Mpix

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before, but Chris & I use Mpix for our photo printing. They have really great customer service and lightning fast shipping. In fact, I ordered Daphne’s invitations yesterday morning (I created the invitation in Photoshop and had it printed as a 5×7 matte photo) and received them around 2:00pm today. Which is great until I realized I bought 4×6 envelopes at Michael’s. Crap, off to find new envelopes. Anyway, here’s the invitation (minus the important details like the address, etc. which has been blurred out. Sorry interwebs, I love ya and we are making a ton of cake, but everyone is not invited.)

I’m absolutely no graphic designer, but I’m happy with the end result. I can’t wait for the party.

Birthday Shoot

Here’s a few outtakes from our birthday invitation shoot today. As usual, things don’t work out as I had envisioned. Instead of the birthday hat outfit, we decided to try her birthday girl shirt and her new Radio Flyer Sport Coupe (an early birthday present from my parents) as a prop. I’ll try to get a few more pictures tomorrow, but I have to hurry up get these invitations designed, printed and mailed.

She loved this sucker and cried big crocodile tears when we took it away for the wardrobe change:

And she’s totally in love with this new Sport Coupe. It’s really cute!

Daisy

A few months ago while Daphne & I were in Sephora I bought Marc Jacobs Daisy perfume. I love the bottle top. It reminds me of vintage 60’s flower brooches.

I processed the image with Totally Rad’s Oh, Snap! and Grandma’s Tap Shoes actions. Trying to play up the vintage-y feel. It’s not the best shot, but I was really getting irritated with the focus on the D50, not to mention the freaking dust spots. We need to get that camera in to be professionally cleaned before I throw it out the window.

Speaking of perfume, normally I make all my purchases from scentiments.com. They have great prices. I’m a big fan of the original Marc Jacobs scent and instead of having Chris buy it from the Parisian store at the Summit for full price, I had him buy it from Scentiments. For the same price as one Marc Jacobs perfume I got it plus a full size Stella McCartney. And if I’m just buying something for myself I order a tester- same perfume you just might not get the box and it’s usually quite a bit cheaper. Anyway, there’s my plug for Scentiments. They have really fast shipping too.

Star Wars Fine Art

I love Worth1000’s Star Wars Photoshop contest because it merges my slightly geeky sci fi side with my love of fine art. I can’t pick a favorite- maybe the Yoda Bouguereau or the little girl holding the AT-AT, and the Adam & Eve with Chewbacca is pretty funny. I’m so impressed with the Photoshopping skills (well, in most of the entries)!! Check it out!

Some Family Pics

I finally got around to editing a couple more Chicago pics. Here’s another shot of my nieces. The little one in front will be turning 2 in a few weeks. She’s such a sweetie!! Which reminds me I need to get her a gift. It’s hard to buy for her since between the two of them (her older sister is 4) they have every age appropriate toy and book imaginable.

And here’s their father, my brother Doug. He’s 4 years younger than me.

Trying to get a picture of my brother is like trying to get a Yeti on film. If that Yeti is constantly barking at you not to take a picture. “Don’t take a picture of me. I said stop it! Quit trying to take a picture of me!” I swear I don’t know where he gets it. Certainly not from his older sister. Me? Nah? Um, yeah. Funny thing is after I took this picture one of my cousins said almost the exact thing to someone else trying to take his picture. So I guess it’s a family thing. Good to know we come by it honestly.

And the reason why we were in Chicago to begin with, my dad.

I wish we had gotten better pics of everyone but it’s hard to hold Daphne, socialize and photograph everything. Too bad.

Beer & Bozo

I finally got around to editing a couple of our family reunion pics. This one, in particular, cracks me up because it’s so typical and would never happen on my mom’s side of the family:

Notice the beer and the juice boxes are in the same cooler.

Here are my two nieces, playing in the sand. Cuties. Still playing around with the retro summer golden look in Photoshop.

They also had games for the kiddos. The first one was Bozo Buckets!! That takes me back to watching the Bozo the Clown show as a kid. I totally wanted to go to a taping and do the bucket grand prize thing. In hindsight, with my aim that would have been humiliating. Anyway, when one of my relatives pulled out the buckets, my husband leaned over and said, “Do you think we are in Chicago?” Yep, we had the full Chicago experience weekend, complete with crazy winds, good pizza and flaming hot Italian sausage sandwiches.

And S & A in action.

More pics to come, as soon as I get a few more minutes of free time.

Extreme Close-up

Here’s another from the 4th of July picnic. The SOOC on this really looked bad. I was shooting with the D50 on one of the idiot modes (Because I was busy socializing and wasn’t thinking about camera stuff, and the D200 with the new battery grip and 18-200 mm lens weighs like 400 pounds. Ok, not really, but it is heavy. Too bad my personal event photographer was busy driving a rental truck through Mississippi.) After I tweaked the exposure in Photoshop and applied a few Totally Rad actions (Pool Party, Vignette & Blur) I’m happier with it.

Daphne was trying to climb up into my lap to get my water bottle. Little beggar.

Fireworks Photography

Just a few links with tips on getting great fireworks shots:

Photojojo: 11 Tips for Sparkling Fireworks Photos

Scott Kelby’s Photoshop Insider: How to shoot fireworks

NYIP Fireworks Photos

Digital Photography School’s How to Photograph Fireworks

D700

A few weeks ago I heard some rumors about a Nikon D700. It appears the rumors were true. The Nikon D700 ships at the end of the month. Unless Chris gets an insane amount of photography business in the next few months, I doubt we will be getting it. It’s $3,000 and basically a D3 in a D300 body. A new flash is being released too.

I’m not a new gadget girl, but I’d love to play with this.

Today

Just a few from today:

Carseat Head. The trip to Baton Rouge took its toll on Daphne’s pigtails. I promise at one point they were going out from her head, and not the one up/one down thing going on in this photo.

Getting ready to go to the hotel pool.

And our trip mascot on the hood of the Scion.