Photography exhibition at Abanakee Studios

Join us for an artists' reception at Abanakee Studios on August 15th (3-5)

JULY 31-SEPTEMBER 7, 2009 -- Tenth Anniversary Show Featuring the best : photography, oil painting, watercolors and rustic furniture of the last ten years.
RECEPTION: AUGUST 15, 3-5P.M.

http://abanakeestudios.com/index.html

Malek and Shakira

Here is a sneak peak an engagement session from last weekend. We photographed Malek and Shakira at Edgerton Park in New Haven on a beautiful afternoon. They were so wonderful and easy to work with and we look forward to photographing their wedding in May!

You can see how great they are as a couple from the romantic photos.

As I said, this is just a sneak peak, we will post more photos when we process them, and provide a link to their gallery on our website.

Bluebirds

We were lucky enough to get to photograph a second brood of bluebirds. The parents were actively feeding their babies so we got to capture them in flight coming and going to the nest box.

Lisa & Tom present program at NECCC

We just recently presented at NECCC's extensive three-day photography conference held each July at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA. Click here to view the 2009 Conference Detail & Program Schedule. or here to download the 2009 Program Schedule as an Excel file (a PDF version is also available on the Next Conference page.). About 1200 attendees were at this conference and we gave this talk three times over the course of the weekend.

The program that we presented was entitled: Basic Photoshop: Where Do I Begin? by Lisa and Tom Cuchara (CT)

Lisa and Tom will discuss the use of Photoshop as a tool in the ‘digital darkroom’. In this basic Photoshop program they will demonstrate (and take the mystery out of) ‘non-destructive’ editing techniques. They will walk you thru adjustment layers, show you some of the most often used filters (Sharpen, Blur, Artistic) and demonstrate some popular editing tools (Crop, Clone, Patch, Heal, Dodge, Burn). In addition, they will show you how to apply an effect to a selected area of your photograph. This introductory program is designed for people who are computer literate but new to Photoshop.

If you have any questions or want us to put on a program for your group please email us. We have posted some notes to our program here on my Blog http://lifethrulisaslens.blogspot.com/ which you can even subscribe to (no charge) for almost daily photography advice, information, phot0 ops, etc. If you attended NECCC and would like the exe to view at your leisure please sign up for our blog and then email us that you have subscribed and we will email you a file that you can open and view at your own speed.

We had a great time at the conference, teaching, learning, the comradery with fellow photographers, etc., etc. Everyone leaves feeling very motivated and pumped about photography. We have been attending this conference (the 64th annual) for the past ten years and this will be the third time that we presented a program there. Last Year we presented "Layers and Masks: White Reveals, Black conceals" and three years ago we presented "Digital Workflow: in the field and at the computer".

Leah's slideshow

Here is a slideshow that we created of Leah's Bat Mitzvah...



This video was created for the iPod and iPhone and we give full permission to download and share this video.

You can view all of the photos from Leah's Bat Mitzvah and party afterwards on our website: http://www.tlc.smugmug.com/Portraits/820064

You can view previous Blog posts with Leah's photos here:

• http://breaphotos.blogspot.com/2009/06/leah-2009-bat-mitzvah-party.html
• http://breaphotos.blogspot.com/2009/06/sneak-peak-at-leahs-bat-mizvah.html
• http://breaphotos.blogspot.com/2009/05/leah-ipod-session-and-more.html

I know that several parents of Leah's guests have inquired about viewing and/or buying photos from that day. If you would like to order photographs from Leah's special day you can purchase them either on our website or directly from us.

SOOC versus post-processed

Many times the image that you envision can be captured and presented SOOC (straight out of the camera) but sometimes post-processing can improve it and create what your mind's eye saw when you clicked the shutter.

This bird (a short billed dowitcher) was taken in NH, in the field across from Polly's Pancake Parlor. The bird was facing the wrong way and I only had a 300 mm lens on. So I knew when I took the image that I would crop it and flip it...

SOOC, above, and post-processed, below

John Noel

As soon as I saw John walk in with his black t-shirt and leather jacket I knew that it was going to be fun to photograph him.

The nature of the lighting and his looks and attitude made me want to display most of these images with a black and white post processing called yummy hot fudge.

You can view the rest of John images in this gallery on our website: http://www.tlc.smugmug.com/gallery/8521446_72WZX

Mary Pat

We photographed Mary Pat on her birthday. She is an avid gardener (and makes a mean rhubard pie) so we did some photographs outside near these purple flowers. The background worked well with her purple shirt.

Mary Pat is one of those people that smiles with their eyes, as well as her mouth -- and you can see her kind soul behind them.

You can see the rest of the photos in her gallery here: http://www.tlc.smugmug.com/gallery/8520442_V9ruL

The Melbourne's

Tito was home for a long weekend so we got to photograph him with his wife and baby daughter. We asked him to bring his uniform because we wanted to take some photographs showing the juxtaposition between his strength and power and Leilani's vulnerability and tiny-ness.



I like the color, but as usual for me the Black and White just pops out at me and shows me more of his soul...



These next few photographs really were what we were trying to portray. I love her little body up on his shoulder, and her looking down at him. These she will cherish when she has children of her own.

We had to take some of the two of them as well...

And of course the three of them as a family.

When you see this one it gives you a glimpse of this little Diva and how her parents take it all intro stride.

Right after this she discovered her toes and it was fun to watch her play with them. This kept her quite occupied and makes us realize how little we pay attention to the erveryday miracles all around us.

And we could not forget Grandma...

A baby and her toesies...

And for the last one we will leave you with th explanation for why Mom's shoulder is damp -- can you say teething...

:-)

To view the rest of the photographs from this session please visit their gallery on our website: http://tlc.smugmug.com/gallery/8626768_RjaCD