NCS 2012 Senior Pictures - Norlina, NC

One thing is obvious when you pull up in the driveway. Family is of the utmost importance to these folks. Ms. B wanted pictures of family incorporated into her senior shoot. Sweet!



Special shout out to MaryLou Wright for taming that beast of a reflector....and doing a fabulous job with this senior's hair. Mine has never stayed tame no matter how much you fry it with the flat iron. Must make an appointment with her.



Besides the beach, farm land is my favorite place to shoot.




She didn't think her brother would be up for pictures but once he saw it wasn't absolute torture to be in front of the camera, we did get him to agree to a few. I forget how many happy meals and trips to adventure island were promised for this. Hopefully Ms. B's salary is higher than mine to make good on those promises!



We had to get a few with her jersey since she plays not one, not two but three sports.



Work it girl!









Thanks to Ms. B and her family for a fun evening in Warren County, and for the glass of tea!

Before and After

Got another before and after for you. This one took less than 4 minutes, and when you're as gorgeous as this senior you really don't need much. I prefer not to sit in CS4 all day and night, so there's not many photoshop tricks going on around here.


She's a little underexposed and pink so here's what I did:

lightroom 3-
upped the exposure slider a little, removed all sharpening (I'd rather do it in photoshop), clicked on calibration profile for this particular lens and exported, open in CS4
photoshop-
use levels dropper and picked the brightest spot on her shorts to set the white point.
new layer- levels again, this time the black dropper on her shirt to set the black point - masked that off the face and skin a little so it wouldn't be too contrasty.
Flattened layers.
Levels helps a HUGE amount. If you get your whites white and blacks black then color casts and other color issues are much easier to deal with IMO. I can't live without my levels adjustment....
Ran TRA pro retouch at 13% on skin
Flatten layers.
Ran Florabella milk and honey action 14%. The gold reflector already gave her a little golden glow, but the yellow tint in that particular action (along with levels adjustment) helped tone down all the pink.
Crop
Sharpen
Took less than 4 mins.
Very basic editing. A little goes a long way!

About that 4 minutes......calculate that times about 800 and then we see why wedding pictures take so long to finish! And there's a lot more to it than that. Renaming files, loading to galleries, culling images, etc.....

Dudley family - OBX portraits 2011

More Outer Banks beach portraits! We had the prettiest light at sunset....and it went away all too fast. Wish I'd had another hour!
Saying something like "hey, you've got 3 kids I know you can get closer than that" is probably not appropriate for normal sessions. But I know this family so they actually laughed. Be warned. If you schedule a family session, I will attempt to get photos of just you and your loved one too. I don't care about statistics, I still believe in forever. Maybe because I know I have that with Scott :)




Gorgeous kiddos!




A beautiful night in Nags Head, a beautiful family portrait if I do say so myself.

Lake Gaston Soccer Photos

LGSA crew - I've missed you! Kassi is playing this season after a little break and we can't wait!

Pictures will be Oct 15th and Oct 22nd will be the make-up day. As usual, they'll be on the field in South Hill. Please have your children arrive at least 30 minutes before their scheduled game time on these days. Once the schedule is released I'll be able to send out more info. Call me at 252-204-6624 or email amymatthews AT embarqmail.com if you'd like for me to send you the forms early, or if you are a coach or parent who can help spread the word. Thank you

15 days old {NC baby photographer}

Today was a hot one here in eastern North Carolina! But nothing could stop me from taking these pictures-even rolling around in the grass and sweating in the shade at noon. Meet Avery. She's sweet, sleeps well already, and has the neatest little expressions. This girl's got sass. Watch out dad! Or should I say watch out boys; her dad's a fire fighter so I guess the gear might scare them away sufficiently. I think she'll look fabulous on a 24x16 canvas in the parent's living room. Here's a quick sneak peek.

Father's Day with the Littleman Foundation

Father's day weekend I had the privilege of spending a little time with the folks behind the Littleman Foundation . Blaine and Joanne lost their 1st child, Joseph, to a rare condition just a few short months after he was born. Their story will have any parent in tears wondering how they can help. I can't say enough good about this group, what they stand for, what they do, and who they are. To learn more, visit their website or head over to the facebook page.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Piano Recital {Baskerville VA photographer}

My friend teaches piano and weekend before last we had the privilege of attending her recital in Norlina. All of the kids (and adults) did such a wonderful job. I've always been amazed by anyone who can play musical instruments. I'm more amazed at how she juggles it all with 3 kids. This one's personal to me as she happens to also be my daughter's best friend. They've been two peas in a pod since before they were old enough to spell the word play. I didn't get to choose the lighting and only had a minute to grab a quick shot, but I couldn't resist posting it here. Congratulations A and A, you put on a wonderful show. We love you dearly and can't say how thankful we are to have you in our lives!

The J's family photos {Henderson, NC}

Many years ago when Kassi was a baby we lived right beside this family in Henderson. I don't know how they stood it as I know they heard the baby crying all day and all night. I'm gonna have to do something special for them! It's been about 8 years and they haven't changed a bit, still just as cute as ever. We met at one of my favorite spots in Wake Forest for pictures and laughed about 75% of the time. Awesome to still see sparks in a couple that's been married 10 years. If the kids hadn't been there they might have convinced me they'd just started dating. So sweet!

Prom Pictures { JF Webb Oxford, NC }

Weekend before last was very busy. Photos in South Hill, Henderson, and Wake Forest all in a 24 hour time frame; loved every second of it! I had the privilege of photographing Amber and Tyler before they headed off to Oxford for JF Webb's prom. We met in Henderson with both families and had a blast. Amber and Tyler you are such a cute couple, thanks for picking me to take your pictures! You've already seen 2 on the facebook page but I couldn't resist posting a few more.

The Details {Rocky Mount NC wedding photographer}

There's still photos from November of last year I never uploaded. Wish I could hire a full time blogger because obviously that's not my strong point. Anywho, I love finding the little details to shoot at weddings. Especially when there's an ECU pirate on the cake!



Are those shoes hot or what? You should see the bride. She's even more gorgeous than all the little details were.

Beach Bums! {Outer Banks Beach Photographer}

***as of 4/18: 24th-25th is booked. Now we have the 26-30th and one spot at sunrise on Oct 1st. Will keep you updated in this post****

Raise your hand if you love the beach.
Super geeked out over this one folks! I mentioned this before it was set in stone and already have 2 spots taken, 2 more pending. So here's the official announcement.....you ready? I am! Click on the ad for larger view


Adios and Vaya Caminos! The countdown to Nags Head starts now! Spread the word!

Stacey + Jason {Lake Gaston Photographer}

I swear you could feel the sparks half a mile away with these two. What can I add to that? Wait, I can add to it....a super cute little boy with balloons. I am one blessed photographer!

Meghan + Bobby {Creedmoor Engagement Photographer}

I seriously adore Meghan. She's beautiful, witty, and makes you feel like you've know her for years from the first hello. Her fiance' I actually have known for many years; we both grew up in this small town. Bobby spends his days putting out fires and Meghan will graduate from nursing school soon. It was a privilege to have them in front of the lens.





Bobby said this ain't no arts and crafts fair. But his love for Megan trumped that manly instinct and he picked up the chalk anyway. You'll see the finished product on their save the date cards.


Wonder what these two are up to? Hmmmm....

Bobby, thanks for letting me pick on you. Meghan didn't need any coaching, she's a natural in front of the camera. So pretty!

Big huge thank you to the guys at the fire department for bringing out the truck. Extra thumbs up for holding the reflector. You've got a rock star photographer in the making there boys! My dear friend Kiley, thanks for saving my rear and finding sidewalk chalk at the last minute. Wish you could have stayed longer.

Can't wait to see these two walk down the aisle. Bobby's finally getting married!

Boys! {NC Beach Photographer}

We went on a family vacation to Myrtle Beach back in June. As luck would have it, an old friend and her best friend were there around the same time. So we got together with the kids for a little session on the beach. It was a challenge, so thank goodness I had beautiful subjects! Sand was flying everywhere and it was close to 100 degrees even in the afternoon. But look how cute these little guys are....

Baby A! 9 months {North Carolina Child Photographer}

This little dude is special to me. I've been photographing him since he was a newborn. Check him out at 9 months old- from Oct 2010.

Why are my pictures blurry?

Camera shake, slow shutter speeds, and a moving subject are all sources of blurry photos. What can you do about it? If you own a DSLR, stop letting the camera decide what settings to use- get that thing out of auto and learn to shoot manual. Show him who's boss. We'll talk manual mode another day.

-Camera shake is exactly what it sounds like. Shaky hands? If you can't get your shutter speed high enough to compensate then break out the tripod.

-Low shutter speeds will cause blur. Most of the time you'll see this with dim lighting and no flash. Your camera is leaving the shutter open longer in attempt to gather more light, so it's very sensitive to any movement. Always shoot with a shutter speed higher than the length of your lens. Or, move to an area with better lighting and get out the tripod again.

-Your kids won't be still because grandma fed them junk food and brought them home that way as payback for all the gray hairs you gave her growing up. Back to the subject. Tripods won't help in that situation. Nothing you can do here unless you are shooting with a fast shutter speed. It's gonna take at least 1/250th to freeze motion- I prefer 1/500th. This applies to your kid's soccer game equally well. Again, you have to be the boss of the camera. Spending all that money on a DSLR and leaving it on auto isn't going to give you what you were looking for when you wrote the check. The "your camera takes good pictures" article comes to mind. Please read it.


Sometimes blur is intentional and fun. I took this at night in December of 2009 with my older camera. And I like it.

Baby L and Baby J! {North Carolina Newborn Photographer}

First up we have baby L. I believe he was about 5 weeks old in these- February 2010. I'm a bit behind on blogging photos. You think? I'm so excited to be seeing him again for his 1 year photo shoot the end of this month!




This is baby J from April of last year. He has an older brother that's just as cute as he is. That's for another post :)

Cute kiddos! {Warrenton, NC Child Photographer}

As you know I prefer to do most of my work outside with natural light, especially with kids. Winter rarely allows for that, so here's what we do when it's cold out. Have a reasonably sized open space in your home? Great. I'll bring the flashes and set up shop. Here's a few examples

Nicholas Wedding {North Carolina Wedding Photographer}

What an awesome day! I had the privilege of shooting my first wedding on October 30, 2010 for Meagan and Michael. The weather was perfect, the church was glorious, and I couldn't ask for a better family to work with. Here's a few of my favorites from her bridals and the wedding.