When things got busy this Fall, I cheated a bit and relied on Facebook for some of my sneak peeks.  As a result, somehow I think I forgot to blog about this session at all!  Which is truly a shame, because this is one of my favorite families — yet another repeat client this Fall (thank you wonderful families!)!

The following images, featuring the gorgeous Fall foliage this year in Washington, DC, are those that Kimmie specifically mentioned she wanted to display together; so I reedited all of them to ensure that every image complemented the others — so important for a wall display!

Above – we’d gotten off to a tricky start, with little boy I absolutely fascinated by the Fall leaves.  Of course, we all were — that’s why we wanted to photograph in the Fall! — but it was no easy task getting past that intense concentration!  But, of course, we still managed lots of great images.I love a family that includes their dog in their family photo. 

One of my favorite things about photographing the G family is that they always include their dog, Sadie.  Isn’t she beautiful?  As a dog parent myself, this image just tugs at my heart, full of the trust our pets have for us.

Did I mention that I got these printed on metallic paper and they kept all the brightness and life that our backlit LCD monitors show….  Stunning!

- Danie Smallwood, Photography by Danie

RAW images straight out of the camera (SOOC) tend to be very flat, lacking the color boost that the camera adds when it creates your JPEG files.  The advantage of the RAW file comes when you edit, however.  Had I shot JPEG, the details missing in the sky in the original image would likely have been lost completely, but with the RAW file, I was able to bring back all those incredible colors, and still have a well-exposed Mommy and Doggy. 

Shooting RAW — if you have an SLR or even a few types of Point-and-Shoots, you can shoot in RAW.  The downside is that you’ll need to process the images after you shoot (no popping over to CVS to print on your way home — but then, if you’re going to print at CVS, you don’t need to shoot RAW, anyway!).

On a side note, this edit is from a shoot last Fall; the client wanted a few additional images from her session.  As it’s over 100 degrees here in Bethesda today, it’s been a little hard to look at the sweaters, lol.    Hope you’re staying cool,

- Danie

Jesse and I had chosen a cock-a-poo because of my allergies (yay poodle fur!) and Jesse’s refusal to own a poodle.  A week after our wedding, we drove from Durham, NC down to southwest Georgia to pick Sammie up from her breeder.  At that time, we had never heard the term “designer dog,” and we were completely unprepared when we moved to Wood Acres, MD to discover that cockapoos are pretty much the dog of choice, at least in that part of Bethseda.  Here’s our nearly 7 year old cock-a-poo, Samantha, usually called “Sammie”, but currently known affectionately as “Sah-eeeeeee” by 19 mos old Goosie girl.

Today, we begin with “pets”.  I’ve had a few of these furry family members pop into family portraits in previous years, but this year, dogs were big.  Seriously, though — I own a 9 lb cockapoo who could walk right under these guys!  Here are a few of my favorites.

I especially enjoy this last set of maternity photos — reminds me of how protective my little doggie was of me while I was pregnant!

I hope 2011 will bring lots more of the family pets (well, dogs, at least!) into the family portrait.  Especially when so many of these dogs are truly the first child of the family, how can we leave them out?!  So if you’re reading this, just know that, no, it’s definitely not weird to want to include ALL of your family!

I just LOVE this next set of photos — from bottom to top, it shows the growth of their family (yep, the dog trumps even the husband!).

On a business note, I have just booked my last available session in 2010, but if you’re reading this thinking, hmmmm, I should have booked, it’s never too early to get on the books for 2011 — the calendar is already filling up.

- Danie