Bellies
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Babies
Posted on November 20, 2010
The holiday shopping season is upon us and everyone has those hard-to-buy-for family members and friends. You know, the ones who have everything and it’s so hard to figure out what to get them that would be unique and memorable? Why not give them the gift of custom photography?! Kimberlin Gray Photography is offering Gift Certificates in increments of $50 toward any session – maternity, newborn, birth, family, baby, or cake smash. And, just because I love my clients, I’m offering a special holiday shopping sale!
BLACK FRIDAY DEAL: Anyone shopping on Black Friday/Cyber Monday? Buy a Gift Certificate between now and Monday, November 29th and for every $100 you spend, I’ll add $100! That’s right, you get a $200 gift certificate for only $100!!! What a sweet deal! Happy Shopping!
Posted on September 7, 2010
At long last, I am excited to announce my Holiday Mini-Sessions for 2010!
If you’re new to my blog and aren’t sure what they are, a mini-session is basically a scaled down version of a custom photo session with Kimberlin Gray Photography. It includes a 25 minute portrait session and 10 fully edited images from which you can choose cards, prints, digital files, or albums. Special packages are discounted only for these special sessions a few times a year!
The main purpose of Holiday Mini-Sessions is to provide families with a unique and beautiful holiday card to share with your family and friends. But, many people also enjoy being able to give gifts to grandparents, aunts/uncles, and other special friends and family members for the holidays. With this in mind, I created four packages to help meet everyone’s needs. To see my 2010 Holiday Card designs, click here! I really *want* everyone to *want* my cards, but I totally understand if you have other plans already for your holiday cards. So, you may substitute (2) 8×10 prints for the set of Holiday Cards in the packages. No other substitutions will be allowed since these are special offers. Thanks for understanding!
Mini-sessions are booked first come, first serve and will only be reserved online with $100 deposit made via PayPal. You must visit http://kimberlingray.bookmonline.com to see available session times and book your spot! Don’t delay – these will go FAST! I’m only offering 8 family sessions and 3 baby sessions. {Baby sessions are for single babies or twins under 1 year old – my home studio isn’t big enough for siblings/families!} When you have booked and paid for your session, please fill out the Mini-Session Portrait Agreement. Then, you’re all set and I’ll see you in November!
Please note: I am not booking regular family sessions in November or December in order to spend quality time with my own family. If you want that special Christmas Card photo or gifts to give family over the holidays, these mini-sessions are for you!
Please direct all questions to Amanda at kimberlin.gray@gmail.com. Can’t wait to see you in November! 
Posted on September 3, 2010
For those of you waiting to hear all the details of my Holiday Mini-Sessions, I promise that they are Coming Soon! Meanwhile, I thought I would share my super-duper sweet new Holiday Card designs with you. Want to be the envy of all your friends with the most fabulous holiday cards on the block? Then, you’ll definitely want to be a part of my mini-sessions this year! When you choose a holiday mini-session with Kimberlin Gray Photography, these cards are part of the offerings. They are 5×7 sized, double-sided, multi-photo, press printed cards. What is the difference between these cards and the ones you get at Shutterfly Popular Online Photo Store? 
Well, these are beautiful, high-quality cards, not the typical glossy, thin photo card. They are press printed on heavyweight matte paper (or can be printed on linen or pearl paper at no extra cost!) and will be the showcase card of all your family and friends! Stay tuned for all the details on how to book your family’s holiday mini-session. And, a special thank you to my “models” for this year’s cards – a few of the Davis Mini-Session participants!
Posted on August 25, 2010
This post is going to be a bit like “Magic’s Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed!“ It requires more typing and less images than usual, but I think you’ll find it interesting and maybe even surprising!
I recently read (and shared on my Facebook Fan Page) a great blog post written by a very talented photographer about the phrase, “Your camera takes nice pictures!“. The response – thanks to What the Duck cartoons is, “Your mouth makes nice compliments.” Most people know that it takes more than just a nice camera to be a professional photographer, but I still encounter those who believe that when they pay a couple hundred (or thousand!) dollars for a custom photography session that they are paying for the hour or two that the photographer is physically with them, taking pictures. In reality, there are many more hours that go into each session and today I’d like to share with you one part of the process:
Post Processing
Post processing refers to the actions a photographer takes AFTER the photos are downloaded onto the computer. I use Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 to process my photos. Because I shoot in RAW, my photos come straight-off-of-the-camera (SOOC) looking somewhat dull and lifeless. That’s because when you take a photo in .jpg form, the camera automatically adds a layer of “help” to your photo. I decided that I wanted to be in total control of my images (imagine that, ME? having CONTROL issues??) so RAW is the way to go. The first thing I do after the photos pop up in Lightroom is adjust the white balance and any exposure/brightness/contrast needed. I also crop using the Rule of Thirds (most of the time) and check for noise/sharpness issues. That’s the first step. I haven’t even started actually processing yet!
I then pull them into Photoshop and start making magic happen helping my photos really shine! I brighten, sharpen, dodge, burn, clone, and mask in order to make the adjustments needed to turn an ordinary picture into wall art. Here are a few examples – I am putting the SOOC (straight off of the camera – eek!) image first and the final, edited image next so that you can see what a good image looks like right off my camera and how post processing (plus a bit of creative vision sometimes) makes the image truly wall worthy!
Because my home studio is small, I have to do a bit of creative cropping (and sometimes extending the backdrop) for my cake smash sessions. Here’s an example from my own son’s 1st Birthday Cake Smash:
With newborns, quite a bit of extra time goes into post processing. Newborns often have blotchy skin, baby acne, and blemishes from their “travels” into the world. While I am careful to preserve the natural look of their skin, I am sure to show parents an image that they will treasure of their perfect newborn child.
In this next example, you can see how I have lessened the little pouches of skin underneath this little sweetheart’s eyes. She was smiling so big that the crinkles were a bit distracting to me. I also reserve this trick for my new, sleep deprived mommies. It’s like a virtual day at the spa!
Sometimes I have an idea in my head, but I’m not exactly sure how it’s going to turn out in the editing process. For example, I knew I wanted to capture the sun’s rays with this couple, but wasn’t sure how close I would want it cropped in. So, I gave myself a wide space to work with in the original shot.
I often convert photos to black and white for an extra “pop” – or if the emotion, light, or setting speaks to me. But black & white is not as easy as simply taking the color out. There are many ways to convert to black and white and it’s important to know the right way – so that people don’t end up looking like they have gray skin! In this final example, you can see how I took a photo of this mommy and daughter on the sidewalk in downtown Norfolk and turned both the color and the black & white versions into portraits they could hang on any wall in their home!
So, there you have it. A little “Behind the Scenes” peek at a custom photographer’s work. Hopefully it will help some of you while you’re waiting on your gallery to understand why it takes 10-14 days to see your proofs – or maybe will help those of you considering the cost vs. benefit of booking a session with Kimberlin Gray Photography or any other custom photographer. We take pride in our work and our goal is to give you timeless images that you will treasure for years to come!
Posted on August 10, 2010
After my marathon mini-sessions two weekends in a row (where the ages of children ranged from 6 months to 12 years), I came to the conclusion that it might be helpful for a photographer to write to her clients about things to do (and maybe a few not to do) during a custom portrait session.
Since it’s “Back to School” time, it’s even more appropriate that I bring you
“The Rules for Parents”
1. Come to the session with well-rested, well-fed children. Nap times might need to be adjusted on the day of our session for the littlest, or dinner time might have to be a couple hours early. It truly makes a WORLD of difference if you plan your day around our session – even if it means a schedule that is non-typical for your family. A good photographer will interact with your child, play games, chat with them and make them feel comfortable. But we cannot take a tired, hungry, writhing ball of meltdown (can you tell I HAVE toddlers?! ) and create a beautiful portrait!!
2. Don’t prep your child too much for a photo session. Talking about it for days on end (or even all day on the day of the session) only raises the stress level for your child and creates an atmosphere of “you’d better…or else!”. It’s better to let your child become comfortable at the session and have their personality shine through. That said, bring a “backup plan”. If you have wee little ones, bringing a non-messy snack (for babies: puffs, small cookies, etc.) and a drink is essential! For older toddlers, a special snack (something a bit exciting even!) might be just the thing to get that big smile! If your child has a lovey or special friend that you don’t mind being in some photos, it can be a great comfort item. I am not above bribery, but be sure to keep it positive and specific. “Give two beautiful smiles and you get a special treat!” is great.
3. Allow your photographer to interact with your child. Don’t answer for them – or chime in with your own thoughts. The photographer needs to spend a few moments getting comfortable with your child and allowing your child to get comfortable with her. Many times I will ask children questions about what things they like, about their teacher or friends, or find something in common to chat about. It helps to break the ice and allows the photographer to get a sense of your child’s personality.
4. If you have a baby, allow the photographer to interact with her and try to get her to look at the camera and smile. This is a hard one for parents. If there’s a particular thing that “works” – a game, a sound, a word, a song – tell the photographer at the beginning of your session together and allow her to try it with your baby. The goal of the photographer is to get your baby to look directly into the camera. If you are standing to the photographer’s left or right, even slightly, and shouting your baby’s name to get her to look up, she is going to look AT YOU! Why is that a bad thing? Because even though she could be giving the best, most beautiful and perfect smile to you…when you see the photo, it looks like she’s smiling at someone outside the frame. I never really understood this until I started photographing children professionally, but now I notice it all the time. In most studio photos, the children are almost always looking at someone above the camera’s level. My goal as a custom photographer is to capture your child(ren) looking right at me – so that when you see that photo, it looks like they are smiling directly at you every time you look at the picture. You will see the twinkle in their eye, you will see the mischievous grin, you will feel the connection! It is hard to step back and not interact with your own baby – but let the photographer try first. She’ll let you know if she needs help!
5. If your child is between 12 months and 2 1/2 years old, expect your session to be a lot of “follow the baby around”! This age is the most unpredictable. Since bribing, cajoling, and joking doesn’t work yet, we are forced to go with the flow! The best thing to do is to see where he wants to play, sit, stand and then position yourselves around him for a group shot. When he moves, you move! Again, interact like you normally do – if that’s playing peek-a-boo or clapping, we’ll capture it, and maybe a few smiles in the process!
6. If you have older toddlers or elementary school children, allow the photographer some space to work with them. If you “disappear” or hang back a bit, photographers can often work more easily with your child – especially siblings! Trust us, we have interacted with many children and have a few tricks up our sleeves! 
Oftentimes, children will act up when their parents are around and watching just to get their attention – but they wouldn’t dare misbehave with a stranger! (Just ask their teachers – they are angels at school, right?!) I sometimes take a child by the hand and we take a walk to a new location so that we can start fresh and not have mom and dad watching our every move. Most of the time, I capture the truest smiles that way!
7. Try not to threaten your child or coerce them into smiling. You are most likely not going to get a genuine smile if you’ve just told them that they must smile or you will beat them within an inch of their lives not take them for ice cream. Please, whatever you do, don’t tell your child to SAY CHEESE! It does not capture their true smile and we’re probably only going to get that smile the rest of the session. (That’s why they call it a cheezy smile!) Your photographer will help with fun things to make your child smile – or you could always just start a tickle fight or say something really silly that makes everyone laugh!
8. Get close. When you stand next to each other, you should always be touching! Wrap your arms around each other or hold hands. Even a few inches of space looks like a wide gap in a picture! I often tell people to, “act like you like each other!” (which always gets people to smile, by the way!) because I want them to be close. Kids sitting on laps, or standing with their arms around their parents legs or shoulders are natural “poses”. Your closeness and love for each other will shine through if you are close to each other when standing or sitting for a photograph.
9. Your job, as parents is to look at the camera and smile when we attempt the big group shot. When your photographer poses you and is doing her best to get the childrens’ attention, don’t look down at the kids!!! My job is to get the baby to smile. My job is to keep the kids looking at me. My job is to see whose head is turned or fingers are in their mouth. Your job is to plaster that (natural!) smile on your face and look at my camera! There have been too many times when I’ve gotten home, downloaded a family session, and found that by the time I got all three or four kids looking at the camera and smiling, the mom and dad had dropped their smiles or were “just checking” to see if the kids were smiling. So, I either have a great shot of mom and dad with wild monkeys or beautiful children with parents who look completely over it! Remember to just look at the camera and smile – your photographer will do the rest!!
10. Be yourselves and try to have fun! The absolute best family photographs are those where the family looks comfortable and connected. If you are silly, be silly during your session. If dad is the comedian, by all means, bring on the jokes! If your kids like to play Ring around the Rosy (or Superheroes!), let’s get to it early on in the session so that we can capture your family being you. After all, that’s what you want to remember in ten or twenty years, right?
And because no post is complete without a photo (and because I’ve been dying to have an excuse to share this one from Sunday). Here is one capture of a family that I just adore!
