Mon - May 19, 2008

Baby Alyssa


We had a great time a couple of weeks ago taking some great photos of baby Alyssa! Her parents Jesus & Suzy helped us out and we all had alot of fun trying to make her laugh or giggle for about an hour. Alyssa was in a great mood until the very end when she just had enough of all four of us :)

We've had a few baby sessions recently and each one gets funner and funner (if thats a word). I'm loving taking photos of babies/kids because everyone is just so happy and excited around them. This was not a bit different! Suzy is a proud momma and Jesus is very involved in his baby's happiness....it was totally obvious how happy and excited they are to be parents. Thanks again guys for the great time and delicious dinner afterwards!!....check out the pics...

Posted at 08:57 PM     Read More  

Mon - May 5, 2008

Nunez Kids!


A couple of weekends ago we had a total blast trying to keep up with the Nunez girls! Here's some of our favorite pics from their session....

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Mon - March 3, 2008

Babies! Babies! Babies!


since we don't have a wedding until the end of april, we have a few weekends in april where we would loooove to shoot some baby sessions. we had such an fun time with baby michael the other day, that we are eager to start shooting more kids and babies in the near future. with that said, i'd like to put a "cant-pass-this-one-up" sale for everybody who keeps up with our blog or for a friend of yours (yes! forward them our blog, or surprise them with a gift!)...here's the deal:

-a "year in the life" baby session, normally $250 for the 3 separate sessions.

-from march 4th to march 11th, if you find another friend with a baby and you BOTH sign up for a "year in the life" session (at the same time), your price will be $150 each. that's $100 off just for finding a friend!

here's a few more details about a "year in the life" session:

-these are 3 separate portrait sessions of your baby or child within one year. you will not regret documenting your kids' amazing growth with some awesome photographs!
-this price is only for the 3 sessions, there is no "print credit". my print and enlargement prices are very reasonable
-we also have tons of other cool products like albums, canvas prints, dvd slideshows, etc.
-this sale price is good only from march 4 to march 11. you and your friend must contact me so that i send both of you a contract by march 11th.
-because of the low price, both parties must pay full amount ($150 each) by march 15, via check or paypal.
-first session with your baby must take place before may 1st, the remaining sessions will be scheduled accordingly
-sessions last about 1 to 1-1/2 hours
-sorry, but if you live outside a 10 mile radius from rancho cucamonga, we have to charge a small travel fee :(

well, i think thats it! if you or anybody you know might be interested, just send me an email to abe@macpd.com or call me at 909.702.1916

Posted at 11:56 PM     Read More  

Tue - February 26, 2008

BABY MICHAEL!


There's no denying it....6-month olds are too much fun to photograph! Lizzie is a co-worker of my wife Dina and she called us the other day because she wanted to hire us for a "year in the life" session of her six month old, adorable, chubsy-ubsy little boy Michael. I had not photographed a baby this young in quite some time, so I was little bit nervous, but within a few minutes of meeting him, I think Michael kinda like Dina and myself! He was a great sport, hardly cried and made our job super-duper easy.....

Get ready for cuteness.......

Posted at 06:24 PM     Read More  

Sun - February 17, 2008

Rubi--Portrait


So our good friend Rubi decided to be a supermodel for a day and we did a cool portrait session with my simple lighting set-up. All these portraits have very very minimal photoshop re-touching, just a little bit of clean-up. Once again, the Totally Rad Actions really help speed things along with the post-processing. Since I've been doing quite a bit of these portraits, I've become quite an expert with the "flawless skin look". I end up spending a nice amount of time on each image to make sure that the edits are "invisible", in other words, she doesnt look all photoshopped! If anybody is interested in having a portrait session like this for a very fair fee, just send me an email and we'll talk!

Posted at 11:51 PM     Read More  

Sat - January 26, 2008

Portraits...


I've learned a few new post-processing skills recently and I'm kind of hooked on working on portraits and trying to do what's called "invisible re-touching"; in other words, you work on the person's face and/or body to make the photo as flattering as possible, yet your touch-up are minimal, so that it is not "obviously photoshopped". I really dont like "skin glows", "soft skin", or any of those other cheesy effects that are supposed to make someone look better. Instead, you work smart and the end result is that the person still looks like herself/himself, just way hotter! Just remember, you need to start off with good light for the photo, a great capture, then a little photoshop love....

Posted at 08:19 AM     Read More  

Sun - January 20, 2008

soft.....soft.....soft.....


Soft lighting. I shot our friend Crystal using very soft, reflected light and I am really happy with the end result. I used the Boutwell's Totally Rad Actions to help me "touch up" the portrait. Although at weddings its kind of difficult to set up an umbrella to shoot soft-light photos like these (because of the limited time, limited space, etc. etc), I'll be trying to incorporate some portraits like this in future weddings. They have a very "studio portrait" feel, but in reality all I used was a $75 nikon strobe and a $30 umbrella. I think that's why I like it so much! :)

NOTE: PLEASE HELP........I need everyone's help out there. I"m trying to get a better idea of how my blog posts look on YOUR MONITOR. Are they too dark, do they look "good" to you, too bright? The thing is, I have two monitors, which are supposedly calibrated, but I've noticed that on one, my blog photos look kind of "dark". So, as I'd like my work to look as good as possible on your monitor, i have to find some common ground between everyone's monitors.....that's where i need your help.....PLEASE leave me some feedback in the comments section and note whether the photo looks good to you or kinda dark. Just because I think the photos look great on my monitor, it doesnt mean that's what you are seeing! Help me try to figure this out.....thanks again!

Posted at 09:47 AM     Read More  

Thu - January 3, 2008

Oscar & Jennifer


Oscar and Jennifer have only been married a few months and were looking into having a portrait session this soon after the wedding because they werent too thrilled with their wedding photographer. Too bad our paths didnt cross before their big day :( But we still had a blast at a local high school and made tons of cool images. It was freezing and I was really sick but they were patient with me and were super cooperative with all ideas, thanks guys!!

Posted at 11:35 PM     Read More  

Wed - January 2, 2008

JESSICA...in the wilderness...


We wanted to shoot locally and find new, interesting little corners here in town where we could create awesome images. I think we did a great job with a vacant lot we took Jessica to. It was the middle of the day, so lighting conditions were not too favorable, but we managed to use shade and off-camera lighting to our advantage. For 2008, we've decided to shoot closer to home when it comes to portraits and engagement sessions.....basically, with a little bit of "scouting", some imagination, and creativity, you can make a beautiful image anywhere, anyplace.....check out Jessica.....

just a quick note...all the following photos were taken within about a 45 minute stretch, right here in rancho cucamonga, in an industrial area....

Posted at 08:50 PM     Read More  

Fri - December 14, 2007

Julianna....


Here's a cool portrait of Julianna. I never posted any of these, but I was going through some of my files from this year and I started working on this shot of her in the scary brush of the Claremont colleges! I tried some different post-processing techniques and I'm really happy with the end result!

Posted at 08:54 PM     Read More  

Mon - November 12, 2007

jessica....sepia+grainy!


Here's a few pictures of our friend Jessica, from about 7 or 8 months ago! I was just going through old photos, trying to find something that I missed the first time around! They looked good in color, but I think they look GREAT in sepia, with some nice grain....

Posted at 11:00 PM     Read More  

Mon - October 8, 2007

Stella & Hazel


A few weeks ago, we wanted to try out a few shooting techniques in somewhat bad lighting conditions. Our friends, Stella and Hazel were good sports about it and this is what we came up with.......

Posted at 12:06 AM     Read More  

Tue - September 18, 2007

THE HERNANDEZ FAMILY


First, I need to thank Elizabeth and Javier for being sooooo patient with this post! We did a cool family portrait session with them in Pasadena on a warm Saturday in August.....yes, its almost been a month and I'm barely posting, sorry.

Well, we met up with Elizabeth & Javeri & Isaac and it was totally easy shooting them, they were up for anything and pretty much left it up to us to shoot wherever and whatever we wanted.....thank you very very much for that. Oh, by the way, if any of these 3 look familiar, it's because she's Imelda's sister and you probably saw them on her wedding post!

Posted at 11:14 PM     Read More  

Wed - September 12, 2007

Chystal.....muy glamorous!


Ok, here's my second try at this post, the first time, the photos werent loading.....

Christal was nice enough to let us try out different techniques with our strobes (flash). I just tried to keep it simple using one strobe, one umbrella and a happy subject!

Posted at 12:01 PM     Read More  

Fri - August 24, 2007

MORE SPOT-LIGHT PORTRAITS


Here's another "test" shoot with our friends Stella and Hazel. Everytime i use the off-camera flash, I learn something new. I think I've almost got it figured out.

Here's a quick preview of the girls portraits.....I'll post more soon.....

Posted at 12:26 AM     Read More  

















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