How to: Tree Light Pictures

1. Wait for night (this was hard for me. You can tell in the picture with both boys that I didn't wait for it to get super dark.)

2. All of the lights off except the tree. I used a lamp across the room to cheat a little and give me a little light. 

3. Camera in manual mode with the following settings as a guideline: 
Aperture all the way open (mine was f 1.8)
Shutter speed slowish (mine was 1/250)
ISO super high (mine was at 5000)
>>> NO FLASH! <<<

Shameless plug - I teach a basics of photography class that will teach you what all of these thing mean :) 

4. Snap way! Who cares if they're technically perfect - have fun with your kiddos. The picture of Landon above... he was calling our tree a gum-nut. I'm not even sure what that means but he thought it was hilarious and made for a cute picture. 

Full disclosure, I did edit my final pictures just for personal preference. 

Before (SOOC)

After 

You can also do these types of pictures during the day for a different, but still fun, look. 

Newborn Session Preview | West Ashley Newborn Photographer

She's a tiny little piece of perfection. 

Newborn Session Preview

December 2017 - Part 1

I'm making up for my lack of pictures in November with an overload in December. I figured I'd go ahead and share these because we all know I'm going to go crazy photographing Christmas. 

We are one of the only houses in the neighborhood with big trees and who has time to rake those? Our yard was getting pretty embarrassing so I gave Landon a rake and we went to work. I think this was his first oficial time jumping in a pile of leaves. Even the neighbors came out to watch him pay since he was laughing so loud. 

These are actually back from the end of October when I was testing my studio setup for my year-end mini sessions. 

I have so many more to share, but those will come as I get time to weed through them. 

In-home newborn session | James Island Newborn Photographer

I adore the ease of in-home newborn sessions. This little man was a breeze to photograph too. He spent the first part of his session awake, checking everything out. After a quick feed, he snoozed the rest of the time I was there. 

BUT... 

This dog, Blue, was not about to be upstaged by this new little human living in his home. 

October 2017

Another month has come and gone. I'm not even really sure what we did this month besides buy an excessive number of Halloween costumes, eat way too much candy and not get enough sleep. 

Yes, each boy had two costumes. We weren't going to let Landon be a Stormtrooper, so he picked Mickey. In a moment of weakness, Trip took Landon back to Target to grab a (way too big) Stormtrooper costume. He was Mickey and the Roadster Racer for our neighborhood Fall Fest and a Stormtrooper on Halloween night. 

Rhett is in a weird phase for costumes. He's still pretty little so he needed an infant size costume. However, most infant costumes are the sleep sacks - and he's too old for that. Landon and I picked out a Narwhal costume which was really cute... however with that tail, there was no way to transport him while trick-or-treating. So, I sewed some ears on a hat and he was the mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. 

Charleston Babymoon | Charleston Maternity Photographer

This mom-to-be emailed me months ago to book a session during their babymoon to Charleston. I cannot wait to share more from this sweet session and show you why they were beyond excited to be doing a maternity session!