Portrait Couture with Dee

During my holiday in Melbourne as well as a lot of shopping, catching up with family and friends, I had a last minute booking as a Christmas gift from a husband as a surprise to his wife. I found a hotel and a hair and make-up artist and had everything organised for her. As a busy working mum, this was her chance to relax and be pampered. We chatted and laughed throughout the whole shoot. Turning the hotel room into a studio, I improvised using natural light from the big windows and the furniture and curtains as props. Dee listened and followed my directions, she was relaxed and really let herself shine. Well, the results are below, limited photoshopping, just her complete trust in me as her photographer, beautiful soft natural light and a woman and mother who deserved to be treated.

Rachel and Matt's Wedding

Arriving at Rachel’s house everybody was relaxed and happy. This same atmosphere carried throughout the whole wedding.  Rustic and charming, the photo ops were endless. I witnessed so many beautiful moments at Rachel and Matts wedding, starting from the very beginning of the day with a small problem with one of the bridesmaids dress. Rachel was happy to leave it to the other girls to help sort it out. They fixed the dress and then I overheard one of the other bridesmaids say “It looks much better, in fact we should all change our dresses to match” I thought that was so sweet, showing support and friendship, it’s the very reason for a bridal party.

At the ceremony Matt stood out instantly, he had the biggest smile out of everyone there and exuded warmth and happiness as he greeted all his guests. I loved all of their family and friends, they were fun and helpful.  Everybody looked incredible and the guys in their kilts looked amazing.

Another beautiful moment was when Rachel and her dad were left alone at the car waiting for their queue to walk down the aisle. After seeing her smiling all morning, she suddenly looked so nervous. It was the first time I noticed her mood shift, not in a bad way, more a sudden realisation that it’s time. It was so beautiful, a real moment of emotion.  

After the congratulations, I took the newlyweds and bridal party for their portraits, it was so fun photographing such a large group, the energy was brilliant and mixed with amazing scenery, I could hardly contain myself.  Matt and Rachel, you are both made for each other, it’s so beautiful to see love like that. It was so special to photograph such a beautiful  wedding for two amazing people.

Head over to this link to view a slide show of some of the photographs:
http://natalieannphotography.myshowit.com/rachandmattswedding

Dont forget to let the slide show load all the way first! xx

Stones For Wire

I love jewellery in photo shoots, one focus piece that adds that little extra to the shot. When I stumbled across Stones For Wire and saw they made custom Jewellery I could not resist but to order something special for myself. I will be photographing for Stones ForWire, and on top of them sending me my custom made turquoise ring, they have sent me a beautiful ring with the most dazzling jewel to give away to one of my lucky clients.

I enjoyed doing this shoot. With my model unavailable though, I gave it ago myself and also gave the hair and makeup a try also. It was a little challenging trying to do the hair and make-up, styling, modelling and photographing myself, but I got there in the end. :)

To have the chance to win this amazing ring (above) all you have to do is:

STEP 1 - Like Stonefor Wire fan page http://www.facebook.com/JoannaLaceyUSA
STEP 2 - Share the Natalie Ann Photography fan page on your own page: http://www.facebook.com/NatalieAnnPhotography
STEP 3 -Attend the event on the Natalie Ann Photography fan page.

The winner will be announced 1^st December.

Adelle & Chris' Wedding

Rain or Shine, this couple were not going to let anything get them down on this very special occasion. Their happy, loving energy paid off and the rain held out throughout the whole ceremony.

All I saw was big smiles all day. A very gorgeous bride stayed as relaxed as possible and let me help guide her through the day, which ran smoothly and was absolutely perfect. A very aw-struck groom who could not take his eye's off his bride as she walked towards him. I can tell you there was a lot of kissing going on through-out the day ;)

Pin-Up Girls Glamour Packages

Being a huge huge fan of the old classic movies like Gentlemen Prefer Blonds, Breakfast at Tiffany's and many other films from the 50's & 60's, I decided to start a special photography collection that brings back some of that silver screen glamour.

I love the women and super stars of that era. I wish they still made classic movies. Full of romance, comical scenes, amazing gowns and men that mad you melt. I mean come on, amazing actors who's names still surround us today, Gregory Pack, James Dean, Cary Grant, Gene Kelly & Paul Newman, just to name a few of the men & then you have Marylin Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Rita Hayworth and Bridget Bardo.

It just seemed so glamorous. So inspired by this, I'm offering a Pin-Up Girl Glamour Collection to my photography packages.

There is the classic retro Pin-Up Girl Look:

And also something a little more sexy.

I would also love to include some roaring 20's shots into this collection. This is such a fun girlie shoot to do and the props and costumes are endless! To book a shoot please contact me at info@natalieannphotography.com.au

A Sleeping Garden Gnome

Photographing babies is always a delight. Little Jackson was no exception. He was the most easy going baby I have ever met. So cute and I love his baby rolls! With that big smile, I just melted. Mum and Dad just as chilled out, all in all a lovely afternoon.

I had previously spoken to mum Sophie and mentioned to her I would love to place him in the garden like a little garden gnome. So she took out the old arts and crafts and made a cute little gnome hat. I think she did a great job. We took the garden shots at the end of the shoot, by this time it was time for his nap, so I struggled to get a shot with him awake haha, but I like it anyway - A sleeping garden gnome.

New Logo & a Thought Proccess

In a little celebration of my new logo, I decided to create a series of images that reflect my brand and style of photography.

I wanted my logo to be modern, but with a symbol that reflects me. So after going through many many fonts, I found one that was perfect! I used this font for the N to create my 'symbol' (and it sort of looks like butterfly antenna's, don't you think?) It was perfect, because if you have noticed, my current image that I use against my logo is the self portrait with the butterflies. I also wanted to add a touch of colour and what better colour than Tiffany Blue.

I thought I would share my thought process for when I'm designing an image after I've taken the photo. I took these photo's in my studio using back lighting and a light at the front using a shoot through umbrella & reflector. 

I wont be going into full detail of how I used photo shop, just a basic step by step. I go through this same process for all my clients' photographs. Depending on the image some are more extensive then others.   

Step 1 - After adjusting the image in bridge, I then open it in photo shop. I then just sit for a moment looking at the photograph and deciding what I want out of it. I chose this particular image because it was very simple and I wanted to challenge myself into making it interesting.

Step 2-  The first thing was clear - too much red! So I used curves to reduce the red tones.

Step 3 - The next thing to do was a little re-touching. I used the liquify tool to make the hair bigger, and used the burn tool to darken the eye brows. Eye brows are important as I believe they are like the frame for the eyes. I also lightened the eyes and added highlights to the hair.

Step 4 - The image was looking a bit flat, so I then added highlights to the skin and changed the colour tones.

Step 5- To make the image 'pop' I used 'overlay' at 40% and erased the darker areas to bring back details in the eyes and hair. By using the overlay it provided some contrast. I then added colour to the image using the vibrancy & saturation tool. The next thing I did was to sharpen the image using the unsharp filter.

Step 7 - Since I was trying to make this simple image interesting, I wanted to do something with the background so I dropped the curves right down to bring out the darker tones which in turn brought out  blue colours around the edges.

 I then continued to adjusted it, playing with the curves tool to lighten & darken areas that apealed to me.

Step 8 - I will then usually convert the image to black & white to see what it looks like and if I prefer it.

Once I am happy with the image, I will add my own style to it. Using some photo-manipulation skills, I added butterflies, (since they're my thing at the moment) and again trying to reflect my style and brand.

Here is my final image:

xxxx

Family - Capturing a bond like no other.

A lovely afternoon where I took Amanda, Joe and their little girl Alessia to the park for some relaxed family portraits. Amanda and Joe were so easy going and such a lovely couple that it did not feel like work, but rather hanging out with some friends.

 A special bond.

Play time with Mum.

Family memories.

A beautiful day.

Testimonial:
We were extremely happy with the day as we felt really comfortable. We were really excited to see the photos as we didn't know what you captured due to the nature of the shoot which is what we wanted. It was nice to see our natural faces, expressions and positions captured so perfectly. We are really happy with the photos and now look forward to getting them printed in the near future :)
Thanks again so much Natalie, you have captured such a special moment in our lives in such a special way!
Amanda xo

Kodie

Ok so please, I promise I am not one of those people who are obsessed with their dogs. haha. :) However sorting through all my personal photos and memories and looking back over some of the footage we had collected of Kodie over the last 6 months, it just made me laugh and feel happy seeing how cute he is. The problem was that it was all over the place. So yes I did do a slide show!.

Oh and make the video bigger. It looks better.

These weren't the only photos I went through. I found folders from years ago with friends and family and times that I had almost forgotten about. I recommend everyone to go through and put together their favourite photo's. Go wild do a montage or slide show. :)

Burlesque

The last time I wrote a post about Burlesque was for a show we did in December: http://natalieannblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/burlesque.html and I know this is more of a personal post, but the show we just put on was so bloody fun and exciting I just had to share it.
Fellow photographer Jun Song did an amazing job at capturing the evening and us Burlesque girls in all our glory. :)

Performing in front of 400 guests!

All the extra hard training paid off and I enjoyed every minute of the experience. I am also now inspired to do a special Burlesque style shoot. So all my gorgeous Burlesque girls I'll have a special coming your way soon!

Dress rehearsal, our teachers last minute wise words and getting excited backstage.



After the show, some champagne to celebrate.