Hooks and Heirlooms Macro
During my excursion to Island Park I had the opportunity to experiment with macro extension tubes. With macro extension tubes, my camera lost the ability to focus automatically so I had a lot of practice with manual focus. The tubes also darkened my images so I had to use slow shutter speeds, a tripod, and an assortment of continuous LED lights and flashes. Gems make great subjects for macro photography because the close up view reveals amazing colors and hidden textures. I did some minor edits on all of these photos to up the contrast and really draw out the vibrant hues.
I also had the opportunity to shoot these colorful fly hooks! I dusted them with glitter for extra interest. I like the contrast between the sharp hooks and the soft fluffy feathers!
LC and James
My beloved sister LC and her fiance James are getting married in July, and I had the honor of doing their engagement photos. We decided to do the shoot at the local park to reflect their playful and bright personalities. I’ve never had so much fun on a shoot!
As a little experiment I did a stop-motion cinema of the two using the continuous shooting mode on my camera. I compiled it on Photoshop. It’s a little fast and the scene would have benefited greatly from a tripod, but it made a for a fun and cute addition to this great shoot.
What I’m Made Of (Mosaic)
It’s hard to know where to start when describing my sister LC. There are so many facets of her personality that are wonderful in their own ways that she almost defies description. I tried to express that in this mosaic of her. This image is comprised of 113 different photos I’ve taken of her over the past year or so, and I assembled them using an awesome program called AndreaMosaic. After the program put the image together, I took it into Photoshop and tweaked the saturation and contrast with adjustment levels, overlaid the original photo on the mosaic at a low opacity, and used a large, soft white brush to clear out the background and soften the edges. It was lots of fun to do!
“I Spy” Scanography
As a kid, one of my favorite pastimes was perusing Scholastic’s “I Spy” books (The Spooky Mansion one was my favorite!). The idea to make an I Spy game of my own struck me suddenly in the middle of the night with a surge of nostalgia. I raided my roommate’s trinket hoard for most of the items you see here. My sister and I carefully arranged every piece on a scanner bed, and allowed the scanner to “photograph” our scene. It took about thirty tries to find a configuration we liked, but it was so much fun! The only thing that’s missing from this I Spy game is a riddle by Jean Marzollo to tell viewers what to look for! What kind of things can you find?
Annie
Annie was the first of the models I had the pleasure to meet at the Sky Mountain Lodge shootout. Her warm personality and classy style made her an absolute joy to shoot. I don’t know many people that can pull off this shade of red, but she really rocked it! I used all natural lighting for these shots and no editing.
Roope
Due to the brevity of the graduate shootout I didn’t get a lot of time with Roope, but he was a joy to work with. Congrats on your High School graduation, Roope!
Jacob
Jacob’s playful demeanor contrasted sharply with his serious expression when he played his violin. I was able to shoot Jacob in the hayloft near Sky mountain lodge, allowing for dramatic lighting and a rustic atmosphere.
Emmy and Ben
Emmy and Ben were dressed in their finest for our Photoshoot. Emmy has the most stunning eyes I have ever seen, and Ben looked positively stylish in his tux. They were so much fun to shoot together.
Tyler and Lauren
Tyler and Laura are a beautiful couple. I loved shooting them, especially in the gorgeous wood setting.
Mason
Mason was my favorite model to shoot on my Sky Mountain excursion. I have so many shots of him laughing, jumping, and just having a great time. Here are a few of my favorite shots of this handsome kid.
