Point and Pray Photography

Triple Trouble

Shot with Nikon D300s & Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48mm; 1/60s at f/5.0 and ISO 800; diffuse natural light with no modifiers and no flash.

My brother & sister-in-law make beautiful babies. Their three girls are gorgeous ... but they're definitely triple trouble! Gabrielle Ilene, Lyla Mae, and Ivy Michele Lee. So sweet!

(And yes, it took me about 20 frames to get this one where all three of them were looking at me and smiling. Lyla likes to stick out her tongue and make faces, Ivy is squirmy, and poor Gabby was doing her best to keep the other two in line.)

But this shot made it all worthwhile!

Angel Hair

This is the first of many photos I took at the park with my nieces. Sweet Lyla is now 3 years old, and is sweet as she can be ... most of the time. To get this shot, I crawled under the playground equipment and encouraged her to climb, the sun positioned at her back.

Shot with Nikon D200 and 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Nikkor lens; 70mm at ISO 200 and 1/250s at f/8. Post-processing done in Lightroom & Photoshop.
 

The world through Lyla's eyes

 

Lyla was full of stories this weekend. I can think of no better way to spend a couple hours than hanging out with her and experiencing the world through her eyes.

Shot with Nikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens @ 1/250s at f/1.4. Post-processing done in Photoshop CS3, including Totally Rad Action "Dirt Bag".

No pouting in the pool!

 

I have no clue what Lyla was upset about, but that's possibly the cutest pout I've ever seen. Of course, I don't have to live with it like my brother and sister-in-law do, hmm... Shot with Nikon D200 + Tamron 70-300mm, @ 300mm and 1/500s at f/5.6.

Sweet Lyla at (almost) 3

 

Shot with Nikon D200 + Tamron 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6, 116mm and 1/60s at f/5.0, ISO 100. Softening filter added in Photoshop CS3.

Dimples

 

Lyla has her daddy's dimples.  And his big blue eyes.  And her mama's gorgeous blonde hair.  Genetics are cool.

Little Miss 'Tude

 

She is WAY too young to be showing this much attitude.  I love it.  I have felt this same expression on my face all the time: as a teen, listening to my parents ... as an adult, listening to the news ... and earlier today, in a meeting at work.

What I love most about shooting with a telephoto lens is being able to capture these "real" moments. 

Natural Beauty

 

I absolutely love this photo of my youngest niece, Lyla.  The light under her playhouse was so soft and pretty on that December day in Missouri.  The scratch on her nose and the dirt on her face are so typical of this rough-and-tumble 2 year old.  And she's just utterly gorgeous.  Shot with Nikon D200 at 135mm, 1/250s and f/4.5, December 29, 2008.

Mood Swings

 

My darling niece, shrieking with joy while swinging in her backyard.  Unfortunately, the sun was direct and harsh, and I hadn't learned the trick of manual exposure settings just yet, so her face is sort of blown out ... so I figured this photo called for some Photoshop play.  This fun filter is called Colorized, and comes from Pioneer Woman's 2nd set of actions.  Good stuff.

Oh, this is also when I discovered my new 70-300mm Tamron lens is godawful slow to auto-focus.  I finally focused on her face on the backswing, and waited for her to get back in frame before shooting.  Sigh.  That's the difference between a $200 lens and a $2,000 lens, I guess.

Shot with Nikon D200 at 300mm, 1/1250s at f/5.6, December 29, 2008.

Life at the speed of joy

 

"Higher, Oma!"  There's so much to be learned from small children about finding pure, unadulterated joy in such simple moments.  Shot with Nikon D200 at 200mm, f/6.3 at 1/750s.