A Big Miracle in a Tiny Package

For those of you who don't know, I am part of a non-profit called The Maple Leaf Mission (on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/themapleleafmission). The MLM provides "The Gift of Life in Pictures" - free photo sessions - to deserving families  and individuals with debilitating, life altering, or terminal medical diagnoses, in addition to military families facing a deployment or celebrating a homecoming. I was lucky enough to be invited to join the MLM back in April, but did not have my first session with them until this month.

This session - for a 6-month-old baby who was born four months early at 1 pound, 2 ounces and 11.5 inches long - was personal for me: Landon is the son of someone I've known since we were teenagers - my friend Brian. When I heard about his son, whose due date was in August, being born in April, my heart tugged in all sorts of directions for him, his wife Rebecca, and their older 3-year-old son. 

Brian and his family, who are originally from Connecticut, now live in Virginia where Brian is stationed with the U.S. Navy, and were in Connecticut visiting family for Easter weekend when Rebecca was diagnosed with a severe case of Pre-Eclampsia. They were informed that if they didn't deliver the baby, who was just 24 weeks at that point, both Rebecca and the Landon would be in serious trouble. At 24 weeks, Landon's chances for survival were just 15 percent - but Brian and Rebecca believed their son would make it.

Brian was initially given a Temporary Assigned Duty position at a recruiters unit close to the hospital here in Connecticut, but had to return to his regular assignment in Virginia in July. Since then, Rebecca's family here in Connecticut has helped her take care of their 3-year-old so that she can spend as much time at the hospital with Landon as possible.

Although the road has been bumpy - Landon had three surgeries within the first few weeks of his life, and another in August - Landon has done well, and when I saw him earlier this month, he had made it to 7 pounds and was just about 6 months old. Rebecca affectionately referred to his surgery scars as "Shark Bites," and proudly told me that he's "gonna have great stories to brag about when he grows up." She and his doctors were optimistic that he will be able to leave the hospital by the end of the year, and possibly even by the end of November. 

Although they don't know for sure what lies ahead, they know that he is their very own miracle baby.

Please take a moment to visit The Maple Leaf Mission on the web at www.themapleleafmission.ca and be sure to "Like" us at http://www.facebook.com/themapleleafmission


If you or someone you know qualifies for a session, you may apply for a session or nominate someone for one, as well as get more information about us, at our website.

Spring Fling: How to Vote

I think there has been some confusion on how to actually VOTE for a photo in my Spring Fling Photo Contest, so here is a simple step-by-step on how to do it:

1- In order to "Like" a photo to vote for it, you must first "Like" "Brenda De Los Santos Photography" on facebook. Once you are on my facebook page, click the "Like" in the top right side of the page:

2- Then, click on the "Spring Fling Photo Contest Entries" album and click on the photo you want to vote for.

3- Click "Like" on the bottom left side of the page.

And that's all there is to it! A couple of things to note: You can only "Like" each photo once, and you can "Like" as many of the photos as you want. In order to help your friends photos get more votes, you may want to share the photo and ask YOUR friends to "Like" the photo too. Read how to do that here.

Spring Fling: Asking Your Friends to Vote

We are now in the second part of my Spring Fling Photo Contest- it's time to start voting!

I wanted to give all of my wonderful entrants a few tips on how to direct people to come on over to your photo and vote for it. There are still over 10 days to vote so it's still anybody's competition.

Here are the steps I would take to get as many votes as possible:

1- Go to your photo in the contest album and click the "Share" link below your photo.

2- Next type something in the Share box that will get your friends to vote for your picture. Saying something like "Go to Brenda De Los Santos Photography and click "Like" on Johnny's picture if you this he is adorable as I think he is. The photo with the most likes by May 15th wins a photo session and photo package! Please help us win and thanks for your help!"

You could even ask them to share your photo and ask THEIR friends to vote!

3- Another way to get people to vote is by copying the image URL that is in the top of your browser when viewing your photo. 

To copy the URL, select the entire address, then click "Copy" in the Edit menu. Alternatively you can click "Ctrl and C" on a PC or "Apple and C" on a mac while the address is highlighted to copy.  Then you can either paste the URL into a message and send to specific friends you want to ask to vote, or you can paste the URL on their individual facebook pages and ask them to vote. To paste, click "Paste" in the Edit menu or click "Ctrl and V" on a PC or "Apple and V" on a mac. 

There are benefits to each method- by sending a message, you can ask multiple people to vote at once, which would save you time. By pasting the image URL on each person's wall, they are sure to see it and their friends, who you may not know, will also see the request for people to vote for you.

Spring Fling: The official contest rules!

It has been a long, cold winter here in Connecticut, and now that the weather is FINALLY starting to warm up and I can start doing sessions outside again, I wanted to do something fun to celebrate.

After tossing around a bunch of different ideas, I decided that a photo contest would be a great way to celebrate. My FIRST EVER contest, which is so exciting!

The winner of my Spring Fling photo contest will receive an outdoor family photo session for up to 6 people (up to 2 hours of session time) and a "Keeping it Simple" photo package, which includes:

One 11x14

Two 8x10's

Two 5x7's

Four 4x6's

and Eight wallets

The total prize value is over $300.

All you have to do to enter is email your favorite family photo (it doesn't have to be anything fancy, even just a snapshot of you and your kids, or just your kids, is fine) to me at contests@brendadelossantos.com by Saturday, April 30th. 

All entries will be uploaded to the Brenda De Los Santos Photography Facebook page on Sunday, May 1st, and voting will continue through midnight on Sunday, May 15th. All you have to do is encourage your friends to come and "Like" your picture, and the photo with the most "Likes" wins.


A couple of things to keep in mind:
 - Your session will be taken here in the New London/Waterford/Mystic area of Southeastern Connecticut, so if you live out of state, you will need to schedule your session at a time when you are here.
 - Each family may enter only ONE photo.
 - The photo session prize MAY NOT be used for a full newborn session, as newborn sessions generally take up to 4 hours. If you choose to use it as a newborn session, you will be given a 2 hour session.
 - The photo session will need to be scheduled for a date before June 15th.

I can't wait to see everyone's photos and goodluck!

Why are my pictures so blue?

I often am asked by friends, family, co-workers, and even sometimes by total strangers when they find out I am a photographer, a pressing ‘how-to’ photography question.

For the casual photography enthusiast, I think my answers may be a little too in-depth. I can't help it. I know all of the little intricate workings of a camera, and know how inter-related different camera functions are. The explanation to their question comes tumbling out of my mouth, each sentence spinning a more and more tightly woven and complicated answer.

So I have decided I will try to explain a different basic photography concept every few weeks or so.

Let's start with, "What the heck is 'White Balance'?"

White balance is actually one of the simplest things to control in your images, and can have a really big effect on how your photos look. You may think it seems complicated, but it's easy. Really easy!

In the good old days of film (which I only experienced for a short time before switching over to digital in college), there were different types of film for different environments, because indoor light has a different intensity and color to it, than say, outdoor sunlight. The same principle applies to digital photography.

Digital SLR's (single lens reflex) cameras have many different white balance settings. Even most point-and-shoot type cameras have very basic white balance settings. Well, what exactly does white balance do?

Let's look at the same picture taken with different white balance settings.

Here we have Tangle, my 3-year-old orange tabby, photographed indoors next to a window, with the white balance set on Flash, Fluorescent, Shade, and finally, Daylight. 

Flash: This one isn't too bad, BUT, it's definitely a little too yellow.

Fluorescent: This one is much too desaturated, with an almost blue cast.

Shade: Again, not terrible, but still too yellow.

Daylight: This one has a nice color balance too it. It is not too yellow, and does not have any other unwanted color cast. This is definitely the best white balance setting for this image.

You could just set your camera to "Auto White Balance," but the camera doesn't always give you the best setting, AND, maybe even more important,  you spent all that money on a digital SLR, why not use it to its full potential, right? Try adjusting the settings according to the light you are in, it will take some getting used to, adjusting it every time you move to a different environment, but it will be well worth it in the end.

Indoor lighting can be especially tricky. Light bulbs, both incandescent and fluorescent, can very greatly on the color of light that they put out. A newer bulb puts off whiter light than an older one, and often times you have many different types and ages of bulbs in a room. Nevermind when you have different types of light bulbs combined with window light. So what's a budding photographer to do? My general rule of thumb is to take a look around, evaluate which type of light is the most intense (light bulbs are rarely stronger than daylight coming in through windows), and start with that setting as your white balance. Then, take a look on your viewfinder, and if it doesn't look quite right, try another setting. At times, there is no "right" answer- use the setting that looks best to you.

There is of course, a more complicated method involving either using white/gray cards and setting the white balance manually, or metering the color 'temperature,' but those are both much more involved than I think is appropriate for a 'photography basics' tutorial.

Sexy Saturdays

Last November I was contacted by someone who had what she thought was kind of a kooky idea for her boyfriend's birthday gift: a calendar..... like the one Kim Kardashian had made for her boyfriend on an episode of her reality show. I thought it was an intriguing idea, and we met to discuss it.

We thought up different themes for each month of the year, created a timeline for production, and planned out her photo session.

It was a really fun project, and although it was late November when she came for her session, the temperature was still well above freezing and we were even able to take advantage of my location just a few blocks from the beach and take some bikini bombshell photos!

Meghan's calendar turned out so well that I started to consider creating a special package for the fast approaching Valentine's Day.

I asked my sister who recently moved back to Connecticut, and is a phenomenal make-up artist (she worked at a spa in North Carolina for 5 years while she lived there, and has done make-up for TV shows as well), to team up with me to create a complete experience. We have since launched "Sexy Saturdays," where women can come in, get the royal treatment in terms of make-up, so they look and feel fabulous (well, even more fabulous than they already are), and a photo session where they can have fun and let loose. After the session, I put my Photoshop skills to good use to make sure each woman looks her best.

What I love the most about doing these sessions is that you can really see the personalities of each induvidual woman come out in her photos, and no two photos are exactly the same.

It went so well that although I originally offered it as a special for Valentine's Day, my sister and I have decided to make it a regular thing, so not only can a Sexy Saturday session be a gift that your someone special will never forget, it also can be just for you- a day to feel as beautiful and sexy as you really are!

Itty Bitty Ones...

Lately, I've had the pleasure of photographing some teeny tiny little ones. Even though babies can be challenging, it's a fun challenge. I first photographed Jason in April when he was just a few weeks old. Although ideally, when I do newborn sessions, the babies will stay asleep, Jason was pretty much wide awake the whole time. I did manage to get a few shots with his eyes closed, for that "peaceful little angel look" though.

This past Saturday, I did his three-month pictures. Boy has he grown! He is as adorable as ever, but has filled out, and has the cutest little chubby cheeks. Since he hasn't started grabbing for things yet, and is still too little to really sit himself up, I had to use some creative methods to get good shots. We put him in a bean bag chair, a Bumbo seat (those things are really, REALLY amazing) and even propped him up in a wicker basket. He was really great throughout the whole session, although he did get a little bit cranky the last 10 minutes or so. But put yourself in his place- when your a baby that sleeps most of the day, an hour is a LONG time, right?