For Photographers

I know I'm a blog slacker!! I've feel like I've been slacking a lot the last couple days... with a lot of things... I think it's because Monday was my two year anniversary and my husband and I bought Risk and Monopoly for the computer as gifts to each other. I have become an addict I think! I'm hoping that I have played enough the last couple days that I shouldn't need to play again for at least another week. Well anyhow back to my post!!! I have a separate blog that I created a while back for myself to keep track of photography links and to share some what I had been learning I posted on there every now and then but I have sort of neglected it the last couple months. I decided I will start posting to this blog instead when I learn new things. Tonight I came across something that I'm really excited about. I have been curious about Apple's aperture program and I came across some little videos that talk about some of it's features. Here is the link to the videos:

Aperture videos

Unfortunately I don't have aperture because it is only made for a Mac but fortunately I have Adobe Photoshop Lightroom which is VERY similar. The third video down talks about adjusting your exposure. I figured out how to change the hot and cold spots using lightroom...

For Lightroom:
1. Right click the histogram in the top right corner and then click "show clipping" or press J. You will then see red and blue (hot and cold) overlays.
2. To adjust the hot spots go to the right of the histogram until you see the word "recovery" just bellow the histogram. Left click the recovery side of the histogram and drag until the red areas disappear.
3. To adjust the cold spots go to the left side of the histogram until you see the word "blacks" bellow. Left click the blacks side of the histogram and drag until the blue areas disappear.
4. Then adjust your exposure to how you would like it :)

Here is my example (I just picked a random picture from the bridals I just took):

This is the image before doing any processing...

As I changed the exposure I was able to bring out some more detail in the image... you can see it in the dress and in the trees.

Here is the image after doing a little more processing (hue, saturation, sharpening, clarity, white balance, etc.) I'm not perfect at this but someday ;)

Bridal Pictures

A couple months ago I took engagement pictures for this beautiful couple and Saturday I was able to take their bridal pictures. They are such a awesome couple. They both have great personalities. I just went though the pictures really quick and pulled out some that I liked. I'll probably have more to post after the editing is done. I can't wait to photograph their wedding in two weeks!




















I love having a second photographer come along on wedding shoots with me. I makes it nice because they can get different angles and different views from what I can get. My husband actually second shot with me Saturday and I t was a lot of fun. The next three pictures he shot. I love this next one he took. Isn't he talented!?

Little Helper

Lately my little one has been wanting to help me with whatever it is I'm doing. She is especially fond of doing dishes. Well the other day I went into the kitchen to see what she was up to and I see this. She loves climbing in and onto things.

#71 Complete!

While we were on our camping trip we went to the lake and took EmmaLee fishing. She was so cute out there with her Daddy. We didn't have any luck but it didn't look like anyone else was having any either.

I love the outdoors

For those who don't know, I LOVE CAMPING! #89 is complete! I went camping the 6th through the 8th this month but I have been so busy I haven't been able to edit pics and get them posted. Sorry about that! Here are some pictures from the camp out. It was actually our first annual Doug Alldredge reunion!!! How fun is that! I LOVE my in-laws. I couldn't have been blessed with better ones. They are awesome! I enjoy being with them just as much as I enjoy being with the family I grew up with. I could go on and on about how much I love them but since you probably don't have all day I'll just get to the pics ;)
When we got to the camping spot we through up our new tent that Jeremy's parents got us for our early combined birthday gift. I LOVED this tent. It's so roomy and you don't have to duck to get in! EmmaLee loved it too. It was nice that she had a spot to crawl around and I didn't have to worry about her eating bugs, sticks, and rocks. Here she is helping put the tent up.



Here is my super cute baby brother!

Jeremy's Dad recently bought a dirt bike. I didn't take a ride on it but I guess I'm not that brave. When Jeremy was out riding he went through a huge mud puddle and hit a rock wrong so he came out with some scratches and a hurt foot.


Ok so my in-laws make the BEST dutch oven dinners. They are soooooo good. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.



Sorry after a couple days of camping I'm not going to look wonderful.



Dutch oven cobbler is the best! EmmaLee thinks so too! She knows Daddy will give her the good stuff:)

Good Ol' camp fires.


We ended up taking Jeremy to the urgent care in Showlow since his foot was hurting him so bad. Turned out that he sprained the arch of his foot really bad. Since he is a meter reader and can't walk around on it alot he has been off work for the last week and a half. He goes back Monday but since he is also doing real estate he has been PLENTY busy. He still gets in a least 8 hours a day going to meetings, going to classes, and building his business. It's so fun to see him so excited about real estate!

My cute little sister Dani!!!

HAMMOCK HAPPINESS!!
EmmaLee loved the Hammock that my husband got in Venezuela.









My cute little sister Kristi shooting the BB gun.