if you could see what I see

Thistles (El Dorado County Fine Arts Photographer)

I love thistles. Not sure why. Maybe it’s the lively colors. Maybe it’s the very defined foliage. I dunno, I just like them. They are popping out in the Angora Fire Area in South Lake Tahoe, CA, right now. I found a whole field of them when I was out with Obie T. (The) Dog on a walk the other day. He always finds good things for me to photograph.

I’ve been working on making my landscape/still life photography better. So, I thought I would practice on these lovely thistles. Besides, I’ve been trying to photograph something interesting to hang in my bathroom, which is green. I thought thistles would add a nice little pop of color to the whole scene.

One of the biggest problems with photographing thistles is that they are only one bloom on top of a long stem. So, you have to make sure your background is pleasing and not distracting. I found that out the hard way one morning after shooting about 25 thistle photos. I failed to isolate the flower and I threw most of my shots away.

Luckily for me, the wildflowers are in full bloom in this area, so I just used the other flowers as background. I took two exposures of this particular scene. The first one (above) has the thistle properly exposed and the background flowers quite light. I like it, but I think I like the next one better. I got more of a silhouette on the thistles but backlight on the thistle-y part. I like this one a lot. Makes them look almost dangerous to touch.

I also tried to isolate one of the thistles a little. I added some texture post process and I rather like how it turned out.

Now, I have a few choices for my bathroom project. I will probably have them printed on canvas and at least 16×20. I think it will look swell. (Does anybody say that anymore?).

PS. If you are interested in purchasing any of these as prints or canvases, contact me at schmautzhaus@sbcglobal.net.

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Building a Portfolio (El Dorado County Portrait Photographer)

Laura met me at the El Dorado Hills Town Center for a photo shoot. She was going to meet with a potential agent and need some portfolio shots. She is a delightful young woman with gorgeous red hair that I wanted to highlight.

In the above photo we placed her against a rustic redwood background and used a simple black bench for her to sit on.

Placing her against the sky not only emphasized her red hair, but it also highlighted her beautiful blue eyes.

Here, she changed into a new outfit. We placed her near some columns and a dark background. This background made her stand out.

She has beautiful, long, lean lines which I wanted to emphasize with the angle of the stair railing and use of the strong architectural lines in the background.

Here she is showing off her curves.

If you want to set up a mini shoot with our studio, send us an email at schmautzhaus@sbcglobal.net. Included in the price is one hour of shooting, one location, one outfit and your choice of 5 edited high resolution photos to download from your personal gallery. Price…$85.00. I promise it will be fast and fun.

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Just graduated and Heading into the future [El Dorado County Portrait and Wedding Photographer]

Six foot three and Four Foot Eleven

I had the honor of photographing a young couple who just graduated from high school. They are heading off into the future of college and jobs and wanted to have some photos to memorialize their relationship while they are away from each other. They chose to have a mini-shoot, which involves one location, one outfit and one hour. I promised to deliver at least 5-7 good shots. They were both very photogenic and extremely cooperative, so I got quite a few more than 7 shots. Here are some examples:

Blue eyes and Brown eyes

Hands

Killer Smiles

Summer: flowers and golden light

This shoot was a lot of fun. It was quick and easy. Contact us if you are interested in a mini-shoot for you, your family, your honey, your pet or anything else. You will get at least 5-7 good shots to download and you will be outta there in no time. I promise it’s painless!

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Flash Class…a family affair {El Dorado County Portrait and Wedding Photographer}

He Could Be Superman

I would like to take this time to thank my family for helping me with my assignments for an Electronic Flash class that I just finished up over at Picture Perfect School of Photography. The class was taught by Bryan Peterson and Charlie Borland online. I enjoyed the class, but sometimes I felt like my eyes were crossing trying to figure out the “Geeky” part of the class. However, both instructors were encouraging and willing to answer any questions that we asked. I also enjoyed seeing the work of other photogs.

The above photo was taken of my youngest son for my last assignment. I had fun using two flashes on either side of him, which gives a unique look to the photo. He must have enjoyed it, too, because he’s using this photo as his Facebook profile pic. He also helped me out on another assignment, below.

The Sky's the Limit

I took him over to a small lake located near our house and we shot a couple of photos looking up into the sky. The flash was used to add a little fill light on the non-sun side of his face. Oh! And here he is again helping me with a two flash set up, again. He didn’t really have to do anything in this shot except look up when I called to him. He was busy working on his computer and listening to his music.

DJ

My kids are so used to me taking photos of them, that they don’t really notice it too much anymore. “It’s just something mom does.” Speaking of kids, I caught my daughter yesterday when she came over to use the community pool. I already had the flashes set up from the Superman shoot that I did with her brother. So, I just sat her down in our rather embarrassingly sparse grass and asked her to give me a few poses. She always has people to see and things to do, so I had to make it fast. We took about 20 photos and it took about 20 minutes from set up to the final snap of my camera. See, it doesn’t have to be painful.

Taking a peek

Although, I did not use the below photo for my class, I liked the way it turned out. He’s such a good sport.

Beam me up...

The last photo was a concept I had in mind and since the Schmautz family always likes to get together and celebrate…it was the perfect opportunity. Luckily, I have a bunch of hams in my family, so this type of shot is not hard to do.

Surprise!

So…I had a great time and learned much in the flash class. If you want to find out what goes on in my household when the fam gets together…check out this Vimeo.

Schmautzhaus Father’s Day, 2011

I would love to make some great portraits of you with my new-found flash skills. Contact me at schmautzhaus@sbcglobal.net to set up an appointment.

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More Napa Landscape (with people) {El Dorado County Environmental Portrait Photographer}

Wish you were here!

My favorite things combined: Landscape photography and People Photography…all in one great weekend. These pics are from my weekend photo adventure and workshop with Mark Behrens and a bunch of wonderful photographers and models. On Saturday we traveled around to a bunch of different wineries and vineyards searching for the National Geographic moment. We had the advice and teaching of a wonderful landscape photographer, Dean Gustafson. He helped me capture the below photo along with several other ones, below. Very nice man. Here’s a few more shots of the landscape portion.