculls are so cute too!  These 3 are made by PhatStraps

Chevron patterns are so in right now.  Aren't these cute?  They're made by  A Diva and 3 Dudes Design:

I love fun photography accessories so I'm going to be incorporating these into my Shop Talk Series.   Thanks for all your e-mails. I'm sifting through them and getting the most common asked questions addressed first.  Keep the e-mails coming:  Kara@karamayphotography.com  Thanks!!