Connie!!!

[April]

Are these your kids??? http://alwblog.typepad.com/

What gorgeous pictures! My favorite is the close up of your little boy.

[jerih]

Wow! Gorgeous photos! And your kids are so stinkin' adorable, Connie!

[StephVetne]

Woohoo!!!!!!!!! They are gorgeous!!!!

[ConnieTameling]

Yes, yes, yes!!!!!! I am giddy with excitement . . . she was FABULOUS with my kids and I am so thrilled with the results. Especially the pics of my son since he is harder for me to photograph now (he's kinda too cool for mom and I get a lot of fake smiles). And the ones with my munchkins together are priceless. Worth every penny :) . Oooh, and how did you like the Creating Keepsakes plug? I'm thinking I need to get some advertising points :) LOL!

[April]

So what did you learn from her? How does she get the kids to smile and look natural? How does she pose the kids while holding a big camera?

[jerih]

Yea, what April asked.... and what camera & more importantly what lense does she use? Her photos are just amazing.

[ConnieTameling]

Yea, what April asked.... and what camera & more importantly what lense does she use? Her photos are just amazing.

So what did you learn from her? How does she get the kids to smile and look natural? How does she pose the kids while holding a big camera?

O.K. you all are going to be so VERY disappointed with me . . .
Honestly, her trick to getting the kids to be natural is simply to play with them. She is fun and silly and the kids just like being with her. As for posing: I think if you look at the pics on her blog, she has some poses and locations that she uses over and over and over. Very simple ones that are not hard for the kids to master.

Her camera is a Nikon with a large battery attachment. Looks heavy. I'll confess I did not inspect for fear of appearing that I was trying to steal all her secrets :p . And can you believe I didn't even look at the lens to see ????
I know, I'm a dope. I do know that she used the same lens for ALL of the shots and that it was a medium length (longer than my 50 mm but much shorter than my 200 mm). Sorry, I know so not precise. I wanted to just enjoy the process with my kids and not try to spend the entire time scoping her stuff, you know?? But I will admit that when I was driving home that night I was wishing I knew the lens type :rolleyes: . . . oh well. She does return my emails, so I could always try emailing her.
Another thing I found out . . . EVERY image she posts and sells is EXACTLY as it was taken. She sends them out to be processed and they are printed straight from the media card . . . not a single edit!!!!! So all the bokeh (background blur) and color saturation is the way she manipulates the shot with her camera settings and lens . . . NOT photoshop. Interesting, eh?
Yep, she is talented.

[April]

NOT photoshop

Did she say this or did you learn that from someone else? Very interesting. How can this be? You would think there would be a levels adjustment at the least. Wow. I know my pictures with a lot of natural sunlight need very little editing so I guess my little brain can comprehend this. Wow.

[ConnieTameling]

Did she say this or did you learn that from someone else?
Yep, she told me herself.

O.K. and for the inquiring minds (and I wanted to know, too) I decided to ask her what lens she used . . .
85mm f1.2
So now we know.

[Alicia Story]

I thought those were probably your kiddos So cute and LOL at the Ck comment (that was the give away) dang how does she get eyes to look that good in every picture. I cant believe she doesnt edit!

Ive heard that she asks parents to "step aside" when taking photos, did she do that with you?

Thanks for asking about the lense!

[ConnieTameling]

Ive heard that she asks parents to "step aside" when taking photos, did she do that with you?


Yes. And that was perfectly fine with me because otherwise I knew I would never get any good shots of my son. I was close by at all times and could see from "afar", but I tried to keep my distance. Just let her do her thing! Usually I was occupying my child that was not being photograhed at the time :) .

[Caroline]

SOOC?!
holy WOW.

[Amanda J.]

I, too, am in awe that the pictures would be SOOC. Wow. I guess when it's right, it's really right! Awsome shots!

[Alicia Story]

Ok, I keep thinking about this and I still cant get over the eyes in her picture and that she doesnt dodge them? WHat is her secret :)