Photo-shoot at DUMBO park

As many of you know, I have decided to take my love for photography to the next level and expand my portfolio with portraits of all kinds. From family, to maternity, newborn and engagements. My heart is extremely grateful for all those who have supported me and encouraged me over the past few months. Thank you for pushing me in the right direction. With that said, I had a photo-shoot on Sunday at the DUMBO park. Beautiful park and a great place to take pictures. Definitely adding this location to my bag of tricks :). 

Well, when I got there I checked out the area and found an awesome graffiti wall that I will def use in the future (thanks for the tip -u know who you are ;). 

I took some practice shots on the hubby (my in-house modelo) and can't wait to try it out on a few others. Steven tried so hard to make me happy by being in the fotos, even though I know he secretly wished he could be behind the camera. How could I resist taking pictures of such a beautiful man, inside and out?

Soon enough, the Mr and Mrs came with their adorable little 3 year old and it was an hour of fun with the camera. A very active little boy that does not like taking pictures, but we were able to get a few shots in. Marjorie and Roman are the sweetest couple and were very patient models. They were gracious enough in allowing me to take pictures of them. Thanks guys!! 


We walked around and found a few places to take photos. The best part was being able to have the view of the bridge, city, and water as a natural background. Who needs a studio in the summer when you have a view like this! 

However, we did have a sandal that went for a little swim and did not want to be rescued. But Marjorie was bold enough to roll up her skirt and snatch it back. Marjorie was grossed out by the water, and who wouldn't be in New York City. You just never know what you might find. But she was a brave soul and stuck it out, but not without a good laugh. Marjorie is a trooper and has a wonderful spirit to make anything fun! A moment to capture :) 

Here are just a few pictures that we took and survived the editing process. 

Thank you guys for being such amazing models and next time I will bring a little something extra to bribe Amaelian :). 

There is something about this picture that I absolutely love. I can't put my finger on it. I was trying to take a picture of Marjorie but saw Amaelian playing in the background and knew I had to take this picture. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but I love it.  

Vintage colored prints are probably my favorite! The color, the bridge in the background, and grassy feet all make this shot a cute one. Not to mention that 3ft cutie! 

The lovely Vail Family

Father and Son

Mommy and little man's toes! 

Interested: Check out www.sanabriaphoto.com and www.sanabriaphoto.smugmug.com 

Photoshop and Lightroom 3 Review

I have decided to challenge myself on the "ins" and "outs" of photography. My first project was to do as many trial runs of editing programs as I could possibly stomach. The first task was photoshop elements 8. I loved the ease in which I was able to edit my photos, from layering, to brushes to desaturation and bringing out only one color. Definitely worth the $99 dollars they are asking for, if you are interested in really taking your photos to the next level. The capability of editing that photoshop elements has for an amateur photographer like myself was awesome. And if you are savvy enough, you can google promo codes and get at least $20, if not even $30, off the program and leave the checkout with paying only $59.00.

However, this is not a workflow program. Editing only one picture at a time. Opening each file, one at a time was definitely an annoyance. Yes, Adobe Bridge is great to store, label and organize photos, but it takes so long to edit. Especially, if you are not doing anything but a single slide on the saturation scale or a slight punch of color. 

Overall, for the price, awesome program and if you are teaching yourself (like I do with just about everything in order to save money) you can check on-line for numerous amounts of free video tutorials. If you are willing to pay for a free tutorial, check out Adobe Photoshop elements website and subscribe to their mag for $60 bucks and you have access to ALL their online tutorials, which I think is actually pretty affordable. 

Now for my current love. Yes. I have become a bit biased. My 4th day of my Lightroom 3 trial and it has got to be the most amazing program I have worked with thus far. A totally different beast than PSE 8. It is meant as a workflow, which it does amazingly. Organizing files, importing them from other files on your computer is great. Not to mention their exporting!!!!! OMG. If you are anything like me, I export to flickr, facebook, picassa web and now smugmug. TIME TIME TIME. Each uploading process through their individual site takes an uber long time. When I would decide to walk away from the computer during the upload process, I would find the infamous "ERROR" msg. Not fun. 

Well, Lightroom has excellent Plug-ins that make it easy to export to any one of these sights. I can't brag enough about the ease of these exporting tools. If you are pressed for time, such as I, then this is definitely a great tool to have. So great! A smile once I see that the upload is complete for over 100 photos, after only a few minutes. Oh, and did I mention the watermarking tool. You can upload simply your name, or get sassy with an especially made graphically designed watermark (i am not there, yet).

So much still to explore with LR3, but the last awesome part of the program are the presets. You can download presets from other sights that photographers have so graciously posted or create your own. Taking a simple photo into something artistic. The colors just seem to pop from the press of a button. The desire to keep the essence of the picture, while adding a "little extra something". Whatever that something might be, well that is up to you the editing photographer. 

But I am addicted, nonetheless. Well, at least until the trial run is over and we will see if it is worth the $299. Once you try it, I am sure you will too. Pair LR3 with Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 and you have a great editing library. 

Flower photo taken at Botanical Gardens in Brooklyn. 

Other photos taken by me in Italy. 

For more photos please go to: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanabriaphoto/

or www.sanabriaphoto.com