{Santa Barbara Photography} I Heart Halloween

This is such a special Halloween photo to me. Anyone who knows me I’m sure has heard about my wonderful spirited son, Z. Last Halloween he had just started preschool weeks before, hadn’t really had a chance to build friendships, and wanted no part of wearing his costume (thought Halloween costumes were “scary”). We took him to the Fall Festival at his school and it was just the saddest thing, he sat on the grass and cried because he was too shy to participate in the activities

This is the photo from this year, which just fills my heart with joy, not just seeing him in a new school, with his friends, singing his heart out, but in a very “Ziah-fied” costume that he picked out himself, which we all find so fitting (he’s the noodle head in the center)
This week on I Heart Faces is a non-competition week, where we are supposed to simply share our favorite Fall memories, and this will definitely go down as just that.

Also sharing some images from our little Halloween neighborhood walk this weekend

Have a happy, safe Halloween!

{Santa Barbara Child Photographer} Pink Week {I Heart Faces}

When I heard this weeks theme at I Heart Faces was “Pink Week” (in honor of breast cancer awareness month), I imagined seas of pink, flowery, girlie goodness of course I have to throw in a little testosterone into the mix, seeing that I live with 4 boys (two of the feline variety, I admit). This little dude proves that a guy’s never too cool to wear pink, even if it’s just in the form of a wicked awesome backdrop

To be completely honest here…. I was planning to do a very heartfelt, personal story about my own Mother’s very long, 21 year battle with breast cancer, but has proven to be just too hard. I cannot stress enough to all the ladies out there, cancer in your family or not- learn how to do self exams, be proactive about your heath, and do not wait when it comes to annual mammograms. They don’t hurt, and they will save your life. {down off my soapbox now} XOXOX

{Santa Barbara Kid Photos} In the Orchard {I Heart Faces}

I’ve had a few weeks off from posting I Heart Faces challenges, too busy, but geez I’ve missed it! It is so fun and inspirational to get to view so many other talented photographers blogs, I have even made some great friends through participating in their contests. This week the theme is “In the Orchard” and it reminded me of our time spent at fabulous blueberry farm here that our friends live on. We had the best time celebrating the 4th of July there, roaming with the cows, picking tons of fresh blueberries, setting off a few firecrackers This is my entry, my little guy with his bucket o’ berries! (don’t know what’s up with his mouth, guess he was so excited to have all those delicious morsels) lol Head over to see all the creative entries this week, you don’t want to miss it!

{Santa Barbara Child Photographer} Bringing Back Blue Skies {with Free Cloud Textures!}

Let me start by saying, that there are many ways to do things in Photoshop that have the same outcome. I am not saying this is the perfect or right way to do this, but it works best for me, and hopefully it works for you too
It’s no secret that here on the beautiful coast of California, we are often stricken with dull, gloomy, gray skies, especially in the morning. This session was no exception- totally flat, colorless sky and no fill flash or bracketed exposure would bring back the blue, it didn’t have a stitch of blue to it! Now granted, many times a blown or colorless sky is perfectly fine, but I just loved this shot and felt it needed that pop of blue, so I am going to show you how to add that blue sky back in, for my “fix it Friday”
The “before”-

Step 1
Open your image in Photoshop, then your cloud texture (whenever there are gorgeous blue skies, I always go outside and take a few snaps, then keep them in a “clouds” folder on my computer)

Step 2
Click back on your original image, then using the move tool, drag your cloud texture over to it, then reposition so your blue skies are where you want them (I just placed it over the top part of my original image) hit enter

Step 3
Open your layers palette, and on your cloud layer you want to change the blending mode to “multiply” (around 70% opacity usually works best for me!)

Step 4
Using the eraser tool, at 100% opacity, erase the sky texture from the stuff you definitely don’t want it on, like the ground, people, etc, just be careful and don’t get too close to the sky! lol

Step 5
Lower the opacity of your eraser to around 15%, and gently start buffing away the remainder of the sky texture from the trees, people or any other things it remains on. After it looks good, play around with the opacity of the sky texture, until you get the desired color/effect. Flatten, and voila! your sky is pretty and blue!

Step 6
This is when you can do your final edits- run actions, adjust curves/levels, any cloning, dodging or burning… whatever your heart desires

So here they are -the “before” with the blah, white sky, and the “after” with the lovely blue California skies

need some FREE cloud textures? Become a fan HERE for an exclusive download!
Thanks! and have a great weekend!

{Santa Barbara Photographer} Fruits of Autumn

Spent the last bit of my birthday yesterday taking a trip to our favorite pumpkin patch, Lane Farms for a little kick off to Autumn. Santa Barbara may not have the glorious Fall leaves changing colors like our friends in the East do, but we certainly have our own little bits of the season Hopefully this helps put everyone in the mood for crisp cool nights, football, trick or treating, and sipping hot cider. Enjoy! XOXOXO
p.s. Thanks to my Mama, for the shot of yours truly

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