We are just 3 weeks out from the SCP Workshops to be held in Charlottesville, VA on Sept 17 & 18th!!!  My plane tickets have been purchased and final details are being arranged including super fun goodies and giveaways for our very special attendees!!!  For those of you who know me you know that VA holds a special little place in my heart and I cannot wait to me making the trip back for this fun weekend!  On that note, I have THREE big announcements for you!

#1: We’re sold out! The SCP Professional’s workshop on Saturday is SOLD OUT!!!!! I cannot believe we sold out already with 3 weeks left! If this news makes you so sad b/c you did not get the chance to register than cheer up – I am opening up 2 more seats!!! YAY!  Get them while they last!

#2: Buddy discount! I am offering a very special “buddy discount” for the SCP Hobbiest workshop on Sunday Sept 18th in Virginia!  Get a friend to sign up and both of you will receive $25 off of your ticket price!  If you have already registered for the workshop and you convince a friend to come with you than you will receive a $25 reimbursement on your ticket price!  If you are interested in getting a buddy discount and have not yet registered please E-MAIL ME to receive your special discount code to be used by you and your friend when you register! Sweet! (This offer is only available on the hobbiest workshop)

#3: Want a chance to attend the workshops for free? I am looking for a professional photographer with wedding event experience to cover both workshop.  You would be needed from 8:30am-2:00pm on Saturday Sept 17th and from 2:45pm-6:00pm on Sunday Sept 18th.  You would be asked to provide edited digital negatives from both workshops to be used for future workshop promotion. In exchange you would get to attend both workshops for free! If you are interested please shoot me an e-mail with your current website to info@shaycochrane.com!

Last Sunday we needed new pictures of all of our City Group (our fancy name for Bible study) leaders from Aletheia Church.  Nothing fancy, but it proved to be the perfect opportunity to share a little bit about what impact your location and available light has on your images! When I was just getting started in photography my ability to “see the light” in a given shoot location was pretty awful.  I would pick what I thought would be an interesting location for, say, an engagement shoot and I would pretty aimlessly “work the space” moving my couple from one spot to the next hoping that that would give my images “variety”.  It is a lot “easier” to jump around from one spot to the next than it is to come up with interesting posing variety  and remembering to change your lenses for a different perspective all in one given spot.  One of the problems with this method of  ”spot hoping” with your clients at a shoot location is that if you do not know how to identify and make use of the best light then your results from that one shoot will be very inconsistent – a problem that I hear about from many beginners. A shoot will have some great shots that just “pop” and others that didn’t work at all but you can’t put your finger on why exactly.

Here’s the why (generally)…Location, location, location.  This is how I approach a shoot now…I pick what I think will be a visually interesting location providing the shade that I will need (depending on the time of day) and than once I am there (and before the couple gets there!) I identify certain spots that I know will provide consistent beautiful results because of the available lighting. Instead of “spot hoping” for variety, I challenge myself to change lenses and posing for lots of variety within one spot where I can control my exposure and image outcome leaving me the mental space needed to focus on creativity! (How many of you jump around so much that you spend the whole shoot adjusting your camera settings with no mental space left to focus on creativity!)

So, what’s with these two images?

Both of these images are straight out of camera with no editing done to them. Both were shot with very similar settings to get the same exposure outcome.  Both were taken in the same location just at two different spots.  The one on the left was taken a week earlier and two hours later than the one on the right.  When I went back to use the same spot the following week for the leaders pics that spot was unusable b/c the sun was in a slightly different position and the shade was gone.  I was forced to use the only other available shade…on a green lawn, under a tree – pretty much the type of location that I avoid like the plague on a photoshoot.  The image on the left is pretty beautiful right out of camera and could get away without having anything done to it.  The image on the right is…well…kind of yucky and will need some Lighroom/Photoshop work to make up for the bad effects of the location and lighting.  It is not an aweful image but it is not nearly as ideal as the one on the left desipte the face that the lens, camera, and camera settings were almost identical. Let me walk you through what worked and what didn’t here:

Left Image: Why it worked

This shot was taken on the back patio of the church.  The whole patio was covered in shade from the roof overhang.  The patio had a light cement floor that connected to a wide cement sidewalk.  It was a typical sunny day around noon – typically the worst time of day to shoot.  The location itself is pretty darn ugly with all sorts of junk and furniture piled up on the sides.  So what made it work?  The lighting.  The shaded patio not only kept her out of the sun but allowed for the background wall/door to appear darker than the foreground (her face).  So nothing bright in the background is competing for your visual attention.  In addition, I was able to use the door in the background to create a bit of a frame for her face.  Nothing major, but it all helps. Oddly enough though it is not the shade alone that makes for a good lighting situation.  The #1 thing that made this location ideal was the cement in front of her.  That’s right…something not even in the picture!  The huge slab of light gray cement in front of her was full of sun and provided the perfect natural bounce of light up into her face!  Sunny cement is one of my best friends on a shoot!  The light, neutral colored cement bounces and defuses the light upward onto her face.  It brightens natural under-eye circles made worse by overhead lighting and it throws light into her eyes making them sparkle and not appear dark and dull.  The temperature of the light reflecting off of the cement and onto her is just perfect to capture a nice natural skin tone.  Not too warm or cool.  (You always need to take into consideration the temperature or “color” of the light reflecting off of the surfaces around your subject.)  When positioning her in the space I brought her to the very edge of the shade to get the most use out of this natural reflector!  The result?  An image that “pops” right out of camera with little to no editing work needed! Yes please!

Right image: Why it didn’t work (as well) and will need more post processing

Same camera. Same lens. Almost identical settings. Same approximate exposure. Same approximate time of day. What happened and why didn’t this location “work” as well as the other?  An image taken on a grass lawn, under a tree, in the middle of the day has a lot of things waiting to sabotage it.  First of all since I don’t have any cement or natural reflector to bounce light up into my subject’s face, the primary lighting is just the diffused lighting coming from above through the trese.  When your primary light is coming from directly above you get darker under-eye circles, more pronounced lines and wrinkles, and dull, dark eyes that lack sparkle.  Sounds like every woman’s dream right? What little light that is reflecting off the ground (because you are almost always getting some) is colored…you guessed it…a yellowy green from the grass. yuck.  And what about the temperature of the light coming from above through the trees…yeah…same yellowy green.  So what is the resulting temperature or white balance effect on the skin tone?  You guesses it.  Yellowy green!  The overall white balance of this image is just awful! In addition, because the background in the image was not entirely shaded you also have spots of light where the sun is coming through the trees competing for your visual attention when you look at the image.  Your eye will always be drawn to the brightest spot on the image – you generally want the brightest spot to be your subject of course. Now, most of these things can be “fixed” in RAW processing but seriously…who wants to spend hours fixing images when, with a little more attention to lighting on location you can get perfect results right in camera!?

So friends, that is it for your little mini lesson on lighting and location!  This is one of the many topics that I will be teaching more in depth at my upcoming FL and VA workshops if you are interested:)  I hope this helps!  I would love to hear your feedback!

I am literally months behind in posting about the incredible pink and gray dessert table that Natalie of Chic Sweets made for little Chloe’s 2nd birthday party.  It didn’t matter that all of Chloe’s friends attending the party were boys haha we just had to go with the pink and gray theme and Natalie blew me away with her attention to detail and the sweet touches that she added!  I met and worked with Natalie a few months ago on a commercial shoot that I did with Lauren of Every Last Detail Blog.  For that colorful ribbon inspired editorial shoot Natalie had designed an unbelievably yummy dessert table to be photographed for our mock wedding reception. She was sweet enough to do a little trade with me for Chloe’s party and all I can say is that it was way beyond what I was expecting.  She is amazing! The pink, red and gray horizontal backdrop was custom made and provided by her in addition to the custom treat name cards, ribbons and pink gerber daisies pulling the whole look together!  All of the candy and desserts were, of course, various shades of pink!  The assortment of chocolate and red velvet cake pops, also custom made by Natalie, were the hit of the party for sure.  They literally melted in your mouth! I could go for one right now actually. haha.  But I am always a sucker for chocolate covered pretzels and strawberry shortcake jelly beans which were also in abundance at the party. Needless to say, I think it was the best day of Chloe life. haha.  You should have seen her little face when she woke up from her nap to find the colorful dessert table set up in our kitchen.  Most importantly it was just so fun to treat our friends to such a yummy assortment of goodies to enjoy and take home as favors.  Natalie, both you and your work are amazing and it really was a blessing to our family and friends to get to enjoy your yummy artistry!  You MUST call Natalie at Chic Sweets if you are looking to add a beautiful, fun and delicious element to your party, event or wedding reception!

Dear Noah,  it’s your Auntie Shay, remember?  The one with the big black thing stuck to my face.  Well, I am just writing to tell you that I miss you…and…spending those few precious days with you made me think that maybe it wouldn’t be SO bad if Chloe ends up with a little brother this time around.  It must have been your handsomeness that won your uncle and I over.  Or maybe the sweet songs that you would sing to us when we would cuddle on the couch. Whatever it was, I seem to have left a little part of my heart there with you and your mommy and daddy in Kentucky.  If you don’t mind, just take care of it and we promise to come back for it very soon.  Your uncle and I have been talking a lot about you.  We have lots of big hopes and dreams that you and your cousins will grow up being the very best of friends like your daddy and uncle Graham.  We can’t wait to make memories with you. Memories full of late picnic dinners outside on warm summer nights and days spent playing at the beach until we all collapse on piles of blankets and pillows for family movie night. Family is such a special gift little one and you have lots of family that love you dearly…

Now, I know that you already know how to cause some ruckus pulling your cousin Chloe’s hair and maybe right now she is a little more interested in Ray Ray the dog than a little baby cousin and she doesn’t always know how to be gentle with you…

But I have a feeling that someday you guys will have all kinds of fun things to teach each other like how to build forts and sing silly songs and climb trees.  We are working on cooking up another little friend for you so that you guys can be the 3 Musketeers and get into all sorts of trouble together!  We love you little Noah.  Keep growing big and strong!  P.S Your Auntie Shay promises to get around to finishing all of those fun pictures from your very first photo shoot. I promise to show off all of your best features:)  Chloe sends a hug and a squeeze and your uncle and I send along with that some big sloppy kisses.

With love to the moon and back,

As some of you guys may know, this past spring I offered my first ever SCP workshop for beginner pros looking to grow their skill in the areas of portrait and wedding photography.  It proved to be SO much fun and such a hit that I have been working for months to nail down details to extend the workshops so that there is more available at different skill levels and to show love to my faithful VA photog friends by giving them their very own workshops! Well, at long last, I have finished the brand spankin’ new SCP workshop website which announces the new workshop additions as well as dates for the Virginia and FL workshops coming this fall.

I have to say a huge thank you to Ashlee Proffitt Design for her fabulous work on the branding which is now officially even more amazing then my regular blog branding (Ok now I really need to redo my blog! ugh!).  She is amazing.

I could not be more excited to share this with you:)

I hope to see you there!!

Hi friends.  I’m still here. This is me. Just a bit tired.

After months of hardly being able to keep food down long enough to sit at my desk and complete a whole task I am just popping my head up to wave the white flag and attempt to spend a few hours catching up on  projects that have gotten pushed to the back burner for the time being.  First of all, when did August get here?  These past few months have literally been a haze of out of town trips, visitors, and of course the big news that we are expecting our second child in February!  Ok, if I’m being honest, I had to force that exclamation point out…at the moment the excitement of adding another bundle of joy to the family has been a bit stifled under the constant nausea and sheer exhaustion of making it through the first trimester with a two year old who likes to jump, knees first, all over mommy the second she lays down.  To be honest we are just in an (interesting?) season right now. And I am ready for it to be over (isn’t that how all trials are?).  My heart is tired.  Our prayer daily is for wisdom and discretion…words I hear myself fervently pleading for multiple times a day.  I was reminded the other day of how desperately I need to abandon the things in my heart that are not of God because they are exhausting and it brings Him no glory for me to dwell on these things…again…wisdom and discretion…I need it like oxygen right now…not just for myself and our growing family but for our friends and family around us with great burdens of their own.  Praise the Lord that he is good and sustains us and freely offers wisdom.  He will answer our prayers and is even now as we wait.

On a lighter note, there are projects that I am working on that I am excited to share like my photo shoot with my precious little nephew, Noah, who we finally got to hold in our arms after two months of only being able to share in the joy and miracle of his birth via Skype (praise God for Skype though, right?).  Also coming is the long anticipated (and by that I mean that I have been anticipating it finally being done for months now. haha) SCP workshop website and announcements about the fall workshop dates for both Charlottesville, VA and Tampa, FL. YAY!  But all of that hinges on me not spending all morning writing this blog post during my few hours of peace and quiet and before the TUMS wear off. haha.  So with that, I will say goodbye for now and I do hope to be showing my face a little more frequently from here on out:)