2008 February - Shelley Paulson Photography Blog

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February27th

Derek and Reneé Loux Family

Posted in: 06 - Slice of Life Families

Two weekends ago, I had the privilege to photograph Derek and Reneé Loux and their beautiful girls. We had SO MUCH FUN together. All the girls were easy to photograph and showed such trust to reveal themselves to the camera they way they did. Two of the girls are biological children, and three are adopted. I didn’t know very much of their story, but could see the immense love and bond in this family. There is no difference between biological and adopted – they are all loved deeply and are ONE as a family.

Fast forward to today – Derek came to our class to speak about being a father to the fatherless. In his message, he shared about how these each of these girls came into their lives. By the time he was speaking about the last one, I was in tears. They have such a beautiful story of love and the spirit of adoption.

One of the primary reasons they asked me to do this session is that the Loux family is adopting again. This time, they are choosing two special needs boys from eastern Europe to come into their family. If these boys are not adopted, they will go into a system where they will live out their lives in virtual isolation and likely die at a young age. To read more about their upcoming adoption, visit Tracie Loux’ blog. They needed updated photos for their adoption dossier.

Derek and Reneé have a vision to adopt many more children and start a ministry here in Kansas City for orphans that will be staffed by young people from the House of Prayer. These kids will be raised in an environment of prayer and worship and the study of the Bible. It’s an amazing, God-sized vision.

Derek is also a superb musician and songwriter with several CDs available through the IHOP Bookstore and iTunes.

Okay, enough about the family, I bet you’re ready to see some photos!

The whole fam!

Tamron 28-75, F5.6, 1/60, ISO 1250

“K” was a natural in front of he camera.

Canon 135mm, f3.2, 1/160th, ISO 640

Canon 135mm, f3.2, 1/200, ISO 640

“T” is just sparkly, don’t you think?

Canon 85mm, f3.2, 1/100th, ISO 640

Canon 85mm, f3.2, 1/100th, ISO 640

“S” is fun-loving, and shares my passion for HORSES!

Canon 85mm, f3.2, 1/250th, ISO 640

Canon 50mm, f3.2, 1/250th, ISO 640

“T” has such pretty hair and eyes. She has an amazing spirit and faith to move mountains.

Canon 135mm, f2, 1/320th, ISO 500

Canon 85mm, f2, 1/400th, ISO 500

“M” – So sweet and tender. That smile could melt any heart!

Canon 135mm, f3.5, 1/160th, ISO 640

Canon 135mm, f3.5, 1/160th, ISO 640

After doing portraits, I did some more “lifestyle” photography of the kids doing what they normally do…

This is the door to “T’s” room. It has powerful quotes from Mother Theresa, the Bible and others.

Canon 17-40 at 17mm, f4, 1/60th, ISO 1250

Canon 17-40 at 28mm, f4, 1/30th, ISO 1250

This is a new favorite of mine. I love the way they are looking intensely into each other’s eyes.

Tamron 28-75 at 67mm, f2.8, 1/320th, ISO1250

Animal lover…

Tamron 28-75 at 45mm, f2.8, 1/60th, ISO1600

Duck lover…

Tamron 28-75 at 60mm, f2.8, 1/250th, ISO1000

“T” and “K” are sisters. They were adopted at the age of 10 from the Marshall Islands, where Reneé’s mom was a missionary, and where Derek had spent a year as a missionary (and fell in love with Renée). It was the point in Derek’s story today, when he told of how he actually held these girls when they were newborns that the tears welled up in my eyes. He held them as infants, then 10 years later, he was adopting them as his own.

Canon 17-40 at 17mm, f4, 1/60th, ISO 1250

The girls really love their dad.

Canon 50mm, f4.5, 1/100th, ISO 1250

God is up to something good with these two. Something really good.
Thank you for letting me into your lives for a few hours. You blessed me immensely!

Canon 135mm, f4, 1/125th, ISO 500
February22nd

Friday Photo Tip – Steadying Yourself

Posted in: 10 - Photography Tips
Sorry this tip is coming to you late in the day – I kept forgetting about writing it except when I wasn’t around my computer!

Last week, I shared on how to work with high ISOs when shooting in low light. This week, I’m going to share on how the steady yourself to shoot at lower shutter speeds. Keep in mind the idea that for normal situations, you should be able to hand hold the lens and not get camera shake if you keep your shutter speed at 1/focal length. So if your focal length is 50mm, you should be able to keep the camera steady (without any of these tricks) at 1/50th. At 200mm, you want to be around 1/200th. If you have a lens or camera with image stabilization or vibration reduction, you can go lower. With these tips and a medium focal length, you should be able to take good shots a 1/15th!

Hold the camera and lens properly
The steadiest way to hold a camera is to put the bottom of the camera on top of the part of the palm of your hand, then use your fingers to zoom and/or focus the lens. Resting the camera on your hand will add steadiness.

1. Steady your arms on a stationary object.
I will often put my elbows on a table, or fence, or chair to steady the camera. You are basically making your arms a human tripod. If you can’t find a stationary object, bring your elbows in and rest them on your body (ribcage). I will also sometimes lean against a wall for more stability.

2. Take your photo as you exhale.
Inhale, exhale part way, take the picture, exhale. Sharpshooters are taught to shoot this way, it works for photo shooters too. Holding your breath for too long can make you more tense.

3. Use your camera strap
If you shorten your camera neck strap a bit, then put it around your shoulder and bring up the camera to your eye, with the strap pulled tight, the tension will actually steady your camera.

4. Take three or four photos in quick succession
I’ve found that if you do this, one will be sharp. Usually one of the middle ones.

5. Hold steady after the photo is taken
Don’t be tempted to take the camera away from your eye too quickly to look at the picture. Hold steady for just a few moments after taking the photo to make sure you aren’t prematurely moving your camera while you’re pressing the shutter.

6. Practice!
The best way to get good at slow shutter speeds is to practice and find out what works for you.
Everyone’s steadiness is a little different, and just like last week, I recommend that you EXPERIMENT with these techniques before using them in a critical situation.

Here’s my experiment, shot out our back door just now with my 85mm lens, f1.8, 1/15th, ISO 800. You can see that I didn’t have camera shake in the fact the the moon is round. Some shots had shake and the moon was oblong. If you have any tips, please leave them in the comments!
February19th

Arabian Horses in the Snow

Posted in: 01 - Horses

We didn’t finish the class critique on Monday, so I’ll be posting my class’ photos next Monday in the blog.

The day before we headed south to Kansas City, it was a balmy 6 degrees in Minnesota. My friend Ross Danielson of Danielson Arabians wanted me to photograph a bunch of horses before we left so I could update his web site with the new photos. Tracy also came out to get video footage a couple of horses.

It was cold. So cold that our equipment was struggling. Tracy’s camera has a lot more moving parts and only lasted about a half hour. My camera worked fine, but my Sigma 70-200 zoom got too cold and wouldn’t zoom or focus after about an hour. Thankfully I have my 135mm prime lens, so I switch to it and finished out the session, at which point it, too, stopped focusing.

But you know what? I hardly noticed the cold. I was out for an hour and a half straight and I was SO HAPPY! At one point, I took notice of this and just drank it in with a big smile on my face. I LOVE to photograph horses. It is my absolutely favorite type of photography. I have considered quitting all other kinds of photography and JUST photographing horses because I feel totally ALIVE when I have a camera in my hands and a horse in front of it – more than when I photograph any other subject. I’m not sure why it is, but this is truly a passion for me. It must be for me to stand out in six degrees for an hour and a half and feel exhilaration and keep a smile on my face.

It didn’t hurt that the sun was out and these horses are breathtaking. Mostly we just let them run around and be spirited. We took a few head shots and halter shots too, but I’m mostly going to share the shots of them playing in the snow.

Ready?

Sigma 70-200 at 200mm, f5, 1/2000, ISO 125

Sigma 70-200 at 200mm, f5, 1/2000, ISO 125

Sigma 70-200 at 200mm, f5, 1/2000, ISO 125

Sigma 70-200 at 200mm, f5, 1/2000, ISO 125

Sigma 70-200 at 200mm, f5.6, 1/2000, ISO 125

Sigma 70-200 at 103mm, f5.6, 1/2000, ISO 125

Sigma 70-200 at 126mm, f5.6, 1/1600, ISO 125

Sigma 70-200 at 200mm, f5.6, 1/2000, ISO 125

Canon 135, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 125

Canon 135, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 125

Canon 135, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 125

Canon 135, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 125

Canon 135, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 125

And finally, a new photo for my “humor” gallery…

Canon 135, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 125