ballet baby

over these past few weeks, i've been making the jump into shooting in full manual mode with my camera.  since i started my business back in 2008, i've been using a couple of different "cheater" settings that made things fairly quick and easy, but they limited me in some of the photos i could take as well as some of the effects i was able to achieve. 

but as of 2010, goodbye aperture-priority mode and hello manual mode.  it's nice to meet you.

with that said, i've been using my little ones as photographic guinea pigs so that i could get some extra practice in before this year's sessions kick into high gear (stick with me -- i've got some fun sessions scheduled over the next couple of weeks).  so when isabel ran into my bedroom where the lighting at that time of day is perfection and she climbed into my bed (my very unmade bed) wearing a little pink ballet tutu, i couldn't resist the opportunity to practice a bit more.

never mind the fact that she wears this exact tutu almost every single day of the month.  no really, she does.  but how sweet is she in her "baa-way dwess-up" clothes?!?


she wasn't giving me a ton to work with at first.  a little smile here or a goofy face there...



but before long, i had her right where i wanted her.  ;-)  we sang, we giggled, and we got some uber-sweet shots.



my favorite two pictures came just as we were about to head back downstairs.  i heard izzy whisper, "cheeeeese!", and i turned the camera back toward her just in time to catch this darling duo of photos.



she's famous for her "cheese face" in case you didn't know that.  (and by famous, i mean that her cute little trick is really well-known in our area.  well, at least in our neighborhood.)

or perhaps just our house.