Ask me anything!
Recent Responses
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I usually use AWB but will often do a CWB if I think I need to. I have a passport x-rite color checker that I do not use correctly but I do use it as a wb target.
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I just did the slideshow add-on, nothing else!
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I do very little! I don't do anything in-person except for the session itself. My husband is a physician and with two kids his hours are not conducive to me meeting with clients. In person ordering is a system I might consider moving to, especially with a lower volume of clients like I am taking now but it is not something I currently offer. I don't present any info packets at all. I used to have them but moved away from that. Now it's all email or a phone call.
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I use the photocart program - the add on that you buy separately. Mine is not the one that came with the site.
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I do on the more expensive ones like my 70-200. Better to damage at $65 filter than a $2200 lens! If you buy quality ones they shouldn't affect your focus at all.
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I do not have a first year package, no. I did a few years ago but have since discontinued it. I did allow sibling shots if they wanted a few but made sure it was focused on the baby.
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Technically it's not underexposure. It can be a perfectly exposed shot but with clipping in the shadows. It happens less on a higher end body but can still definitely happen. If I am shooting usually in really bright light with lots of extremes in the range of tones it will happen.
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If it is after editing, that is simple, it happened in editing, usually when you have changed levels or curves. If it is a straight out of the camera shot then usually what has happened is that your camera's sensor cannot handle the entire dynamic range (difference between darkest and brightest areas of the photo). There is nothing you can do - a sensor is a sensor and it is set to work with a certain range.
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If you mean portraiture and skin smoothing then that is pretty much only newborns. But I fix and correct skin on all sessions. A lot of the time I will use it on moms at a low opacity (15-20%)
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One thing to realize is that with any macro lens you are going to have to jack up the ISO. The reason for this is that as you get closer to the subject to get those shots, you are blocking more and more light. Often in a session if I am shooting at 200 or 320 I'll have to go to 640 or 800 or even 1000 to get the true macro shots at a shutter speed and aperture that I want (especially because I am often raising that ap to 5.6+ to get the depth of field deep enough). So that will be normal whether you have a high end or a lower end macro. I would try to keep your minimum shutter speed at 200 and if you are continuously getting soft shots then check to see if it is you or the lens.
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It's a layer that lightens the photo. I use it only at about 20-30% however.
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I started with Aly's BW which is a free action I got years ago. Since then I have added things and tweaked things and changed everything up. I always advise people to try black and white actions until they find one that works for them. You will know it when you find it!
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Nope, I don't. Others do but it has never been for me. Unfortunately it is just all by eye. If it looks really off and I can't figure it out I'll run it by a fellow photographer and get their opinion.
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Hi Christy! Sorry I didn't get to this before you shot. Some keys - lots and lots of patience!! Keep the house very warm - around 75-80 degrees. Work at an angle to the light and feed the baby a ton. :)
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It depends on the sessions. Newborns take more time because I am doing more skin work with them. Toddlers and older kids / families take less time. I have a workflow action that I run on all of my photos that works for me. It has certain steps - including a screen layer, edge burning, unsharp mask, etc. That gets run on all photos. If I have a photo that doesn't need much extra work on skin or cloning it's one to two minutes per photo tops.
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Lots and lots of trying! I tend to have a good eye for skin tones and I try to make note of what they looked like in person and then make sure that matches when I am editing. Doing a custom white balance can help when you are starting out.
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There are a few factors that could cause this to happen. First, if you are on continuous focus it might be that your camera continues to focus and pressing it does not lock focus. You could also not be holding it down far enough. The other is if your subject moves forward or backwards, essentially out of your plane of focus, then they are going to be out of focus. Remember you only have a certain amount of depth of field and if your subject moves out of that the spot where you focused will be sharp but they will not. The spot will not move with them. If you can't get exactly what you want composition wise just back up and leave cropping room to crop it the way you want. In an ideal world we all crop/compose perfectly in camera. In reality, it doesn't always happen.
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Oh my goodness yes I miss focus! Everyone does - and if they say they don't they are lying. :) Now this doesn't mean I miss a lot but it definitely still happens. I will shoot on single shot focus unless I am doing something like someone moving towards me, or a shot with a lot of movement (ie spinning someone around or jumping). Sometimes if I have a very active toddler I will switch to area and continuous. But generally it is spot and single.
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Yep. You can use back button focusing (look in your manual for how your camera does this) or you can press the shutter halfway to lock focus and then holding it there simply move the camera.
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Nope. I have time machine which runs automatically with my computer and I also back up to two different external hard drives. I also, when I remember to do it, burn CDs of images for extra safe keeping.
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Amy Rogalski’s Bio
Providence, RI
I am a natural light on location maternity, baby and family photographer based out of Providence, RI.
