Family Fun Photos

Dragging along post-Christmas this week. I hope all you Mamatographer's out there had a MERRY MERRY with loved ones!
We had an eventful First Birthday celebration for Safi prior to and I'm FINALLY taking the time to edit my shots from our trip to Disney World.
It's been 10 years since I've frolicked down Main Street USA and though cliche, I felt like a kid all over again basking in the JOYS of being a first time mom!


Jumping to the technical, here's some details on my techniques for photo editing and correcting. I use Adobe Lightroom prior to retouching in Photoshop.
If you're not already on the Lightroom train, this is a preview of what the interface is like...

Here, I am able to batch correct my shots. If I want to make one shot brighter, more saturated, etc. I only need apply the settings to the first shot of a series and either create a "Preset" or copy and paste the setting to the subsequent shots.

Presets have become extremely popular especially in the realm of portrait photography.

I see ALOT of overuse of this technique. I think the results can be quite helpful and beautiful..but I'm a bit of a purist. I tend to keep the reality of my shots intact...there's no right or wrong, just my opinion.

Here's some notes on my editing workflow using Adobe Lightroom:

1. Upload photos from my CF card to computer; back up on an external hard drive

2. Organize Photos in Adobe Bridge; "Flag" the Best Shots

3. Move the Best Shots into a "Best" folder

4. Open Adobe Lightroom; Imports only shots from the "Best" folder to cut down on my editing time

5. Begin exposure and color corrections

6. Additionally eliminate any photos that are not worthy of "Final" status

7. Export photos from Lightroom into a "Final" folder within the original shoot folder

*I do 2 exports; 1 Low Resolution for online posting and viewing and a High Res export for printing purposes

DO NOT PRINT LOW RES EXPORTS, they will appear pixelated/blurry

8. Back up the Final folder on an external hard drive and burn a DVD of the shoot

For further editing tips using Lightroom, check out my webinar series here:

http://www.mamatographylessons.com/product/1hr-lightroom-webinar

Happy Shooting!

Taking vacation!

I'm en route to Disney World for my daughters First Birthday!
Very excited to capture some family memories of my own for a change. Just picked up a new spare battery for my D300. It's important to keep two batteries around at all times and my original died from over shooting, yes they have a "click life".

Can't wait to share some of my Mamatography upon my return back to work on Mon 12/26.
Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Happy Shooting, Vicky

Mamatography has been published again!

It's nice to see MY MISSION in Black & White. BIG Thanks to the ladies at Mom Incorporated for featuring me on their blog this month. I'm a huge fan of this book and recommend it to all aspiring Mama business owners. Read the featured article here:
http://momincorporated.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/shes-mom-incorporated-vicky-scesa-mamatography/
Image curtesy of Photography by Sarit


Pick up a copy of Mom, Incorporated on Amazon (see right of this page)


Happy Weekend! Happy Holidays!

The Latest & Greatest

What a busy couple of weeks! I FINALLY published my first book and NOW ebook, Photo Basics and Beyond; A Camera Bag Companion.

Here's some preview pages:

If you find them helpful, please buy and download the FULL version HERE for just $8.50.

It's taken me years of acquiring the knowledge for the text and many months to lay it all out. It's always great to output the fruit of your labor. It's easy to get lost in the immediatecy of social networking, email, BLOGGING, etc. But nothing beats seeing your work in print!

Secondly, aside from photoshoots, I've been prepping for the Mamatography Holiday Workshop that I hosted at my house this past Friday. I put a lot of sweat into it and I think it all payed off by the joy I saw on the faces of my fellow Mamatographers and their kiddos. I can't wait to see their shots! Mine coming soon...

Last week I had my first Thanksgiving as a MOM. Words can't express what it was like to feed my baby girl a Turkey Dinner with all the fixings! We played in the yard for a while and I finally got the chance to take some of my own family pics. Danny (Safi's Daddy) pushed her in our cloth swing while I experimented with different camera settings. It was difficult to get a shallow depth of field because she was in motion so the plane of view was constantly changing. I'm glad for the few where I was able to capture sharpness in her eye. 

But ya know, on these occasions it's about remembering the moments as they were happening. So that motion blur THING is totally excusable, it's real! Take some time to enjoy the REALITY while shooting, because otherwise the moments will pass you by…just my advice.

Big thanks to my little brother (Uncle) CJ who is a huge photo buff and took our first holiday card photo.