Attention Athens, East Texas, and DFW area seniors (and their parents)!

Graduation is just around the corner and before you know it, it’ll be time to send out graduation announcements and to swap wallets of your awesome senior portraits with your friends and classmates. Don’t wait until the last minute to book & shoot your senior portraits … Christina McCall Photography has Class of 2011 special collection options (which include your session fee) available for booking right now!

As of today … only seven more full custom senior portrait appointment times are available this spring!

Want more details? Email CMP at christina [at] christinamccall [dot] com, call 903.477.9069, or use the contact form!

The last day to schedule a senior session this spring is April 22nd — all sessions held after this date aren’t guaranteed to have your print/custom portrait art order in your hands before your graduation date!

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Technically the 12 Days of Christmas don’t begin until Christmas Day … however, because I know all of you are going to be busy enjoying the holidays and time away from the office and computer during that time period (like I plan to do as well), CMP’s 12 Days of Giving is starting a bit early … as in Monday, December 13th!

What is CMP giving away, you ask? Well … the specific daily gifts are a surprise, but the total value of all 12 days worth of gifts is nearly $1,900.00! Just the last two days combined gift value is $900.00!

So … don’t forget:

… drop by DAILY to enter (i.e. comment on that day’s post) to win. Posts will be live as of  12:01 am CST each day — and the deadline to enter is 8 pm CST that evening. Winner will be announced before 10 pm CST each evening — my dear friend random.org will help select the winner each night.

… tell everyone you know to drop by and enter to win!

… limit one prize (aka gift) per person/household to be fair — I want to spread the Christmas cheer all around!

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Almost full for 2010!

Wanting to have portraits made for holiday gifts or to enclose in Christmas cards (or to be printed as Christmas cards)? As of Tuesday, October 12th, CMP still had the remaining openings:

October 23 — The Bump Maternity Minis: 1 space left
November 6 — Holiday Minis: 1 space left
November 13 — Holiday Minis: 2 spaces left
December 4 — The Bump Maternity Minis: 2 spaces left
Full custom sessions: 2 openings (late October only)

Also, the appointment times set aside for the Early Bird Special still have 5 spaces left – in late October, early November, and on December 5th! These are only for school-aged children, tweens, and teens/seniors … perfect for the holidays or seniors on a budget for their senior portraits!

Twelve Days of Giving!

Beginning on December 13, CMP will be celebrating Christmas a bit early by giving out nearly $1900 worth of sessions, print credits, prints, and custom designed boutique photo products over a twelve day period.
All you have to do is stop by daily through December 24th and comment on the blog post of the prize(s) you desire to have a chance to win! And, yes, I’ll post a reminder a bit closer to the start date …

Top 12 of 2010

Last year was the first year I selected my absolute favorite images from that year and allowed clients, their families and friends, and other site visitors to pick their absolute favorite. Since it was a hit last year, I’m already narrowing down my favorite images (and will continue to do through the last sessions on December 5th) — on Monday, December 27th, I’ll launch the top 12 images and the poll to vote for your favorite. The deadline to vote is Friday, December 31st at midnight CST — the winner will be announced on Monday, January 3rd!

The winner will receive an 11×14 Signature Line Wall Art Print of their winning image ($100 value)!

Sit.Stay.Snap.’s new site …

In late September I launched a revamped Sit.Stay. Snap. portfolio site, which includes new images from pet sessions yet to be blogged … drop by and check out the new site – it’s iphone/ipad and smartphone friendly (or, if you have an
Android phone with Adobe Flash, you can view the site as-is from the web)!

Also, follow Sit.Stay.Snap. on Facebook (it finally has its own Facebook page!) and Twitter @sitstaysnap!

Need wardrobe inspiration?

For the next few weeks, visit the blog to find outfit inspiration for your session … so far I’ve debuted ideas for family, maternity, and engagement sessions. Next up, senior outfit ideas for both guys and girls! Here’s a peek at one of the inspiration ideas already posted …

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Are you a member of the Class of 2011 — and attend an area high school located in Henderson, Anderson, Kaufman, Navarro, Smith, or Van Zandt Counties or a soon to be college senior who graduated from high school in one of the above counties?

Interested in earning free prints, customized graduation announcements, and gift cards for working to make confirmed session referrals to CMP?

Apply to be a Senior Rep for CMP!

Among the perks for promoting and making confirmed session referrals for CMP (and only CMP) during your senior year of high school/college is a waived fee senior session, watermarked proofs for your social networking profiles, rep cards, as well as earning other custom photo products and gift cards to your favorite retailers/restaurants/itunes!

To apply — email me at christina {at} christinamccall {dot} com.

I will email you the application link upon receipt of your email — the deadline to apply is September 15, 2010!

The Fine Print: Applications must be completed by the senior themselves – not a parent or friend. A clear headshot of you is required as a part of the application. Serious applicants only. All seniors not 18 years or older will need their parents’ permission (as well as their signature on the model release – no exceptions).

[ contact CMP | become a fan on facebook | follow CMP's tweets | subscribe to the blog ]

Are you a member of the Class of 2011 — and attend an area high school located in Henderson, Anderson, Kaufman, Navarro, Smith, or Van Zandt Counties or a soon to be college senior who graduated from high school in one of the above counties?

Interested in earning free prints, customized graduation announcements, and gift cards for working to make confirmed session referrals to CMP?

Apply to be a Senior Rep for CMP!

Among the perks for promoting and making confirmed session referrals CMP (and only CMP) during your senior year of high school/college is a waived fee senior session, watermarked proofs for your social networking profiles, rep cards, as well as earning other custom photo products and gift cards to your favorite retailers/restaurants/itunes!

To apply — click here.

The Fine Print: Applications must be completed by the senior themselves – not a parent or friend. A clear headshot of you is required as a part of the application. Serious applicants only. All seniors not 18 years or older will need their parents’ permission (as well as their signature on the model release).

[ contact CMP | become a fan on facebook | follow CMP's tweets | subscribe to the blog ]

The plan: Miss B on the blanket. The Reality: Miss B anywhere but on the blanket. I’ll spare you the shot I captured of her pointing and giggling at her mom when we pled for her to come over and sit down

This is all Miss B. I’m kinda sad her momma didn’t choose it for the Christmas card … she looks all grown up here!

Full of wonder … one of the ‘outtakes’ I adore …

Miss B wasn’t fond of this location … we gave up and moved on … but I still love this image …

Love this image. Love her expression. Really love the bokeh. Love the vintage edit I used on it. Love the location. If you’d like a session here, book sooner than later before the owner comes along and mows it all down.

To book a portraiture session with Christina, contact us via email at christina@christinamccall.com or call 903.477.9069 today.

… and if you heart Miss B’s outfit, her momma found it at Gymboree …

I love the expression on her face!

… As typical Miss B style, she dictated how the session was gonna proceed … after the first few captures, she wasn’t gonna stay seated very long!

… or wear the hat for very long either!

Yes, there are plenty more adorable sneak peeks to come from this session later this week …

To book a portraiture session with Christina, contact us via email at christina@christinamccall.com or call 903.477.9069 today.

I managed to convince Trevor and Kyle to do this twice so I could get two shots of it!

Mr. Kyle …

Mr. Trevor …

Love this location + their outfits = perfection!

We got a head start on Trevor’s senior pics!

I had to include one black & image … just love this image

No worries … we didn’t make Kyle hitchhike or catch a bus!

Part of what they are referring to is known as Depth of Field. You don’t have to have a fancy camera to achieve it either — before I had a DSLR, I was able to capture images with softer/blurred backgrounds with a point and shoot camera set in auto or macro modes. I will say its a bit easier with a DSLR, but it can be done with a P&S.

I’m not going to go into the technical aspects of how to achieve this other than explaining quickly in terms of DSLR/film SLR capabilities. But I will show you a variety images with different depths of field.

With a DSLR/Film SLR, when shooting in non-auto modes that is, you have control of three things: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. For purposes of today’s how to, aperture is the primary setting/function that you need to understand in order to achieve different ranges of depth of field (I’m skipping over the other two for another how to later on). High aperture (which is actually a low number, such as f/1.8 or f/2.0) allows for a shallow depth of field, where as a low aperture (a higher number, such as f/8, f/11, f/22) creates sharper backgrounds.

For portraits, I almost always use a ‘higher’ aperture unless I’m wanting to capture one of two things: (1) the setting around the subject or (2) really cool lens flare. By higher, usually I’m shooting anywhere from f/1.8 to f/3.5 depending on which lens in the arsenal I’m shooting with.

Here’s a few examples of shallow depth of field versus a deep depth of field. All of these were shot full manual … I’m including the settings, lenses, and the camera models for the curious.

ISO 250, 1/320 @ f/2 (Canon 135 mm f/2L on Canon 5D)

ISO 250, 1/320 @ f/2 (Canon 135 mm f/2L on Canon 5D)

These two above were shot at sunset … other than enhancement of color (or conversion to an artsy b/w), the depth of field is as it was SOOC (straight out of camera).

ISO 250, 1/320 @ f/4.5 (Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 on Canon 5D)

ISO 250, 1/320 @ f/4.5 (Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 on Canon 5D)

Note that you can somewhat tell what’s in the background of these two in comparison to the two portraits above. I did do an artsy edit to these, which added ‘grain’ to the image more than anything.

… and a few examples of a deep depth of field …

ISO 100, 1/250 @ f/4 (Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 on Canon 40D)

ISO 100, 1/250 @ f/5.6 (Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 on Canon 40D)

ISO 125, 1/250 @ f/10 (Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 on Canon 5D) — this one was taken on a harsh sunny day in comparison to the other images pictured

ISO 400, 1/250 @ f/11 (Canon 28-105mm f/3.5-5.6 on Canon 40D)

Note on all of these that all the details, near and far are sharp/in focus compared to the first four pictured.

There are a great deal of websites and how to books out there that go much further into the technical aspects of this — just do a search for “depth of field”. For the P&S users out there, I’ll try to unearthen some p&s pics and share them on Friday if I have a few minutes to spare!

Next month I’ll cover the other ‘effect,’ bokeh …

For the first outfit of their session, they went with a rocker ‘theme’ … while not identically dressed, they did a great job coordinating their outfits to fit themselves and stay within a ‘theme’ …

Sorry, couldn’t resist sharing Trevor’s eyerolling … this is actually one of two times I managed to capture it! Btw, everyone congratulate Trevor on being voted Class President!

Patti — aka SuperMom

Goin’ cheesy here …

Boys + truck (cabs) = a kid’s dream

… and I had to wrap up the post with Kyle and his mohawk!

Check back on Thursday to see the other half of their gorgeous portraits …

In case you were wondering how many more days of procrastination you have until its too late to buy presents for Christmas … there’s 67 days left until Christmas Day itself.

… and to nab one of the last 3 session slots in November or one of the few mini session slots (on November 14), there’s 27 more days until the holiday session deadline of November 15th.

After that date, I’ll be processing images and orders and making deliveries for the following 2-4 weeks, so no sessions will be scheduled during the second half of November. Also, CMP will be closed for Thanksgiving (November 26-27). Emails and orders will not be responded to/processed during those two days.

That means you really have significantly less time than that if you’re wanting images to gift to friends and family (trust me, the grandparents would much rather have images of the grandkids in a gorgeous frame – or as part of a custom designed item from the luxe boutique product line – over that tie or throw blanket or grandparent logo’d item you’d grab at the last minute). Or — for the husbands and wives out there — your significant other would probably enjoy images of you (or of the two of you!) over that appliance, cheesy item, or holiday gift set you were contemplating or would otherwise grab at 9 pm on Christmas Eve …

If you’re worried about all that yummy holiday food that starts at Thanksgiving … now is the perfect time to get the holiday portraits out of the way!

I do have a few December openings currently available … however, galleries and order deliveries are not guaranteed in time for Christmas.

For all of the holiday deadlines … go to the deadlines & availability page!

Holiday tree/courthouse reflection image taken November 2008 in Georgetown, Texas.