…yes. It has indeed been a while.  It had just become more important with the busy wedding season followed by the busiest portrait time of year to keep turning projects out versus blogging.  I have so much to blog and share.  Hoping to to that, as well as get this site’s branding updated.  It desperately needs attention!

It’s cold out, but hopefully these little ones warm you right up. I swear I know some of the most BEAUTIFUL kids out there!

xo

dani

Lucky shots, I say.

xo

dani

you may recognize miss reagan from the first image on the blog header slideshow – i can hardly believe she is a whole year old. she’s a teeny little peanut and full of cute! i was glad the weather cooperated for us to get these, being mom was only in town from columbus for the weekend!

sorry for the crazy lack of blogging since summer, just too much going on here with work! i suppose ive got all winter to head up some major wedding blogging,eh?

xo

dani

the moyer family :: 09.02.11

strength in friends.

strength in family.

strength in self.

 (love you jen)

xo

dani

Just two of baby Max at one week, who came to see me the other day… he slept over an hour on the way here and another two hours when he got here. How about that?!

Happy Friday <3

xo

dani

This image was taken with 5d mark II + 24-70 – 2.8L lens, manual exposure @ 50mm, 1/1250 @ 2.8 ISO 200 in RAW format, in a shaded area at Eagle Isle

With the whites of her shirt, and not using fill flash, I have to (just like weddings) find a good balance of keeping the skin editable and not blowing out her shirt. 

If I cant do a custom white balance at the time I do my best in adobe lightroom by selecting the whites and adjusting – it isnt the best way and isnt always accurate but for this image, I adjusted the WB in LR and increased a bit of contrast and saturation then exported to .jpg and opened in photoshop.  I use the Patch tool to remove debris (also known as food, boogers, scratches, schmutz, blemishes, etc) from faces most of the time, and do it on a duplicate layer.  Flatten, save, and then ran a curves adjustment layer on the image to change the color toning to a slightly more vintage appeal – saved as a copy of the original. 

If you’re hitting your exposures near to the “T” in camera, your processing time is cut down – and getting it right in camera has to be your main priority – photoshop is your friend, but it is not the photographer!  Learn to do manual adjustments in PS – actions are fun and very useful when done correctly, but any reputible actions maker will tell you that they work best on a properly exposed, clean image as a base.

I had a crazy busy sunday work wise and before that, spent saturday turning 27 – I spent my birthday at the ZOO with the kids!  LOTS to blog!

Happy Wednesday! Hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of what comes onto my computer and how I work with it.

xo

dani

Welcome baby Mackenzie – and a special thank you to your BEAUTIFUL Mommy and your loving Daddy for coming over to be our models!  Taylor, my student, was an amazing help and took a few really nice ones herself.  I got two neat new wood tree pieces from an awesome woodmaker in California and I couldnt be more delighted with how they turned out. I cant wait to use the other one, too!

There really isnt too much for me to say here – I think they speak for themselves <3 Mom Keri and I used to be in a local bridal show for a bridal shop my grandparents owned when we were little. I think it’s so neat when you have the opportunity to know someone almost your entire life and see all of the wonderful things they accomplish and the beautiful families they grow.

And THANK YOU for the awesome feedback on my post yesterday. Whether it was a “like”, a comment here or on facebook, or an email – I am so thrilled that I reached you, if I did.  I like to write and always wonder if my personal life fits in on here. I suppose yes and no.  But I am so blessed to have such awesome support(ers).

All of my love,

xo

dani

 I can’t believe this little stinker is already one!  I really am excited for it to get nicer out so we can get back outside, but I have had fun with a little bit of this indoor stuff.  Not sure it’s 100% ever going to be “for” me but I kind of refuse to ever “not” learn to accomplish new things… especially to not run objects through subjects heads. But I couldnt scrap it, it was too sweet =)

Spending monday doing some final edits and processing/organizing the 4/15 wedding, I hope yours is treating you well.  I know the nation is experiencing an intense emotional patriotic experience and that probably has a play on your day as well.

Christi and I (along with our friend Angi) took a day off to go back the the “Monster Ball” in Cleveland to see Lady Gaga  (again!) last wednesday (if youre going to pass judgement, you can scoot now because I realllllly don’t want to hear it).  I’ve decided that no matter how many times Jillian Michaels kicks my you-know-what, there is no workout like a good night of dancing and costume entertainment belly laughter.

She and I have a ton of personal business projects for May but will be back at it in June, and after July and August, we may turn to dust with our wedding schedule… but at least we’ll leave behind something pretty, right?!

I have a student coming may 14-24th for 10 hours of work – I have a senior aged model coming, a newborn due (we MAY need to cast that one out if she goes late), and a 3 month old. 

I may need more age range depending on how much she can make that is already on my schedule, keep your ears open!

xo

dani

“On that day, no matter where we came from, what God we prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were united as one American family” – President  Obama

Sweet little Zoe – even if she woke up, she was a sweet peach.  Transitioning sometimes is an issue but this little chick-a-dee slept through being moved all over.

Mom brought this little tutu/pettiskirt and headband and lucky for Zoe, it’s sizeable up to 12 months so she can wear it for her first birthday photo’s too =)

A small trip down memory lane:  Baby Zoe’s older brother, Carter, was one of the first newborns I’d ever photographed back in 2008 and… I think they look a lot alike!

If she is anything like her brother, I can’t wait to see how beautiful this child is going to be… especially when mom gets to shop for all the cute GIRL stuff now =)

We had a wonderful wedding yesterday and I am very excited to share some of those shortly on the blog <3

Thanks for stopping!

xo

dani

What could I ever truly even try say; they will simply take my breath away.

Happy Friday <3