When I browse around the web looking for fresh ideas and looking at all kinds of photographer’s sites, I have noticed a trend… It seems like so many photographers as of late, seem to advertise that they use “natural light” as if there are more advantages of using it to create images, as opposed to using other means of artificial light to create lighting for the portraits they create.

To those of you who are not photographers, let me en”light”en you a bit.  Natural light does create beautiful photos, and I love to use it quite a bit myself when the light is right or depending on what look I am trying to create, but that being said, there are many times that you might need to boost the “natural light” because either there just might not be enough of it to create a  portrait, or you want a totally different look for your portrait with more drama and depth.

What you need to understand as a consumer, is that learning to use and create light where you need it when you need it is one of the most difficult things for a photographer to learn, it’s much more than just putting a flash on a camera and it takes years of study and practice to master it on top of the many other things that go into creating a great portrait.  Most photographers start out shooting all natural light for this reason, and either they choose not to go further in their education or they have and have not yet mastered it.  Some do prefer to use it exclusively even though they have mastered this, but many times the photographer chooses to do this, because they have not yet developed a complete understanding of light and how use it and how it can affect the portraits they create.  When you have mastered the use of artificial light, it opens up so many more options for your portraits as well as provide you an opportunity to shoot at different times of day and in many different places that might not have good natural light for the subject.

Here is a beautiful example of the use of natural light at a wedding, the light was absolutely perfect and it was the perfect time of day:

The photo I am about to share with you below; however,  is an example of a wedding portrait taken at the worst possible time of day for natural light, around 12 noon with no shade in sight.  At this location, the light was completely horrible.  Had I used only natural light for this photo, one of two things would have happened,  the first being the beautiful temple behind my bride and groom would have been beautifully lit and lovely, but my bride and groom, would have completely been in shadow, and you would not have been able to see their faces, or the second option would leave my bride and groom recognizable with dark horrible shadows around their eyes even though they would be exposed correctly but the temple and surroundings behind them would’ve been so overexposed and bright you wouldn’t be able to tell how beautiful they truly were on that day.  The key is knowing how to use artificial light in conjunction with the natural light to get a beautiful exposure on both my subjects and background to achieve the desired look.  Here’s the photo from that day:

So now in conclusion, I would like to give you some examples of why you might want to be able to supplement your photos with artificial light to create a different effect or give your photos more drama.  I would like to thank my two beautiful daughters for braving the elements today so that we could take the following photos to show you the difference.  The first photo was taken with all natural light, which is a great photo, well exposed and beautiful.  I really like this photo of my girls:

The next photo is at the same location, same time of day, with the same type of pose, but using artificial light to create a different more dramatic photo.  I don’t just really like this one, I LOVE IT!:

Here they are side by side so you can really see the difference:

I hope that by sharing this with you, you now have a better understanding in what you are looking for in a photographer, and while there are those out there who use natural light exclusively and beautifully, there are those out there that  just may not know how to get a great portrait for you when the natural light isn’t perfect.

I hope I can continue this wonderful and exciting journey in my life learning how to bend and use the light, it takes a lifetime to master.

Well, it’s that time of year where everyone is getting fired up for Christmas, and getting all spiffed up to take family portraits for their Christmas cards.  Well, here at our house its no different, well except for a crazy husband that shouts out random funny things to get us all to smile when we are trying to get some shots of us for our Christmas cards.  I really can’t share what he shouted out, because to be honest even though it made us all laugh like crazy, it’s just a tiny bit embarrassing.  I thought I would share one of the crazy out-takes from our attempts.  We were all laughing so hard!  I was falling out of my seat I was laughing so hard as I was trying my best to get in my seat and beat the self-timer on my camera.  This shot as funny and imperfect as it is has became my instant favorite and will make the front of our family’s Christmas card this year.  Of course we also have some of the nice smiley ones on our card as well where everyone is looking at the camera and trying to put our best faces forward, but this one is still my favorite, because it is us, the way we are….

Had a bunch of fun shooting a quick session of Austin and Lauryn.  Austin is so big compared to his sweet little sister.  They both had beautiful smiles and were so easy going.  It seems I need to be a little more careful when pronouncing words, because what I say is not always heard the way I said it.  It’s funny to hear what people can come up with when I say the word ‘bumblebees’.  Here’s a few of my favorites from the day.

I had posted earlier about lovely Miss Kendall and about what a great family I got to spend some time with shooting pictures the other day.  They had made arrangements to shoot at a lovely beautiful old home, and there were so many places to shoot on the property we never made it to them all.  Susan and Todd were so fun, and I loved their personalities.  It’s always nice to have people who like to joke around and don’t seem to take themselves so seriously.  I thought I would share some of my favorites of Susan and Todd from the day and one of their family.  One of them I am going to post not only the color version of it,  but the black and white as well, just because I don’ t know which way I love it best.  Thanks so much guys for allowing me to take your family photos!!

Had a great time this past weekend shooting some pictures for a great family…how cute they were!!!   All of them!   While we were shooting, Kendall and I decided we wanted to take some shots of her with her fur covered hood pulled around her face, and I while I am sitting here processing her family photos I just had to skip forward to this one of her because it caught my attention…  What big beautiful blue eyes you have!  Thought I would share it since it jumped out at me.

I got to spend a crazy busy day with the Good Hope High School Band.  I had a great time with the kids goofing off and trying to get them to smile.  It was really fun, but when I got home I was ready to crash!  Their portraits turned out great!  What a good looking group!  Thought I would share a few from the day.  I would like to thank Mr. Parker, Mrs. Hoffman, Mrs. Fowler, Mrs. Presto, and Chase for all your work that day!!  Nothing better than great band director, and a group of great band parents accompanied by a hard working drum major!  Here are some of the photos from the day:

I have always said that I don’t shoot weddings, but apparently sometimes I do!  LOL.  I had the pleasure of spending time with Abby and Sean on a lovely fall day, experiencing the craziness and beauty that was their wedding day.  They were married in St. John’s Evangelical Protestant Church and I fell in love with the stained glass windows in the chapel.  Abby was a stunning bride, and her bridesmaids were cute as a bug as well!  I hope you enjoy some of these sneak peeks from the wedding!  The ceremony was very precious!  Abby & Sean, you won’t have to wait too much longer for all your images.  Congratulations as you both start this new and wonderful journey in your lives!

It’s really hard to take a good photo of yourself, or at least it is for me.  I have always been one of those people who just feel awkward and have a hard time in front of a camera anyway, so that’s why I always ended up behind one.  I would like to thank my hubby (who has also been my assistant from the beginning) for taking my new updated profile picture for me.  He is absolutely fantastic at setting up my lights and all kinds of other things I need him to do, but he struggles behind the camera with the settings and capturing things just at the right moment just as much as I struggle to be in front of a camera.  But he stepped up to the plate, and he took out some time to let me get things set up for him and take a new updated photo of me for my website.  I think he did a great job!  He has always been my #1 supporter and I love him for it.  It’s been a rough last couple of months around here due to my grandfather being sick, and also I had a nasty neck injury that had kept me from doing many things that I wanted to do.  He’s been there for me through that holding my hand, while I was sad, and through a not so fun treatment for my neck, and it’s nice to get a new updated fresh photo and to try and make a new and fresh start this fall.  Anyways, I just wanted to say to him “Thank you, and I love you!  Everything you do is so appreciated!”

So here’s a larger version of my new profile picture he took:

I would like to post a picture in loving memory of  Julius Washington Bowen, my grandfather.   He will be missed, but I know he is joyous because he can now be with his wife, son, and daughter, who had already left this earth before him.  Times like this in my life make me realize  just how precious pictures of the ones you love truly are, even if they are not a planned portrait.  We had visited my Paw Paw over the holidays and my children had brought their little point and shoot cameras they had received for Christmas, so I decided to grab one of them and take a quick portrait of him.  I can now always remember just how he was, sitting in his chair that he always kept covered with a sheet, wearing his hat, and a blue jacket that he always wore.  I don’t think I can ever remember him without a jacket like the one he wore in this picture.  He wore one like it pretty much all his life.  I hope that my story and this photo will inspire those of you out there to take pictures of your family and treasure them, even if you don’t take the time to have a professional portrait made.  The memories they hold are so priceless.  I love you Paw Paw.

I had the opportunity last weekend to go and assist and second shoot a wedding with my friend Tyson Zahner.  I had a nice road trip on the way that took me through Kentucky and Illinois on the way.  I absolutely fell in love with Kentucky on the way through.  It seems as if it’s a requirement to have an old barn to live in Kentucky.  I loved looking at all of them.  It was a lovely day for Heather and Casey’s wedding.   Just perfect weather and Heather and Casey were such fun!  Here are a couple shots I managed to get in between moving light stands and holding equipment for Tyson.