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Professional Baby Photography – Best Ages For Infant Portraits

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A baby’s first year is an important time to start documenting their life with professional photography. Even though the parents may be snapping away, a portrait professional can capture the baby in unique, artistic ways and produce professional archival prints that will last for generations. Understanding the importance of the task, many parents wonder when are the best months in the first year for professional infant photography. The following are some guidelines that identify what can be expected at the different stages of the baby’s first year or so.

Newborn – The first 5 to 10 days is the best time for newborn baby photography. During this time they are less fussy and their skin will be more clear. Baby acne usually sets in around day 16 and lasts for a couple of weeks, so having the session done before this will work in your favor. Newborn sessions often involve naked baby’s laying on soft blankets or in the family’s arms. Whether the baby is awake or asleep, these pictures should not be missed as they are an incredible way to begin documenting a person’s life.

2 to 3 months – This time is still considered newborn, but the babies are often much harder to work with at this age as they tend to be very fussy. They will have better head control than in the first month, and they usually can smile at this point, but do not count on getting a smiling portrait at this age. Most posing will involve the baby laying down on back or stomach, being propped up, and being held in arms.

4 to 5 months – The infant usually is a fairly good smiler at this point, and has gotten quite chubby. Most infants at this age cannot sit up yet, but they are far better at interacting with people and objects, and are much less fussy. This is a great age for capturing chubby legs and bare bottom shots.

6 to 7 months – Now the baby is able to sit up, and the options for posing are more numerous. Also, the baby is able to smile and laugh at this point and usually does not fear strangers. This is a wonderful age to start going outdoors for natural light baby photography. It is also a great time to include family pets and siblings in the session as the baby is able to sit but usually is not able to move around much – yet!

8 to 10 months – Often by this age, the infant is crawling and the sessions get very active! Consider a white background session in studio for a clean, classic look – but be ready to bring toys to distract the baby to stay in the area of light and continually reset the baby to the right spot. for very active babies a better choice for professional photography may be at the home if these is plenty of natural light so that the baby can roam and the photographer can follow.

11 to 14 months – Between these months, most babies are pulling up, “cruising” along furniture, standing and walking. Location sessions are ideal at this age when the baby is very determined to be mobile in their environment. During this time frame a one year portrait should be done to document the amazing development from birth to one. This should be a very playful session which includes family members as well.

OK – so what are the best ages for professional infant photography? As an experienced baby photographer, I would say all of the above are great for documenting the baby’s stages, but you can skip the 2 to 3 month session as they just tend to be so fussy. If you can only do three – make sure to do the newborn session (5 to 10 days), the 6 month session (sitting) and the One Year Portrait. When ordering your prints, make sure to get professional archival prints so that they will last for generations, and the grand children of this baby will have these pictures to treasure. This is the gift of professional photography.

What Makes Gold So Special

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Over the centuries, gold has played a unique cultural role in societies across the world. Something about the metal gives it a transcendant symbolic value: from the legendary treasuries of the Aztec and Mayan empires to the Golden Calf of the Book of Exodus, gold is implicated in the most dramatic tales of ancient human history. Even today, gold retains its cultural signficance. For an Olympic athlete, a single gold medal represents the zenith of achievement. The Palme dOr, or Golden Palm, is a symbol of supreme attainment in the film industry. Only a handful of British monarchs have managed to stick it out for half a century and earn their Golden Jubilee. And clearly there is a reason why credit card companies designate their high-end offerings as “Gold Cards”. But what is it about real gold that captures our attention? What gives this yellow metal such value?

Like anything of real value, gold is rare. Only 3 particles per billion in the Earths crust are gold. Although the worlds oceans hold vast amounts of gold, it is so dilute that attempts to recover it from the salt water have never been successful. If all the gold ever refined were formed into a ball, it would be less than 25 metres across. However, some gold does exist naturally in a relatively pure state (as opposed to in an ore), enabling humans to gather it in small quantities without the need for chemical extraction. And once harvested, gold is one of the most versatile metals on earth. It has been crafted and shaped ever since the ‘caltholithic’, or ‘copper’ age, as early as 4000 BC, making it one of the very first metals to be used by humans. The ancient peoples of Egypt and the Middle East used gold for religious rites, as well as for ornamentation. The first recorded use of gold coins was during the reign of King Croesus of Lydia around 600 BC. Gold is also more malleable and ductile than any other metal. A single gram of gold can be beaten into a sheet one metre square. It is one of the heaviest elements; heavier, even, than lead. Ten teaspoons of gold would weigh as much as seventeen teaspoons of lead.

It has been customary throughout history to test the purity of gold by biting on it. Since pure gold is soft enough to show teeth-marks, and cheaper alloying metals are usually harder, this method does give some indication. More reliable tests, however, involve the use of nitric acid. The content of gold in alloys is measured in karats (k). Pure gold is 24 karat, with the number of karats decreasing proportionally as other metal is added.

Although too soft for ordinary use in its pure state, gold can be extremely hard and durable when alloyed with other metals. Alloying also has other advantages besides increasing its hardness. The distinctive yellow colour of gold is recognised throughout the world. However, a fascinating spectrum of other colours can be created by combining small quantities of other metals with the gold. Alloyed with copper, it has a rosy colour, with nickel, silver, or palladium it is white, with iron, blue, and with aluminium, a purple hue. Pure silver gives the alloy a greenish tint, and rhodium or ruthenium produce black. Gold in such forms is most commonly used in jewellery. Colloidal gold is micro-particles of gold suspended in water, producing an intense red colour. Colloidal gold is used in stained glass, and in certain applications for medical and scientific research.

In former years gold played an important role as a medium of exchange, mostly in the form of valuable coins. Currencies were also backed by gold, but this is no longer the case. Reserves of gold are still held by some nations as gold bullion coins, for example the Australian Gold Nugget, or the British Britannia. The value of these coins is measured by their weight, rather than by their face value, which, when it exists, is always significantly less than its true value. The world’s biggest gold coin was minted by the Canadian Royal Mint in Spring 2007. It is half a metre across, 3 cm thick, weighs 100 kg, and is worth nearly 3 million dollars, with a face value of $1,000,000.

These days, most gold is used in jewellery, but it is also widely used by other industries. Dentists use gold alloys in crowns and bridges, and certain types of toners in the photography industry contain gold. Even the food industry uses gold flakes or dust to enhance the appearance of exotic sweets and drinks. Gold can be made into thread for embroidery, and beaten into micro-thin sheets called ‘gold leaf’. More durable than any paint, the real gold never fades or loses its lustre. In fact, there are examples of gilding done by the Romans and Ancient Egyptians which still retain their brilliance today, thousands of years on.

Far from being outdated, real gold remains superior to this day, adding a touch of brilliance to many quality products today.

The Review of a Trick Photography And Special Effects 2nd Edition E-Book

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Many people are buying expensive digital cameras nowadays and they would like to make great and beautiful photos that everyone will admire. Unfortunately, most of them remain just average or below average photographers and their photographs suck. Main reason for this lack of quality in their pictures is not the lack of talent but the inadequate training and ignorance.

I was one of those “bad” photographers for a long time too. In fact I improved my skills and knowledge just recently. My friends and family members where amazed and positively surprised when I showed them my recent shots and they wouldn’t believe me at first that these shots where made by myself.

The secret behind my recent improvement lays in an e-book called “Trick Photography And Special Effects”, written by Evan Sharboneau. This is not just a regular e-book, but a whole course with videos and instructions to guide you, step by step, through the various techniques and tricks of modern photography.

Of course that this is not the only good book about photography out there and I don’t claim it’s the best. There are many good courses available online and probably in your local area too. It’s just my favorite book at the moment, it helped me a lot and that’s why I like it so much.

If you are a professional photographer this book might not be for you as you might already be familiar with lot of things in it. But if you are an aspiring amateur photographer or hobbyist like me who just got his first DSLR camera this might be the best purchase you ever made!

The second edition of the “Trick Photography And Special Effects” e-book is divided in three parts and it has nearly 300 pages and 9 hours of video tutorials. It includes more than 300 high quality photographs made by the author himself and by many other, very talented photographers from all over the world. The book is very easy to read and to understand even for a complete beginner.

In the first part of the book you can read abut long exposure effects and about the technique called light painting. It teaches you how to make photos with your DSLR camera in low light situations using various lighting methods and equipment. After this part you will be able to make some really incredible pictures that will astonish everyone who sees them.

In the second part of the book author introduces various trick photography techniques and many special effects. In this part you will also start using Photoshop to manipulate and enhance your photos to add drama to your images and to create surreal situations and settings.

In the third part of the book you can learn much more about Photoshop and how to create some really shocking images. The author of the book is a Photoshop expert and he will show you how to create some awesome effects in a simple and straightforward way.

All things considered, the “Trick Photography And Special Effects” e-book is a great choice for many people looking to learn more about photography and to improve their skills in a fun and interesting way. Some people may not consider techniques used in this book to be standard or traditional, but images created in such way will definitely draw lot of attention and make you a better photographer overall.

Creative Senior Adults Busily Painting Masterpieces

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The baby-boomers have become senior citizens and are discovering art at the same time. Senior art classes and programs are full of energetic individuals learning to express themselves through painting and drawing. Researchers say that art helps folks to cope with stress and trauma in their lives, as well as increasing self awareness. Art serves as a way to explore both the past and the present and previous training is not required. Seniors benefit from creating their own art no matter what their skill levels currently are. Studies suggest that regardless of specific skills, the practice of any form of art benefits social, physical and mental health.

Relationships are enriched with art and getting together with others in a program or class encourages socialization. The practice of art techniques begins to encourage the mind to see the world is new ways and provides a very unique and real sense of accomplishment and happiness. Art therapy improves the quality of life for seniors and depression fades away. A feeling of being in charge returns, along with an increased ability to make choices because there are countless choices to make in each work of art.

A ten-year-long study done at Columbia University Medical Center has associated a positive outlook with health benefits. Another two-year study of three-hundred seniors found that the art students had better health than those who did not participate, who also saw deterioration in their health. The active artists in the group were less depressed, used fewer medications, were less lonely, and had higher morale, along with being socially more active.

Many communities across the USA are reaching out to seniors, based on the above findings, to encourage them to discover the real rewards of creating a new art hobby in their lives. New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs has created a program to match seniors with artists on a citywide basis for a seven-month-long residency program to encourage artistic creativity. In Chicago, Mather’s-More Than a Caf offers painting and art classes for seniors. In Los Angeles, older adults are encouraged to participate in Art Festivals held in various locations throughout the city. In Atlanta, the Parks and Recreation Department has Senior Centers which offer a wide variety of art classes specifically for seniors to encourage the “growth of new brain cells and make you feel young and energized.”

When the younger generation views the artistic talents of seniors it changes the way they view their elders. They become more appreciative and begin to value and view them as mentors, tutors, teachers, advisors and creators who are eager to share the wisdom they’ve gained through long life experiences.

In the Village of Stone Mountain, Georgia there is one enterprising entrepreneur who has come up with a way to help his fellow seniors make a little money from their hobbies, too. When Les Scarborough discovered that the senior budding artists at a local retirement home were simply hiding their art work under the bed, he decided to open a gallery in the village specifically to share their art work and sell it.

Les features the artwork of seniors at the Clothesline Art and Fine Art Treasures Gallery, along with his own photography, in downtown Stone Mountain, GA. He turns their artwork into post cards, greeting cards, DVDs, coffee table books, and calendars along with gallery quality Gicle prints on canvas and fine art papers. Gicle is the ultimate method for producing stunning gallery quality fine art prints.

Fashion & Art a Potent Potion!

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By Beverly Pereira Photography: Courtesy Tarun Tahiliani & The Singh Twins

Tarun Tahiliani’s Spring Summer 15 collection showcased at the Lakme Fashion Week Summer Resort 2015 features motifs, imagery and colours inspired by the celebrated art of the British-Indian Singh Twins…

Fashion and Art are not exactly strange bedfellows. Think Andy Warhol’s portrait of Yves Saint Lauren or Warhol’s iconic flowers that played muse to Prada’s Spring 2013 collection. More recently and closer to home, Tarun Tahiliani has collaborated with the internationally acclaimed Singh Twins, whose works of art play muse to his Lakme Fashion Week Spring Summer -15 collection.

The London-born, Liverpool-based Singh Twins, Amrit and Rabindra, describe their work as -past modern’ as opposed to Post Modern, portraying their Indian and British identities through the application of eastern and western aesthetics. Using motifs that represent British Asian life, cityscapes and pop culture, their work is tinged with the personal and the political and can be viewed as a social commentary with tongue-in-cheek humour.

Hugely inspired by this melange, the designer launched a ready-to-wear fashion line at the Wills India Fashion 2014 in Delhi as an ode to the Singh Twins’ art. He has now crafted garments for the Mumbai Lakme Fashion Week that bring to life the Twins’ well-received Indian miniature paintings, detailed black and white drawings and digital mixed medium art that explores an exclusive relationship with their home city of Liverpool.

Tarun, himself, is known to skilfully blend the modern and the traditional and augmenting this with the Twins’ affinity for reviving the age-old technique of miniature painting and the juxtaposition of modern iconography has led to a range of digitally printed separates – kaftans, jewel tees, dhoti skirts, lungi skirts, leggings and dresses etc. Some colour palettes and elements have been creatively reworked by the designer to harmonise with the collection. The twins’ Wheel of Fortune has been incorporated as a whole on to a Tahiliani kurta, while decorative motifs from their black and white Aquarius have been reassembled and colourised within the design of another outfit. Silk kaftans, much like a vast canvas, allow the twins’ paintings to come through beautifully. Saris are rife with colours, featuring borders that carry Persian motifs borrowed from their paintings.

His menswear also features text vignettes, stylised clouds and waves, borders and decorative motifs from several of the twins’ works, offering fashion lovers an artistic take-away, proving yet again that the art and fashion are strong counter-influencers! click here to view images from the collection on indiaartndesign.com