stamford photographer - i heart faces

i love my little boy, and he knows it.  my entry for iheartfaces photo challenge.

i heart faces - week 12

this week, the i heart faces photo challenge is all about angles.  i absolutely love angles, so this was hard for me to choose!  (special thanks to my dad for helping me pick!)  shooting from different perspectives is a great way to see something in a way that you normally wouldn't see it, and tends to be so much more dramatic.
i like to capture my own kids in every angle possible.  i want to be able to look at pictures of them years from now and feel like i am there.  i feel like shooting from different perspectives really helps to tell the story.
my boys love to use the window sill as a road for their cars.  they play at this very window sill a hundred times a day.  i like this one particularly because my sweet ryan is in the middle of a morning yawn.

head on over to i heart faces to see more entries!

lollipop, lollipop - stamford children photographer

the boys and i have really enjoyed the 60+ degree weather that we have had the past couple of days.  our pig-toes have been flapping in our flip flops and our hair (some more than others) blowing in the breeze!

one of the best parts for me, is being able to get the boys outside to shoot a little instead of the same, tired, images in our house.  so much fun to explore new places!  i knew i was going to need something to keep them satisfied in one place - and lollipops are perfect for that very reason!

an afternoon with my 50

about a year ago, i had my camera sitting next to me while i was feeding my four month old son.  i changed the position of my legs, my camera fell to the floor, landing directly on the lens.  the front casing fell off, exposing the insides of the lenses.  ugh.  what a dumb accident.
in this time that i have been without my 50mm lens, i have been using my 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 and my 55-250mm 4-5.6.  they have been fine and i felt like i had been catching some great images with them.  until one day, i miraculously snapped the 50mm back together, and it worked for all of 20 min.  i was ecstatic and realized, ok steph, time to get a replacement.
i order a new 50mm on tuesday from adorama, chose the 3-4 day shipping, and was pleasantly surprised that my lens arrived yesterday morning!!!  how fantastic!
i immediately got shooting.  my boys were in the middle of having their snacks and watching some cartoons - great subjects as usual.  :)
here are some of the shots that i got. (a 50mm is a breathe of fresh air!)

i love the way ryan squats.  so cute.

poor ryan is teething - getting some of those bigger teeth in.  mommy kissing jack.  and the last two are the boys laughing at mommy - jack in the midst of eating his goldfish.

bundled up!

this little lady looked so cute all bundled up in her hat and matching scarf, for her three-year-old portraits.

see more entries for "bundled up" at iheartfaces.

the two sweetest faces EVER.

ok, ok.  so i might be a little bias.  but come on - what kind of mother would i be if i wasn't???  that being said, jack and ryan have my two most favorite faces, outside of my husband's of course (which according to most, jack and todd's face are one in the same.)

michael oliver turns one - stamford connecticut portrait photographer - stephanie wind photography & design

this little man turned one yesterday...

it's been a lot of fun being around to watch ollie grow up in the past year.  his mama and i met when our eldest, who are now close to 3.5 years old, were only six months old!  since then, we have helped each other through pregnancies and births...and now both our youngest are one!

our good friends invited us over for ollie's birthday celebration last night.  here are a few of my faves from ollie's special day...

very cute cake that ollie's mommy made for her little prince.

ollie just started walking a couple of weeks ago!  he has a big sister to keep up with, and boy does he ever!

tasty toys

kiss from big sister

enjoying every bit of his cake!

mommy got him all cleaned up - he even had cake in his hair!  that's how you know he had a good time!

thanks friends for inviting us!  happy birthday again to ollie!!!

i can't wait to take his one year shots!!!

moving promotion!!!

getting away with fun

this family is very near and dear to my heart.  i have had the privilege over the past couple of years to document their pregnancies, newborns, and to be able to watch them grow through my camera.  i love this "jumping" shot for this weeks iheartfaces contest, because here is my little friend vivi, getting away with jumping on her parent's bed, while mama gives little brother some love - with a watchful eye on viv of course.  :)

thank you to my favorite stamford family friends for allowing me to capture these great moments!!!

see more entires at iheartfaces.

iheartfaces outtakes

this week on iheartfaces, the theme is "outtakes."  here are my recent outtakes...

sisterly love, quickly turned into a battlefield.

i think holden was thinking, mommy, you are suffocating me  :)

my son.  this was suppose to be a nice little portrait on a fun fall day.

trouble maker 3 year old, pinching his brother.

taking jack's pictures out in the snow, but he was more concerned about the snow sticking to his boots.

to see more outtakes, visit iheartfaces.

before & after - fairfield children photographer

today i will be revealing some of the actions that i use to achieve some of the looks that i love most for my portraits.

let's start with this image as it comes up from shooting:

my first step, was to crop the image to make it more aesthetically pleasing:

next, i used a presetopia action that i love called warm apple pie:

as, much as i like it more already, i like to play with the levels a bit to get a better contrast:

lastly, i add a vignette to frame it out nicely:

and, there you have it!