Too Much Fun

If you’d have asked me a couple years ago, I never would have thought I’d enjoy creating like this. I’m having too much fun editing these photos. Check out the before and after:

Picture 1:

Before

After

 Picture 2:

Before

After

I’m learning more and more as I tinker with it. Recently learned how to add text, too, which I haven’t been able to do. This means I’ll soon be posting pictures from recent photo shoots very soon!

I’m like a little kid in a candy shop right now…just wait until I get that computer. I won’t be able to contain myself!

 

Waiting on my iMac

About a week ago, I decided to take the plunge and get an iMac. I’m beyond excited because this means that I can get Photoshop and Lightroom, which I’ve never had. I’m really looking forward into delving into editing photos right after my shoots, which I’ve never been able to do. I know there is a lot to learn, but I’m more excited by the possibilities.

In the meantime, I’ve stumbled across a fun little site called Picnik. I’ve been spending some time playing around with the photos from Rachel Shoemaker’s shoot. While it doesn’t allow me to do all of the things Photoshop does, it’s not bad. Kind of fun! Here are a couple I did just playing around…

(c) Nicole Neff Photography

(c) Nicole Neff Photography

 

My Rocker Husband

I’m a jealous person by nature. I’m very possessive of many things in my life, one of those things being my husband and my time with him. Tonight, my jealousy and possessiveness really came through when I found out that I would be home by myself most of the night. I was looking forward to a night of cuddling on the couch and watching the Olympics with Tyler, and when I found out I wouldn’t get my way, I stomped my foot and stuck out my lower lip. Yup, I was a big baby.

Tyler is in a rock band named Meridian, and practice takes up a lot of his time. They’ve been refining their new sound lately with at least two practices a week, and this week it is going to be three. Once I finally stopped being selfish, I started to think about how supportive Tyler has been of me and my time to pursue photography. How could I NOT support him, when he’s done nothing but be my biggest fan?

Sometimes I don’t understand what I’ve done to deserve such a fantastic husband, and one who’s a drummer at that (God really spoiled me when he put Tyler in my life, because I always had a thing for drummers). Honestly, I couldn’t be more proud of him. So proud that I really want to brag on him a bit. All of this practice for the band is not just to get together with three of his closest friends, although that is a perk.

It’s because Meridian was one of the few bands to be chosen to play at Godstock in Fairfield, Illinois, next month. This could be huge for the band because of the exposure they will get. Some big names in Christian music have jammed out on the stage of Godstock, including one of our favorites, Skillet. The schedule isn’t posted yet, but head over to the Godstock web site and you’ll see this picture that I took of the band (left to right: Dane, Daniel, Tyler and BJ):

Meridian

Haven’t heard Meridian yet? The music on their MySpace page is a bit dated, but they will soon be heading to the studio to record five tracks. Some of those songs will be featured on my web site once they’re done. I can’t wait to share my husband and Meridian with you all!

And if you can’t wait that long, come see them at Godstock on September 6. I’ll be the one wearing my “I’m sleeping with the drummer” t-shirt. We can cheer them on together!

 

Rachel Shoemaker: Sneak Peek

I just got back from an all-day shoot with a really fun girl with a really unique style. Rachel Shoemaker traveled 4 hours — 4 hours! — to do a photo shoot with me today. Rachel graduated from high school with my sister and we’ve kept in touch through the wonderful Facecbook and MySpace, so when I posted something about free photo shoots, I was totally flattered that she wanted to travel all this way to take advantage of it. Add to that the fact that she’d never seen my work. Talk about faith!

We started at about 9 a.m. this morning in Chandler, then worked our way to Evansville and Newburgh. She was up for anything and was totally at ease in front of the camera. She wanted to try some really funky makeup for her photos, so I let her do her thing. She even helped me scout out some unique locations and pose ideas. It was totally fun!

This image was taken behind a church in Newburgh. We were both totally shocked to find that bamboo can grow in southern Indiana, but it sure made for some pretty images. And love that light! Can you believe this image has no Photoshop editing to it at all?

Copyright Nicole Neff Photography

Thanks, Rachel, for a totally fun day. I can’t wait to post ALL of your pictures, because the camera totally loves you!

 

Women’s Spa Day

I had the wonderful opportunity to not only photograph the women’s spa day at my church this past Sunday, but also to share the day with my mom, who was there to help the women accessorize with Lia Sophia jewelry. The spa day was a kick-off to the women’s group that will be launching very soon, but it also gave me a chance to work with my camera and practice shooting women applying makeup, which will come in very handy for shooting weddings. (All of the following images have no Photoshopping done to them)

Misty Majors started the day by leading the women through Mary Kay facials and makeup application. You may recognize Misty. I did her family pictures a few weeks ago, but since then, she’s changed a bit. In these pictures, you can see she has a little bun in the oven. Isaac is going to have a baby sister before this year is over!

Mary Kay consultant Misty Majors

Here are some pictures of the women using the Mary Kay products:

I loved capturing the mothers and daughters bonding by being girly.

Amy and Beth

Amy and Alyssa

Speaking of moms, here’s my mom applying mascara:

Mom applying mascara

Mom looking in the mirror

Rachel applying makeup

Josie applying makeup

Cathy applying makeup

My mom is a Lia Sophia advisor, so she was there to show the ladies how to accessorize with jewelry. My good friend Rachel, a Creative Memories consultant, helped the ladies create picture frames in which they could put the images I took after they had their makeup done and jewelry on. Head over to my church’s web site to see more pictures of the fun day.

And as always, I was behind the camera the entire day, so this is the only picture of me.

Me!

 

I saw Katy Perry, and I liked it…

Tyler and I traveled to Indy last week for the Warped Tour at the Verizon Wireless Music Center, and among the acts to perform was Katy Perry. I wasn’t the biggest fan of hers before the concert. In fact, when Tyler purchased her single “I Kissed a Girl” (he’s so going to kill me for writing that) from iTunes a few weeks ago, I was mad at him for not only spending our money on it, but putting the money in her bank account.

But I have to admit, Katy Perry put on a pretty good show. She was by far the act with the most people watching. Seriously, the entired amphitheater was packed. Luckily, we had gotten there early to get a pretty good seat. She brought serious energy to her performance and had a great personality, too. I was able to get some decent pictures of her with my point and shoot…

Katy Perry @ Warped Tour, Indy

Katy Perry performing

We also saw Gymclass Heroes…meh. Not impressed.

Gymclass Heroes @ Warped Tour

Then we saw Angels and Airwaves. You might recognize the lead singer as Tom of Blink182. Angels and Airwaves was seriously awesome, and Tyler is completely sold on their music now.

Angels and Airwaves @ Warped Tour

Tom of Angels and Airwaves

Finally, the band we waited for all day was RelientK. We’ve loved their music for some time now, and this performance totally solidified that. If you know us, you know that we are MAJOR fans of The Office. Tyler and I were totally surprised and in awe when RelientK broke out in a song they wrote about The Office and then played The Office theme song. Awesome!

RelientK @ Warped Tour

Notice that there are not any pictures of me and Tyler. There’s a good reason for that…we were a hot sweaty mess that day. It was 96 degrees in the shade at one point toward the END of the day, so needless to say we had been sweating all day and it wasn’t pretty. The sun completely wore us out and I think I’m still catching up on sleep. It was totally worth it, though. I had a blast seeing some awesome musical acts with my favorite guy in the world. I couldn’t have asked for more!

 

New, New, New!

So I have a new ‘do! It was way too hot with my thick and long hair, so I chopped it off today. I was totally nervous as the hair kept getting shorter and shorter, but I really love it. This picture totally doesn’t do it justice because you can’t see the back of it (and I’m horrible at taking self-pictures). The back is kind if stacked, so it’s even shorter than the front.

My new 'do!

I’m so excited about this new style. Now that I’m pursuing a fun profession, I wanted my hairstyle to match. I think this fun, trendy, and functional style totally did the trick! Thanks to Ashley at Uptown Salon in Boonville for the great cut. You should go see her because she really does a great job!

There are a lot of other fun new things to be blogged, so check back soon for:

1) Warped Tour pictures

2) Majors family photos

3) Causey family photos

 

Road Trippin’!

Tomorrow, Tyler and I are taking a day off of work to head to Indy for the Warped Tour! It’s about a 4-hour trip for us to the Verizon Wireless Music Center, but we are fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of people. And everyone says we should do this kind of thing while we’re young…and don’t have kids. So why not?

Plus, the tickets were free! My boss won the tickets on the radio for me (I was trying to call in, but didn’t get through…she did, and I’m so happy!); I’m widely known as the girl who wins stuff on the radio…seriously, I’ve seen live Gretchen Wilson (and met her backstage…I have the picture to prove it), Brad Paisley, Dancing with the Stars and Larry the Cable Guy. All from calling in to the radio. But this time, I owe it to her.

We may not seem like Warped Tour kind of people. I think it’s a little more punk/alternative than we normally would like, but since my husband is a musician, we try to see as many musical acts as possible. It’s good for the creative juices and opens your mind up to other styles to infuse into your own music. Or so I’m told. I’m not the musical one in the family.

Most of the acts, we’ve never heard of. However, one of our favorite Christian bands, RelientK, is going to be there. The “I Kissed a Girl” girl, Katy Perry, is going to be there, too. I’m not crazy about her, but Tyler likes her. Gee, couldn’t imagine why. ; ) I’m also going to try to catch Gymclass Heroes and Angels and Airwaves.

It’s going to be a hot one, for sure, but I love stuff like this. What’s better than being with your favorite guy, hitting the road and seeing some awesome musical acts for free?

And because I love putting pictures in my posts, here’s one from last weekend when my mom and dad were in town. We made our annual trip to Holiday World, and man was it a hot one. We spent a lot of time at the water park, not only because it was hot, but also because my sister is prego and can’t ride rides. Doesn’t she look so cute with her little belly pooch?

Family outing to Holiday World

And here’s one of me…and Tyler groping Santa. What am I going to do with that husband of mine?

The Neffs with Santa

 

Photography Self-Challenge

Anyone who knows me will probably tell you I’m passionate about photography. Anytime there is an event worth remembering, I’ll probably be found with my camera in hand. I’m often begging people to let me take their picture. Everyday, I peruse tons of blogs to learn new techniques, poses and tips. Yup, I’m obsessed.

While I’ve learned a lot in the short time I’ve done photography, there is still something I’ve yet to do — shoot completely in manual mode. I dabbled with it in my photography class this past year, but hadn’t learned it well enough to be confident with it. I’ve been shooting in shutter- or aperture-priority modes for ages now. I’ve wanted to go manual for quite some time, but never quite found the right opportunity to practice it; I’ve been too afraid to do it one an actual photo shoot. But this past Sunday at our church picnic, I challened myself to shoot completely manual. There was no pressure, so I could play around with it and not worry about not capturing certain shots. And I have to say, I love it! You have so much more control over how your images turn out. Not sure I’ll ever go back now! (All of these images are straight out of the camera; no Photoshopping at all)

Here are some pictures of my hubby Tyler at the picnic this past Sunday. Isn’t he cute?

Tyler

 

Tyler shooting skeet

 

Tyler cooling off by the fan

Here are a couple pictures of Elana that I captured that day, too.

Elana on the trampoline

I love the way the sunlight looks in this one, as well as how the fast shutter speed captured the little grains of sand. The lower the ISO, the better color saturation you get in your pictures (thank you, Me Ra Koh!). The faster your shutter speed, the more it freezes the motion.

Elana in the sandbox

Here’s another one that I like because of the splattering of the egg. I made it a little bigger so you could see the goop…

Yolky mess

You can see more of this fun picnic on my church’s blog.

So what challenge are you really wanting to take on but are too afraid to try? I’d encourage you to get out there and try, try and try again. The worst you could do is fail, but every failure is a learning experience. Which means, really, you actually succeed!

 

Portrait Bonus!

Because I want my clients to be able to have great prints to hang up on their walls after our sessions, I’ve decided to add in a little bonus to my portrait prices…$100 in ordering credit! That means that you get the 2 hours session time, at least 15 images professionally edited, online proofing and ordering, and $100 in products of your choice. How awesome is that?

This would be especially great for seniors and families to take advantage of before school starts up again. Fill out the contact page of my web site and set up a portrait session right away…this deal may not last forever!

And because it’s rare to find a picture of me since I’m always behind the camera, here’s a little picture that David of Cathy+David Photography took of me at a meeting in Indy this past week. Thanks for capturing me when I’m not making one of my many silly/animated faces, David!

Photo by David of Cathy+David Photography