Garrett \\ [Sportrait]

These were taken during football season, but due to my hard drive crash, my trip out west and then the holidays, I’m just blogging these now.  Hope you bear with me because I had to share these photos of my handsome son. (Besides it’s still football season.)

 

And my personal fav:

And for my photography peeps, yes this last shot is with my Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye lens.  Also used were my Tokina 12-24 lens and one AB800 flash with standard reflector.  Add in a nice dramatic cloudy sky at the Minnechaug football stadium (looks better in photos than it does in real life) and you have the perfect setting for a Sportrait (I did not make up that term, I read it over at the sports forum at Fredmiranda.com.) Thanks for looking!

Risky [Baby] Business

So what if you took one extra-cute newborn baby, stuck her on a rickety card table in a dusty studio in an old mill, what would you get?  I think if you look below you will see that you get something extra special.

 

Baby E was a cutie but boy was she ever determined to stay awake through her session!  Looking at these peaceful, sleepy poses you might think that baby photography is easy.  Well it’s not! This girl was a squirmy little thing and almost gave me a heart attack as she tried to lunge off of everything she was placed on…

Baby E was the first to christen (literally!) our new shared studio space at the Indian Orchard Mills.  I give props to her first time parents who appreciate this style of photography enough to let their precious angel be my guinea pig.  I’m looking forward to many cool photo sessions in the future with this sweetheart.  Something tells me she is going to be a lot of fun!

As usual, see more photos of Baby E on my website: www.mariaagustin.com.

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.