Best Places in Austin for Senior Portraits

Austin Texas…The Live Music Capital of the World…what a beautiful place we live in.  It’s a photographer’s dream. North, South, East, and West…there are so many unique places in this melting pot.  We have our favorites for photographing weddings of course, but Senior Portraits are a blast to shoot around this city.

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Here are some of our favorite places to photograph Senior Portraits in Austin in no specific order.

#1 – Radisson – This beautiful riverside hotel backs up to Town Lake and is short walk to the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge.  There are so many places to photograph around the Radisson we couldn’t even pick just one.  http://hotels.radisson.com/tx/austin/hotels_austin_tx_txaustdt.html

#2 – South Congess (SoCo) – This hip strip features an array of eclectic shops, restaurants, boutiques, antiques, music venues and galleries. With lots of color and life down here, photographing in SoCo is a revolving backdrop to play with.

#3 – Mills Pond – Mills Pond is a little hidden gem in North Austin off of Wells Branch.  A nice walking trail outlines this pond as well as cool swings, benches, rocks, and covered pier.  You wouldn’t believe it’s in the middle of the city!

#4 – Texas Capital Building – no explanation needed.

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#5 – Brushy Creek – A 90+ acre park.  Where do we start?  This is just a great place if you are in the outdoor mood and want more natural backdrops.  We could even stop for a picnic!

#6 – Chisholm Trail Park – Home of the famous Round Rock, this place it all – a water fall (small),  big rocks, beautiful bridge, interesting trees and even a little old school house looking building with a tall staircase.  You should defintiely check it out if you haven’t been here.

#7 – UT Campus – fun, fun, fun!

These are 7 of our favorite places to photograph your Senior Pictures.  Have a place in mind?  Leave your comments and let us know!

 

Tips for Stunning Senior Portraits

There are so many tips out there from clothing choices to make up and hair to location and even props.  When it comes to Senior Portraits, you want to be especially thoughtful about all these aspects.  These are your Senior Portraits!  They stay with you (or haunt you) the rest of your life they deserve more thought than just a trusty ol’ letter jacket and cap and gown.  Here are some tips for this very special time in your life:

#1 – Stick to YOU and your normal clothing style but kick it up a notch.  Keep the essence of you because you don’t want to look at the pictures 10 years down the line and realize you never wore that sweater again after your Senior Portraits because you didn’t really like it to begin with!JJ Photography (44 of 69)

#2 – Practice your smile.  You probably want to do this when you know your little brother won’t be spying on you in the bathroom but cheese it up in front of the mirror.  See what angles you like and what looks most natural.

#3 – Spend some time piecing together different tops with different bottoms and add in a variety of shoes and/or jewelry.  See what looks good. Get the opinions of your friends.

#4 – Remember that dark colors are slimming and stay away from patterns.  They take away from your gorgeous face!

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#5 – Get plenty of sleep the night before and make sure you have plenty of time to get ready.

#6 – Avoid sparkles or shimmer on your face. Enhance your eyes with a really good make-up job.

#7 – Schedule for early morning or late in the day to avoid harsh sunlight and sweaty cheeks.
#8 – Don’t use too much product in your hair.  If you tilt your head to the side, you want your hair to tilt with you.  This isn’t the         80’s!

#9 – Vary your clothing choices. Don’t do all skirts or all jeans.  Mix it up!  And don’t forget your props!

#10 – Make sure your nails look nice and clean.

How to create beautiful photos with the camera in your pocket?

In case you don’t have a professional with you, here are some tips that anyone can practice with the regular ol’ point and shoot camera in your pocket!

Zoom with your feet.

Many smartphone camera offer a digital zoom function, but you’re almost always best served by pretending it doesn’t exist!  In the live view, you’ll be able to see how noticeably your images degrade the second you start to “zoom” the camera.  The camera is simply cropping in on  what’s already there and basically guessing what the image looks like. It gets ugly fast.

Edit, Don’t Filter

I suggest getting a full-on image editing app like the excellent SnapSeed, Photoshop Express, or iPhoto. They’ll let you make reasonable adjustments, like contrast, sharpness, and color temperature. Stuff you’d actually do with images from your big camera.  You can also  to dump your images into Lightroom or another piece of editing software if you don’t feel the need to share them right away.

Don’t Add Fake Blur

Depth of field will always be one of the biggest challenges for a smartphone camera.  But faking it almost always makes things worse.

First, blur added with an editing app is usually applied uniformly across most of the frame. That’s not the way a lens works, so it looks unnatural.

Second, most of the time you end up with harsh transitions from sharp to blurry. It’s distracting and a dead give away that you’ve been messing with the image.

If you want the viewer to focus on one specific thing, make it the central object in the frame with a small camera. Try to keep your backgrounds as simple.

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Ditch The Flash

The problem with many smartphone flashes is that they are bright, but the color temperature can be gross and they miss one of the primary duties of a strobe: freezing the action in the frame. The actual “flash” duration is much too long, so you end up with an image that’s both blurry and terribly-lit. Not to mention how close it is to the lens, which makes those horrible demon eyes almost a given.

So, what do you do in the dark, then?  Often, your best bet is to seek out another light source.

If it comes right down to it, though, getting a bad flash picture can be better than getting no picture at all if you just want to remember a moment.

Keep Your Lens Clean

The result of  dirtiy lens are hazy, dark images that won’t look good no matter how many retro filters you slap on them. So giving them a quick wipe with a soft cloth can’t hurt (and your T-shirt will do OK in a pinch, but try not to make a habit of it). Once in a while, it’s worth the effort to break out the lens cleaning solution and really get the grime off of it. It may not look dirty and you might not even notice it in your photos, but often a deep clean will make a difference.

Make Prints

There’s a disconnect that exists between digital and analog photography at the moment. Many photo enthusiasts barely make prints anymore, if at all. Putting photos to paper makes them tangible and take away some of the assumptions people often make when looking at photos online.

Don’t Forget The Rules Of Photography

This is by far the most important suggestion of all. The rules for taking a good picture don’t change when you switch between cameras. Just because the camera can also make calls, doesn’t mean you should ignore everything you know about balanced composition and expressive lighting.

Before and After Photos

At JJ Photography we pride ourselves on great pictures right from the start.  We know our equipment and we know how to work it in every setting, even when the lighting is not ideal.  Of course, we are human so the shot doesn’t always come out perfect and our subjects are human so the shot doesn’t always come out perfect.  This is where photo editing software becomes essential and Jackie is brilliant at it.  We really spend time with our clients before a shoot to let them know what best suits the look they are going for.   Clothing choices, for example, can really turn a good picture to a great picture.  For our brides, the make up is an especially important topic.  While there are many great make up artists out there, sometimes they don’t know what might look good in person, doesn’t show up well in pictures.  A beautiful wedding can turn into hours of editing because of a simple make up mistakeProper blood flow to the penis is a prerequisite for getting erections also as for ronaldgreenwaldmd.com purchase cheap viagra maintaining a healthy sex life..  So for all you brides out there, please take to heart this one piece of advice…Do not let your make up artist put shimmer on your cheekbones.  You can still highlight with matte finishes but shimmer ends up making you look shiny and sweaty. The goal is to be a blushing bride and not one that looks like she is having hot flashes.  We can also edit any blemishes and yes even wrinkles.  What we do not want to do is take away from the way you were made though.  Natural beauty marks and such make you, well you, and that’s awesome!  We can do magic though at JJ Photography with editing software.  Rest assured you will love your photographs whether we have to use it or not!

2015 Bloopers!

Every so often we will get that funny shot that was totally unexpected.  They may not be worthy of social media for the client but they sometimes make my Blooper List.  Here is the best of 2015 wacky, funny, totally unexpected and even gross (but funny)!  Enjoy!JJ Photography-1

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And first place goes to:

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Boost Your Business – Show Your People

Just say NO to stock photography.  Showing real people doing real work will draw people in a lot faster than that tempestuous stock photography image.  According to Content Marketing Institute:

“Stock photos are cheap and easy, hence tempting. Do not be tempted by cheap and easy. (That’s advice that you can apply in other situations, as well.)

Visual content is a cornerstone of almost every branding campaign. And yet, we still see respectable brands using stock photographs that undermine the credibility of their hard-earned visual-branding standards.

Go authentic

Let’s start with people. Do you work at a company that employs humans? Some work around the office, while others have remote offices or telecommute. And those people, most of them, I assume, have faces. Maybe not attractive faces, but generally they are recognizable as human.

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Those are the faces that will replace the cheap-looking stock photos on your website and in your customer-facing materials. Immediately.”

This advice doesn’t stop at just your website.  Everything your customer sees whether in print or on a screen need to be authentic.  People will tell a difference and that difference can make or break your opportunities for new business.  Have your people dress up one day (preferably not casual Friday) and bring in a professional to snap shots of those pearly whites and then smear it all over every piece of marketing/branding materiel you have!  Real photos engage your customers.  Plus you are always running the risk your competitors will use the same stock photos. 

Stock photos are irritatingly perfect.  Studies show that authentic photos are preferred by customers.  Your customers are pretty savvy and will know the difference. So whatever reason you are currently not using your real people in your marketing, you should resolve it and watch your web presence spike.

Get in Your Comfort Zone

I’m not camera shy myself.  Good photos…bad photos…they all make their way to my Facebook page somehow.  I’m not a fan of makeup and I avoid wearing jeans about 350 days out of the year. Work out clothes or PJ’s are all the rave in my house.  However, I am very aware that not everyone is like me.  I have friends that put on makeup just to go through the drive-through at the bank.  To each their own.  Whatever end of the spectrum you fall on, people have a pre-determined image of how they should be photographed.  The secret to getting that best photo actually likes in the comfort level.  Even if the picture is posed, their is a certain comfort level that shines through in the photo that can make it great or kill it completely.  If you find a photographer that makes you comfortable, you are on your way to that great captured moment….a picture you will love and cherish for your whole lifetime.  It takes a special photographer though.  This talent separates the good guys from the bad guys.  This is one (of many) reason to pay for a professional who delivers.  Even if you give someone the top of the line camera and show them how to use it and even if the setting and backdrop is the most beautiful any eye has seen and even if the photo is framed perfectly….an uncomfortable client will overshadow everything else.

When you team up with JJ Photography, you will see that Jackie loves what she does so it’s fun for her to photograph you.  Yes, YOU and your family.  It’s personal.  And she loves it!  Yes, she may coach you into some poses but she talks to you like a person and studies the way you naturally carry yourself right away. This allows her to put you in the most natural and flattering angles.  If you aren’t digging the poses, she can read that too.  So you can run through a field, roll in the leaves, or swing from trees for all we care.  When you are comfortable, the picture will show it.  JJ Photography (7 of 126)You also won’t catch her look at her screen and interjecting with “oops” or “uh oh” or “that looks bad”.  Talk about killing the mood of the shoot!  Doing these things makes people feel uncomfortable and it makes them think that the shoot is not going well.  Jackie wouldn’t claim that she doesn’t make mistakes but she fixes them before anyone would ever even know.  She doesn’t advertise it.  Also, nothing can kill your confidence faster than a photographer who shows up late, is flustered, and doesn’t have her gear set up and ready.  We know your time is precious and you can see the irritation on a person’s face in their photos.  We won’t do this to you plus it’s less for us to Photoshop.  Jackie is always ready like a pro because she is one.

So whether you are camera shy or not, you deserve a good photo.  Jackie is the professional and she gets it.  Let us show you!

See you around the blog! Peace!

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Sarah K.

 

 

Photography Tips and Tricks of Capturing Those Furry Friends

Pets are part of the family.  Sometimes they listen better than our kids do and sometimes they have a mind of their own.  Photographing pets can be challenging but not if you know what you are doing and stay open minded.  A little determination can go a long way.  These tips can help!a-lot-of-dogs

  1. Be patient.
  2. Have an idea of what you want to capture but be flexible and go with the flow.  Being too rigid when it comes to pets will leave you frustrated and disappointed.
  3. If it’s possible, shoot pictures the pet’s environment.  Pets can have anxiety just like people when they are in a strange place.
  4. Try different angles and don’t forget to get down on their level.  Looking right into their eyes is more magical than looking at the tops of their furry heads.
  5. Avoid flash if possible. It can wash out your pets and you can lose detail.  It may also frighten some pets.
  6. If they are posing with a family get the family completely set first.  Bring a favorite toy or treat. Once the people are posed, then add the pet and pull out the toy to get them to look at your camera.  You have to be quick and this takes practice which leads me to my next point.
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  8. Practice. Get your neighbors  and their pet schnauzer or lizard and practice.
  9. Know your equipment so you can adjust without thinking.
  10. Editing can really make a pet picture great!
  11. If all else fails, set your camera to continuous zoom and a fast shutter speed and just click away as they play.  You are bound to get a few awesome action photos.

 

New Years Resolution

Do you have one yet?  I think the most common ones are probably losing weight, stopping bad habits like smoking, and spend more time with the family.  The truth is, less than 10% of people actually stick to these resolutions though.  One week into January and people are jamming left over fruit cake into their mouths like it’s the last dessert on earth while the gym membership is put off yet again to “next week.” Don’t be a statistic!  Get that gym membership, smoke that last cigarette, and play tag in the yard with your kids.  If you schedule these things in, you are more likely to succeed.  It’s kind of like brushing your teeth. You do that every morning right?  It’s part of your schedule. And we all thank you for that.

I have an idea for you that I think is very attainable and you will be glad you did it.   GET YOUR PHOTOS PRINTED!!  That’s right I said it.  I’m all for having pics for social media but hardly anyonePRINT-ON-METALJJPhoto is printing pictures anymore!  It’s such a shame.  I’ve recently come across some old photos of grandparents I have never even met.  It’s so cool to see these old printed pictures.  There is really nothing like it!  As a professional photography team, we are astounded at the number of very important events like weddings, maternity, and baby prints that are not actually printed.

Please take a few minutes to read this article from an internet pioneer and Google boss about this astonishing trend.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11410506/Print-out-digital-photos-or-risk-losing-them-Google-boss-warns.html

Or here is a short quote from it:

“This is starting to happen to people who are saving a lot of their digital photographs because they are just files of bits. The file system doesn’t know how to interpret them, you need software to do that. Now you’ve lost the photograph in effect.
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“If there are pictures that you really really care about then creating a physical instance is probably a good idea. Print them out, literally.’

So whatever New Year’s Resolution you choose, we at JJ Photography wish you the very best of luck.  Go get em’.  Our followers tend to be pretty spunky so we know you can do it. And don’t forget to PLEASE print your pictures.  Whether they are taken by us or just snapped on your phone camera, take 5 minutes to order them. Your grandchildren’s children will thank you.

See you around the blog! Peace!

Sarah K.

Not a Pretty Picture

I rarely get sick. When I do, I feel like a  little baby. I hate being sick!  Then, I always kick myself for taking for granted what it feels like to be healthy and vow to not take it for granted ever again if I could just get well.  I also am a bit of a germ-a-phob, especially since my son was born.  I have a very fine tuned, keen, sixth sense when dirty little hands are moving toward touching him so I find myself to be a recluse these days.  But this Christmas season I failed.  While everyone around me managed to stay healthy, I am sitting at home wrestling a head/chest cold.  We had about 15 people here at one time and I’m the only one that got sick.  Are you kidding me? Me…who never leaves home without hand sanitizer.  Me…who takes the long way around the store just to avoid walking through a cloud of germs from a stranger’s sneeze.  Me…who holds her breath in elevators. Me…  

I guess I really am in control of nothing.  

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But when I do find myself in this unwanted state, I have a pretty good arsenal of stuff I use so my plan is  to be better by New Years! I will let you know how that goes.  In the mean time, here are my top five “go-to’s” when battling these nasty colds:

  1. Dr. Bronner’s Lavender Organic Hand Sanitizer spray
  2. Umcka Cold Care Hot Drink Packets
  3. Wellness Colloidal Silver Throat Spray
  4. Sunkist Zinc Throat Lozenges
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  6. Neti Pot (any brand)

Here’s my “not-so-pretty-germ-ninja” photo.  I’ve been in my pj’s all day.  No judging.

See you around the blog! Peace!

Sarah K