July 31, 2009

Playing with Windows Live Writer

… in an attempt to streamline my workflow for blog posts.  We’ll see how this works for this untechie

blogger … 

 

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Wouldn’t be a complete day at the beach without a little rock throwing … IMG_4473

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Hmmm… nice not to have to cut and paste Flickr html code.  I think I’ll continue to experiment with this…

July 30, 2009

I Love Living Here :: Laguna Beach Photographer

Day 2 of Big Waves...
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This usually calm cove is rarely turbulent like this:

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Me and my dudes...

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Oh, hello, Handsome Dude. I don't let just any ol' man carry my camera bag, ya know. But you? You wear it well. ;-)

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July 29, 2009

Swim lesson *OR* Wrestle-Mania?!?

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They call this move "body slam". :-)

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One of the sweet bonuses of lessons this summer has been the complete lack of crowds of people (sign of the economic times? or just universal nap time for littles? or prime sunburn time to be avoided?). Despite being signed up for "group lessons", we've had the unexpected pleasure of private lessons with Mr.-Wrestle-Swim-Instructor-who-speaks-"boy". I love this picture of Middle Dude ALL BY HIMSELF in this Olympic sized pool.

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I shall be sad to see swim lessons end. I've so enjoyed watching my boys have loads of fun while becoming capable swimmers.

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Aliso Viejo Photographer

July 28, 2009

Dreams & Schemes ... squashed.

Remember this picture of the Dudes from last winter?

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It was to this exact spot we returned to watch the roaring waves. And when I spied this spot in the distance, filled with a pool of glassy water, I couldn't get to it fast enough and take the perfect (in my mind, anyway) combo silhouette/reflection portrait of the Dudes.

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Alas, the perfectly mirror-smooth water I was expecting was all ripply by the time we were set up ... all because this pretty young thang and her entourage arrived right about the same time we did. sigh. Oh well, at least the Dudes (ok, really just Big Dude) had something entertaining to watch while I did my thing.

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Hard to be too disappointed, tho, when there was soooo much wave grandeur to be seen everywhere...

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Big Dude took a couple pics, too...

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Laguna Beach Photographer

July 27, 2009

WAVES! :: Laguna Beach Photographer

Apparently high winds in the South Pacific near Tahiti have caused the 8-12+ foot swells and wicked rip tide we've experienced here in SoCal the last few days.

Totally awesome, spectacular WAVES.

Here's Big Dude in all his 40yo awesomeness...

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Let's look at that action enlarged 100%:

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Middle Dude was impressed AND wanted to experience some of that for himself...

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Oh yah, and there's no trickery in that last image. Here it is 100% enlarged:

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Big and Middle Dude emerge a little bit wetter, but none the worse for wear. :-)

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Good times in Laguna Beach!!

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July 25, 2009

The Father has chosen GLADLY to give you the kingdom...

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And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you;
seek, and you shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives,
and he who seeks, finds;
and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.
Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish;
he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?
Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask Him? ...

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen
gladly to give you the kingdom.

Luke 11: 9-13; 12:32



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Big Dude Turns the Big 4-0 ...

Just brainstorming possible titles to go along with Big Dude's birthday pictures...

All Washed up at 40?

The Stoopid Things My Husband does to prove he still "has it" at 40:
(btw, this was Big Dude's title. Far be it from me ever to insinuate stupidity in relation to my man!)

Tempting fate ...

Now you see him. Now you don't.

Sweeping in a new decade, sweeping out the old ...

White water rafting minus the rafting...

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house...

Come on back Monday to see the pictures that go with the headlines. In the meantime, please to enjoy these tamer, less dramatic pictures ;-).

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Laguna Beach Photographer

July 23, 2009

Summer + Hair

= Messy Bed-head Hair all day for Middle Dude. He claims he likes it this way. Perhaps it makes him feel all Harry-Potter-like. Or perhaps he's just lazy. Either way. This has been his "do" of choice this summer.

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Speaking of hair... I've been growing mine out for two years now. And finally this summer, my "do" of choice has been a ponytail! After nearly 8 months without a haircut, I went in this week for a T.R.I.M. Told my stylist to leave enough for a short ponytail. Wanna guess the result?

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Buh bye, Ponytail. Oh well. Back to square one. Does this mean the first half of my life with long hair will now become the last half of my life with short hair?!?

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July 22, 2009

Color Correction Education...

my own, that is. Someday, I'm gonna conquer this whole color correction thing. In the meantime, want to see some of my journey?

Here's a recent picture of Littlest Dude at the pool on the "island." :-) SOOC:

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Here's what the same picture looks like after I used the white balance dropper in Lightroom to pick a "neutral" spot. In this instance I clicked on that little gray section at the bottom of the scoreboard. My target neutral doesn't HAVE to be gray; any neutral (where all three RGB numbers are closely the same) will do. Pros: This is a super simple, fast fix. Cons: It's not always an accurate fix. This time it was pretty good, albeit not perfect - I think the clouds are too pink, but the skin is better.

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I've been immersing myself in this book, trying to wrap my brain around correct color and how to achieve it. This book is a huge proponent of Curves. So here is my meager attempt to fix the above photo using just Curves in Photoshop. Instead of using mere seconds (like the LR fix), I whittled away hours ... a little longer in Photoshop to achieve this fix:

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And then I went right back to Lightroom, slapped the quickie preset that I had always pictured for this image on the original and declared it my favorite.

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Moral of the story? There isn't one. I just hope all this time I'm wasting investing will some day pay off. ;-)

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July 21, 2009

Little Miss S :: Orange County Newborn Photography

Babies just do not come any cuter than this. And Little Miss S was not only beautiful, BUT she was such a well-behaved little lady, too. Happy when she was awake, happy when she was eating, and happy when she was asleep. She made my job so very easy and ever so pleasant.

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And her mommy is beautiful and well-mannered, also. It must run in the genes. ;-)

Miss S - 1 week collage

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