Sneak Peek ~ Puppies

I got to go visit not one but two litters of puppies this past week!!  I was one happy camper that's for sure!  Here's a sneak peek to tide you over until my editing is done:)

Sneak Peek

I did an impromptu photo shoot of one of the girls at the barn riding this past week.  The weather was less than perfect, but I think I got some good images.  Took a few hundred shots of Alix riding her beautiful horse, Cicily, so it will be awhile until I get through editing them...in the mean time, here's one of my favourite pics so far :)

Hoot Hoot!

A big thank-you to Margaret for pointing this out to me while we were walking yesterday!  A beautiful Barred Owl perched just down the road from my house.  Not very often you see owls in my 'hood, especially at noon!  Poor guy (or gal) was desperately trying to sleep but people, dogs and cars kept going by.  His public perch was good for me, but I'm sure he's tired today.

Horses!

There are so many beautiful horses at the barn where I'm leasing now, that I had to make up a blog to show some of them to you!  These are only four of the aprox. twelve horses that are boarded there, so I'll have to get busy capturing the rest soon.

First off is Cicily.  She is absolutely stunning, I can't take my eyes off of her!!  She's also a real sweetheart and loves to be petted (so much so that I had trouble getting shots of her because she was right in my face LOL!). 

Next is Vogue.  A big, pretty Warmblood with lots of personality!  Will have to get some full-body shots of her next time she feels like posing.

The huge Belgian, Zack.  He's a big teddy bear and has the best mane, I love how it cascades around his ears!

Last but not least, my fav boy Chance!!  He's only just turned five, but he's the sweetest thang ever!  Love him to bits!  He's so gentle and soooo handsome, I'll really miss him when he leaves (he's only there temporarily).  This is my favourite pic too by the way ;)

And, I had to include this shot for giggles!  Not very often you see an upside down horse haha!

The Paula and Carlos Wedding!

Yay it's wedding picture time!!  Paula and Carlos got married last month surrounded by their family and friends.  The ceremony was held right down by the ocean, it was so beautiful!  Paula looked absolutely stunning in her dress and she had a perma-grin on her face all day long!  Carlos was quite the proud new husband and couldn't take his eyes off of his beautiful wife.  The whole event was wonderful and picturesque and I felt so honoured to be there photographing their special day.  It really is very magical capturing a couple's happiest moment:)

So, without further delay, here are some of my favourites images from Paula and Carlos' special day!  Congrats to the newlyweds!!

I had to sneak a pic of Jakub in ;)

Frog Blog

Lookee at what I found out at the barn last week!  Isn't he cute?!  He was tucked in next to a drain pipe on one of the walk-outs.  He was so little and green heehee!  Sorry, I just love frogs!!  I've been hearing them croak their love songs for the past few weeks, so it was nice see one:)

Sneak Peek!

I had the privilege of shooting Paula and Carlos' wedding just over a week ago!  The ceremony was held down by the ocean and it was just perfect:)  The bride was gorgeous and the groom was handsome as can be!  I'm so happy for them!

But, due to being sick at the moment, I'm a tad behind in the editing so this sneak peek will have to suffice until I get the final tweaks done.  Enjoy!

Olly Pics

I was over at my friends' house this past weekend and couldn't resist taking some shots of their baby boy, Oliver.  I didn't have my camera with me so I borrowed their D80 (same as my old camera) and started snapping away.  Olly is a total ham in front of the camera and was smiling and posing away like crazy!  He's so cute and his eyes are AMAZING!!

You can see the first shoot I did with him here: http://emilymacdonaldphotography.blogspot.com/2011/05/meet-oliver.html

These three are the shots I like best.  Isn't he handsome?

This last shot I thought I would use as an example of the type of editing I do.  I used Photoshop CS3.  (I really want CS5!!)  Here is the original image:

In my first round of editing I brightened the image, added some contrast, bumped up the saturation a tad (it's a bit cool in the original), removed some bumps on his face and then did some dodging and burning on his eyes to make them pop.  See below:

For the last round of editing I worked on evening out his skin.  I went over his skin in more detail with the spot healing brush to make sure I didn't miss any imperfections.  Next I created a new layer, painted over the areas I wanted to smooth out (under his eyes and on his chin) with a sample of his correct skin colour, then lowered the opacity so that it was very subtle.  Some people like to do this technique over the entire face, but find it looks a little too "Photoshopped".  I like a more natural looking photo, so I will usually only do it in areas where it's really needed or, in most cases, not at all.  See below for final edit:

I can go into more details on the techniques I use if enough people are interested, just let me know:)

And, don't forget to become a follower!!

Head Shots

I had the privilege of taking some photos of my Aunt last week.  She wanted some portraits done to use as promo shots for her Quintet: http://windrift.weebly.com/index.html  Her house is gorgeous so we had no problem finding suitable backdrops and, since Sandy used to be a photographer herself, she was a pleasure to shoot as she knew exactly what she wanted. It was a great shoot, here are a few of my favs:)

Saanich Fair Horse Show

I was able to make it out to part of the Arab Show at the Saanich Fair this past Sunday.  It was lots of fun to watch, but I felt bad for the participants (riders and horses) because it was so hot out.  They all did great though!  Here are some of my favourite shots:

I also got to watch vaulting for the first time!  It looked like so much fun, but I'm sure if I tried it I'd be on my face in the dirt within a minute - those kids have talent!