Children’s Expo Winner
For any of you that visited our table at the first Children’s Expo at the Convention Center on Saturday, thank you. It was a pleasure meeting everyone and I hope that you will let us know if we can help you with anything in the future. That being said, we held a drawing for a 1-hour portrait session with a $50 print credit. Today, we had our 15 month old daughter pick a card out of our fishbowl, and the lucky winner of this session is:
EILEEN KNIPS
Congratulations Eileen, we look forward to working with you.
Have a great week!
I Heart Faces Weekly Challenge {Red}
This week’s challenge on I heart faces is Red (can you guess why?!) I bet you guessed for Valentines Day! In addition to Valentine’s Day, the theme is red to bring light to a great cause: Go Red for Women from the American Heart Association – a cause, which if you have followed any of our posts, is one that we frequently volunteer for. Make sure to visit their site at www.heart.org
I just finished shooting a family at Loch Haven Park in Orlando, and one of the photos just jumped out at me for this challenge. They had a beautiful little girl who just celebrated her 1st birthday and was full of energy…so much so that she refused to wear shoes – A girl after my own heart 
Here is a photo of her admiring those red shoes that she so vehemently refused to wear. Enjoy!
- MY red shoes!
Check out other great entries at:
The Art of Product Photography
Ok, so I know that the title is a bit misleading, so I should clarify. I am in NO WAY AN EXPERT on product photography, but I think it is important that people understand what really goes into shooting product photography – even from someone like me.
In this photo, you will see our entire in-home set up (we also do on location, but for this client, we did everything here). In this shot, you will see, (2) 500-watt flood lights, each with a 39″ softbox. Next, notice the Elinchrom Quadra A-Head set-up. You can’t actually see the battery pack (as it is on the floor), however you can see the two light stands with the 15.75″ Elinchrom Softboxes that are attached to the Quadra system. We are actually using a white piece of linoleum as our seamless background, which for this shot is covered with black felt – nice and heavy so the wrinkles don’t show through. You will also notice that we have our tripod set up, which is vitally important for clear product photography.
We moved the flood lights as close to the product as possible without them being in the shot, and used the Quadra system to add light to the front of the product and illuminate the background. We also implemented the use of light diffusers when necessary.
For this first shot of the set up, we used 4-5 pieces of snap together laminate flooring to make it look like it was sitting on a wood floor. To achieve the reflected look, we laid a piece of clear acrylic (available at any home depot) on top.
We played around with several ideas for this client such as just black with the acrylic, white and acrylic, and the wood with acrylic on black. I think certain products looked better on certain backgrounds. Here are some photos – the first of the set up and several final product shots. Let me know what you think!
Karen & Eric’s Maternity Shoot
We have known Karen and Eric for several years, now. The first time we met them was on 4th of July when a few mutual friends introduced us at the beach. That day (or it may have been the day before – I don’t remember!) they had their first 4-legged child – Charlie – a miniature Yorkie (you will see a photo of that cute boy below, also). They are expecting their first child, a baby boy, in just a few weeks. Although his name remains a secret, we are all waiting anxiously to meet him.
We did their maternity shoot at their new house and we thought it was very fitting, as it would be the very first place that this special baby boy will be able to call home. Karen and Eric, you are two of our closest friends and we can’t wait to meet your beautiful new baby!
Enjoy this sneak peek!
Erika & Erik
WHEW! I am tired just remembering this day! Erik got to wear this awesomely cute tux for his aunts wedding and his mom, Erika, wanted to get photos of him in it before he grows, yet again! We decided to go out to the University of Tampa campus to see what we could come up with. In the car on the way over, Erik PROMISED me that he was going to take pretty pictures for me, but unfortunately after a 5 minute power nap, this 3-year old had decided that he was not in the mood for photos. My solution to this problem? For the first half of the photo shoot, I handed the camera to my husband and began RACING Erik from one end of the Plant Museum to the other (It is a good thing I decided to change out of my flip-flops for this shoot!). After we wore him out a bit and got him in a better mood, my husband relinquished the camera back to me and I got to take a few more photos.
Moral of the story: many times to effectively photograph a 3-year old, you must become one yourself. You will notice that most of these photos are candid, in-the-moment photos (which I must say are my absolute favorite) that showcase Erik’s enthusiastic personality.
Enjoy!
New Year, New Look
To celebrate the new year, we decided to revamp our image. We have started by designing a new logo that we absolutely love! Let us know what you think
Kaley {4 Months}
I never thought it would be so hard to find green grass in FLORIDA! We had planned on doing these photos outside last month, but because the weather has been abnormally cold the last few months, we didn’t get a chance until a few days ago. The down side to our 3 hours of good weather was that all of the grass has died from the cold - I guess this is kind of like fall for northerners, huh?!
As promised, here are a few of my favorite photos from the session. For those of you following, this is the adorable little girl that we did newborn shots for just a few short months ago…it’s crazy how fast they grow and how much they change!Kaley was a perfect model, even through all of her outfit changes – until the very end when she wanted to sleep and not smile
April and Prissy {Beautiful Quarter Horses}
When we were out at Lucky S Ranch shooting Cody & Megan, we also got to shoot a few photos of two of my father-in-law’s horses, April and Prissy. I just wanted to share a few photos of these beautiful Quarter Horses. Enjoy!
Lions, and Tigers and Bears…Oh My! {well at least tigers}
A few weeks ago, my husband and I took a trip to Busch Gardens. I know what you are thinking…’Sweet, rollercoasters!’ ….well, we only rode one. The reason we went was to photograph some of the animals that they feature at this park. Maybe someday soon we will get to photograph them in the wild, but until then….here are a few photos.
Tessa | Christmas 2010
What kind of parent or photographer would I be if I didn’t occasionally post a few photos of my adorable daughter
For anyone who has ever tried to photograph inside a house, you know what a problem this can be…bad lighting, flashes bouncing off of colored walls, and shadows everywhere! We shot these on Christmas Eve while there were around 10 people already at the house. This meant that we would not have enough room to set up our portable lights and would need to simply work with our hot-shoe flash. All things considered (and after a few arguments between my husband and I), we got some very cute photos of our munchkin.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I love looking at them
Cody & Megan
This year for Christmas, both my and my husband’s family decided to draw names for presents. This year I got his cousin Ronda. It’s always difficult to come up with a gift that they will love and cherish, especially when they don’t really need anything.
That’s when I decided to play to my passion – photography.
I couldn’t remember the last time I saw photos of both of her kids together and just like that, her present was born! Now for the hard part – organization. I wanted to get them done without her knowing, so I talked to her mom, and she got both kids to me without her knowing (though I think she may have had an idea ). We decided to use the Lucky S Ranch as our location. It is beautiful, and has a ton of old character including some old rusty trucks and barns. In addition, my father-in-law keeps his horses out there and allowed us to use his quarterhorse April in some of our photos. The day started out raining and a bit chilly, but once the rain stopped, we still had the overcast (which most photographers will tell you is PERFECT!) and we got to shooting.
I want to thank everyone that helped with this shoot – I could not have done it without you, and I absolutely love the way the photos turned out. We will do some more soon with her step-daughter Jessica – so stay tuned. Enjoy and feel free to let me know what you think! (Sorry, there are a lot, I couldn’t decide on my favorites)
Chantal, Mike and Kaley | Christmas Photos
You may remember this family from Kaley’s adorable newborn photo shoot a few months back. She is now about 4 months old and just got to celebrate her first Christmas. We tried to get Tyler (their 4-legged child) into the photos, but he wasn’t having it. I hope you enjoy these photos, look for more very shortly of Kaley’s 4-month photo shoot
I Heart Faces {Pets}
I Heart Faces is having their weekly photo contest again, and this week’s entry is pets.
A little background on us and our dogs: we have one big dog, and one that would be considered a horse by any normal standard. Precious, our lab mix is the black, smaller (and by smaller, I mean 70 pounds) dog that we have had for the last 8 years. The other one is accurately named Leonidas (Leo for short). When we got Leo as a 14 month old “puppy” he was already 145 pounds. Now, he tips the scales at just over 200!
For this weeks challenge, I had my husband toss some treats up in the air and let the dogs catch them. I have to say, that I don’t think this would have been nearly as entertaining with smaller dogs without the big jowels – though I could be a bit biased. As you can see, even though Leo is significantly younger than Precious, he is nowhere near as quick or light – or if we are being honest - smart. As you can see in the photo below, he thought he had already caught the treat, but you can clearly see that it is still in the air. Precious – 1; Leo – 0
Fountain Motorsports & ATech Motorsports {Performance Racing Industry Trade Show}
Last night, my husband Brian had the opportunity to attend the Performance Racing Industry’s tradeshow with Fountain Motorsports at the Orange County Convention Center. Naturally, he wanted to bring the camera with him to document. Fountain Motorsports partnered with Atech Motorsports by bringing one of their race cars to showcase at the Atech booth. From what I understand, it was a great night. Below are some of the photos from the event, I hope you enjoy them!
I Heart Faces – Self Portrait
This weeks photo challenge on I Heart Faces is to do a self-portrait.
Most photographers will tell you that they are more comfortable on the other side of the camera, and that they don’t like having photos of themselves taken. I am not one of those photographers. I love all aspects of photography, even when I am the subject. I enjoy having my photo taken, and have no issues with seeing myself in photos. All of that being said, I have been saying for a while now, that I need to have some photos of myself, just so that people know who I am…This challenge offered the perfect solution – for the most part
For anyone reading this that is not a photographer, here is the challenge of doing a self-portrait…the camera needs something to focus on before the photo is taken. This is not an issue for anyone that has a remote trigger (which is on my Christmas Wish List ) – however, for those of us that are using our camera’s timer, it can be tricky. I’m pretty sure that my neighbors all think I am crazy.
Picture this: I am standing on our back patio (just me, myself and I) with a bar stool and a broom. My camera and lens are already set up facing the direction that I plan on using as my background. I balance the broom up against the bar stool, and go to my camera and focus on the tallest part of the handle (presumably where I will try to get my eyes to be). I then press the shutter button, run over, throw down the broom, get myself into position and wait. Finally, the shutter releases and I have my photo.
If only it were that simple….about an hour later…I have a handful of photos that I think are actually half decent. The focus isn’t exactly perfect on my eyes, but in my defense, I’m not a broom. Here is one of the ones that I really like, and I hope you like it too. I would love to hear what you think.
For more great self-portraits visit:
I can’t believe it has already been 1 YEAR!!
I keep thinking to myself, how could it already be a year? It seems like just yesterday I brought Tessa home from the hospital and now she is just over a year old – where did the last 365 days go?!! I guess it is true what they say: time flies when you have a child – they are all grown up in a blink of an eye (insert small tear here *sniffle*) Even though I can’t believe it has already been a year, I wanted to share some of the moments from her first birthday party and her first cake. I hope you enjoy them, and thanks to everyone that helped us celebrate this momentous occasion!
Fix it Friday #78 – I Heart Faces
So it is time for Fix it Friday once again on I Heart Faces. I did 3 edits and here are my reasons for doing them this way:
Edit 1: I can’t help myself – I love black and white, and with the way this photo is, I feel like it draws your eye in because it takes a minute to really grasp what the photo is.
Edit 2: The psychedelic shirt called for a retro feel, and so I edited accordingly.
Edit 3: I feel that the shirt begged me to showcase it, and so I made sure to really bolden and brighten the great colors.
In all of the photos, I brightened the face a bit from the SOOC image so that his face was more featured. Let me know what you think!
ORIGNAL/SOOC:
EDIT 1:
EDIT 2:
EDIT 3:
Holiday Cards are Here!
Hi everyone. All of my holiday card samples are finally finished!
It isn’t too late to schedule your holiday family portrait session with us. We can get your session done and your cards printed with plenty of time to mail them to everyone you love! But don’t worry if you don’t think you have time to get the family together for a session…just send us your favorite photo (or 3) and your card selection, and we will get those cards designed and printed before you can say “T’was the night before Christmas”.
Just a note: These are all samples and all completely customizable with color, text, photos, and size. Many are shown as flat cards, but can also be made into a folded card if you prefer to add your own personal message to them.
Check out the samples below and contact us today to get started!
Email: rfulton@rbfphotography.com | Phone: 352.293.4936
**Holiday cards are templates and were not designed by RBF Photography**
Start! Heart Walk 2010
We volunteered to help photograph the American Heart Association’s 2010 Start! Heart Walk again this year. Every year, I kick myself for volunteering for something that requires me to get up SO early…and then I arrive at the event. This year over 20,000 people participated in the walk, and just seeing this many people get together for such a great cause warms my heart (but unfortunately not my hands) There were walkers of different ages, sizes, and breeds (literally) participating – check out our photos below. I can’t wait until next years walk where we will be up in the bucket of the fire truck getting fantastic aerial shots of the crowd at the starting line….stay tuned!!!
I Heart Faces weekly photo challenge – Orange
I think this weeks challenge is perfect for the photos that we just did of Tessa in the pumpkin patch. This is one of my favorites because she is so proud that she knows what “arms up” means that she grins from ear to ear. We hope you enjoy this one as well!
365 Days of Tessa part 2
Ok, so I admit it, I have slacked a little the last few months with my 365 project of Tessa 
What can I say, sometimes life gets in the way! But nonetheless, I wanted to post a few that my husband and I did of her right before Halloween (her first one!) in a few different pumpkin patches. Feel free to let me know what you think…I, of course, think she is super adorable!
Fix it Friday #77- I Heart Faces
I am participating in Fix it Friday again this week.
When I saw this beautiful photo by Michelle Johnson (My Two Seasons), to me it jumps out as a very classic feeling photo. Therefore, most of my edits have a vintage look.
Check them out below as well as the original and let me know what you think of the edits. The first one is the SOOC original and the last 4 are the edits.
To see more great edits click here:
Fix it Friday – I Heart Faces
Here is just a few fun edits that I quickly did for the I Heart Faces Fix it Friday.
This is where a contributing photographer offers readers the original jpeg image and allows you to interpret the photo and edit it whatever way you choose to.
Here is this weeks:
Original:
And here are a few edits:
For more edits – click here:
Canevari Family Portraits
I first met Christine when I was doing my college internship with the Tampa Bay Dragon Boat Races and she had just joined the board. As many of you know, she is now the Executive Director for that same organization I, of course, met Casey through Christine. 5 years later, they now have 2 beautiful boys, Parker and Conner. Brian and I were so thrilled to shoot some family photos for them over on Davis Island in Tampa. Aside from the sand spurs and the boys not being in the mood for photos, we got some excellent shots. Check them out and let me know what you think!
