Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving with family and friends. Every year I make a special effort to take a group picture at Thanksgiving. I started in 2006 and plan on doing it until I can't. This is the third in my series and its amazing how you can compare them and see how we've changed as a family in such a short period. Most obvious is the addition of my grandson Nathan. It will be interesting to see how we look in 2020. I recommend all families do a group picture like this at least once a year.

Holley Falls, Holley, NY

I like to shoot waterfalls. At this time of year it is always questionable that any given waterfall will have water flowing over it or possibly be frozen for the smaller ones. I chose Holley Falls because it is really a run off outlet for the Erie canal and always has a good flow all year long. I had a light dusting of snow this day and the mist from the falls was freezing along the banks. the sun was in and out of clouds and the falls was hidden in shadow. I used HDR methods to merge multiple images in Photomatix to give me the best exposures in highlight and shadow areas.

This image was in decent shape for its age. I was glad the tear didn't cut into the eyes or mouth on this one. An easy fix, clean up and clone two large rips. Spot for dust and adjust contrasts and color levels and this photo is done.

Another restoration

In this case our client wished us to restore and enlarge her cherished childhood photo. The original image is a small 2x2 inches. It also has many tiny cracks and some scratches. Fortunately the scratches do not run across the face. The final image was made into an 8x10 including the added mat. The image cleaned up fairly nice considering the original image was in rough shape. Click on image to enlarge.

Restoration Project

In this restoration our client would like the image retouched and enlarged. The original photo was 2.25 inches by 2.25 inches. Very small indeed. I first make a copy of the original as I do with all my restorations by photographing it with my Nikon D3 then uploading the image to NX2. I then adjust the contrast and black and white tones and do any straightening of my project. It is then transferred to CS3 and I do most of the retouching and dust spotting with the patch tools. I then increase the size and add a mat border to make the final image 5x7.

A couple more of Nathan with his hat. Wendy thinks he looks like a little old time paper boy in these. One has to admit he captures your heart with sweet innocence. All images were shot with Nikon D3, 24-70 mm lens. In studio set up with four strobes.

Nathan Daniel Muth, 8 mos

Today we did a photo session with my grandson. Nathan wore his Christmas outfit. He was adorable. I used a green screen for a background so I could change it to what ever I wanted later. Nathan was very cooperative an I got some great expressions. Here are a few from his session that I really liked. Click on images to enlarge.