MomShots

I got an email the other day from Momshots reader Aubrey.  She said

 I tried out the duotone one & loved how it worked on a pic of my son.  The original pic was a little too bright; the red of his shirt really stole the focus away from his face.  I tried black & white, but it wasn’t giving the image the soft angelic look I felt it needed.  So I tried the duotone with a blue cast and I love it! 

Here are the photos Audrey sent.  I’m sure you will agree with me in saying that her son is just totally adorable.  

You can see what she means by the red in the color photo being a bit much.  Your eye is drawn away from his cute little mug and onto his shirt.  The black and white is lacking something but the blue duotone definitely gives it that look she was going for.

I’m so glad you emailed me Aubrey!  Thanks for showing us all a fantastic practical application and example.  I love, love, love that you tried all three versions and sent copies to me.  It is so helpful for not just me, but I am sure, many other Momshots readers.  Thanks!

Did you try a Duotone photo?  How did it turn out?  

Shelle tried her hand at the spot color.  Don’t you think she did a great job?  I love the spark that the spot color gives her photo.  She’s such a great photographer.  I’m definitely a fan!

So how are you?  

Autumn is in the air here in Utah.  I went away for two weeks and came back to dramatically colder weather.  When we left the temperature was in the high 90’s and now it is about 15 degrees cooler.  I am a bit shocked by that sudden change!  I also noticed that at the very top of the mountains some of the trees are starting to put on their fall colors.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not freezing here or anything; far from it.  I guess after living in San Diego for 11 years I am still surprised by the changing seasons of Utah.  Strange since I didn’t grow up in a seasonless climate.  I guess we learn to acclimate to where ever we are.

The kids in my neighborhood have all gone back to school and the street is so much quieter in the day.  We are the noisy house on the street now.  We’re a noisy family anyway so that’s no surprise!  We have also started homeschooling preschool this year.  We are having a blast.  My son, Ulysses is always asking me if we can have school at random times in the day.  It’s so cute.  He is such a sponge; he just wants to learn and learn and learn.

Let’s see.  What else?  Oh, I got such a great complement from Tanya today.  Thanks.  You made my afternoon!  She left a comment and said that she was looking at older photos of her son and thought to herself that they weren’t very good “Momshots”.  She wished that she had gotten down to his level to take the photo.  Yaya, Tanya!!!  I love that you were thinking that.  I think if I had to pick one Momshot Tip it would be to get down on their level.  Over and Over and Over and Over I have to remind myself of that.

This week we have a cool Tip of the Week.  Tye tells us how to add SPOT COLOR to a photograph.  It is a great technique to draw the eye of the viewer into your focal point.  It is also just a really fun thing to do!  You an show off your babies big brown/blue/green, etc. eyes or that fiery red hair or a beautiful pink bow.  Thy sky is the limit!  It’s a lot of fun.  Try it out and see what you come up with.  Post it on Flickr and let us know where it is.  We would all LOVE to see it.

Here’s my attempt at Spot Color.  In Palm Springs we took the boys to play at a water fountain one afternoon.  It was a blast.  I love going to new places to photograph my kids.  Seriously, I get pretty bored of photographing them in my backyard…  :)