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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Chloe : Miracle

This little cutie is the second daughter of Jeremy and Anita Windemuller. We photographed their wedding back in 2008 and it's sooooo cool to see their little family growing! Claira, their oldest came and had a blast playing with Zeke and Lex, while I got my baby fix playing with little Chloe. I'm always so surprized how little those newborns are.... Here are a few from their session.




Big sister Claira filled in while Chloe was filling her tummy :)

www.awakenedimages.com . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Behind the Scenes - Using Gels to add color to your speedlights.

So, Cara normally does the majority of the posting here on the blog, or um... pretty much all of it... but I got inspired to do a quick post so bear with me. I recently wanted to start experimenting with colored gels for my off camera flash work so I did what I normally did and started googling my head off trying to find some high quality work or tips on how to use colored gels on the flashes for an artistic effect. To my surprise there is very little info out there on how to do this! There are some good articles on using gels for color correction, such as when shooting under flourescent lighting, but not much on using bright reds or blues in an artistic sense. I went ahead and purchased a gel set from B&H Photo Video called the SJ-1 color filter set. It included a good number of Yellow Gels, Blue Gels, Red Gels, Orange Gels and some standard tungsten and flourescent correction gels. Needless to say I was pretty syced up to try them out. So, 7:00 AM Sunday morning, before everyone else wakes up, I start putting together some test shots with a mannequin head that I use, (yeah it's a little embarrasing but more co-operative than the dogs :) ). I get a couple shots popped off and then I hear little footsteps coming down the stairs. he he he, a much better test subject! My 3 year old son Zeke comes walking down the stairs with a smile on his face! Perfect timing! He agrees to pose for a few photos and here is what I got... Here is the setup shot... I am photographing right in our dining room as the sun is coming up to the east.


Yes, quite boring looking but stick with me! Note the brown background and sunlight coming through the window, this is exactly how these photos were shot... and oh look! There's the mannequin head!



Here I put a Westcott TD5 into place to use as the main light, if I had a third Nikon SB-800 flash I would've used that instead. The Westcott TD5 is a continous light source that using 900 watt equivelent flourescent light tubes. They work great but need to be used rather close. You can see here that it is only about 3 feet away.


In order for me to get a proper exposure for all of the different lights I start with the Westcott lights. In this case I was getting 1/200th sec shutter @ f2.8 shooting at ISO 320 which I was pretty happy with. Then I set my blue gelled, (using 2 blue gels), background light to 1/16th power and I set the red gelled light, (using 2 red gels), to 1/64th power. I wanted the red light to add just a kiss of color to the side of Zekes face as seperation. All of my light are set to full manual mode and I am shooting full Manual on my camera, I just prefer that level of control. My Red Gelled kicker light is being synced from a Pocket Wizard Plus II transceiver which is then kicking the signal over to the blue background light which is set in SU-4 slave mode. Here is what those look like when they all fire...



And here is the resulting shot!



You can see that the brown background has gone completely blue and there is a perfect little amount of red kicker light on the side of Zeke's face. I loved the look of that shot!


Over the course of the morning I got a few other shots with slight variations. Here are a couple others...



For this shot I pretty much used the same backround light setup but ramped the power up to 1/4 power. I did away with the Westcott TD5 for this shot and used the other SB-800 as the main light. That one was set to 1/8 power with no gel and was shot through a 33" shoot-through umbrella that was about 2' away from Zeke. Shooting with only flash here I could get better depth of field on my camera. The camera settings were 1/160th shutter, f7.1 @ 320 ISO. All of these Shots were taken with a Nikon D3 using a Nikkor 24-70mm 2.8 Lens shot at about 70mm.


Zeke changed into some nicer church clothes and I got a couple more shots with Cara's help. Same light setup as above but just changed to use Red Gels as the background light instead of blue, this is still the same brown backdrop as all the other shots just turned red by the gels!



In this final shot I had a diffent goal. I thought it would be cool to try to make Cara look as though she was working in moonlight and candle light. Not an easy thing to imitate! This shot was taken right in our dining room as well. I am using an orange gel on the light to camera left and a single blue gel on the light to camera right. I desaturated the image slightly in photoshop.



One of the coolest things about this setup is that it only weighs a couple of pounds and can easily be adapted to almost all of our work. I think that we will probably be using this new tool in at least a couple of our upcoming shoots!


If you enjoyed this post or learned anything from it and would like for me to post more like it, (educational posts) just leave us a comment and let us know! I would be happy to make regular instructional posts if you are enjoying them :)



http://www.awakenedimages.com/ . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Hamilton High School Rep

Here is Ally. She will be representing us to her friends at Hamilton High! She came on a yucky windy day, so we could only do a quick studio session..... Michigan weather will always throw you for a major guessing game :) Can't wait for her summer shoot! She's got it all planned out already! If you think it is too early to book your senior of 2012 for senior photos, guess again! You get your senior booked and we'll make them look fantastic! :) Look up Ally after spring break for a coupon for 24 FREE wallets!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Abigail : Miracle

This little sweetie chose not to sleep for her session, but was still just adorable! She was 15 days old at her session and we 'met' her back in December, before she was born :) We sat at her mom and dad's table at Will and Kelli Cobb's December wedding. David and Abigail's dad talked cameras in between getting up to shoot some of the events at the reception. Even though she didn't want to snooze much, we still got a handful of cute images :)
www.awakenedimages.com . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Monday, March 21, 2011

Zeeland West Rep

Jessica Headley will be our rep at her school, Zeeland West. As Jess left her session, David says to me.... "This is going to be too easy if we keep getting supermodels in!" Jess is gorgeous, and a great fun, down-to-earth cowgirl :) Thanks Jess, for taking the time to get muddy outside, getting blinded with help from your mom, and playing peek-a-boo with our little Lex! (Not what you'd expect in a photoshoot!) LOL!
Well, enjoy this supermodels teasers....
I think she may have a new calling outside of riding horses, don't you!?
Find her after Spring Break for a coupon for 24 FREE wallets when you book your senior session with Awakened Images Photography!
www.awakenedimages.com . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Potts: Sweet Waiting

I never thought photographing 'the bump' was worth it until I, myself, had my babies. Now, I realize how sweet and special and how perfectly cute that baby bump is. Matt and Ashley were absolutely amazing to photograph; and their baby bump is sooooo cute and perfect. They are expecting their first and are super excited for all the surprizes ahead...including baby's gender.

As we were half way through their session, I got a peek of the sunset and the 4 of us rushed outside (in the mud) to get some GORGEOUS sunset photos! They were some serious troopers for us.
Now, I love photoshop and enhance my images quite often to get them to pop, but this sunset photo needed NO work.... It was gorgeous as is, straight out of camera... I wish all our work could get that result!! Thanks guys, for running with our spontaneous ideas :)

Their pup - Moxie, will be a great big sister to the new little one :)
Isn't she gorgeous!? I know I didn't feel beautiful during my pregnancies....If I could have looked this good, I may have wanted more then two babies :)
I hope the baby gets daddy's curly hair! It's super cool!
boy or girl?
We got photos in pink and in blue just to make sure....

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Living Hope Singers Showcase 2011

Holland Christian's Living hope singers are amazing! So much talent performed in one show. We had the privilege of photographing their dress rehearsal for the 3rd year in a row. Here are some really fun images. This is a really fun opportunity for us to play around with our cameras and just experiment. They practiced for 6 hours Tuesday night. They performed Thursday and Friday evenings with their "Big Night on Broadway". Enjoy!











www.awakenedimages.com . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Friday, March 18, 2011

Lex : 12 months old

My baby turns 1 tomorrow! I can't believe how this last year flew!! So fast, in fact, that I am getting past clients wedding anniversaries confused....! Congratulating them on 2 years of marriage, when it's only been 1! Not good. They do say that you deliver 1/2 your brain with each child, so give me a break...I've only got 1/4 brain left. LOL. We'll have a small party for him this weekend. Lex is walking, dancing, nodding yes and no, babbling, and climbs the stairs. He has 8+ teeth and sleeps through the night...yay! We all love our little guy and all the cute things he does every day. Zeke continues to be a great big brother through encouraging words and sharing with Lex, all the food he wouldn't want to eat :)

http://www.awakenedimages.com/ . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Zeeland East Representative 2012

Meet Cameron Pratt. He is an amazingly talented Actor from Zeeland East. Cam is outgoing, spontaneous, and hillarious. I hear he is going to make a great salesman someday :) Great guy to have on OUR team! Look for Cam at school (after Spring Break) for a rep card/coupon for 24 FREE wallets. Discount will be applied for sessions booked before Labor Day.



http://www.awakenedimages.com/ . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Monday, March 14, 2011

Holland Christian Senior Rep 2012

Introducing the first of our Senior Representatives for 2012!
I will have 4 Reps this year, and will showcase each of them as they come for their rep shoot :)
Our Reps will be offering 24 FREE wallets from Awakened Images for photoshoots scheduled before Labor Day. Find them at school (After Spring Break) for a card with coupon!
From Holland Christian High School:
Wren VanRhee

Isn't she absolutely gorgeous! And a note... hard to believe, but those are her REAL eyelashes! No extensions for her.... wow!




http://www.awakenedimages.com/ . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Panoramic Portrait Special

Hey there blog followers!

We have a super cool new product we are ready to showcase. Using our dramatic lighting, I have one example to show you. This is a really cool product/session that is 'all-inclusive'. For one price, we will do all the individual families photo sessions, create a special collage to display as a panoramic for your wall, and give you one proof book of the entirety of the sessions. (All except the final panoramic portrait since you will receive that as the showcased product) Sizing varies according to family, but should be a 10x30 wall portrait.

Measure your wall space now and get excited about the awesome new art you could have hanging there!

The coolest part about this, is that if your family has a tough time all being available at the same time, it's not needed for this product! They can come in over the course of an agreed upon time. Each family will get a mini-session (15-30 minutes) and we'll take one image from each family to make this beautiful family panoramic portrait.

It works great for families with 3 generations with busy schedules. Inquire at awakenedimages@yahoo.com if you'd like more information or would like to schedule for the Panoramic Portrait Special!
These can be done in several different options... Full length standing, Full length sitting, Head and shoulders (pictured) and can be done with dramatic lighting (pictured), white, or textured background. Studio is a must for this option, since we could probably get the whole family in one photo with the vast outdoors as our background. We would love to meet with you and have a consulation to see what type would be best for you and your family's portrait.

Now, isn't that a good looking family? Totally cool! :)


http://www.awakenedimages.com/ . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Fun in the Fog

It was an intensely foggy day and the temp was quite mild, so we went to play outside... Zeke splashed in puddles, while Lex contemplated eating rocks... What a great day for a photoshoot, eh? LOL! I guess having the sweetest camera's and gear, we celebrate everyday with a little photoshoot somehow :) Here's some results... enjoy.







http://www.awakenedimages.com/ . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Friday, March 11, 2011

Sweet Dreams

Always so precious when they sleep :)


www.awakenedimages.com . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Handsome Hubby

So, the other day, David asks me why we don't have some super cool photos of him.... It was a gorgeous sunset in the freezing cold wind off the lakeshore, and I grabbed the camera and told him to get his guitar and meet me outside... I quick popped in the sunday sing-a-long for the boys, (which always keeps them happy for 20 mins.) and we ran outside for a 2.5 minute session. I wanted to practice a lighting technique I've been learning, and using my good-ole manual settings got some fun photos of David. He is an awesome guitar player and could replace David Gilmore from Pink Floyd and I knew that his guitar would really make the shot. :)
I think he's totally hot! He's quite different then the long hair, smoking, skate boarder that I met, but I love him and everything he's had to change to make the move from California to Michigan to date and marry me :) Love you babes!






www.awakenedimages.com . David & Cara Williams . awakenedimages@yahoo.com