I'm back!

Well I'm back after being long gone and have lots of news to share and update my handful of followers.

1. My dear little sister had her beautiful son on August 10, 2010 I had the privilege to be by her side after a failed induction. Isvi Bradley Cantu was born via C-Section. A gorgeous big boy weighing in at 7lbs 11.8 oz. I was deeply moved to be the first person (besides hospital staff) to hold him. he was all bundled like a burrito, warm and snug, with eyes still closed but he had let out his first cries and was ready to take on the world.

Of course having an aunt who loves to take pictures Isvi had to succumb to being a newborn model, he was awesome and slept the entire time :) giving me the opportunity to create these beautiful photos.



2. Three days after my nephew's birth I found out that I too was going to have a baby, I had a feeling it could be but of course I was not a psychic and I had to test to make sure. For those of you that know me personally, then you understand why getting a positive pregnancy test doesn't mean I'm jumping up and down with joy, instead a time of worry and uncertainty. Somehow this third time around I felt confident, having lived through the horrible experience of loving a baby and then not bringing him home,  then followed by a beautiful pregnancy and a precious 4yr old by my side things seem to be balanced, I know how to prepare for both cases.

I'm currently 21wks pregnant and we are expecting another boy, we have decided on his name but it certainly is the only thing we have prepared for. Jiraiya Alejandro will come into this world mid April of 2011. Under bittersweet circumstances as we are still unsure of the possibility of Miguel being here for the birth.

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I heart Faces Photo Challenge

I love the challenges at iheartfaces.com I've been tempted to enter BUT never got around to it. I have so many "beach fun" photos that it was hard to decide which to use.

We recently spent about a week and a half in Brownsville, Tx waiting on the birth of my nephew and while my sister was still pregnant we went to the beach for some maternity photos. I had no where to leave my son so he came along and played in the sand to his heart's content. I told him he couldn't go in the water because I couldn't keep an eye on him all the time so he made the most of the sand!

Mikey LOVES the beach and sand he always ends up looking like a sugar donut

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Two Secrets

You finally saved enough money for a DSLR camera and realize after a few pictures that it's not anything like you thought it would be. There is a lot to learn, f/stop, ISO, shutter speed. Lots of terminology and lots of confusion. Where do you go from there...

First and most importantly KNOW YOUR CAMERA know where all the buttons are located and what each does, the only way to do this is by reading your camera manual and then re-reading it and re-reading it once more, become familiar with the terminology. Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony, Olympus, all different cameras but they all do the same thing, capture light.

Second PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, each moment as insignificant as it may be is the perfect opportunity to practice. You will only get better by learning what you have done wrong, so practice and review your photos then read your camera manual again!

I could go on and on and on about the things you practice on and what settings to put your camera in, but maybe another day. For now this is what I want to share with you.

KEEP YOUR ON BOARD FLASH OFF!!!

The easiest way to ruin a shot is with on camera flash it can ruin the mood of a photograph.  like in these examples first is without flash for a result with smooth shadows and soft skin. second shows bright spots on skin and some hard shadows becoming a true nightmare to edit.

 

Not all low light situations require the use of flash, particularly your pop up flash. The way it is designed just doesn't allow flexibility of use, it is hard to diffuse and the result is less than flattering in close up situations.

A little thinking goes a long way, there are all sorts of creative ideas to explore when it comes to building your own "natural light studio" takes no effort at all costs little money, if you keep it simple and makes for some great photos.

for a super simple set up this is all you will need:

a room in your home with a lot of natural light
I used a blanket for the backdrop but a sheet or even the plain white wall will work just fine

I covered the beanbag with towels so that I don't have the color showing through the thin blanket

Ideally you would have a backdrop stand but on a limited budget your own "studio" is very much possible

with a willing subject this easy set up will yield photos like this:

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Dinosaur Party

After being postponed one month and then cancelled for another two weeks we finally celebrated Mikey's 4th Birthday. He  chose a Dinosaur theme and it turned out beautiful. It was rushed, hectic, crazy and most of all FUN. I wish I took pictures of the "details" but I didn't I hope my sister or SILs  took some I'll update with theirs soon. Here are a few of the most memorable moments.


It was also Tia Maty's birthday on the day we celebrated mikey so she got a surprise as well :)

Yep It's My Party and I'll Cry If I want To

T-Rex Face

Daddyn on Pinata Duty

Tia Maty has a Chicken Pinata waiting outside for her!!

YEA

and a special gift from her mom

 A wonderful end to a beautiful day

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Diaper Cake

My little sister is having a baby in about 3 weeks I'm so thrilled, I already have a nephew but he is my Brother-in-Law's boy so even though I love him very very much I can't compare the kind of love I feel for my blood nephew I have not met him yet only felt him move. I feel like I know him I can't wait to hold him and give him lots of love. I am gearing up for the many photo sessions I will have with him :) I love newborn sessions :D (will blog on that soon). so In preparation for my sister's baby shower this Friday I made my first diaper cake!!! after rolling 84 size 2 diapers I must say my hands are tired but the result is well worth it.

Ingredients:

box of diapers your choice brand and size, bigger diapers you will need less, and smaller diapers more.

scissors and scotch tape

paper  any kind ( I used my printer paper) cut in strips and then those strips cut in half

 ribbon

the first thing you will have to do is roll the diapers, start with the top part of the diaper facing you and the front to the bottom of the table like this:

then you will place a strip of paper under the rolled diaper, and wrap it around finishing with a piece of tape

roll all the diapers this way how many will depend on the size of your diaper cake

from there the next step would be making the "layers" for that you simply make a circle with the diapers I started with 7 and wrapped a paper around them then add more to make a bigger circle, wrap and tape the paper to look like  like this:

Now stack your layers from largest to smallest like this ( I added a bottle to the to player as a "cake topper" but you can add anything) :

Lastly you will wrap ribbon around the layers to hide the paper, and decorate with baby items like this :

there's always room for improvement but I like how fun this one turned out.

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