Hey Seniors! If you’re graduating this year, it’s time to get serious about making plans for YOUR Senior Portraits. Check out this page to see just a sampling of the kind of images you can expect from us. If you’re looking for something young, fresh and modern, book a Senior Portrait Session with us today! Call me, Brie at (727) 458-0135, and we can talk about all your ideas, I’ll answer any questions you may have and we can get something set up right away. Bonus, we can also design custom Graduation Announcements with the images from your session. We can talk about that when you call to book a session.

I’d like to take a moment and share with you some of the photographers whose work I really really admire. These people don’t know it but they have been incredibly influential in the development of my photography over the past 6 months. Though I am confident that I am learning to master a style of my very own, I would not be where I am right now without the inspiration of these talented artists. I admire each one of these photographers for different reasons and I think they each have a unique artistry. Check ‘em out and let me know what you think.

http://www.gabrielryan.net

http://www.jamiedelaineblog.com

http://wwww.jessicakettle.com

http://wwww.amelialyon.net

http://www.michellemooreblog.com

http://wwww.wearethebloggers.com

http://www.jessicaclaire.net

http://www.tarawhitney.com

There’s still time to book a session with us before Christmas. In fact, we are extending our Holiday Promo until December 23rd! This is a very streamlined package that includes a 45 minute mini-session with us and 15 high-resolution files to print and duplicate till your heart’s content. Additionally, you’ll receive between twenty to thirty photos in a low-resolution format for sharing over the web.

Space is extremely limited so please contact us at bookings@graceleighphotography.com as soon as possible to book your session.

We are happy to announce our next promo for the upcoming Holiday 2009 season! This promo will book up fast so please contact us at bookings@graceleighphotography.com to reserve your slot. We will be hosting sessions on Saturday mornings and Sunday evenings until the first weekend in December. Click the image below to purchase your Holiday Mini Session with Grace Leigh Photography and be sure to specify your date in the comment area.

EDIT: This promo has expired.

(An Impromptu Photo Session with Dave Smeltz aka the man who makes it possible for B. Leigh to do what she does)

Tonight after dinner we decided to jump in the car and scope out a possible location that I’d had my eye on for a while. It’s a field! (I’ve been wishing to find a lovely field for a while now!) It’s not quite the same as a truly rural field like the kind I might find in north county somewhere, but at 3 minutes away from my house and smack dab in the middle of one of St. Petersburg’s busiest major roads, I can’t complain. We pulled up to the parking lot nearby and I hopped out of the car to investigate. After I’d been gone for a while and just when I had been thinking “I really wish I had a subject right now”, Dave strode up. “Good! Now I can really test this thing out”, I thought. He graciously stood here and there while I tested the light and got my bearings. He wasn’t too sure about it but I had a feeling I was going to like what I saw when I uploaded the images to my computer. It didn’t hurt that he just so happened to be wearing yellow which matched perfectly with the coloring of this particular location and time of day. It completely made me think of fall. If St. Petersburg had a fall season, that is. In any case, I think this location could be a winner and you may just start to recognize this field in subsequent photo shoots. In fact, it will be the location of a very special session we’re doing tomorrow night. It’s of a couple who just recently celebrated their 3 year anniversary–ME and my husband Dave. For now, take a look at these impromptu “test shots” and see what you think.

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time experimenting with and perfecting my post-processing techniques. I find that I am leaning more towards that luminous, saturated look that is achieved when you brighten and boost. (lighten + contrast) I have also been learning how to sharpen my photos more judiciously in hopes that they will look more naturally crisp without looking like I just ran an unsharp mask. I know that not everyone agrees with the philosophy of post-processing but we here at Grace Leigh Photography are incredibly huge fans of the extra artistic touch that it adds to our images. We feel that photography is an art that includes not only the light-capturing & shutter-clicking but the creative development after the fact. Here’s an example of a SOOC (straight out of camera) shot compared with it’s processed version. Is it a drastic comparison? Yes. Is it over-processed? I believe that is relative. I would say “no” since I intentionally wanted a heavily saturated, high-contrast look. You may feel differently. Check it out:

Here are a few additional images I’ve been working on that represent this luminous look I’ve been trying to achieve. I feel they have been tastefully processed and the end result is simply a clean, clear, pretty image.

“….You can never publish an excuse.” So says the likes of renowned photojournalist and wedding photographer Bob Davis as he talks about his take on what is authentic photojournalism.

“Photojournalism in the wedding industry has become a cliche word in a style. They’re [potential brides] equating photojournalism with a little bit of a tilt, black and white, and candids. Well, it’s not candids. The essence of photojournalism: It’s telling little stories with the pictures. Each little picture should reveal something about the subject, something about the day that is story telling. It has a bit of a narrative, it could be an intimate moment. But it’s not telling them what to do, it’s putting them in a situation where real moments can arise and you let them be themselves and then you recognize that moment and capture it.”

To listen to more of this great interview with Bob Davis and Kevin Swan of New School Photography, check out this video (via the KISS Wedding Book Blog) at about 15:41. (Or watch the whole thing.)