I took an extra-long walk today to absorb some much needed vitamin D and on the way back, met up with my husband and son who were on their own excursion on E.’s push trike (note: best invention ever).  E. happened to see this little teeny weeny flower on the side of the sidewalk, in a patch of grass, all alone. No others, but it’s really pretty and he picked it very carefully squeeling with delight over how much his sister was going to love it.  I couldn’t resist a quick snapshot of it gently sitting in a water-filled ramekin (vase of choice by my six year old daughter).

It might not be spring and the weather might not be staying, but here’s to hoping and enjoying the little bits along the way!

There’s a bitty newborn on the schedule for tomorow, and two other little precious’ by saturday.  So, here’s to also hoping this rain holds off for a while!

I hope (not to overuse the word “hope” or anything” that you all were able to enjoy this gorgeous day!

xo

dani

Have a great weekend,

xo

dani

ap·er·ture

n. 1. An opening

2. a. A usually adjustable opening in an optical instrument, such as a camera or telescope, that limits the amount of light passing through a lens or onto a mirror.b. The diameter of such an opening, often expressed as an f-number.c. The diameter of the objective of a telescope.

A lot of photographer’s get asked “how do you make the baground blurry?” – the simple answer is correct manipulation of aperture.  The focal area changes when the f/stop changes, the smaller the number, the shallower the depth of field (area in focus) – the larger the number (smaller aperture) will give a greater depth of field.  Aperture and Shutter speed work side by side with the light you are dealing with in a manner that can be described as this:

 Light – How much, for how long? In this case of aperture, we are talking about how much.  The smaller the number, the larger the aperture – thus letting light splash on your sensor of your DSLR, and also changing your focal plane.

Since the main lady in my life is turning six and a half, she gets to bring a treat to school (which in itself has been a fiasco – more below).  I thought these delectable desserts would be an interesting opportunity to explain a bit how all that jazz works out.  Starting at a wide open aperture on my 50mm lens, notice the background and forground (of the sprinkles) change as the numbers change.  The main focus is on the BLUE top sprinkle.  The first three are subtle in change, but notice you can see the rows of cupcakes clearer by the third photo… and the sprinkles clearly in focus by the last image along with a more in-focus background.

Cool, huh?

Another example on a lid full of confectionary pretties – you can see clearly where the focus falls and where it misses.  Some people like to use other tools (I think google picasa ranks up there) to give a faux ring of “blur” versus natural bokeh from a wide aperture – however there is an extreme difference in slapping a blur over an image and mastering what apertures to use, and when.  While all this cool focal stuff happens, it’s all a matter of the light hitting spilling into your camera’s sensor (film!) and creating more or less splashing of that light.  Many photographers love these wide apertures for indoor photography, when they opt not to use a flash source; letting all of that light in is luscious!  But balancing the fine line of keeping what you need in focus and using available light in a dim situation is a must!  Can you see why it can be tricky to use a wide aperture to shoot a close-up headshot? It is so very easy to end up with simply the eyelashes of ONE eye in focus and lose the rest.

Give it a try!  Play with those other options on your camera if you have them – see what you get!  Please note this is just a jott down of a few things about aperture.  There are so many good books that go into lots of detail, if you would like a list of a few, please let me know! Anything Scott Kelby is pretty much amazing!

Now for the little story on the “half birthday treat” – K’s birthday is at the end of August… so she either meets or doesn’t meet the first week of school.  Well this year, she missed it – so she gets a “half birthday” day to bring a treat in, a nice way for the summer birthdays to have their day (I’m pretty sure it’s done like this everywhere!).  This day had been looked forward to since her actual sixth birthday and when it finally came, school was cancelled due to snow. The next day? Cancelled, too. Then comes the weekend. So, these are our second batch of treats and I hope they are well enjoyed =)

I boldly avoided these amazing smelling sweets by the power of drinking a lot of water before baking (smile) – so I know how hard it is, and apologize now if this enticed you to go on a sweets binge – however, we all deserve one every now and then – so go bake something! =) I don’t typically say that following newborn posts, because it either A. relieves baby fever or B. creates it!

Just a little something fun for your day, and now you know all the flicking and clicking of buttons and wheels on my camera means something and isn’t just useless fumbling. *wink*

Side note – I’m booked in FULL for JULY 2010 and AUGUST 2010.  March, May, June (after the first full week), and September are open. I know this seems far in advance, doesn’t it?  I cannot even belive it is MARCH!

Happy Monday Everyone – here’s to hoping SPRING is on the way! PLEASE!

xo

dani

Things on one end of the “entanglement” spectrum are semi-stable and I did have a chance (even with the level 2) to go and meet baby C.

He’s got those oh-so-squeezeable rollies and the teeny remnants of lanugo on this little shoulders.  Hairy babies are the best =) {says the mom of a son born with hair on his ears; who kind of didn’t want it to fall out as fast as it did!}

Oh, and the eyelashes. Such a sigh there – so beautiful and intricate.

I thought, while I had the opportunity, I’d also share a bit with you into a few methods… not so much a tutorial, I can’t say I feel qualified to give one just yet but into how it works for me. First you see my processing dilemas I face.  Sometimes I prefer a softer, collected vintage tone and others a bit more primary.  When I cannot decide I usually discard it from my workflow until the very end and see how the rest of the gallery pans out and pick which fits its “flow” the best.

I also get a real eyebrow-raise sometimes when I tell parents of new babycakes’ that I will be taveling on-location to their home for their portraits.  For this session I was blessed with a room full of beautiful light to work with, but sometimes I have to work harder to find locations within the home that are sufficient – and this is fine… but it was nice to have some space to move around as the room was larger.  I use several different platforms - the photo above is on a giaaaant leather and fabric rug from Pier One that weighs about a million pounds, just on the floor –  the one below is a square bean bag (I know it doesnt look square but it is), a giant square bed pillow (yep, square again) or whatever is available within the home.  Occasionally I will use a seemless if the location requires it but not often.  As you can see, I just drape the remainder of the blanket onto the client’s couch.  This is okay to do because if I shoot at a wide aperature, this will not be clearly in focus what-so-ever and will not take away from the subject, and gives it a clean look as well.  Fairly simple and simply manipulated to keep baby where I need him/her and nice and cozy as well with a portable space heater. Can’t go wrong there, white noise and warmth all in one =)

The smell from the kitchen is luring me away from here – there’s a great dinner awaiting me… yessssss!

I hope you enjoyed little C. and the very small look into the set-up and how it contributes to what you see in the final product =)

Okay, now I really mean what I said about being away for a while.  If you have any extra room for some thoughts (or prayers if that is what you do) I’d be okay if you sent them by way of my family and I.  Thank you kindly.

xo

dani

I am having a severe case of writers block due to a complete heavy heart mental entanglement of far too many thoughts.

However, I think little D. speaks volumes of sweet happiness and maybe that’s all that needs to be spoken, anyway =)

Happy Sunday to you and may you have a fabulous start to the work week on Monday.  I will more than likely be away for a little while, but I do appreciate you stopping by, so thank you!

xo

dani

<3

Love. Be Loved. And party your tail off =)

See you in 2010… wedding season will be here before you know it!

I hope everyone’s settling into 2010 quite comfortably.  I have been surprisingly busy the last few weeks with various projects and that’s just a bit uncommon for me in January; my lack of blogging sort of reflects that!

My town of Fremont suffered a tragedy of great proportions this past weekend.  Most of my readers are local and probably are aware of these amazingly sad deaths, but for the plethora of my readers who are not – please keep in your thoughts and hearts, and prayers if you do – three small children who’ve passed away in an extremely unfortunately accident, and the parents and family they leave behind.  I don’t think I could go posting on these beautiful children without mentioning this incident.  Our children are so precious and we simply must remember to be grateful for their existance, and the here and now.

I wanted to share with you a project I worked on over the holidays for the kindergarten parents of my daughters classmates.  In working with their teacher, we planned a day for me to sneak in and get a few shots of each little sweetpea.  It was a neat experience to be able to have a few mintues with each child that my daughter spends her days with; they are all SO FUNNY and cute and perfect in their own little ways.  While there were several of each kiddo – I just went with a quick BW themed collage to share with you.  Check out these little lambs

I can’t wait to see what awesome people these little ones become =)

I also thought it would be fun for a few posts to go back throughout the year and share a few favorites – some seen, some unseen before.

Braylon & Braxtyn – if you could have seen them toddling in the water with their little sandals on…

These cake smashes just get so messy.  I did two of them in a downtown setting this year and when we went back to do this little guy’s smash – the remnants of the one two weeks prior were still mashed into the blacktop.  No cake, just frosting – I dont leave cake laying around!  I just love how its the one time parents let loose and let the kids trash themselves from head to toe, and love every second of it.

I’m looking forward to sharing my little 2009 favorites here and there on the blog – keep a look out!

I hope this finds everyone doing well.  Again, thank you for your continued support and patronage – I cant wait to see what year 3 brings to my clients and myself. 

Feel free to drop a line, this blog’s growing cobwebs I think! =)

To start with…  I suppose, like the ones that were actually supposed to be mailed, I could have shared this with my readers BEFORE the Holiday Season, huh?

Hour Christmas was filled with bits of Toy Story, Hamsters that crow for some reason…

…and a sweet piece of vintage that was GOING to be mine on ebay at all costs (unfortunately!).  I remembered playing with a garage exactly like this as a kid at my Grandmothers house – hours of it, with my cousins. 

When I took it out of the original box it just blew my mind!  This thing is pristine – straight from the seventies – high quality goodness… ahh!  I got E. the 2008 version of this last Christmas and it was a hunk of JUNK like most toys now-a-days.  The bell dings, the elevator works no matter which way you turn the handle ( just like I recalled!) – it’s just a blast.  It’s the first thing the kids go for when we have little ones as visitors.  Doesn’t that take you back a little?

That’s about as far into my personal Holiday photos that I’m going to go But they are all in good fun.

Over my vacation I had the pleasure of photographing the S. family, who were in town from Tennessee staying with family the week before Christmas to visit

This little miss – right before I was winding down got suited up by mom in her cutie pie tu-tu – lollypop in hand, makes me love it so much.

Dad plays the guitar and the kids really dig it

Okay, onto other news!

You can now find two brief PDF guides that are current at my portfolio, or by accessing them below:

www.danielleluc.com/guides/sessionfee

www.danielleluc.com/guides/prints

There are a few minor changes in the way proofing will go this year, and each will give a brief detailing of general investment and expectations.  I’ve never had anyone question it until now – but as far as “delivery” – in terms of my business, this means your boxed items and presentation.  You will be asked to pick up your prints when they are available, however if I will in your neighborhood or if you are absolutely unable to swing by, I understand and will do my best to bring your purchases to your home.

As of this year, I will NO LONGER BE PHOTOGRAPHING SENIORS.  I’m begining to find my niche and where my abilities side best, and Senior Photography just simply isn’t one of them   I need to be able to put my heart and mind 100% into what I do, and I know there are plenty of amazing photographers out there in the area who can photograph seniors very awesomely   Sorry for any inconvenience this causes to anyone.

Fall Mini Sessions will also be available to my 2010 regular clients for the first selection.  Mini’s will proof 5-10 (I have yet to decide on this as of yet) images.  I get a lot of first-time clients for mini’s and they end up being  just as much work and almost the same amount of proofs as a regular standard portrait session (I cant help it!) – so this needs to be adjusted, so that each and every family that books is allocated time and talent fairly according to investment.  There will potentially be a standard mini available throughout the year, but this, too, as of yet is undecided.

A few new guidelines with what happens to your unordered images – at the end of the week long proofing, any UNORDERED images are discarded.  Any digital files on my harddrives that prints were ordered from are cropped to 8×12 format and will be stored on my harddrive at that time.  Should you wish to be able to order other prints  in the future that weren’t ordered from in your initial ordering session, you will need to consider a digital collection so that they are available to you for…ever! For example, should you decide you do not want to order any of image number 4, 16, and 18 – and you decide at a later date you wish to reactivate your gallery to order, those images will not be available – as only the ones you have ordered from will be present.  This cuts down on me adding undesired images to harddrive space.  This isnt typically an issue as Digital Collections are of huge demand at this point – but it is in effect for 2010 and beyond.

In likeness, the same goes for web images. Web images (facebook, myspace) are available for any ordered image.  You will be unable to obtain a web sized image for any unordered portrait.

I thank you all for your understanding in some of these changes!

Full pricing and wedding catalogs are available upon request, should you have any other inqueries for 2010 that are not answered in the above PDF’s.

Once again, thank you ALL for such an awesome 2009 and I’m just squealing inside with delight over starting my 3rd year, and the BEATUFIUL BRIDES that are awaiting this season!  Which brings me to one more thing:  THERE ARE NO MORE AVAILABLE BOOKINGS FOR WEDDINGS IN 2010 and JUNE AND JULY 2011 are currently booked.  If you are looking for 2011 – now’s about that time.

Okay, goodnight and glad to be back!

xo

dani

This post is special to my heart and so are these girls.  Take a deep breath – in… out…. good.  Okay – remember from here on out how good it feels.  Every breath we take is so special, it gives us life – and sometimes a moment of clairity and refresh.  K.  is the BEAUTIFUL mother so precious J.  She is one of the most positive, amazing, faithful go-getters you will find on this planet.  Her rage of love for J. and the hope she represents is mind blowing.  A few weeks ago K. became the recipient of a new set of puffers – thats right – they do lung transplants and they work and they are unbelieveable.  Please consider supporting Organ Donation causes and becoming one yourself if you are able - these beautiful smiles, these moments – they will keep happening now because of such a precious gift.

K. – I am ever grateful for your friendship, your inspiration, and for just knowing little J. – she makes me smile every time I see her and will certainly grow up to be the fabulous woman that you are.

Aren’t they just… lovely? I didn’t want to share more until I knew what she picked for her holiday cards, so I will wait for that!

I also wanted to share a bit more of G. and his perfect family – so sweet!

Another of precious Norah, too – how hard it is to wait when I post sneak peeks to pick and choose what I post before mom and dad get to view them all! I just adore this image.

Now meet Mr. & Mr.s D. and their brood – I love strong  bonds and the awesomeness of a coming together of families!

Hello, beautiful children.

I hope this finds everyone well, warm, and healthy.  Keep your eyes out for one more post before Christmas, I’ve been waiting since before Halloween to share my family photo because I only have one (thanks Jessie!) and it’s for my holiday cards!

Take care everyone, and thanks for reading.

(okay first things first, C. = stunning, and this is in response to the many emails I’ve had about purchasing gift cards.)

Gift cards will be available for purchase until Friday, December 18th 2009 @ 5:00 p.m. – and are available in any denomination.

Gift cards can be applied to session fee’s or print products.

Give the gift of portraiture this Holiday season to someone you care about; the gift of custom imagery is precious.

Please email dani@danielleluc.com for assistance.