the wedding cake.

hello friends! i admit, i didn't think i would be back so soon... last week, i really just didn't feel like myself, but thanks to some antibiotics and other drugs, i'm feeling much better now.

i finally got a chance to pull some images off my camera... and realized i still hadn't shared any of the photos from one of the weddings we attended a few weekends back. i didn't take my camera to the ceremony/reception, but i did help decorate the day before and the day of. one of my best friends made their wedding cake (her amazing strawberry cake, nonetheless) and i was up there to help with the finishing touches.



helping decorate a cake is no small task, and i absolutely love the way it turned out. of course, the bride was happy with it too, which is really what matters, right?



unfortunately, the cake attendees (that's a term, right?) were cutting super small pieces... and i didn't think it was appropriate to go back for a second piece...

little chloe.

you know, my hamstrings are still sore (going on 4 days now!) from chasing this little munchkin around with a camera... but editing her photos and seeing these silly faces makes it all worth it!

more about the horses.

life has been so busy lately and i keep forgetting to post these little moments on the blog. as i mentioned on my last post... a few weeks back, d and i went out to a friend's house. he has some land with a big barn and some horse stalls. and some lovely horses that occupy them.

i am so not used to taking photos of moving subjects! sure, i've taken baby photos... but they don't move much compared to horses. and they don't want to come sniff your camera. and they don't run away if you don't have any food to hand out either.

but i hope to get to take more pictures of them soon. this was good practice!

flowers and packages.

just a few images from right before our girly party last night. i made quiche, and it was wonderful. i always swear that i am going to take photos of it before it gets devoured, but that never happens. i'm always in such a rush to get it to the party while it's still hot! i love our dinner potlucks... so much good food to eat! i always leave very satisfied, but feeling that i must have gained 10 pounds over the course of the evening.

these little flowers i made make great gift toppers. and they have an alligator clip on the back so you can wear it pretty much anywhere! i would share a tutorial, but there are already so many out there, i don't know that it would do any good. these are super easy and fast to make though.

the gifts i needed to wrap were a little oddly shaped, but the kraft paper was perfect. and i didn't have time to make tags, so i pulled out my alphabet stamps, and that did the trick. i will have to remember this in the future, i can't believe how cute it turned out.

i really wish now that i had wrapped all our christmas presents like this. so simple, but they turned out so perfect. it's trying to snow here, but not succeeding very well. as beautiful as the snow is, i'd rather it not ruin my travel plans for the weekend.

cupcakes.

one of my favorite images from the party i shot last weekend.

cupcakes and party hats, what's not to love?

photos, post processing and actions: less is more?

i was taking photos of a project when the dogs distracted me. how could you not want to photograph this face? i've learned, if you ever want a photo of scottie, just open up the blinds so he can look outside. just hope nothing walks by... otherwise he'll start barking his pretty little face off.

i wanted to talk some about post-processing images and actions. i have very mixed feelings about this... on one hand, i think they can be useful. on the other, i think they can get ridiculous and way over done. and (don't shoot me) i think they are way over-used in the photography world.

the example above is my photo, straight out of the camera. i take photos in raw so that i can adjust the white balance and fill light as much as possible.

this next photo is after i've 'processed' it. basically, i took some of the yellow out of the image and adjusted the exposure. while i really liked the colors in the raw image, i wanted to adjust it so that the colors looked normal. the whites look white, and the wall is much closer to its actual color.

and this one is an action i run on it. specifically coffeeshop buttercream from the coffeshop blog. it's a beautiful action, and would work well in any number of applications.

this is a cross process action, which i can't take credit for either. it was already loaded on my computer, and i believe miss brandi is responsible for it. this is probably the one i've used the most just because i love the colorful/retro effect.

what are your thoughts? on actions or post-processing?

i certainly believe in editing a selection of my photos before posting or printing them... rarely do i take a photo that i believe is perfect straight out of the camera. but - what about actions? i think there is a place for them, but i don't use them on every photo. and i would certainly rather spend my time learning how to take better photos than learning how to fix them. But, they are so much fun to play with and i can definitely see using them to make some artwork for our home!

il-lu-mi-nate workshop.

i was catching up on my blog reading and saw this post on the il-lu-mi-nate workshop. i've really been wanting to take a class to improve my photo-taking skills, but really can't justify spending the $500 when this is really just a hobby of mine! well, they are giving away a spot in the class... and although i've never won an online giveaway (not for lack of trying, either), maybe this will be my lucky day.

So... here we go!

I want to go to the Il-lu-mi-nate Workshop! http://www.amyrosekingphotography.com/?page_id=2420

happy monday.

i am sure i'm not the only one who has had a stressful and busy summer! it feels like it is finally slowing down a little bit, and for that i am thankful. i had the honor of taking some more photos for my family this past weekend. little ethan is now 5 weeks old! this is one of my favorites from the shoot - my brother's college ring was so big, we were afraid to put it on his foot! i'll post more as i get them edited. my brother couldn't believe i took almost 200 pictures... but that's the beauty of digital. take a bunch of pictures and you up the chances of having more usable photographs.

i'll be creating some announcements for them soon as well! i've been eyeing these silhouette machines... this would be perfect to make little cutouts of his name to go in the envelope or something... but with all the big purchases we've made this summer (car... camera lenses... etc) i just can't justify purchasing one. do any of you have one? do you absolutely love it? i'm going to put it on my someday list...

work + papercuts.

i love it when i propose a cool/outside the box idea to a client and they say yes! (you know, instead of looking at me strangely) i don't want to say much except that these are for the next issue of pulse magazine and i am super excited about the way this feature is going. i work with some wonderful people to put this publication together and am very thankful for their open-minds... otherwise, i wouldn't get to do half the fun things that i do! here are a few... and yes, they are all made out of paper! and are pretty tiny... that graduation cap is only about an inch tall! it has also been fun to photograph these...

old photos.

i could spend hours looking through old photographs. the last time we were up to see the folks (amarillo, not that far away) my mom and i started going through a box of old pictures and i brought some back with me to scan in and enjoy! i plan on getting these printed and framing them. we have waaay too many photos of ourselves in our house... need some others :) the photo above is actually of my mom...

this is my mom's side. that's her (the youngest), my aunt sue, my uncle charles and my uncle fred. poor little pony...

another one of my mom's side (that's what most of these are). same folks from the pic before, but this one also includes my grandmother margarete and my grandad henry.

this one is my favorite. it's of my memom (dad's mom) when she was little. so many people think that this is a photo of a young me that's been made to look old... but nope!

i guess i really should have posted these on mother's day... but it seems like i'm always a day late and a dollar short... anyway! can't wait to get some of these framed and in our home. gotta love the scanner...

little bundle of joy

so, my husband's bro and his wife are expecting a little baby girl pretty soon and i had the honor of taking their maternity pictures! not that i'm a professional photographer or anything, but i do enjoy doing it. maybe someday my etsy store will sell enough guestbooks to supply my photo habit. maybe...we'll see. anyway, here are my favorite pics of the day outside. i'll be posting more from our inside session soon! presenting brandon, michelle, and soon to be olivia sneed!







we had such a good time running around town! and soon i'll be posting pics of little olivia!