Presenting the 2009 Minnechaug Football Seniors

 

I’ve already gotten a lot of questions on this shot of the Falcon Seniors was done so I thought I would share some of the components and a little bit of the Photoshop technique.  It’s part art and part magic, so you’ll have to fill in the missing pieces with your own twist if you ever decide to take on a project like this!  I often times get asked how I think of these ideas.  In this case, I did have an idea but it wasn’t this one!  It just kind of developed on its own when the pieces presented themselves to me.  Eventually, I thought it would be a great idea to use the soon-to-be construction of a new Minnechaug High School as part of the fun.  The vote of on the school divided our community and now that it is over, its nice to have some fun with the idea of a new school eventually being built in Wilbraham.

Step 1 begins with the shots of the players taken with bare bulb Alienbee AB800 strobe & standard silver reflector out on the Falcon football field.  Lens was the Nikkor 35-70mm f2.8 and my workhorse the D300.  With well lit, moody shots like these you can do just about anything.

   

Then you need a shot of the background.  These were taken in a vacant lot on Boston Road that is advertised as For Sale.  The construction equipment just happened to be there, making my life more convenient!

Of course you also need the school.  It would have been better if I had captured the whole awning in the shot, but that’s ok, there’s a work around for that problem. Next time, I really should plan better…

Add in the bucket loader…

The missing player with the broken leg (which I luckily already had taken at the beginning of the season.)

The school’s smokestack, which the coach happens to love for some reason. Notice how the smokestack is properly exposed while the sky is blown out. We don’t care about the sky because we won’t be using it.

And you have all the major pieces of the project.

Now all you need to do is combine them all in a many-layered Photoshop file, masking in all the portions you would like visible, while masking out all the portions of each layer you wish hidden. For a quick tutorial of my masking technique, see my post called “The Making of Anything for the Shot.”  There’s a million different ways to do things in Photoshop and everyone has a different technique.  Look at the Russell Brown website  if you would like a very detailed tutorial on how to mask in Photoshop.

For some really cool fonts, I recommend www.dafont.com. The ones I used here are Varsity, Marcelle, Old Rubber Stamp and James Hann.

When you have all your layered pieces in your file, it’s a good idea to play with the opacity of the layers, as that can make the difference between a layer that looks pasted in and one that blends in seamlessly with the others. It also can hide sloppy masking techniques. (don’t tell anyone!)

Anyway, leave me a comment if you have one and I’ll be happy to answer any questions. 

I have more football photos on my website www.mariaagustin.com.

Let’s Hear It For The Band!

I think the Minnechaug Marching Band doesn’t get enough props. Especially after the great halftime show they put on Friday featuring theme songs from James Bond movies. How cool is that? Their show was made extra special with a fabulous trumpet solo by Brandon Gerberich.  I am always amazed by their dynamo of a teacher, the multi-tasking Ms. Reidy.  You can see her in the stands, directing and filming video at the same time!  See more photos of the Chaug Band on my website www.mariaagustin.com.

 

 

 

Joleen // [Senior]

Joleen came for her senior photo session one chilly Sunday morning with her sister Justine.  I love how cute they were together. It must be sisterly love if you are willing to get up early and hold a reflector for your sister’s photo session! lol. And of course we had to get Biscuit aka Bubba in the photo too since he tore up Joleen’s car waiting for his turn in front of the camera.  Did I tell you I have a thing for pugs???   See more photos of Joleen on my website www.mariaagustin.com or my Facebook page www.facebook.com/mariaagustinphotography.

Technorati Tags: senior photography,joleen

 

Salisbury High Flyas

On my vacation to Salisbury Beach recently, I had the good fortune to notice a skate park as I was riding to the downtown one afternoon on my bike. I had to come back with my camera to photograph these daredevils of boards and bikes.  Paul told me that they wouldn’t want “someone’s mom” there but when I asked if I could take a few photos they were more than willing. In fact, they really turned on the heat and brought out their best trick riding.  When asked to please not crash into me, they were very accommodating.  I am going to have to look around my area for one of these skate parks to call my own. Leave me a comment if you know of one…

 

and my personal favorite:

I started out with the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR lens and switched over to my Nikon 10.5mm fisheye lens. I think the fisheye  is the perfect lens for this style of photography and gives an in your face kind of appeal to the photos that I love. I am going to have to go fishing more often!  See more skate park photos on my website www.mariaagustin.com and on my Facebook page Maria Agustin Photography.  Thanks for looking!

Ashley – Brave and Beautiful

My guess is that in no woman’s opinion do the words “experimenting”, “photography” and “lingerie” ever belong in one sentence together.  Not so for the lovely (and very brave) Ashley who was game for a boudoir shoot where I would be experimenting and she would not be wearing her street clothes.  We should all be so brave!

Here are some of my favorites from Ashley’s Boudoir session:

 

  

 

 

And my personal favorite:

Some things I learned – I need more space!!!! It can be hard to make an 8×10 crop when you have someone’s long legs hanging into that 8×12 extra area. Also, turn on the AC BEFORE you start a session like this – both of us were sweating after only five minutes.

I used my 35-70mm Nikon f2.8 and when I really wanted shallow depth of field, I went with the Nikon 50mm f1.8. All of these were shot with one AB800 camera left and small reflector camera right (that’s all I have room for!) Bedroom shots had window light also.

See more boudoir photos of Ashley on my website www.mariaagustin.com.

You take the high road and

 

I’ll take the low road and one of us is bound to meet up with Scottish bagpiper Eric Goodchild.  Eric Goodchild in full Scottish regalia, is one of those fabulous photogenic subjects.  He reminds me of all those portraits of the salty old fisherman with beard, pipe and yellow rain slicker that we all have seen so many times (especially on the Gorton’s boxes of fish sticks).   I first ran into Eric last July at the Highland Games in Greenfield, MA.  The photography conditions were less than ideal there with the midday sun and tons of people meandering about but I was able to work some Photoshop magic on Eric’s portrait to give me these:

The first photo earned an Honorable Mention at NECCC last year.

Then, when I went back to Greenfield again for the launching of the hot air balloons at the Green River fest, who do I see again but Eric Goodchild, wailing on this pipes.  As luck would have it, the place was empty except for the few brave souls that ignored the rain and 6 am start time to see the balloons off.  There was lone bagpiper, Eric Goodchild standing before the most memorable of fog shrouded landscapes.  I couldn’t have ordered a better setting up that this.

For my photography peeps, these were shot with my Nikon D300 and 70-200mm VR f2.8 which I believe I have mentioned being in love with many times in past blog posts so I won’t bore you with that.

See more of my photography on my website at www.mariaaagustin.com

Photographers Go Walking Worldwide

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of participating in the 2nd annual Worldwide Photowalk sponsored by Adode at Blue Star Equiculture, located at Burgundy Brook Farms and the Steaming Tender restaurant in Palmer, MA.

It’s always fun to get together with fellow photographers, especially when it involves dinner after wards. The equicenter and Steaming Tender were both great locations and a special shoutout to Nancy Bryant of Giclee of New England for choosing them and for kindly organizing the only Photowalk in Western Mass!
Taking photos with 45 other photographers wandering around can be a challenge but I think it adds to the fun. Below are some of my favorites of the evening.

And here are my two entries to the Photowalk exhibition:

Horse Eye View

Vintage Locomotive

More images on my Facebook page “Maria Agustin Photography”

Help me choose // Which Photo of Morgan do you like best??

The lovely and talented Morgan from the New England Camera Club Council (NECCC) Photo Conference held at UMASS this past weekend. I ran into Morgan several times – most of the time she was in a bikini LOL but I do like her in her gold and glittery sheath.
Help me to pick. I can’t decide which pix to send her for her portfolio. Just leave me a comment below.

Number One

Number Two

Number Three

Number Four

Number Five

Number Six

I’ll let you know the winner!

BTW, all the bikini shots were done with the fabulous Nikon D700 with 85mm f1.4 that the Nikon sponsors generously lend out at the conference. I had my new friend for 90 minutes before I had to pass it along to the next lucky person.

Olivia & Rachel Rock the Frock

So your prom is over and the most gorgeous dress you have ever worn is left to hang, limp in your closet. So sad – what’s a girl to do?
One suggestion is to Rock the Frock! Rock the Frock is a new trend in senior photography that came out of the Trash the Dress photo sessions brides have been doing for quite awhile. You get to wear your fabulous dress again and rock a photo shoot right out of America’s Next Top Model. The result is a great time with some fabulous photos of you and your dress that you can treasure forever!
This past weekend, Olivia, Rachel and I went out to local haunts to Rock their Frocks. We started out at the graffiti bridge where the colorful artwork of those who eschew brushes and canvas for cans of spray paint and bridge abutments lend just the amount of rowdy to those formal frocks. (Lots of laughs here with the girls attempting to trot all over the rough terrain in their sky high gladiator heels).

Olivia rocks the graffiti bridge

Purple Power!

With Rachel and Olivia’s back to the river, the light was sweet and these turned out to be my favorite shots of the evening. The breeze added some drama too, with the shawl of Rachel’s ensemble floating in the wind. Unfortunately, the wind would not cooperate for Olivia with her tulle and she had to whip up her own magic. I think she rocked it!

Olivia rocks the tulle

Vision in Gold

Rachel rules the breeze

Next, we were off to Spec Pond. Some dramatic sky shots were our next business. We had to fight the wind at this locale. My Nikon SB600 flash was on an Impact air cushioned light stand with Photoflex extra-small softbox and the wind kept trying to blow it over. I need to rethink that setup for the next shoot.

Rachel's turn

Love the gold and blue combo!

Our last stop was the pond itself. Due to our late start that evening, (are girls doing hair and makeup ever on time???) the light was fading fast. We had to move over to my second choice of location because of some guy who would not quit fishing. Hello, photo shoot going on. I think he was just using fishing as an excuse to watch our antics. We caused quite a stir at the pond with many kids asking what we were doing and one kid who actually asked me if I wanted him to throw a dead fish at Olivia. Huh??? But the girls had no problems going in to the water and only complained a little bit about the slimy ground when I asked them to stand next to the more photographic weeds and lily pads. Here’s the result of our in-the-water shoot.

Not too worried about the pond weeds

My favorite water shot of Livy

BTW, absolutely no prom dresses were harmed in the making of these photographs!!! Both washed up perfectly in the washer on delicate cycle with woolite.
Wanna see more? Check out my Facebook page Maria Agustin Photography for videos of Rachel and Olivia and their Rock the Frock photos. Don’t forget to become a fan.

Are you game to Rock the Frock??? Contact me at maria@mariaagustin.com for more info.

I have to always add one of my outtakes. This one makes me crack up whenever I see it…

Want me to throw a dead fish at her?

Life with Rylee

OK so you
1. take a cute and vivacious two year old
2. give her plenty of frilly pink dresses to wear
3. you stick her in front of a camera
and what happens? Nada. Nope. Nothing. That’s how Rylee’s photo shoot started out. She was not having any of our ideas and no amount of pleading would work. So what did work to bring about the amazing cuteness you will see in the following excerpts of Life with Rylee?? Well, after attending the Sandy Puc Tots 2 Teens seminar recently, I was surprised to find that everything Sandy Puc recommends does work when it comes to children’s photography!! I tickled with my feather duster. I bribed with treats and I promised all kinds of rewards for a few seconds of Rylee’s big smile. Special thanks to my daughter, Rachel, who whipped up some homemade chocolate chip cookies for bribery (they did work and next time I will buy the candy in advance!!).

Rylee, as a flower child, turns on her charm

Rylee takes flight

Our girl has Personality with a capital P!

She looks like she likes my flowers after all!

There were so many great faces going on I thought I would put this together:

The many faces of Rylee

Mom, Rae, has a tattoo of Rylee’s name on her back and I thought it would be great to incorporate it into a mother daughter portrait. Unfortunately, Rylee had other ideas and we were only able to get this one pose in (which I happen to love!)

Mom and Daughter

I thought I would leave you with a few outtakes and a big thank you to Rae for letting me have fun with Rylee! See the rest of Rylee’s photos on my Facebook page Maria Agustin Photography…

Always for my photography peeps, these were shot with my most recent lens purchase, the now retired (bought used on ebay) Nikon f2.8 35-70mm. I think it was recently retired to make room for the majorly expensive f2.8 24-70mm but for the buck, the 35-70mm can’t be beat. Tack sharp. My only niggle is it takes a little bit to get used to the push/pull zoom when you are used to the rotating zoom…
For light setup, I used my AB800 with the usual Amvona strip box camera left and sliver reflector camera right. Shot at f4, 1/250 sec. I do have a window to the right also, which may add a little fill but it was overcast on that day.