Creative Lighting/Understanding Lighting

The much anticipated "Lighting Class" is finally here! I've been talking with many of you about a Creative Lighting Class for some time, and am thinking that this month will be the perfect time!! My favorite time of the year is between Christmas and New Years, all the lists are done, the kids are playing with their new stuff, the weather is fantastic, and there is still left overs, so I don't have to cook much! So, here is my After Black Friday Special:

Creative Lighting Class/Understanding Lighting

Photo Shoot included!!
This is a 3 hour class - we will spend the first 1/2 of the class learning about all the different types of lighting, how to make the best of them, and when to try what. We'll spend the second 1/2 of this class on location, with models, shooting all of the concepts that we've just learned. We'll have at least 2 models, so you'll also gain some insight on posing. You must be able to shoot in Manual Mode to attend this class or have attended my basic photography classes before!

Here is what we will be studying in depth:
Front light
Side light
Back light
Full Sun vs. Shade (when and how to use both)
Silhouettes
"the Cave"
Moody Lighting
Artistic Lighting
Sunsets
and achieving fantastic "Sun Flare"
(as seen below)

The class will be held on Saturday, Jan. 2nd from 2:30 - 5:30

The class will normally be $125, but my After Black Friday Special is $95!

There will be a limited number of seats, so I can give special attention to everyone. This will make a great Christmas gift, and I do have certificates available! In fact, call me and I can play "Secret Santa" for you!

To register, just click zip me an email:
amy@amyfraughtonphotography.com

Hope you can join us!!

Beach Sun Flare

This is the last of my beach pics, and I am so excited to share them, since they turned out so different than the others. Lots to be learned about lighting from this shoot. It was done in the afternoon, and so the background is washed out, and is why it has such a cool effect on the image. There was also a bit of a fog, and it made such a unique, artsy, cool effect on the pictures too (mostly visible on the image in the above post). The funniest thing about this week was the boys vs. girls. In the shoots I had with all boys, the whole family would end up in the water, playing. There was no choice in the matter, the boys would just get in, farther and farther during the shoot. I loved it. I love the natural playing, and just capturing them running and having fun in the waves. But the sessions I did that had all girls in the family, well, they didn't get in the water at all. They still ran, played, and had a blast, but they were wet up to their waists. I should've known, but it was funnier to watch, by the end of the week I was shooting in my swimsuit, sundress and hair in a bun. Of course, I could live like that... well, except for the swimsuit, that gets a bit annoying :)

Miracle baby rolls over!

So, this week, I am so excited for Thanksgiving. I'll be more excited when I am done baking 4 pies, and making 2 salads and homemade stuffing (still need a good recipe for this - anyone?). I do love to cook for Thanksgiving, homemade is always the best. One year we ate somewhere where everything served was from a can, a box, or from grocery store, and oh, how I missed my Mom's cooking. My parents are out of the country serving a mission in the beautiful St. Lucia, so the dinner will be here at my house. My poor kids have been doing all kinds of extra housework the last couple of days...my poor kids, ha! I always love a long chore list for them, it's what I grew up on, and helped me develop a good work ethic today. So, do I feel bad when they complain about the cleaning the dust under the couches, dusting the piano, and sweeping the stairs... uh, not even. They've got it easy in comparison. I was mowing the orchard at their ages, and that was just one of my chores. Thanks Dad! I'm thankful for those long lists of chores.

Okay, I must now share the next set of beach pictures with this sweet family, who were blessed with a miracle baby this year! She was so stinkin' cute and soo good for the shoot, she rolled over for the first time in front of the camera! It was soo fun! This Mom is so smart to cherish her pictures the way that she does! She will never regret it! We took some traditional family shots, but I loved these "lifestyle" shots, and had to share them!




The shot above is the one that I can picture nice and large. It's proof that you don't have to have every face looking at the camera and smiling. This just shows them having such a great time together, and it's so natural!



And here is the famous first roll over!! Is that not the cutest thing?

Christmas Cards!!

Christmas is just around the corner, and I have had many requests for Christmas cards this year, and so am very happy to announce these available designs. These are just the front sides, and of just a few. I actually have around 20-25 designs. The rest can be viewed on my website in a proofing gallery that I have set up. If you are interested in the other designs, please email me, and I will email you back the instructions on how to view the gallery.

I have decided to offer excellent pricing on the cards, and believe me, they are the highest quality papers and colors used. All cards will be printed double sided (when the design is available) on fine linen or pearl papers, depending on the client's choice, and do come with envelopes.

Each set is a pack of 25, and must be purchased in those increments.

1 - 4x5.5 linen set = $40
1 - 4x5.5 pearl set = $50

1 - 5x7 linen set = $50
1 - 5x7 pearl set = $60

This includes adding in your photos (whether or not it was taken by me), and adding the family names. Any additional changes in the wording, amount of photos on the card, colors on the card, etc. is an additional $20.

Any Full Resolution Christmas card digital image with basic changes= $35

Beach Babes

There really are no words needed to describe how much fun this family was to do pictures with... check them out for yourself!!

The Beach Boys

I am swimming in beach pictures in my office, and they are all to-die-for!! I am sorry if you missed out, it was so fun, and these families will cherish these pics forever! A great investment!! I will be booking now for next year, so let me know if your ready for me to hold your spot. October 2010. Check out this darling family - Mom picked out the beach, which I will be going back to, I love, love, loved it! I'm still trying to decide which of her sons I want my daughter to marry!! They couldn't take any bad pictures!

MINI PHOTO SESSIONS!!

I am soo excited!! I have teamed up with the Glitterbox to do 2 days of Mini Photo Sessions over the Thanksgiving weekend!! YEAH!! We will be shooting at the Glitterbox at San Tan mall for a few hours on Thursday morning, and a few hours on Friday morning. So here is how it all works:

for only $199
the following is included:
Updo ($25) and sitting fee ($75)
1 - 11x14 fine quality matted print ($65)
2 - 8x10 fine quality matted prints ($90)
20% off any additional print orders
CD of all low res images - 5x7 or smaller ($75)
Good for one child, add $30 for each additional child
$330 value - u save over $130!!

This is a great opportunity for you to get some great shots of your kids without doing an entire session! Believe me, you won't regret it!! To book, you must go to the Glitterbox. It is across from Dillard's next to Dairy Queen at the San Tan Mall. If you have any questions about it, feel free to call me at 480-296-9212, or email me at amy@amyfraughtonphotography.com
See you there!

A few items of interest... like payment plans and tweens

Just wanted to share how my payment plans work, since someone asked the other day.... I am totally flexible, but here's what I have going now.... As long as your session fee is paid in full before your session, you can break that into weekly, biweekly, monthly, or semi-annual payments :) As for the packages, at the time of order we will work out a calendar together, you will receive your order once I have at least 1/2 of the total, and all of the future payments in my hand (like post dated checks, or a debit card number). So, there it is, it's used often, cause it works great for more people who want amazing photos! I had a blast today shooting a mini Birthday shoot for one lucky 13 year old, whose super cool Mom arranged for me to do a photo shoot with her and her 2 buds. Even luckier, my daughter was one of the buds. I un-invited the Mom. Rude of me? No, not at all, it just works better for the tweens sometimes to not have Mom around watching. Can't wait to post some of the very cool and very creative stuff we did.

I've been wanting to post before and afters for a long time. I want newer photographers to realize that my "straight out of camera" shots are not so pretty. So much happens in Photoshop.

So.... here are a couple of examples. My sisters are always saying, "you don't have to do all that editing to ours, don't worry, we don't care..." but I truly can't let them out of my office with out being edited. And yes, sometimes it takes a long time and alot of work - but it's fun! Can you tell which are the before and which are the after pics?

Congratulations Ailene!!

Hands up for Ailene C!! Ailene won the grand prize from this weekend's boutique's!! She will be receiving a free photo session, (valued at $200)!! Can't wait to hook up with you Ailene!

We alse have a handful of runner up winners! Congrats to all of you as well!!

Amy

Room for Fall pics

Hey everyone,

I do still have space to squeeze in another fall shoot - the leaves are now at 100% change in Oak Creek Canyon where I will be shooting very soon! I am soo excited! I announced to my kids we'll be doing pictures there, the boys groaned. Oh well for them, I can't be up there, with all the beautiful fall colors shooting for others, and not grab some pics of my own kids.

If your interested in doing a photo shoot in the the fall leaves on Oak Creek Canyon, email me for the available dates!

Amy
amy@amyfraughtonphotography.com

The coolest relationships...

I've got to tell you about this amazing girl, her amazing Mom, and her 2 amazing brothers, and their amazing relationship... but, really, I hope the pictures tell the story better than the words, because that was my goal.

Meet Caleigh, full of life, naturally beautiful, always cheerful, always dancing! She is such a breath of fresh air!




Meet Caleigh's Mom, Charlotte Steill, also full of life, also beautiful, and have I told you about her before? Yes, she is the professional organizer - my pantry and I both love her (more about that soon). These 2 are so close. They love to snuggle on the couch, watch movies, go shopping, and much more. They also love Sprinkles cupcakes, like my daughters and I do!


Can you tell what book they are reading? Yeah, my 13yr. old daughter spotted "Twilight" before I could even ask.

Meet Caleigh's 2 half brothers. I hope this picture "tells the story" of how they adore her so, and how she adores them even more. It is truly the sweetest thing to watch... here was my attempt below.



The "secret handshake" with one brother.

The other brother, he plays and plays, and she dances and dances...



And here is some of my art.... with great people in it...





You can imagine how much fun this was so shoot! Caleigh's Mom was so great to pull this together for Caleigh and her brothers (they have the same Dad) to document their relationship! It was truly my honor to be around them and witness the respect and admiration they all had for each other.

It's funny, you spend an hour or maybe two with a family, and your not interviewing them, your not asking a hundred questions, but in that short time, you can totally "get" people's personalities, and how the relationships work. Who admires who, who's the funny one, who is the thoughtful one, who creates the peace. It is a joy to watch and be a part of and record all at the same time, and I always hope that I record it right.