Our new workshop!!!! E-mail us at info@nateandaranchaphotography.com for more info!

Textures is something I have never really been interested in when dealing with post-processing. I must say, I like colorful real images with a little touch of vintage, and I don't like to overdo post-processing. When I saw other photographers edit their images with textures, I loved the results, but it just was not my cup of tea...till I heard about the Florabella textures. Once again, I really wasn't interested in textures! But then I watched a video tutorial where she taught how to apply these textures. I would see a straight out of the camera shot and the after result with just textures and a couple of basic touches (saturation, contrast...). I could not believe what a difference it made! Then we shot a wedding in February where we had a limited time for all the family, bride and groom, and wedding party shots. It was dark, and we couldn't go anywhere due to the lack of time. So we really didn't have many backgrounds to play with, even though the church itself was great! I must say...it wasn't as hard as I thought and we were able to capture some great shots of them together, just being sweet to each other, happy and joyful that they were married, and looking forward to living their lives as a married couple! And honestly, just working with a just married couple makes photography a whole different world! Once I saw them together, the backgrounds didn't matter any more! I realized it wasn't about the backgrounds. I just had to capture their love! And once I found these textures, I decided to play around with them and try to add a little bit more of creativity to the images and make the backgrounds a little but more interesting! I love the results. Maybe a overdid it a little??? Yes, I probably did :) But it's ok! I'm enjoying just playing around with them!

I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank this couple, their friends, and their family for all their help taking these pictures! We had a blast! And it was an honor to take them! She is Nate's pastor's daughter! Such a sweet godly family :)

Have a wonderful day!

Arancha

Nate and Arancha Photography-Huntsville Baby, Children, and Family Photography

Erin Rachel: Photography session in Tuscumbia, AL

After years of talking Erin Rachel over e-mail, Facebook, etc... I finally met her this month on our way back from a trip to Bay St Loius! (Looove being a missionary). She treated us to shrimp po-boys (wow, I want more so bad!), and we talked and talked! She told me she was coming to Alabama in a week, and she would be willing to do a family session for us! All my family sessions are either taken with the tripod and self-timer, or asking a family member to shoot for us and I prepare the shot. So being able to have a photographer taking our pictures, and just relax and enjoy was great!!!! And she does such a great job!!! She kept the session fun, flowing, and I just had a great time!!!! And afterwards, I was able to take some pictures of her! :) She is beautiful! Look at her eyes! There is many more to come!

Thank you Erin for taking such great pictures of us, and being such a blessing!!!

Arancha

Nate and Arancha Photography-Huntsville Baby, Children, and Family Photography

We have a winner!!!! Becky Cook, you get all four Christmas templates for your Christmas cards! :) Congratulations and thank you all for being a part of this giveaway!!!!!

Our First design giveaway!!!!! Get a free Christmas templates set!

Our first design giveaway! Get the whole set of Christmas Templates for free! All you have to do is share our Facebook page with your friends or fellow photographers on your Facebook and comment on our blog telling us that you did! The names will be drawn on Monday! :D

Another photographer's kit! R.C.M. Photography

Photographer's Starter Kit: {B. Malpedo Photography}

Photographer's Starter Kit

If you ask any successful photographer what is one of the most important things to have a successful business, they will say branding. Branding shows your style, your personality, it makes a difference between your business and other photography businesses. It also sets a good presentation of your products. When I first started my business, I decided to design all my stationary and website all matching (and make it as cute as possible.) The problem: I wasn't very good at designing, so it took me a lot of time and design changes to find what I wanted!

With our new photographer's starter kit, you will have a cd case, letterhead, label, and thank you note designed with your business colors (all matching!) You can print them all yourself or order them, depending on how many clients you are having or what printer you use. I sometimes just buy my own linen paper and print it out myself! And it looks great!

So if you are interested, send us an email and order yours for only $20!

Arancha

Nate and Arancha Photography-Huntsville Baby, Children, and Family Photography

Christmas Card #3

It's gonna be a 4 card collection! I'm having so much fun designing these!

Christmas Cards Templates!

We are now offering Christmas Cards templates! We have two designs now but we are working on two more :)

We hope they can be a help for your business or simply for your own Christmas cards this year!

Send us an email if you are interested!

Arancha

Nate and Arancha Photography-Huntsville Baby, Children, and Family Photography

This one is my favorite so far! Let us know if you need a different color!

F.A.Q. Poses

How do y'all get so many great ideas with locations and how the people pose? Are they more your ideas or do the people in the pictures give their opinions?

I love cities, so usually I will find downtown (in whatever city we are at) and walk around a lot! its helpful to be there a day before or an hour before and check out the location. It helps get ideas and poses so when you get there with the clients, you know what you want, and the session will flow :)

For couples' poses: before I started the business, I used to check a looooot of photography websites from David Jay, Jasmine Star, and other famous photographers for inspiration. I would look at a lot of wedding magazines too just to get inspired. I would think about a session and then write down or even draw poses that I had in my head so I wouldnt forget and I would bring the paper with me to the session and review it on the way to the session.

I always pose them the way I like or the way I think would go well with the background, couple...and then tell them to feel comfortable with each other. If they feel awkward in that pose, it's gonna be noticeable in the picture. So if they feel comfortable, they will look more natural in the pictures, which is what I am looking for. I usually choose a pose, have them look at me for the first shot and smile, and then have them interact with each other and just take a lot of pictures while they are having fun with each other, talking, or just looking at each other. As I take pictures, I move around and try different angles of each pose.

Look for walls or just play with the depth of field. A head-shot at a 1.8 aperture will have a very blurry background and make the subject pop! And if there are some colors in the back it can help a lot!

I hope this is what you were looking for!

Stay tuned, I'll be posting pictures of a very cute little boy!!!

God bless you!

Arancha

F.A.Q. Lenses

What lenses would you recommend investing in?

It all depends on your budget. I loooove the 50mm 1.4 and I use it 90% of the time. It's sharp and lets you take pictures in low light situations :) But if you can afford it, go the 28-80 mm 2.8 or the 50mm 1.2! The 50mm 1.2 is my dream lens right now :)

I hope this helped!!!!!

Have a great day!

Arancha

Nate and Arancha Photography-Huntsville Baby, Children, and Family Photography

F.A.Q. 1 from our contest

Can you explain about the aperture setting and how it affects the the picture?

(Explained as good as I can with my limited knowledge of the English language lol)

The aperture means that the smaller the number the more it opens, the more light comes in the camera. So 1.4 would have a more open aperture than 5.6. If it is a darker day, you might need to shoot at 1.8 or so (so more light would come in the camera). If it's lighter outside, you don't need to open the aperture as much and you can shoot at 3.5 or higher. I always shoot at 2.2. or so anyways unless it's too dark and I need to bring it to 1.4. But most of the time I try to keep it at 2.2 and just play with the speed and the ISO so I can keep the picture at 2.2 with no under or overexposures :) I love blurriness around the subject!

The more you open it, the smaller the focal point (like how much you can focus in the picture). This means that at 1.4 you could do a head shot where only the eyes are focused and sharp and the rest soft and blurry. If you took that picture at 11, the whole face would be sharp and the background would be too. Does that make sense?

Just remember, aperture, speed and ISO are related. So for a perfect exposure and for a perfect picture, you need to play with the 3 of them depending on the circumstances :)

Thank you for all your questions!!! There is more coming!

Arancha

Nate and Arancha Photography-Huntsville Baby, Children, and Family Photography

A before and after post!

I love before and after posts! But I haven't been very inspired lately in posting. I spent one week with no Internet, one week substituting a lady on vacation at an office, and one week of VBS and Bible Conference. That took most of my day and I wasn't able to post much and couldn't think what to post about... But I've been editing a lot these last days and I've realized how important post-processing is in photography. I try to shoot as perfect as possible so the pictures will not need much editing (just contrast and voila!), but sometimes I like adding some effects! I looove blue skies and found the perfect picture to use for this post!

Just remember! I am not the best at editing and probably could make things better. But these are my results from what I 've learned these couple of years! I hope it can help you!

I used a wide angle and shot this pictures while laying on the ground (I'm known as the photographer that always lays on the ground lol). I used my 28mm 1.8 (affordable and efficient!). If you have one or are thinking about buying it, just remember to shoot at 2.8 or higher for sharper images :)

I edited it in Lightroom. I added some fill light to make their faces lighter without making the sky lighter. I played with the luminance for blues (brought the slider down to the left), and added some contrast. Then I added a vignette.

Then in Photoshop, I used a sharpening action. There are many good sharpening actions out there that bring amazing results! I looooove them! I dont use them all the time, but I love the effect of them in certain pictures, specially this one!

It was easy, wasn't it? If you have any question, feel free to email me :)

Have a wonderful and blessed monday! And remember, God is with us, we just have to be with Him :)

Arancha

Nate and Arancha Photography-Huntsville Baby, Children, and Family Photography

F.A.Q. II

So I'm spending a long time sitting in the car these last two days, and since I don't drive, that's giving me the opportunity to blog more! And there was something I mentioned I would start doing more often! FAQ posts!!!!! Remember, if there is any subject you would like us to talk about on these posts, email us! We'll be glad to help you!!!! Here you go!

What are your favorite camera settings when shooting a regular portrait session?

This will vary on the weather circumstances. But as a general thing, we love shooting with the lowest ISO we can. If it's 100, then awesome! If it's 400, then great too! We try not to go above 400 to avoid camera noise, even though the 5D works really well with high ISO and the 5D mark ii is even better! 

We try to keep our speed no lower than 1/250 unless extremely necessary, and try to keep an aperture of 2.2 or so. We use a 50mm 1.4, so that means that at 1.4 it won't be the sharpest (even though this lens works great at 1.4) because it's the widest aperture allowed in that lens. If the lens were a 1.8 maximum aperture, then we would shoot at 2.8 or so. So keeping our aperture at 2.2 and speed at 1/250, we just move the ISO to lower or higher depending on the light. If we end up having a very dark day, then we might have to end up bringing the speed down a little or the aperture! I hope this all makes sense!!!!! We love the effect of using a very open aperture, because it just focuses on the eyes and softens the rest. And since we work with interacting subjects (couples, children, families...) we like keeping the speed as fast as we can to ensure there won't be any blur.

What kind of lighting do you use?

Honestly, there is nothing like natural light. I think I've mentioned this before! But to me there is no better light than that! It's the light that our God has created, and it is just soft, natural, and beautiful! So we try to use natural light as much as possible, work with reflectors and find the best light when we get to a location. We do use a Canon 580 EXII for ceremony and reception shots at weddings. We need to in order to avoid using a high ISO or a low speed ,and to avoid too many shadows on the subjects' faces (my pet peeve). To be honest, I've used off camera lighting in the past when I was starting and worked as a photographer assistant. We would light the subject with one flash and the background with another flash. Pocket wizards are great for that and you can do amazing effects with it! But to me, that just means more distractions during the ceremony or reception. We want our subjects to enjoy their day and not overwhelm them. We want to capture their natural expressions and just how they are being themselves and enjoying their time! So to me, the more complicated I make it, the less natural results I will obtain. My Gary Fong works great for these shots and gives me satisfying results! Of course, this doesn't apply to all photographers and there are amazing photographers out there using all kinds of lighting and obtaining amazing results. So you just need to find what you like and how you like to work!

We hope this information was helpful to you! Have a wonderful and blessed day!

Arancha

Nate and Arancha Photography-Huntsville Children and Family Photography

Our first FAQ post!!!!

Lately I have been struggling about what to blog about! (did that sound redundant?) I love blogging, but we are having really busy lives lately! And I know I always say the same...it has improved, and we're getting better and are organizing our schedules in a better way!  But thinking about things that I like reading about, I remembered something I LOVED to read about when reading other photographer's blogs! It helped me so much when I started photography, and is still helping me now. Frequently asked questions posts!!!! We have never done a FAQ post before! But I thought it would be fun to do and could help those people interested in improving their photography skills, or just learning about photography! We have been asked a few questions since we started our business, not only basic, but also advanced ones, and we decided to start sharing them here, starting with the most basic ones :) So here we goooo!

What is your favorite equipment?

For portraits, we mainly use our Canon 5D with the 50mm 1.4 lens. If I want to do a cooler effect with couples or groups, I'll use my wide angle (24mm 1.8), which gives really good results if shot at a 2.2 or a higher aperture, and getting close to the subject. I'm so happy with the results of these two lenses together, that I haven't felt the need to get a different one yet. But probably, when we buy our next lens, it will be a 50mm 1.2 or 85mm 1.2.

What software do you use for your post-processing?

It depends. I loooove Lightroom and how it speeds up my post processing. I love all the tools and the corrections I can do with it, but I love how much more meticulous I can be when editing with Photoshop. So depending on what effect I want to end up with, I'll use either one, or both! I have pictures that I have edited just with Photoshop, and pictures I've edited just with Lightroom. I'll show you some examples on the bottom of this post!

Do you use Photoshop actions?

Many times I do, and many other times I just do my own editing to produce the result I want on a certain picture. Sometimes I just have in mind the exact result I want for a specific picture (specially for studio pictures), and the only way to obtain it is by doing my own changes and corrections. You can create your own actions and presets and use them for future sessions! It speeds up your post-processing so much!  But we have some actions that we absolutely love and also use that we bought from professional designers!!!!!

If you have any question you would like for us to help you with, send us an e-mail and we'll be glad to prepare another FAQ post! We would like to be a blessing to you! :)

Have a great day!

Arancha

Nate and Arancha Photography-Huntsville Family and Children Photography

And heres is an example of a picture taken with our 24 mm lens! This picture has been edited with just Photoshop.

Photography tips: crispness

Crispness and sharpness are key factors that can make a difference in your pictures, and many photographers wonder what is the best way to obtain this. We are not the best photographers you can find, but sharpness is something we try to improve and look for in every picture. Unsharped pictures make me unhappy! Seriously! I cannot stand seeing a picture that is not tack sharp, and unfortunately, it sometimes happens. So if you like the look of our pictures, we can share with you the three main factors that helps us obtain sharp and crisp images (there are some more, but these are the top factors for us). Sure we might not have the sharpest images you can see in the whole wide world, but if it's what you're looking for, here it goes!

- Lens: a good lens can make a huuuuuge difference in your pictures. You can be using a Canon 5D Mark II, but if you don't have a good lens, your pictures won't look the same. We shoot most of our images with a 50mm 1.4. It is a prime lens and prime lenses give you the sharpest images (if used right). Hopefully we will be able to upgrade to a 50mm 1.2 soon!

- Light: finding the best light can also make a difference in your pictures as far as crispness concerns. The best light to me is around 6 or 7pm in the summer, or 4.30 or 5pm in the winter. It's lovely! It makes such a difference in our pictures!

- Speed: for moving subjects, it is very important to maintain a fast speed. Even faster for kids, who will move a lot! I try to keep my speed at 1/250 so the movement does not affect my picture, unless I see the subject move to fast, then I'll try to increase my speed.

We hope we can be a blessing with our tips. If you have any question, please let us know! The Bible says, if God gives you a gift, use it for His glory! So we are trying our best to do this and we will let you know how we want to do it. But for now, at least sharing can be a good thing to do! :)

Have a wonderful day!

Arancha

Nate and Arancha Photography-Huntsville Children and Family Photography

A little tip

We are still waiting to receive our new lens and our new business cards! I'm so excited about them that the first thing I do when I have a break is check the mail, lol

We are having a few photo shoots coming up! We are sorry for the lack of posts with our latest sessions! We will be able to post them in about a week, and we will post our upcoming sessions as soon as we can!

I would like to leave you with a photography tip :) (for those of you that love photography) Besides of finding the best light, once we start editing images, one of the key things to us is CONTRAST! That is something that we like to increase in our images! Shoot RAW, add contrast, and if the images have been properly exposed, just add contrast and you will get amazing results!!!! Sounds like the easiest thing on earth, and sorry if you might probably now this already. But we hope it was a help to those are starting to learn about photo editing ;) 

I remember a few months ago, when I started learning to edit images, I would just look for photography tips everywhere, trying to figure out what our images were lacking. I thought it was the camera so I tried to figure out what camera would give me a magazine style picture editing! Hello! What was I thinking? The camera does not make the picture, the photographer does! You can do great things with the cheapest DSLR camera! Although the better the camera, the more flexibility and quality...After some practice with light and poses, exposing properly, and playing around with post-processing, voila! We got what we were looking for! And it was easier than what we thought! Of course, we still don't have magazine pictures, but we found the style we were looking for :)

Here is an example of a picture that was shot in RAW and just added contrast and sharpening:

Have a wonderful day!!!

Arancha

Nate and Arancha Photography-Huntsville Portrait and Wedding Photography