Can you think of a better location for an engagement session than at the place you started dating your beloved? Long-time friends who realised there was more to each other. I know these two will have such a fabulous future together.
I am SO blessed to be able to spend time with people who radiate so much love! From new love, to old love, to growing love, it is magnificent.
To see more of Lucian and Shuli’s engagement session, be sure to visit their album on Facebook.
So what do you do if you have an engagement session on a rainy day? You look for the rainbows!
Shuli and Lucian are such a gorgeous couple! And Shuli definitely has an eye for the perfect spots to capture their love together. She spotted this gorgeous rainbow and we just HAD to take some photos beneath it.
These two met a long time ago, but only started dating at university. Both of them intelligent and beautiful, they made photographing them easy. Their love for each other is so touching, it was really special to spend time with them both.
I just had to share these first images we took at the beginning of the session. I will post some more as soon as I have processed them.
It is so special to share happy moments with couples and families. I always try to get a few images of just mom and dad together when doing a family session. It is so important to have these special moments between parents captured. And these two could so work it for the camera!
They laugh so much together! A perfect match.
By the end of the session I was shaking from laughter too. To get the “hot” shot took good reflexes, because these two are so happy, a second later
you get this! 
Thanks for a wonderful afternoon! Sharing in your happiness kept me bubbling for days
It is freezing cold in Melbourne these days, with clouds, wind and rain. We are definitely grateful for the rain after the long dry season, but sometimes we get a little depressed when the piles of washing don’t want to dry! It was all worth it today though. I quickly popped out to pick up a few necessities when the sun peeked out between the dark clouds. Coming home, we were treated to the most glorious, huge, bright rainbow we have ever seen!
And not just one! It was a double rainbow. The kids were entranced. I managed to find a spot I could pull over to take some pictures.
It made for a very special day. (In the moments before the rain came again!)
This week’s image by Susan Keller is a bit of a challenge. The curve of the road with the trees is great. There is a lot of potential here, though I would probably have taken the image from lower down, pointing the camera slightly up, so the teenager would look bigger and stronger. The sun flare is just awesome though, so I couldn’t resist playing around a bit.
First I edited out distractions in the background like the pole and the metal box. I pushed up the brightness and contrast a lot and moved the levels around a bit. I also heightened the exposure on the teenager to make him a bit brighter.
Then I experimented with some filters in Photoshop CS4 I haven’t tried before.
Notepaper Filter
Film grain Filter
The last few weeks I have been a bit scarce. The portfolio took up a lot more time than I expected. Getting printing done when you have to drive into the city each time is really time-consuming! But, I learnt a lot and I think my portfolio turned out better than I had hoped for. My lecturer liked the baby series the best, so I handed that one in.
Click on this link
http://www.photodex.com/share/msieling/44gp8mg4
to view a video clip of the images. (There is music too!) I am afraid I am still figuring out how to post the video directly!
Thank you VERY MUCH to everyone who volunteered themselves, their partners and their families for photo sessions, in sometimes quite wild weather. Every image I took helped make me a better photographer.
I should be back up and running by the end of the week. Starting on all the other images tonight that still need processing (it is like a big present, waiting to be unwrapped, opening a new session for processing!)
Nearly finished with my portfolio for class. Thought to quickly take a break and use the time to enter this week’s challenge. This was one of my favourite images from a family session with some good friends recently. All three sisters are absolutely gorgeous, so picking the portrait for the challenge was really hard! I am really proud of this portrait though. It was one of the few moments I caught her standing still!
As always, click on the link to view more teenage photos.
The lab at school promised to phone me when my prints were ready last night, so I finally had a bit of time to play around with something other than my portfolio. (I finally drove into the city at 8:30pm and came home near 11pm, driving through some strong winds, but I got my prints!)
This gorgeous image didn’t need much editing, basically just some post processing.
So my basic edit, after a little sharpening, levels and surface blur to soften the skin, looked like this (just had to try black and white):
I just played around a bit and got some interesting other effects. I think it is very much a question of personal taste which one you like best.
If you want to look at some more ideas on how to process an image, be sure to visit iHeartFaces by clicking on the logo below.
I haven’t had the time to enter any challenges in a while. Since I just delivered the baby images I took recently, I thought to quickly enter this week’s challenge. It was REALLY REALLY hard deciding which one to choose. I love them all so much! For better or worse, I chose this one. I just adore the closeness between mom and her new little one. There is something so timeless about a parent’s love.
If you love babies, be sure to visit some of the other entrants..
I got the great pleasure to capture this energetic family on a day when we seemed to be in the only suburb in Melbourne where it wasn’t raining. I just loved the light and the awesome clouds. It just made everything glow.
I am finally getting a little ahead with my final portfolio for class, so I can devote my attention to processing this session. Here are some of the first images of the day. Aren’t the three of them gorgeous?
Thank you so much for coming out on such a blustery day to create some great images. I had tons of fun!
*On a side note: my daughter’s follow-up appointment was today. She got the all-clear, with all the tests coming back negative and the lump being designated as benign – my new favourite word!
There is something so amazing about being allowed into a family in those first weeks after a baby is born. I am loving working with these images. Such a beautiful family!
I think this image will be my favourite though. She is such a darling big sister!
More photos from the session on Facebook <link>
Things are a little rushed at the moment. A few more weeks, then the semester is over and I will have handed in my portfolio. Until then, lots of images to edit and sort through!
*My daughter is doing well after the operation, though going out gets some astonished looks from passersby. The cut is quite long, virtually the whole front of her neck, so it looks just a tiny bit scary. She acts like nothing ever happened, totally happy and content with life. She is much happier since it came out, eating a lot better and more comfortable in her daily routine. We are so blessed! Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers.
