Using Flash in Outdoor Portraiture

Yes! I did indeed use a flash for these shots, and no I did not photoshop the background into the picture.

I used the flash to light my subject but had my shutter speed slow enough that it was open longer then the flash, thus allowing the ambient light to fill in. 

My first attempt at ghosting.

Houston Fire Fest at the Fire Academy

So here is the post I promised you! Last saturday was super fun. The only thing that could have made it better were clouds in the sky..... There wasn't a single cloud anywhere, well that is until the fire demonstrations started then there were black clouds.

Oh, I also shot this event in RAW without knowing. I forgot I had turned it to RAW the night before to experiment and didn't put it back on JPEG. I didn't find out until I put the pics on my computer.

There were a lot of old fire trucks and you could actually get in some of them!

And of course....... what's a festival with out turkey legs!!!

And the first demonstration was a diesel tanker fire. Which put out a super thick cloud of black smoke. It was so thick that you couldn't even see the sun through it. 

After the demonstration some of the firefighter autographing stuff.  

I don't know about you but I think this guy is the cutest fire chief in the world!!!! 

The next demonstration was a flashover. That is when the firefights go in a room and the fire flashes over their heads.

Next was a bus fire and extraction. They used real people inside the bus, although those people were in the fire academy. So they had some training. :)

Then they did a Propane tanker fire demonstration, which smelled the worst.

O.K. I am starting to think they have a fire station for little boys now........ Again one of the cutest firemen I have seen. :P 

Alright so in the bus on the way back to the car I had this idea of taking a picture of my sister (who was sitting in front of me) through the reflection of the window. I am not sure how well it worked out, but what do you think? 

Inks Lake

Alright!!! I know this post has been a long time coming. Anyway these pics are from our trip to Inks Lake up near Austin, Texas. It is a beautiful place. 

So this was our first night at the state park and the view from out camping spot. These first 3 photos are long exposures, 20 to 30 seconds. 

So the second day we woke up and did our morning devotions and then I tried to get a reflection photo of a camp site across the water from us. I wish the water was more calm but it is what it is. :)

Mom doing her devotions.

Then later that day we went over to the Devil's Waterhole and jumped of the cliff! It was a ton of fun!!!

This is the cliff that we jumped off of. 

Then we went to one of the fishing piers so I could take some pictures.

Day 3 consisted of staying around camp for awhile then we went into Austin to se the Capitol! 

This was just 2 guys walking up the stairs and the light was crazy cool with the old looking stair rail. I really like this one.

The view from the front steps of the capitol.

Then the next day we went back to the Devil's Waterhole and I did some hiking.

The our las day came and after we got all packed up and hit the road we stopped at a scenic spot near the top of a hill and I snapped even more pictures. :) 

Now for some fun random pictures of our trip.
I know the quality of this video is not the greatest but that happened through the upload process and I can't fix it.... :(((

Also check back soon because I have a new post coming. We went to the Houston Fire Fest at the Firefighter Academy in Houston and I got some really cool picture. I will be posting them sometime Thursday. :)

Sisters

I had the pleasure of doing my first maternity shoot with these sisters who were* only two weeks apart in their pregnancy. 

* I say were because Michelle (the one in the blue) had her little baby girl the day after this shoot. 

The Upps, a family shoot

Alright so a few weeks ago I did a family photo shoot with a family from our church. They have an adorable two year old boy and one on the way. 

After this shoot I have found the nice thing about having an assistant, it is really hard to try and get the little one to look at you and smile while watching your edges and thinking about exposure. I wish I had an assistant. lol

I absolutely love the above two pictures. 

In these last two the light was starting to get really bad so it was tough to get a clean image.

I had a lot of fun doing this shoot and learned a lot. Thank you Upp Family!