New Lighting on Gorgeous Women!! - Kimberly Kester Photographer - Redding, CA

Just a few gorgeous shots from a recent personal project I completed in my living room, these sessions were so much fun & the reason I've been absent on the blog. I'm loving this new style of indoor lighting, it's just one less thing to worry about, I can concentrate more on directing & slowly fine tune the style I've wanted to see in my images. 

A huge THANK YOU! goes to these women for allowing me the beginning everybody needs, to master a technique. I think these women look absolutely AMAZING!!

Can't wait for my next project! It's already in the works.



Sweetness! - Redding Childrens Photographer

This little girl holds a special place in my heart (the little stinker, lol), I've been photographing her since she was brand new. What a big 2 year old angel now, even though one of her outfits was a devil costume, haha. She sure wore me out at the park but I already can't wait to see her again :)

Baby piggies! - Kimberly Kester Photography

Got to see some newborn piggies the other day. Love how the toes scrunch up around mommy & daddys rings. She's so sweet, right down to her toes!

Valentines Day firsts - Kimberly Kester Photography - Redding CA

It was a first for me, so when you get a delivery on Valentines Day & this is what's written on the outside of the box, you can't help but smile (big)....then tear it open as fast as you can cause you know it's only going to be good for a limited time! It says so :)

I was looking on the shipping box to see if the gift needed to be refrigerated & seen these instructions, that totally made me laugh out loud. It's got Jon's personality written all over it.

The inside of this card made me cry, I want to keep the contents private though (hope you understand). It's the first Valentines Day as Jon's wife & what he wrote inside just absolutely made my life perfect, the strawberries were just a bonus. I had heard a radio commercial for these strawberries about a week ago & had no idea he already had them as a planned delivery, I love this man!

Yes, I'm showcasing my favorite strawberry (if you couldn't tell), the nut covered one, Mmmmmmmmm!!!!!

Ok, the funny part about these 2 last photos, there was supposed to be a picture in between. I took a bite out of the nut covered strawberry (the best strawberry in my opinion, did I mention that already, hehe). It allowed the strawberry flavor to come through more & I loved that, the other 2 weren't bad but had lots of chocolate & I wasn't up for that much sweetness. Jon took a bite out of the chocolate chip covered one but I didn't hear any moaning, maybe  that's just me.

That was the best bite of chocolate covered strawberry I've every had & so juicy, the chocolate didn't take it over & allowed for that nice blend of strawberry flavor. Well, I have moments of pickiness & seen an ugly little piece of strawberry hanging where I bit it & decided to try & bite that off before taking the photo.

The whole strawberry came out of the chocolate casing, the strawberry was hanging from my mouth & the chocolate fell apart in my hands. I was forced to eat that delicious piece of yumminess & moaned several times in those few seconds it took me to finish it, couldn't help it, it was sooooo good & making a mess in my hand, so consumption time was critical.

 After seeing the mess I was in, Jon decided to eat the rest of his & grabbed it back off the plate. That only left the white chocolate one left for the photo. Jon was forced to eat that one shortly after, so it didn't feel left out. When I tried again with another strawberry a little later, it fell apart in the first bite again, dang my luck :)

Well honey, hopefully I'll have better luck next year getting that in between photo (wink, wink)!



How I took it.... Kimberly Kester - Redding CA Photographer

Sorry for the long blog silence, the Image Upload button went away from my blog screen for a while, so I couldn't upload any photos. Apparently it's fixed now (duh, lol) so I thought I'd share one of my favorite shots from a recent session. There wasn't a lot of light in the house at all & since I absolutely hate flash for portraits, I decided to take more of a Sue Bryce (An amazing New Zealand Glamour Photographer) approach to solve my problem. I didn't have any of her white boards to bounce back onto her face, so I used a silver reflector to get the light in her eyes & face. The photo above was taken in the living room on a love seat, you can see the light on her hair from the small window that was behind her. I think it turned out beautifully & so did this first full attempt of "Chin forward & down" along with "Connection". Not sure if the hand below is considered "The Claw" & the one below that is "The Club", they're borderline to me, lol, so I'm going to do that better as well. I did see the difference with her eyes being slightly larger when her chin went forward & down but I discovered what I didn't do in this shot, so it's not perfect to me, so I will be going back to do it again, to do it right. This time I will have a second set of hands (hopefully a light stand adapter) to hold a white board exactly where I want it, or I'm going  to make the big white boards Sue uses (to me, there's no sense going back unless I have something better to help me with the light, then I can concentrate on the hand pose. All I know is, I love what I'm doing right now & so happy for those friends in my life, like this incredible woman, that let me use my new techniques on them, until I get them perfect. So glad she loves (...they love) it just as much, Thank you! 

 

CAMERA SETTINGS:

3 Photos above, Manual mode, f-stop 1.4 (I needed the most light as possible & was willing to go with a little blur on her face if needed, shutter speed 1/80 (she wasn't moving & I had my arm pretty stable to go one stop slower, to get the shot without my shaky hand affecting it (I don't usually go below 1-125), & ISO 500 (I needed to brighten the entire scene, probably should have gone higher). I moved my focus point to her eyes & tried to have both eyes at the same plane away from the camera, so they would both be the sharpest in the scene.

Photo below was taken in a bedroom with a bigger window & better light source, f-stop 1.6 (I still wanted to blur the background a lot & needed that light), shutter speed 1/100 (my hand wasn't as stable), ISO 400 (the scene was already brighter so I didn't need to go as high as living room shots. I had the reflector in the room leaning again a dresser, it only had the window behind her to get any light & none was hitting the reflector, the side window light was enough. (The room had a small high window on the other side of her feet & a bigger brighter window to my right.) I love all the photos, I have to start somewhere right.

GEAR I USED (I will have to post photos of my gear soon) & GEAR I WANT:  I used a huge round reflector ("Promaster" 5 in 1 from my local camera store, I had it on the silver side, it wasn't as soft as I wanted it but it would do until I make the reflectors I really want or until I get the holder adapter for the light stand. I used my 50mm 1.4 lens so I could get as much light as possible & this was the best lens for this situation, I hope to use my 24-70 2.8 lens as soon as I make my new reflectors, that's one of my favorite lenses for portraits. I can't wait to buy the reflector holder adapter for holding my existing reflector (also to hold my smaller white foam boards), can't wait to make my big reflectors / background boards (including painting them) & get my sheer chiffon to cover & soften the window light, they will make a world of difference in my more intimate indoor portrait photos. I don't have a big budget & I want to learn by having the story about the person, not a prop or expensive gear (I want to make the best of what I have available), I think that's why I love Sue Bryces style of lighting &, her style of photos. My first 4 years of owning a camera have been without her, now my photos won't be the same. I have to Thank CreativeLive.com, for introducing me to her. If you haven't visited their site & watched their free workshops (you can purchase previous workshops as well), you don't what you're missing, it will change your life if you're a self taught perfectionist like me, (I'm still trying to learn what I want to do with my photography, I need to classify myself as a specific style of photographer, just not sure what direction I want to go in, I"m still learning that, I think this will be the year I decide). CreativeLives workshops cover so many different styles of photography as well as editing & camera setting lessons. It has improved & fine tuned my photography this past year, it will do the same for you.

I can't wait for my next session with beautiful Miss C.

Family, maternity photos - Redding CA photographer

The photo above is one of my favorites from the day, the girls reading to their soon-to-be baby brother.

I can't wait to meet my great nephew.

Christina - Redding Photography

Here are some of my favorite photos I took of Christina a couple weeks back. She's so easy to photograph & the camera just loves her. Thanks for the fun evening Christina. Enjoy!

Sisters & Family Christmas Cards - Redding CA

How cute is this?!

We went out for some Christmas card photos & the morning was absolutely beautiful, I couldn't resist my generic shot! I was super happy when I got home & seen how special this moment was.

These girls get cuter each time I see them & I love watching them grow.

Have you taken your Family Christmas card photos?

Property - Gayfeather life cycle

 GAYFEATHER: BEFORE (taken in July)

GAYFEATHER: DURING THE FINCH ATTACK (taken in August) (note the finch on the left Gayfeather going to town, he's blurry cause he was moving so much, while the finch on the right is coming in for a landing to feed).

GAYFEATHER:  AFTER THE FINCH ATTACK (taken in September)



These stalks will die back, I'll cut them off & then some of them are moving into our newer front yard planter. I didn't know that finches would go after the Gayfeather when it went to seed (or that it would even go to seed, haha), now that we know it, we are going to buy more Gayfeathers in the Spring for the backyard. Our front porch was covered with seed after the attack. It'll be interesting to see if we get any come up next summer, we planted a bulb, not seed, so not sure how that works. Can't wait to get these planted & see them bloom next summer in their new home.

The "B" Family - Redding CA Photographer

I had a nice day out with the B family several weeks ago, I sure love this family!!

PERSONAL NOTE:  I was telling Jon the other day, that since watching an online workshop on CreativeLive, I see my photos in a completely different way, seeing things I didn't see before. It made me want to critique my own work & see the flaws along with what I love. (I don't have thick skin so I'm taking baby steps here.) There's a million things I want to change about the lighting in the photos but I still love them cause I love the family. Lighting is the biggest frustration for me & being limited with my gear & not having an assistant 98% of the time, I knew these would be hard photos to light but I still liked the basic sorta posey moment so it was a keeper to me. Every idea has to start somewhere. Now I just need to tweek it a little here & there, keep shooting the pose adding light, to eventually make it my best ;) I want to do it straight from the camera, not fix it in photoshop but that's just who I am, don't judge.

And since I LOVE happiness, I had to post the moment too, I just love her face! Don't you love that special someone that makes you laugh so much your face hurts....I DO!  & I know what that happiness feels like.

Even with the photo above, I see it differently since taking it, like now, not having him look into her eyes this close but I do still love it, it makes me smile...a lot; that's the most important part. I'll do better next time. The look on his face (not shown, duh), made her react this way & made the image completely worth keeping. BEST feeling EVER!!!

"Push, Fail, Learn, Evolve" - Roberto Valenzuela Photography
(the workshop instructor I watched on CreativeLive)

Baby C is so tiny - Newborn Redding photographer

Isn't she tiny & adorable!!

Sadie Senior portraits - Matson Vineyards - Redding, CA

Had a great time with Sadie at Matson Vineyards, taking her senior portraits. She is so cute & has the most amazing eyes.

I absolutely LOVE these!!!

How I took it - Redding CA photography

Can't wait!!!!, I'm attending a few events for people that I care deeply about & I'm just pretty darn excited about that right now. I love Jon so much for helping me get to where I need to be, I love him more than he could ever imagine (......but somehow I think he has just a little idea by now, wink wink!). Hope everybody has a great night & fulfilling weekend, I know I going to.

Here are a few resident finches tearing up the gay feathers to get to the seed. I LOVE these plants even more now, definitely getting more for next year, the finch love them.

NOTE: I didn't have the ideal conditions to get this shot but it was well worth what I came out with. The plant is on our front porch, I didn't want to spook the finches so I couldn't open the door all the way, it was about 11am so the sun was reflecting brightly on the entrance flooring & into my face & lens. I used my Canon 24-70 2.8 lens, set at 70mm & I still cropped the photo.

My Manual camera settings were aperture f-4, ss 1/400 & ISO 125. The wind was blowing, which made the plant bob & weave, so I increased the aperture for that movement, I kept my ISO low which left the shutter speed at 1/400, not enough to freeze the wings but pretty close. I didn't expose for the entire photo, I was worried about the bird, not the background & those finches are fast, this was such a lucky shot. It may not be the right way but it's how I took it. Enjoy!

Monsoonal clouds sunset - Kimberly Kester Photography

It was the end of the monsoonal clouds this night & it made for some awesome photos, especially the last one with all the sun beams darting across the sky. The valley was filled with smoke from surrounding fires, you can barely see the mountains in the distance. I got down low on purpose for this photo, so I could get some golden, dry weeds in the foreground. Thought it turned out pretty good.

I LOVE this last photo, it's so peaceful to me. Click on it to view it larger.

Trash the dress - Storm style - Redding CA

Just spending a bright, summer morning at the creek.....or shall I say, in the creek. I really want to do a sunset version of trash the dress next.

She's ready to go off into the military so we had a little fun before life became too serious.

Good luck Storm! I hope you achieve all you strive for.

In the moment - J & D

I love how some people simply relax so easily in front of the camera, it makes it easier to capture "In the moment" photos like these, they're the best.

Ahhhhh, I miss my Chipmunk Cheeks

...especially after spending the morning with this handsome little guy & wishing I had photos of me & my kids together like these. I used to call Richie, my now almost 23 yr old son, Chipmunk Cheeks & this little guy had the same cheeks I remember Richie having (and never grew out of, hehe).
I'm sincerely honored this mom & dad allowed me to capture these quick moments in their life. I miss having babies, not like I'm going to go out & do anything about it but it sure does help me to decide what I want to do in the future with my photography.

I've been making some much needed decisions in my business lately & my heart feels unusually settled with them. I hope to be announcing the news soon. Thank you, to this beautiful family for spending some time with me. Have a great day!!

How about a little snow this summer

The other day, Jon & I were talking about this day with Lady back in 2010, we both recalled how we laughed & laughed, so I decided to share it with you. We adopted her right about 2 years ago & she's been such a great dookie & although she's older (she was 6 when she became part of our family), she's still full of life.

It snowed her first winter with us & I don't think she's ever seen it before but that didn't stop her, she dove in face first....

Check out all the snow on those whiskers. She found one of her toys under the snow, after nose digging it out, she wound up playing, then eating the snow. I've never seen a dog eat snow before. She was so goofy.

At the top of the driveway, Jon took off  running back to the house, she got all excited & took off after him. When she caught up, she grabbed his robe & tried to drag him back to the house. So flipping funny, it was like she was getting onto him for running in the snow. I couldn't stop laughing, she made our morning.

I thought maybe seeing snow would cool you off, you know reverse psychology, lol. I felt the chill from that morning when I was editing them,....Well, can't blame a girl for trying. I hope you enjoy today!