Photoshop Lesson




Todays lesson is a quick non destructive way to dodge and burn to make your image pop. This method will give your images more modeling and add a 3D look to them. Import your image into Photoshop. Click Layers on the top menu tool bar. Click New > layer. In the pop up menu box set the mode to Overlay. Now check the box that says ( fill with overlay-neutral color 50% gray ). Go to your brushes palette and choose a soft brush. Start with a low opacity. Make sure your color tool bar is set to black and white. Now click the layer mask in your layers palette and paint your image. Remember black adds and white subtracts. Start with a low opacity and build your image up to the desired depth. As you can see in the sample images the top is a tad flat. By using this method you can non destructively add modeling to any image.

Facebook

We would like all our friends an fans to subscribe to our Facebook page.
We will be offering special deals for our friends who like us, so keep up with the latest offers. Thank you.

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Doggie Portraits



We are doing Halloween portraits this week and it is going to the dogs. Here is Nittany dressed as a devil for the holiday session. Nittany was then caught in our pumpkin patch looking for his perfect pumpkin. We had a great time shooting this little wiener. Get your dog in here and we'll shoot him too.

Engaged and loving it








My daughter Lisa is getting married next year to Jeff Englert. He is a great guy and we welcome him to our family. We took their engagement pictures on Wednesday. It was a perfect fall day and we went to Glen Falls, in Williamsville for the shoot. We walked around the park and shot in various locations looking for fall color for our backgrounds. I think we got some great images for them. Here are a few favorites. You can view the complete shoot at our main site.
theportraitgalleryniagara.com

New pricing

We have changed our pricing for our wedding packages this week. The new prices do reflect the economy and cost of living increases that we have been holding down for quite a while now, but it is a very modest increase at best. Most importantly, you will notice we have four wedding packages with two new options. We feel our clients deserve the very best. This is big and worth a look. You may read all about it on our wedding investment page, or better yet, call 297-3387 for a consultation now.

http://theportraitgalleryniagara.com/investment.html

Congratulations






Congratulations to Sherry and Shannon Groff. They wed on Sunday at the Erie County Botanical Gardens. We photographed their ceremony indoors due to rains in the area. We did get plenty of images of them with their families. A wonderful couple and we wish them all the best. Here are a few from the day. We did manage to get outside after the ceremony. Click to enlarge image. Their complete collection of images can be seen on our main site at: theportraitgalleryniagara.com

The Dare Devil











Today my daughter Lisa got to rappel down the 26 story high Seneca Niagara Casino. She earned the opportunity by raising over $1000 for the Special Olympics. She did a fine job too. They all thought she was a professional coming down the wall so fast. Here are a few pics of her. Click to enlarge.

Congratulations






A big congratulations go out to Melanie and Eric this week. They tied the knot on Saturday. We met them at Antonio's Quality Inn where they married first. We then went to Great Lakes Gardens in Niagara Falls State Park for some environmental family pictures. Then back to Antonio's for a great night of fun at their reception. Here are a few pics from the event. Click on images to enlarge. Their entire gallery can be seen on our main site at: theportraitgalleryniagara.com

Graduation Day



Today my daughter Christina graduated from NFHS. She received her diploma on stage at the Niagara Falls Cenvention Center. We are so proud of her. She will be starting college at NCCC in the fall. She plans on being a teacher. Today is a great day.

Lighting Lesson 005


It is important that you understand and use light to portray the image you want to express. The before and after image above shows you the original scene and how it was brightly lit. The subject matter gets completely lost in the scene and the image makes no sense.. Now suppose you light the subject and render the surrounding background black. I did this by adding one light ( sb 600 speedlight ) with a Gary Fong power snoot. By under exposing the back ground and just adding some concentrated light to the subject I have now made the sneakers the main focal point of this scene. Now this is in no way super artistic but it is a quick demonstration of how dramatically light can alter your image easily. This gives the scene a different look. Your posibillities are endless in photography. Use the light to express your feelings to the viewer. Camera was a Nikon D3, 24-70mm Nikkor 2.8 AF-s lens. Exposure was ISO 320, f - 16 @ 1/ 1000 sec. SB 600 manual, @ full power.

Congratulations




Congratulations to Steven & Laura. They married on Saturday at Samuel's Grand Manor in Clarence. They had an outdoor wedding ceremony and the reception immediately followed in the upstairs banquet room. The weather turned sunny and we got plenty of great images. We had a great time working with this couple and their families. You can see their complete gallery of wedding images on our main site: www.theportraitgalleryniagara.com

Friday Weddings




Congratulations to John & Sarah. They married Friday evening at Redeemer Lutheran Church in North Tonawanda. We stopped at Ellicott Creek Island for pictures then off to Ellicott Creek Fire Hall for a marvelous reception. Thank you to John & Laura and their families for the opportunity to photograph their day. You can view all their images at our main site: www.theportraitgalleryniagara.com

Portraits in the Park




Summer is here and it is a great time for outdoor portraits. We will shoot your portraits anywhere you like. We did these wonderful grand children images at Hyde Park last week. You can see their complete set of images on our main site: Theportraitgalleryniagara.com
Call now an make your appointment... 716-297-3387

Congratulations Toni & Chris








Friday night we had the great fortune to be at and photograph the entire event of Toni Scarpelli and Christopher Tierney's wedding. A wonderful day for them to tie the knot. They married at Banchetti's in Amherst with a reception following. Thank you to them and their families for a wonderful opportunity. Here are some highlights of the day. Click on images to enlarge. The complete gallery can be viewed on our main site: theportraitgalleryniagara.com