I stopped by my parents house one evening last week and captured some great images. My mother is a great gardener. She has a variety of perennials planted around her house all of which are in full-bloom thanks to her meticulous care and a rainy summer. I noticed a butterfly when I walking into the house so after dinner I decided to try and shoot some macro images. Once I started shooting I noticed not only a few butterflies but also plenty of bees. And not just one kind of bee bumble bees, honey bees and a few wasps were in different sections of her gardens. I also snapped off a few new photos of their dog Jonah.

Below are a few samples of what I shot. The Technical info:

I was shooting in aperture mode with a Nikon Micro 105 VR lens hand held. I started shooting about 45 minutes before the sun dipped below the horizon and continued after sunset until I no longer had enough light to shoot at asa 200 f/4. Most shots were shot with the aperture in the f/7.1 f/8 area and a shutter speed around 1/160 sec.

Comments critique and questions are always welcome.

Bumble Bee

Butterfly

Jonah bored with the whole photo thing.

Pink rose at sunset.

Here is a sneak peak from Kerri’s family portrait session. We selected Kerr Park in Downingtown for the location. We started on a stone bridge then moved on to a location along the Brandywine Creek. After a short break we did some candid shots in the playground at the park. We finished up just in time as a thunderstorm was approaching. All and all a fun session and a great family.

Also a big thanks to my new assistant, she did an awesome job.

Melissa & Tom are using the photos from their session to create a sign-in book for their wedding.

Melissa’s colors for her wedding are red and ivory. I scanned a swatch of fabric Melissa gave me then opened the file in Photoshop. In Photoshop I used the color picker tool to extract bright red color for the background of their book. I also used this color as the basis for the gradients and graphics inside their book. I reduced the saturation to create a light pink that her guests will be able to write over.

Melissa and Tom decided on a 10×10 square book with 20 sides. We were able to create a nice balance of large and small images from their session ending with a photo from their favorite watering hole,  Duffers Tavern.

Patience and perseverance would best describe the evening of Ryan’s Graduation. I have known Ryan since he was about three years old so I really wanted to attend his High School Graduation. I rushed to get there from a job and arrived just as the national anthem was playing. Somehow I managed to work my way through the crowd to a position in front of the podium with just a few rows of people in front of me (perseverance). After patiently listening to one long-winded speech after another the Egg Harbor Township High School officials began handing out the diplomas. Ryan was in the last row of 850 graduating seniors to receive his diploma.

Ryan receives diploma

It was a challenge to get good photos. I was shooting into the setting sun and also had people in front of me. You can see that Ryan is back-lit as he is receiving his diploma. I used the 80-200mm zoom to crop in as tight as possible and spot metered.

After commencement finished I was able to get some great shots of Ryan and family. By this time the sun had set. I used a little off camera fill-flash to get the sparkle in his eyes not that he was not animated enough.

Here are a few shots from Melissa & Tom’s engagement session.

Tom & Melissa are a laid back couple who were great to work with. We started out at a park near their home then moved to downtown West Chester. We had great weather although I found out it rained quite a bit just ten or fifteen miles to the east of us. Melissa and Tom are using the photos from their session for a sign-in book at their wedding.