How to make your back ground BLACK in a photograph

I have been asked a lot of questions, And I thought it would be nice to share a little of those questions with EVERYONE and make this a learning experience for all. I HIGHLY believe in giving back. I have learned so much from other photographers and if I can help anyone else it would give me great happiness.

alright well first of all I do not have a studio and all of my photos are done with natural light. even the "in studio" looking photos. I would love studio lighting, but I do not have it, and currently do not have a place to do it. As most photographers who are starting out. Also I wanted to say that so you will have the guts to try this out even if you are in your living room.

So what is the secret? is there one? no not really, most of it is just basic camera mumbo jumbo...so here it goes.

Metering is the tool that gets this done. When you look through your cameras view finder you will see the little lines that go from left to right? that is your in camera light meter. It is a fantastic tool that every photographer NEEDS to use. If you have a hand held meter you may use that as well. There are a lot of metering modes. I usually use spot metering as it gives me the ability to pick what I want to meter.

I do all this in manual. I highly encourage you to shoot in manual. To meter for a black back ground you should get in close and meter off of the baby (or persons) skin. set your shutter speed, ISO, and aperture so that your line is in the middle. {In a Canon} to far left and you are underexposed, to far right and you are overexposed I think Nikon is the exact opposite. Back up focus and shoot. Ignoring what your meter is saying now because it will change and go crazy.

Now what a bout the black ground? I have used many things... mostly black cotton jersey sheets that have been thumb tacked to the wall!! (I know classy right) I did build a wood frame (well actually Dear hubby did) that I wrapped black fleece like fabric I got at walmart and that worked Awesome, as it never had wrinkles and was portable. If you are doing natural light it is best to set up in a room with good non direct sunlight. Closer to that window or door is best for directional light.

Of course photo shop is a huge help in this area as well. sometimes in the black pictures, it's just not ALL black and if you do any kind of cropping or clipping or enlarging of the black areas there may be lighter areas that you may not see on your screen, but will show up in printing. I usually do a layer mask and darken the back ground and then mask and erase the areas I want black.


Alright so grab your kids or anyone who is willing to sit still for a few moments. (even if it is just a baby doll) and try this out! GOOD LUCK and Let me know if this was helpful to anyone as this is my first true attempt at trying to explain things like this at all.

Luv, Keri

It's time to start thinking about CHRISTMAS cards!!!

I know CRAZY...right? Even though it is hot enough to not even start thinking about christmas, it is going to be here before you know it!!! Actually I was at the mall and some of the stores have halloween costumes out already... And since my last session available is the last week of November that gives you only 1...2... 2! well 2 1/2 months before that happends. It can't be true you are saying . Well it is. So If you are thinking about getting family pics done this fall for your cards, call quick because I am booking up.

I realize that what I have to offer this year is a bit pricier and a little different than last fall, BUT

$100 print credit can get you a 16x20 portrait of your beautiful family done by an amazing profession print lab! plus a customized Christmas card {instead of the costco generic} if you wish. And the C.D. This package is an amazing deal!

If you are just looking for a quick session of just the kids or just the fam. DO A MINI SESSION!

I am hoping these will book. These are less expensive alternative, but will still be great pics and an amazing experience! If you have any questions about them...let me know.

Contact me:

littlekiwis@yahoo.com

916-295-0219




Ok! I am changing a little bit of my Mini session package. The Urban location date is being moved to November 7th. Sepetember is a little to early for most people, Also...for those of you who want something inbetween a mini session and a regular session I will book a one hour spot for you on a mini session day{only} for $200 and I will give you another 15 images edited.

(P.S. returning clients get 15% off)

Hugs...Keri

Senior model shoot~ Northern California Senior Photographer

Hi! It has been a while since I have posted. Not that I have a TON of followers or anything, but just in case you have been checking in with me, sorry it has been so long and I am excited to be back and start the fall "family christmas card season!". I moved from my 3200 sq foot rental house into a 2 bedroom aparment.... yep you heard that right. I downsized!!! A LOT. I sold enough of my furniture and other stuff to furnish an entire house and still have enough for this house and a storage unit! WOW! but my goal in stuffing my 3 kids and one dog into a 2 bedroom apartment is to save enough money this year to pay off 3 credit cards and and save enough for 10%-20% down on a house before the market starts to go back up... so CRaZy? maybe a little... I like to call it, {waking up to reality} and being responsible. So there it is. I have had a crazy month and just got internet and I am ready to start working :) I feel surprisingly happy about all the time I have to work on photography now that I do not have to clean a humungo house.... hahah!

Well now down to business, few photog friends and I decided to get together. We all needed some Senior photos to add to our portfolios as well as just getting together and having some fun! you can see their sites Katie, Sandy, Tina, Aimee The fun part about doing a shoot like this is we can try some new things, and do stuff I would like to work on. Senior posing is one of those. I also got the chance to work on some things like low light and motion photography. We went to downtown Folsom which is definately going to be one of my new favorite locations!



All these kids were so much fun to work with and so photogenic! It was a breeze to work with them! I have LOVED EVERy senior shoot I have done so far.



Take a peak! there are a lot and so many more..but I could not post them all :) Some of them I will post the data so you can see what my settings were when I took them!



ENJOY! :)

Meet Marrisa

Meet Kate











Tanner

Kaitlyn




These are my low light images we did at a busy intersection. I realalize they are not all

perfectly in focus. Some of them I used a tripod, some of them I did not. I really just

played around with my setting to try out different effects and here you have them.

This is where I am posting my settings, so you can see how I did this. All taken with

my Canon 40D lens 24-70 2.8
this one was without tripod manual mode ,shutter 0.3 sec, f2.8, iso 200, no flash

manual, tripod, f22, 1.6sec, iso 200

manual, tripod, f/4.0, 0.3 sec, iso200 manual, tripod, f/4.0, 1/15sec. ,iso 1600

no tripod, manual, f4.0, 1/60 sec., iso 1400


manual, no tripod f/4.0,1/60 sec., iso 1600 manual tripod f/20, 1.6 sec, iso200

a family of Studs....oh, and a beauty queen! / Linclon, Roseville, Rocklin Ca. family photographer

WEll it is TRUE, she was a beauty Queen! She can seriously pose. SHe is my aunt, and let me tell you...when your 5 ish, there is nothing better than watching your beautiful aunt who you love in a beauty pagent.....or ummm 5! It's like princeses and dresses up, but real!...

And I still think she is amazing. She is like a super swee,t nicer, more beautiful (and less jail birdish) MARTHA! anyone who has ever been to her house or eaten her food knows what I am talking about.

And just look how handsome all those boys are....

I love you guys!!!! mwhaaa from Cali, thanks for trusting me to take your pics!
sorry it's taking so long....

This is them, nicely posing for pictures!!

And this is them 99% of the time!!! :)

This was some of my extended family that was together for the fourth of july. I set up the camera on a tri pod, and got everyone the way I wanted and had the neighbor snap the pic.

Krissy {to me} kristee {to everyone else} / Lincoln, Ca. portrait photographer

Oh yeah, this beauty is my lil' sis. She has been dying to see a pic so here is a peak. I love to capture my family, Kris and her little guy are just so sweet and I love this image of him just loving on her. She is my BFF and we talk like 20 times a day. It's just too bad we live so far away from eachother. When we were kids we fought sosososossoso, I mean I can't even put enough emphasis on how much we fought!!! I never would have thought we would have become as good of friends as we are today.

Kris I heart U! and I am so proud of you for working so hard at L I F E !!! you are such a good example to your son, and I know that special someone will find you guys... good luck with school coming up, You are going to kick some serious booty this year!

I so have beauty envy!!!

Kaden {Lincoln, Ca. newborn photographer}

Oh how I LOVE new borns! I was so happy to get my hands on a tiny little guy to photograph! He did NOT want to cooperate, but with a little patience we captured a few...here are some to ejoy.. have a great day! :)

{can you see me in his eyes!!!!} ?

Time

I am sure that my husbands Uncle Danny would not appreciate me titling this TIME, but when I look at this image it is what I see, He is a hunter, He is kind, and he has lived..and I think you can see all those things in these 2 images.

These were taken at a funeral a few months back as we said goodbye to a loved one. It made me think about life, and about how precious it is and how each moment is so fleeting...we need to try and Cherish those moments, Cherish our loved ones and Cherish the TIME God has given us here on this earth to learn and to grow and to love.