Mountain Biking

My husband picked up mountain biking about 18 months ago and has been begging me to go out and take photos of him on his favorite trail.

I finally had a chance to go out with him and watch him do his thing.

Audrey starts 1st Grade

My oldest daughter started first grade last week.  To celebrate and mark her growth we went to my favorite photo spot and took some pictures.  Not only do these mark her growth, but marks her change in personality and how much she's growing into such a diva.

Senior Prom Formals

Kymi and her boyfriend has Senior Prom last weekend.  It was a perfect opportunity for me to use my new backdrop and get more practice with my flash.

They were really cooperative.  And another couple came over and let me take photos of them too.

With her baby sisters

With her father

Side view of her hair

"duck lips"

beautiful

Friends Drew and Vanessa

The boys were so cooperative with me.  They really get big gold stars for their good attitudes.

All 4 ready to go have the time of their life.

I had a lot of help with posing and positioning them from Kymi's mom.  She was a natural at knowing how they should stand and could get them in position while I got them focused in the camera.  

What did I learn: RIM LIGHTS!  I really wanted a light background, but it didn't arrive in time.  So I settled for this one.  I knew I was going to have difficulty getting the black suits to stand out from the backdrop.  I don't have enough lights to have a separate rim light.  In hindsight, I should have used a reflector to act as a rim light.  I was able to get some separation in post-processing, and could probably do more if I really wanted to, but it was only an issue in one photo.

I need to do more research beforehand on posing, so I'm not stuck thinking during the shoot.  Many props to Christina for her help.  I half-jokingly said I would hire her for my next portrait shoot just to do the posing.

I had a great time and am grateful to these guys for their cooperation, willingness and positive attitude.

Let's Hear it for the Girls - iheartfaces

Getting my act together and entering an iheartfaces challenge this month.  It's all about girls and I instantly thought of this photo of Kym.

Go check out more girl photos at http://iheartfaces.com.

Facebook Page and Portfolio

In addition to the flickr photos, I post my best work on my portfolio.

christine estelle photography - christineestelle.zenfolio.com

facebook - http://www.facebook.com/christineestellephotography

Fun with Flash

Still needing some significant work on off-camera flash, Kymi and I set up a pseudo studio the bedroom.  One flash set up as a primary through a softbox and a consistent light set up through a shoot through umbrella.  I was going for a moody, angsty, starving musician environment.

Here are the best photos from our time together.

Best Face 2013

Every now and then I get my act together enough to participate in a photo challenge with iheartfaces.com.  The first challenge of 2014 is Best Face of 2014.  I only had a couple photos I debated about and ultimately landed on this one ... it's a photo I took for the church band promo shoot.  I had a lot of fun doing this photo shoot and hope to do more band type shoots in the future.

Go check out more awesome Best Faces of 2013 at iheartfaces.com