backlight love | hidden valley lake/ lake county ca family/child photographer

It's no secret that one of my favorite ways to shoot is backlit when the sun is low... oh that hazy beautiful light! One thing that really frustrated me as a mom trying to take photos of my kids (before I learned my camera) was not getting what I expected from each shot.  One of these things would be taking a photo backlit, and getting a silhouette rather than detail in my child's face.  So, I thought I would share a little tip if you are having some frustrations. Have you ever went to grab a photo of your child in front of a window (with their back to it) and gotten the window perfectly exposed but your child is so dark the photo is wasted? Now I love silhouettes when that is what you're going for ;)  What's happening is your camera is making it's best guess at what exposure you would like for the image, and since most likely the majority of the scene when backlit is very bright, it will expose for that while leaving your child's face underexposed.  Your camera is probably in evaluation/matrix metering mode, which is fine normally (or if you know how to apply compensation for backlit scenes).  In backlit situations I would switch your camera to "spot" meter mode (check your camera's manual on how to do this).  The camera will then be determining the exposure by a very narrow angle so if you point it at the child's skin you should get a nice exposure.  While you might lose (blow out) some of the background detail, this really doesn't bother me since what I'm concerned with is the expression that is happening :) 

In the photos above, I metered for my baby's face in manual mode, set my exposure, and waited for him to continue his game of "where are you? surprise!" from behind the curtain.  The detail of our yard out the window, the grass, the patio table... are all completely lost.  The camera does not have the dynamic range to capture all the exposures, the range is just too wide.  But that wasn't the foucs of this image and it actually creates quite a clean backdrop.  Now hopefully you can get more of what you want out of your backlit images :) 

whitney + casey | the wedding | geyserville/sonoma/lake county/northern ca wedding photographer

"the best thing is life to hold on to is each other"

Audrey Hepburn

Whitney and Casey have already been together 9 years, that would be, since middle school. They always knew they would be together, but as Whitney put it, she wanted to wait and for it to be perfect. They did not disappoint. Casey waited patiently several nights with a plan to slip the engagement ring on Whitney’s finger while she slept. Night after night she slept on her hands. Eventually Casey had to come up with a backup plan – he tied the engagement ring on to her puppy’s collar. She didn’t notice it right away, and I can only imagine how nervous Casey was that week!

Of course, the rest is history.

I was lucky enough to enjoy a beautiful day with their family and friends, laughing, crying, dancing and crossing our fingers for no rain :)

Wishing them all the best in their future together… and to top it off they are now expecting twin boys!

 

2nd shooter: Jodi Norris-Farres (Photos by JoJo)

Cake: Cristen Helmick

Venue: Geyserville Inn

 

This was my first wedding, and I cannot thank Cindy, Whitney & Casey enough for trusting us to do this for them! I can’t wait to meet those adorable babies :) What a beautiful day it turned out to be.

Also, I can’t. get. over. how gorgeous Whitney is!!

  

what I've been up to... | hidden valley lake/kelseyville/lake county ca family/child/senior photographer

Could I be any worse at blogging? Probably. But really, this is pretty bad! If you want to see my most current work and news, follow my facebook page that place gets updated every week :)

Here is a little update on what I’ve been up to…

 

I was featured on TML focus!! That was very exciting. I was nervous to submit my work, to say the least ;) you can check it out here

Jodi (from Photos by JoJo) is coming out to 2nd shoot and help me with my first wedding this weekend!! Yea!! (please don’t rain) I am beyond excited to be doing this for Whitney + Casey – AND to have Jodi there with me (thanks Jodi!)

Boudoir marathon with makeup by B.Lavish is coming in September! I don’t have exact dates or cost yet but the session will be held in one location and include: makeup by B.Lavish (which is fabulous I must say), a little black book to keep and show off your images, a disc with finalized edits for you to keep and print. Each party will be limited to 5 ladies, so get your friends together!! Keep an eye out to get on the boudoir mailing list ;) I will link the mailing list on the blog and on my facebook page. You can check out a few boudoir images here: www.krystleipsenphotography.com/boudoir

I am now on Yelp! So if you would like to, please post a quick review :)

And finally, some recent images before Whitney + Casey’s wedding takes over the blog this weekend ;)

 

 

loved.

The other day I sat at my desk and I found myself in a fleeting moment of grief. I had to take a moment, to close my eyes, to hang my head, to sigh a deep sigh and then… I heard myself ask myself my god, how do we go on? How do I go on from here? you see, grief is just erratic, and no matter how much I scheduled a day to be sad, sadness did not come that day. It came when it needed to. Last week, we celebrated my dad's life.  Two years ago last Saturday he passed away.  I suspect forever I will find myself in these little moments, these lump in the throat, sick to my stomach moments and asking the same thing, how do I go on from here? how do I pick up the pieces and continue my day?

I looked up slowly to my computer, and I saw this:

 

and a little voice inside me said

love. You go on in love, with love.

I hope you feel loved today.

xo