And You Thought Your 11x14 Was Large  {Barbara LeGere Photography  |  Austin, TX}

That 11x14 you have framed in your family room - you thought, "wow, that doesn't really make the statement I thought it would."  It doesn't.  But, check this out...3 Panels - each 3 feet x 3 feet.  That 3 feet by 9 feet of canvas - or 27 SQUARE FEET of gorgeous children!  Don't let your images sit dusty and unused on that disc...put them to good use.  Canvas is my favorite way to display your images.  It comes ready to hang, with or without the frame.  You can even order your canvas though me if you need the help.

OK, so the iphone doesn't do them justice.  The child is for size reference.  Thank you for sharing!  They turned out beautiful!!

And, not only that, this is three of FIVE of the images she put on canvas and they all look great!
Now go put your pictures to work!

Backyard Play  {Barbara LeGere  |  Austin Family Photographer}

Sometimes children feel a little too comfortable at home, but for some children, the family backyard is a happy place where kids can be themselves.  And, these kiddos were exactly that!  Super happy, super fun and the family was so relaxed.  Thanks for the fun session and enjoy your memories!

Happy First Birthday!   {Austin Child Photographer  |  Barbara LeGere}

I had the pleasure of shooting this family in the fall and I was surprised at how much I truly enjoyed the session with three little boys!  And, they didn't let me down this time either!  Mom (who is gorgeous btw) suggested we meet at their favorite play spot on the greenbelt.  Someone was looking out for us, because the overcast day allowed the boys to roam free and we could shoot in almost any direction (instead of heading for even light).  The boys were in great spirits, the family as fun as ever and the family dog - ready for a walk.  Thank your for letting me help you celebrate your youngest's first year!  Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

And this is the family dog's expression when she's ready for a walk - so funny!:

Super Cute and Super Sweet  {Barbara LeGere  |  Austin Children Photographer}

What a darling little girl!  Like a lot of children, she was a little slow to warm-up, but once she felt comfortable, she was just a sweet as can be.  And, check out her ride!  Can I say jealous?  My mom-wagon just doesn't even compare!  Thank you for the fun session and enjoy this moment in time! 
(and thanks to Mike Reed of www.mikereedphoto.com for his most excellent impromptu assistance!)

These two are unedited proofs (the photography gods are screaming at me), but they are just so so cute - don't you just adore the expressions of two-year-old girls?  I know I do!

New Years Card Session for us!  |  Austin Photography

Being a photographer, I have snapped many beautiful images of my girls, but 1)  I am rarely actually IN the pictures (I don't usually mind:)) and 2)  images taken by other people always just naturally feel more interesting.  So, my friend and fellow (awesome) photog, Mike Reed (http://www.mikereedphoto.com/) shot a session for us at Kiddie Acres. 

Ever since my eldest rode her first ride there at the age of two, she has always absolutely loved Kiddie Acres.  I knew this may be the last year for her to enjoy kiddie acres before she outgrew it, so it was the perfect location (sniff, sniff).  The girls were at ease there (obviously) and we all had a great time.  And, right across from Kiddie Acres was the COOLEST train ever.  bonus!  Hint:  Favorite family joints make excellent photography locations. 

Mike did an amazing job - thank you so much Mike!  Let's do it again!

(ps - it was great to finally be in front of the lens and feel what you all go through with professional sessions.  i did love shopping for new outfits!!)

new year card 2011...

The Traveling Graduate  {Barbara LeGere  |  Senior Photography}

This beautiful Langham Creek High Senior drove all the way from Houston for her graduation portraits.  She was a total doll and made the session so easy and fun. 
Congratulations 2011 Graduate!   You're going to go far in life and have a great time along the way!  Thanks for the opportunity to capture this milestone in your life!

Happy Fifteen!  {Barbara LeGere  |  Austin Photographer}

What a fantastic young woman this beauty is turning out to be!  She makes her mama so proud!  And, she's a great babysitter:).  Thank you (and mama) for taking such good care of our girls!  And, for the opportunity to capture this milestone in your life.  Happy Birthday!

Super Dooper Well Behaved Children  |  Barbara LeGere Austin Children Photographer

I mean really.  I have had the best luck with awesome children lately.  And these two (three if you count Woody from Toy Story who came along as well) children were no exception.  Can these parents please come over to my house and raise my children for me?  Wow.  They do as requested, the first time.  No whining, no complaining, just did it.  Course, the promise of lollipops always helps!:)

Thank you for the opportunity to capture your family!  It was such a fun session!

Organizing your photos  {Barbara LeGere  |   Austin Photographer}

"One day!!"  One day I will organize these photos.  One day I will back up these photos.  One day I will print these photos.  Start TODAY! 

Don't look back, just start a system today.  Implement it for everything in the future.  Don't worry about where you've been.  A year from now you will be sooo glad you did.

Here's my system.  It's not perfect.  It's redundant.  And, it may not be for you, but perhaps it will inspire you to develop your own system. 

1)  UPLOAD by DATE to ONE spot
When I upload my photos, they ALL go to C->Pictures.  If there's an image on my harddrive, it's there.  Within that folder, I set my Canon software to upload all the pictures into folders by date.  Now, I don't have to think about it, I don't do anything but plug in the camera.  And, viola! They are just there in nice sequential order.  (I once had a Nikon point&shoot camera and couldn't figure out how to do this, but I'm sure there's a way.)   After that, I might add a description to the label, but never touch the date. 
I.E. "2011_10_10" becomes "2011_10_10 Genny turns 1", just so I know where the important events are.

2)  COPY into MONTH folders
Now comes the slightly more wasteful step, but it works for me.  I HATE deleting photos.  Always have, always will.  So, instead, I create a folder for each year and a folder for each month within that.  So, I'll go through a day of photos and COPY just my very favorites and place them into the month folder. 

The photos in my 'month folders' are my favorites - the ones I will share with my family on Shutterfly (cringe) and ultimately make my photobooks from. 

3)  MOVE the 'day folders' into 'RAW YEAR' folder
Once I have finished building entire month's worth of favorite images, I move all the 'day folder' photos into a folder called 'RAW 2010' (or whatever the year is).  So, now I don't have to look at the 'day folders' anymore.  I just have a nice neat tidy month's worth of favorite photos.  I rarely need to go back into the 'raw photos'. 

4)  UPLOAD to SHARE site
I upload the month's photos to my share page on Shutterfly and then I'm done. 

Side note:  I started a share page on Shutterfly when my first daughter was born.  Now, I'm stuck with it because ALL our monthly images are there (five year's worth).  I love going back and looking at them.  While Shutterfly's quality is OK, I prefer my own professional printer.  But, Shutterfly is now my 3rd back-up for personal images, so I can't complain - they are storing my images for FREE!  If you'd like to see my share page, please send me an email and I'll send you a link.

5)  CREATE a YEAR Photobook
At year's end, it is so simple to create a photobook of the year.  I have all my favorites from the year by month.  I can create it using any photobook site like shutterfly or my publisher etc.  (This year I get to try out my new professional software...whoop!)

It sounds way more complicated than it is. 

I can't stress enough to start a system today and stick with it. 

and because this is a photography blog...here's one from yesterday: my littlest one's just-up-from-nap look

Austin Drumming  |  Barbara LeGere Austin Musician Photography

Amazing drummer, OK amazing musician.  He represents Longo Drums http://www.longodrums.com/home.html  and you can check him out on the local music scene  http://www.reverbnation.com/graylegeredrums .  You'll be glad you did!

Before and After  {Barbara LeGere Photography |  Portrait Photographer}

With the new year, I decided you should be more in control of your images.  Yeah for you!  So, you get to select which three images you will receive in full size high-resolution jpgs - instead of me.  You pick which three you would like to be able to enlarge, print and mount.  You pick which three I pay attention to and edit (and remove stray hairs and snoogies from), instead of me.  Nine times out of ten, I select the same images you would from a session, but every once in a while, I don't.  So, now, you will select which three get the attention.  I also feel that you should get to keep and use all the images from your session, so you still receive those in a smaller format to print for your personal use. 

You can see more information about the new pricing here.

Some images need very little retouching.  Maybe just highlights and shadows touched up a bit, or a bit of sharpening to the eyes.  But some need a little more TLC or even an artistic treatment.  To give you an idea of some of my prior work, here are a few 'before and afters':

Removal of stray hair and a touch of selective sharpening:

Warming and smoothing skin:

Improving contrast, sharpening the eyes and art texture treatment:

 



And, sometimes people walk in the background...can you believe it?



Selected sharpening, warming and removal of pole in the background:

Conversion to a rich black and white worked great for this image:

 Thanks for checking out Barbara LeGere Photography.  See you from behind the lens soon!