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Retouching Time Lapse Video | Three Sisters

It's about time I put together my own YouTube channel. (I've been a YouTube fan for years.) My son is drooling over having his own YouTube channel for Minecraft videos, so I know I'm going to be busy learning the ins and outs for both of us!

Here's my first official video: a time lapse of my editing process of a portrait I took of three sisters. They were adorable and this image that I edited was a result of a last minute decision to do some studio-style black and whites outside.

What I hope you'll notice about my retouching process is its similarity to painting. Yes, it's pixels I'm working with, but building up layers, adding contrast, shadow, and painting details is something any fine artist does. Enjoy the video--it's only 2 minutes!

The finished image: 

Now Booking Spring Sessions | Alpharetta and Roswell GA Photographer

The first of spring is starting to appear . . . buds on trees, bright sunshine, and kids playing outside without jackets. It's so exciting to have this year's winter fading away.

I'm also excited to photograph families, kids, and headshots this spring. It's the perfect time for portraits. Contact me for more information.

Workshoppin' it! | Atlanta GA Photography Workshops

Photographer Marchet Butler teaches Atlanta GA Photography Workshops

I'm so excited to show off some of the photos from Saturday's Day of Photography Workshops. We had such a great time getting deep into composition, camera controls, and light. Our models were great--posing for us and letting us take the time get camera settings right! We shot both indoor and outdoors with natural light, and even had enough time to take eachother's headshots.

As you will notice, I keep workshop sizes small (only 2 to 5 participants), and that's on purpose. When I taught larger workshops, I felt that the students didn't have the time and one-on-one attention that they really needed to come away from the day feeling successful. Here are some comments from the participants:

"I thought Marchet did a fantastic job! I learned so much both in terminology and hands on. It's great to have a packet of information to leave the workshop with."

"I considered myself an intermediate photographer but was so surprised at how much additional info I learned. The instruction helped put it all together. Love that I have materials to take home."

I will be teaching another Day of Photography workshops in January, and I am so excited to offer an additional Advanced Photography workshop as well. Please contact me for more details!

Using Props | Roswell GA Children's Photographer

Lately, I've been using props in my shoots, especially with children. Something new like a hat (or hats Dad brought), blocks, or vintage telephone toy captures their interest and helps keep the smiles going through a whole shoot. Since these boys' parents especially wanted portraits of the boys together and alone, I stuffed my photo bag full of props and used them all through the portrait session. I think we got some amazing shots!

Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents | Roswell GA Extended Family Photographer

Every once and a while, I feel like I'm the recipient of miracles -- like the weather for this extended family shoot a couple weeks ago. All week, the weather had been beautiful, but the forecast for Friday (our day of the shoot) was predicted rainy; it fluctuated from a 30% to a 100% chance of rain. We ended up making tentative for a Saturday shoot if we were rained out--though I was running a half marathon Saturday morning and we would have had to be in a separate location that afternoon.

Then, Friday came. The weather was holding, but I knew it would be pushing our luck if we waited until our originally planned time. So, on very short notice, everyone dressed in their coordinating clothes, and I found a babysitter who could take my son at the last minute. We did the shoot. It was a lot of people, a lot of kids. But it worked. And just as I was finishing up the last portrait, we felt the first raindrops falling down. I'm so grateful the heavens held back enough for us to capture these family pictures.

And yes, I did run the next morning, all 13.1 miles. What a weekend for blessings!

 

Photog Mom and Kids: Mentoring Session

I usually post my own work as the first photo, but I love, love, love the image above, and I was certainly part of the process. My good friend and aspiring photographer Leah shot with me during a mentoring session with her kids. We worked a bit on group posing and after looking at her shots, I suggested she get closer, much closer, to her subjects. I was playing photo assistant and holding the umbrella to shade the kids while Leah shot. I love the angle, the faces, the catch lights in the eyes . . . only when we got the shot we wanted, one or the other of the kids wasn't looking as darling as they were in the previous shot or vice versa. Sooooo . . . I told her to send me the files and with a bit of post processing work, I made a composite of this amazing trio. Hurray! That was a fun collaboration.

The rest of the session is filled with favorites like the next photo--every photog loves having pictures of them at work, especially if their darling model is their son.

Enter Jacob, husband and dad extraordinaire, taking this awesome picture of us girls at work. The model? My little boy! (Unfortunately, he wouldn't hold still long enough for us to get good shots of him there--imagine that, a son of a photographer being tired of having his picture taken.) But Jacob took a lot of great shots of him while we were working with Leah's kids. See his photos on our Peter's Pavement Pounders website.

This one will be a portfolio piece for me, so characteristic of my photography style.

Oh, I just adore this one . . . If you look very closely, you can see me in the reflection of the baby's eyes! I was holding my camera out to the side and above my head to get a better angle. 

Can't see it? Okay, sorry. Here ya go:

I love working with lens flare!

These ones from Leah are so scrumptious! The baby's little pouty lips and big eyes make these photos. I'm also so glad we were able to get some genuine smiles out of big brother. Sometimes that's hard to do. Check out more of Leah's work at: http://leahbellphoto.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out my mentoring session rates. I'd love to teach and shoot with you!

On Location: Family Photo Session

I had such a great time with this family in part because the location is such an adventure. There are hills to climb, sticks to drag in the dirt, rocks to throw in the creek and lots of interesting spots to shoot in. Dad was especially glad they weren't stuck in a little studio. Mom had some great ideas for poses and backgrounds, and I have to give the kids' uncle a huge thank you. He was great jumping in and out of family shots and wielding a puppet to coax smiles out of the children. Good job!

I'm especially excited to see what photos will make it into mom's blogging, 3 Cute Kids or Deep South Moms. Her writing is funny and honest and totally disarming. I've been a fan since I shot for their extended family last year, so I wanted to make sure to get a gorgeous head shot of her for a bio or profile photo. After you're done enjoying the photos, head over to 3 Cute Kids and read one of my favorite posts: You Can Choose. It's a lot of laughs!

Spring! (My camera loves you, but my nose . . . not so much.)

While I've been location scouting these past two weeks, I've stopped to document our gorgeous season in Roswell and Alpharetta, something I did last fall with the autumn colors. While I love spring for the beauty of blossoming bushes and trees, some days I struggle with the pollen! A-choo! Fortunately, my camera has no such complaints.