I photographed bumble bees this weekend and these two photos made the cut. Let me know what you think!

 

For those of you that may not have already seen on Facebook, there's a new family member.

Meet Edward:



This was a great setting to photograph our cute sun conure, Edward. The light source is one window flooding the room with natural light. Edward is sitting on a white quilt with a white sheet over both of us. Many birds love to squeeze in tight spaces, so playing between two blankets was a perfect setting for fun with little distraction, not to mention the top white sheet, which provided a beautiful, diffused light source.

Pets tend to move quickly, so you need a quick focus and a reasonably fast shutter speed to avoid motion blur. Since I wanted the soft, natural light, I used no flash. Turning your cameras' flash to OFF can result in artistically beautiful images - give it a try!

Have any other pet photography tips? Please share in the comments section!

Trees are blossoming and I love it!


These shots were taken with a Canon 100mm F/2.8 L-Series Lens, all at one tree in Westminster, MD. I really enjoyed adjusting my angle for different lighting. All natural light.

These photos are available as fine art prints at my online store, kellyheckphotography.storenvy.com

I saw this yellow post (below) and LOVED it... I thought maybe I could capture a photo that would work well with my snow series. Those of you that know the body know that yellow is the only vibrant color throughout the series. Do you think this one would work well with the other "Beautiful Silence" photographs?

My friend from Savannah College of Art and Design, Sarah Anderson, made the trip down from Ohio to see the exhibit up at The Delaplaine, and we decided to make a weekend of it and practice our craft... but really just to have fun.

We set up the studio equipment and got to shooting. We both left with shots that we are pleased with, and I wanted to share a few of mine with you. All of my shots were taken with a 50x50" softbox as the main light source. The back shot had a highlight w/ gridspot coming from directly behind the subject to highlight the edges and a third light to blow out the white backdrop.




You can view some of the work Sarah took... one I especially love is a candid shot while Andy was taking photos by the window light. That photo is currently featured on Sarah's home page.

The day after my show opening, the snowfall was just beautiful. It was sticking to everything, even tiny branches and tall grasses. On this adventure I took back roads from Taneytown towards Mount Airy, MD... but before making it to Mount Airy, I headed towards Westminster to stop at Morgan Run.

I prefer my snow landscapes to be a bit warmer, so I shot with my white balance on 5900 Kelvins to reduce the blue hue that is cast by the sky.






Once we arrived at Morgan Run, nearly all of the snow had melted. In fact it had been a somewhat odd drive because we were continually passing sections covered in beautiful snow and then areas without one flake probably 3 or 4 times over! Long story short, I stopped photographing snow and began paying attention to the trees' details. Inspired by photographer Cedrick Pollet and his book, "Bark: An Intimate Look at the World's Trees".

My mom, Susie, and I worked together to make some tasty treats to fit my photo exhibit. For those of you there, you noted that the show was very monotone with the exception of one color: YELLOW!

We made snowflake (almond flavored) cookies, lemon flowers, and lemon meringue pie bites! I love to cook, and this was my mom's brilliant idea. They were SO delicious and a big hit at the show, I must say.

I did not have a chance to take photos during the show, just a few before and after. It was really busy from beginning to end, and it even snowed, nearly the entire time! Long story short, I was very pleased, and so thankful.

Susan Heck, Doug Heck, Kelly Heck & Valerie Heck Esmont

The work is up through March, so if you still want to go see it,
please do, and let me know what you think!

I had such an amazing turnout of friends, family and people I know in the business community, that came out to enjoy the 4 shows at The Delaplaine. What did you all think? If anyone missed it, know that the show is hanging through March 25th, 2012. If you are in Frederick stop by and enjoy my photography show and the other artistry! The Watercolor Society show is particularly wonderful!

On the note of feedback from the show, I really would like to hear from you! But I was ecstatic, and also wanted to share with you, a review by my local friend, Pamela Zappardino on the Carroll County Times website: Click here to read the review of Kelly Heck's exhibit...

Below is a great photo by Lyndi McNulty of Gizmos Art... it shows Pamela who wrote the review (of Planworks Consulting) and Susan Williamson (of the Carroll County Arts Council) photo-dueling after the exhibition!

Photo by Lyndi McNulty

So lots has been happening in the past month and I have been sorely out of touch when it comes to updating my fans! I've ventured out into a few snow storms since the show and took some photos I'm excited to share with you soon. Andy caught a shot of me (and then I of him) in one of the show photo adventures:

Photo by Andy Foglesong

Photo by Kelly Heck

I also began teaching my second photography class at Carroll Community College in the Personal Enrichment Department. Our final session is tomorrow, Wednesday! Below is a photo from one of my students, Linday Archer. We were just going through the details of manual settings and we had a few minutes left at the end of class... I decided to have everyone do a "panning" exercise where they set their shutter speed to a very slow setting like 1/4 of a second.

Photo by Lindsay Archer

I have been so proud of my "Beyond the Snapshot" students. Everyone is pushing their comfort zone and everyone is learning to shoot with their digital SLR's in manual and semi-manual settings. I'm truly about to test their knowledge this Wednesday in a discussion/Q&A about some tricky exposure scenarios!

I also had a friend I met at Savannah GA visit for a weekend and we had a 6-hour photo shoot in the studio! I will share a selection of my photos and more about my friend at another time not so far away! Andy took some photos too! Maybe I can share a selection from everyone involved...

Stay tuned, and thank you for all of your support in the past couple months!