A California Christmas!

Today I had the pleasure of shooting a lifelong friend (we've been friends since the 2nd grade!) and her adorable little family. We made it snow a little and had a great time catching up! It would be pretty impossible not to be thrilled with photos of a family this cute!

Fun Free Photoshop Actions!

Hi all! I am having so much fun with a couple of magical FREE (and one not free, haha) Photoshop actions this season! Meg Bitton Photography (ah-mazing, btw- check her out: http://www.megbitton.com/) offers two free ones that I LOVE: a glint/bubble brush combo and a softly falling snow action called Souls.Imagined. Both are available for download on her blog: http://www.megbitton.com/blog/ (did I mention for FREE?!). I've also been having way too much fun (just ask my husband) with The Sleeping Willow's snow globe template, available for purchase at http://www.thesleepingwillow.bigcartel.com/. Here is an image I created using Meg Bitton's Souls.Imagined snow action and glint brush on The Sleeping Willow's snow globe template. LOVE!!!

Let it Snow!

Last night, I had so much fun shooting my sweet daughter for the 2012 Roberts family holiday cards. We went to a random, little-known locale behind a local youth center, which boasts great late afternoon light and a sort of wooded feeling (well, as much as you're going to get within blocks of my house, anyway). I had a few visions for this shoot, and I am beyond thrilled to report that I saw those come to fruition- a somewhat rare occurrence when shooting an active, willful toddler! The first shot I absolutely HAD to have is the one of Adeline driving home with her freshly-cut Christmas pine strapped to her Little Tykes Cozy Coupe, decked out in ear muffs, mittens, and scarf. As much as I'd love to, I cannot take credit for the idea. I saw it on Pinterest a few months back and immediately knew I would be recreating it for my own holiday cards. The snow was my own idea. Of course, nothing is ever really an original idea, and knowing this, I got to researching what substance can be used to create believable-looking snow that is non-toxic (read: won't hurt my curious daughter or scavenging neighborhood squirrels if ingested). Google informed me that photographers have been using potato flakes, dehydrated mashed potatoes that can be reconstituted (who knew?), to depict realistic looking snow in photos for ages! I was skeptical, especially considering that I had to have two helpers shower Adeline with "snow" while I clicked away. But alas, it worked! And Eli had a blast "playing in the snow." I couldn't be happier with the results. We created our own little snow flurry in southern CA! I am so pleased with how our holiday photos turned out, and have to give credit where it's majorly due- none of this would have been possible without the help of my supportive hubby (who played prop manager and occasional wardrobe director) and a photographer mentor who is becoming a friend. Check out her amazing work: http://kapturedbykristenphotography.com/blog/. I can't wait to shoot a good friend's family for her holiday cards in a few weeks! Let it snow!