San Francisco Bay Area, Maternity, Newborn Baby, Child photography

The holiday season is in full swing – Ashley McNamara – Danville Photographer

December 4, 2009 – 7:24 am

What happened to 2009? I cannot believe it is almost over. I swear the older I get the faster time fly’s.

Christmas time is my favorite time of year.. What’s not to like? Eggnog, Hot Chocolate, Presents, Snow, and did I say presents?

I like everything besides that 10 extra pounds I gain eating baked goods. As soon as it starts getting cold I get the urge to bake, I don’t know why because I don’t bake any other time of the year except during the Holiday’s and if one day goes by that my house doesn’t smell like fresh baked cookies it feels weird. I made sugar cookies today, nuff said.

I never post personal things on my blog, mostly, because I was always so busy but since my move to the Bay area I am enjoying some down time for the first time in four years and it feels good to be able to spend some quality time with my kids and actually take some pictures of the little boogers.

This year I decided that our tree wasn’t eccentric enough and while I was shopping at Target I found the perfect tree topper, Yoda! Tell me that Yoda isn’t rad?!

christmas 2009 The holiday season is in full swing Ashley McNamara Danville Photographer

christmas 2009 4 The holiday season is in full swing Ashley McNamara Danville Photographer

My daughter, who doesn’t let me take her picture as often as I would like. She thought she looked cute today and decided to give me 5mins so I took 10 and then she pouted but I like it anyway. One of the things I missed most about the bay area was the fog.. oh how I missed you fog. Looks good in pictures too.

christmas 2009 2 The holiday season is in full swing Ashley McNamara Danville Photographer

Child Photographer – Ally – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area – Photographer

November 11, 2009 – 9:49 am

This is the last of my sessions as a San Diego resident and I am feeling a big nostalgic. Before I left San Diego my good friend Marie came to visit me and made me promise by penalty of a smack down to take her to my favorite beach. Marie lives on the east coast and I am not biased or anything but the California beaches kick all other beaches butts.

Marie had criteria though she wasn’t just going to shoot any ole person, she wanted to do a kid’s shoot on the beach with a surfboard kind of Roxy style. I did some digging in old client files and found Ally, who doesn’t love a redhead? We had so much fun and Ally was a good sport because it was probably the coldest I have ever been in San Diego, it was ffffreezing!

Note: For those of you asking when i’ll be back in San Diego the answer is January. I’ll be keeping everyone informed via my newsletter. If you are not a member send me an email and I will add you to the list. You can also email me to book your spot now before someone else does!

child photography san francisco photographer ally 7 Child Photographer – Ally – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

child photography san francisco photographer ally Child Photographer – Ally – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

child photography san francisco photographer ally 3 Child Photographer – Ally – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

child photography san francisco photographer ally 2 Child Photographer – Ally – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

child photography san francisco photographer ally 4 Child Photographer – Ally – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

child photography san francisco photographer ally 5 Child Photographer – Ally – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

child photography san francisco photographer ally 6 Child Photographer – Ally – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

Product Images – The Image Box – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

November 10, 2009 – 11:50 am

One of the awesome things about owning your own business is that I get to pick the coolest products to offer my clients. I blog about our albums a lot and wanted to share something a little different. One of our most sought after products is the image box. Your image box is custom designed to fit your decor and comes with bordered 5×7 images from your session.

album samples ashley mcnamara san francisco portfolio box photographer Product Images – The Image Box – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

album samples ashley mcnamara san francisco portfolio box photographer 1 Product Images – The Image Box – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

album samples ashley mcnamara san francisco portfolio box photographer 2 Product Images – The Image Box – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

album samples ashley mcnamara san francisco portfolio box photographer 4 Product Images – The Image Box – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

album samples ashley mcnamara san francisco portfolio box photographer 3 Product Images – The Image Box – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

Not to exclude our fabulous albums we are now offering an even bigger variety of fun colors!

album samples ashley mcnamara san francisco portfolio box photographer 5 Product Images – The Image Box – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

album samples ashley mcnamara san francisco portfolio box photographer 6 Product Images – The Image Box – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

Family Photographer – Brocious Family – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

November 3, 2009 – 9:22 am

I am almost done with this round of San Diego sessions. This shoot wrapped up an awesome year with the Brocious family and I am so excited to be their photographer next year since they have a little BOY on the way. I cannot wait to see what she does with blue because it has been all sugar and spice so far.

family photography san diego photographer brocious 2 Family Photographer – Brocious Family – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

family photography san diego photographer brocious 6 Family Photographer – Brocious Family – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

family photography san diego photographer brocious 1 Family Photographer – Brocious Family – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

family photography san diego photographer brocious 5 Family Photographer – Brocious Family – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

family photography san diego photographer brocious 3 Family Photographer – Brocious Family – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

family photography san diego photographer brocious 4 Family Photographer – Brocious Family – Ashley McNamara – San Francisco Photographer

Photoshop Tutorials- Leveling the Horizon Tutorial – Ashley McNamara – Danville Photographer

November 2, 2009 – 1:03 pm

It is tutorial time WHOHOO!

Today I am going to teach a simple yet awesome technique to level a horizon. I am a camera tilter, always have been and always will be. The problem is that there is a time to tilt and a time to NOT tilt and the beach is a not to tilt sort of time. I like a nice level horizon so this is for all of you camera tilters out there.

Step 1: Open Image

photoshop tutorials level horizon ashley mcnamara photography jpg Photoshop Tutorials Leveling the Horizon Tutorial – Ashley McNamara – Danville Photographer

Step 2: Select the Ruler Tool. It is 20 tools down and you might have to right click to see it.

photoshop tutorials level horizon ashley mcnamara photography 4 jpg Photoshop Tutorials Leveling the Horizon Tutorial – Ashley McNamara – Danville Photographer

Step 3: Once you have selected the ruler tool, draw a line across the horizon. This works on anything if you have a dresser, chair, wall. Whatever you want to straighten.

photoshop tutorials level horizon ashley mcnamara photography 5 Photoshop Tutorials Leveling the Horizon Tutorial – Ashley McNamara – Danville Photographer

Step 4: Once you have drawn your line select Image, Rotate Canvas, and Arbitrary.

photoshop tutorials level horizon ashley mcnamara photography 6 jpg Photoshop Tutorials Leveling the Horizon Tutorial – Ashley McNamara – Danville Photographer

Step 5: This is where the magic happens. The ruler tool calculated how much to rotate the image to make it straight. Once you click arbitrary the math is done for you so you can just click ok.

photoshop tutorials level horizon ashley mcnamara photography 7 jpg Photoshop Tutorials Leveling the Horizon Tutorial – Ashley McNamara – Danville Photographer

Step 6: Now your image is straight but what about the extra canvas??

photoshop tutorials level horizon ashley mcnamara photography 18 jpg Photoshop Tutorials Leveling the Horizon Tutorial – Ashley McNamara – Danville Photographer

Step 7: You can do a couple of things to take care of the extra canvas caused from straightening your image. You can clone the white spots out or you can crop most of it out which is what I do.

photoshop tutorials level horizon ashley mcnamara photography 19 Photoshop Tutorials Leveling the Horizon Tutorial – Ashley McNamara – Danville Photographer

Step 8: Clone or patch any white areas that the crop tool didn’t take care of.

photoshop tutorials level horizon ashley mcnamara photography 3 Photoshop Tutorials Leveling the Horizon Tutorial – Ashley McNamara – Danville Photographer

Now you are all done. Super easy right?

Before:

photoshop tutorials level horizon ashley mcnamara photography jpg Photoshop Tutorials Leveling the Horizon Tutorial – Ashley McNamara – Danville Photographer

After:

photoshop tutorials level horizon ashley mcnamara photography jpg 2 Photoshop Tutorials Leveling the Horizon Tutorial – Ashley McNamara – Danville Photographer

By Ashley McNamara | Posted in Photoshop Tutorials, Uncategorized | Tagged Ashley's Actions, level a picture, level horizon, photoshop cs3, photoshop tutorial on straightening, Photoshop Tutorials, straighten image, straighten picture, tutorial on level horizon | 10 comments Show Comments | Add a Comment

Family Photographer – Wynne Family – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

October 23, 2009 – 8:48 am

It is official, In the last two weeks we have moved from San Diego to the Bay area. It was a long drive and I am still SWIMMING in boxes but things are falling into place. It has also been a really long time since I have lived in the bay and it was easy to get used to the sun in San Diego… buuuurrrr it’s cold here!

Before I left San Diego I took on a few last minute sessions with my good friend, Marie, who was dying to shoot on the beach. We went to my favorite spot with some of my favorite clients. I cannot wait to get back to San Diego for more sessions.

I feel like it has been forever since I have blogged!

family photography san diego photographer wynne 1 Family Photographer – Wynne Family – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

family photography san diego photographer wynne 5 Family Photographer – Wynne Family – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

family photography san diego photographer wynne 7 Family Photographer – Wynne Family – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

family photography san diego photographer wynne 3 Family Photographer – Wynne Family – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

family photography san diego photographer wynne 4 Family Photographer – Wynne Family – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

family photography san diego photographer wynne 2 Family Photographer – Wynne Family – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

family photography san diego photographer wynne 6 Family Photographer – Wynne Family – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

Newborn Photography on the Today Show – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

September 14, 2009 – 1:07 pm

I am sure you have seen the buzz around the Internet about the awesome segment on the Today Show about newborn photography. I was so excited to see something I am so passionate in take center stage, I appreciated all of the emails from clients asking me if I had seen it and telling me that the segment reminded them of me. I am super flattered. I am excited for the photographer profiled and this amazing publicity she received but I am also super excited to see child photographers in the limelight. If you have some time check it out.

newborn photography baby today show ashley mcnamara bay area photographer 1 Newborn Photography on the Today Show – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

newborn photography baby today show ashley mcnamara bay area photographer 2 Newborn Photography on the Today Show – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

newborn photography baby ryder ashley mcnamara san diego photographer 2 Newborn Photography on the Today Show – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

newborn photography baby will ashley mcnamara san diego photographer 5jpg Newborn Photography on the Today Show – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

By Ashley McNamara | Posted in Newborn Sessions, Uncategorized | Tagged baby photographer, baby photographer san francisco, bay area babyphotographer, bay area family photographer, bay area newborn photographer, bay area photographer, commercial photographer, danville baby, danville family photographer, danville newborn photographer, family photographer, family photography, newborn photographer, newborn photographer danville, newborn photographr san francisco, san francisco event photographer, san francisco newborn photographer, san francisco photographer, san franisco baby photographer, san ramon baby, san ramon family photographer, today show, today show newborn photography | 7 comments Show Comments | Add a Comment

Family Photographer – Maddie – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

September 11, 2009 – 7:54 pm

This is Maddie and she is a MOVER, all Maddie wanted was “wa wa” that is water in big people speak.

After making funny voices, bopping myself on the head, and blowing bubbles didn’t work I decided that it was time to put on the fisheye and let Maddie enjoy some time in the water and I am glad I did because that is when Maddie loosened up, plus I ADORE fisheye pictures.

Ann, I know you’re excited!!! I hope you love them!

baby photography danville photographer easterling Family Photographer – Maddie – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

baby photography danville photographer easterling1 Family Photographer – Maddie – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

This is right before she took a tumble into the water…

baby photography danville photographer easterling5 Family Photographer – Maddie – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

baby photography danville photographer easterling3 Family Photographer – Maddie – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

baby photography danville photographer easterling4 Family Photographer – Maddie – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

baby photography danville photographer easterling2 Family Photographer – Maddie – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

Baby Photographer – Padraic – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

September 10, 2009 – 8:07 am

You might recognize this little face from a few months back. Padraic is now 9 months old and is getting cuter by the second. I just love this age because they are so expressive but they are not moving around so basically that makes them PERFECT!

Keep an eye out for Padraic in a couple of months! Awesome watching you grow, little guy.

baby photography baby babypadriac ashley mcnamara danville photographer 97 Baby Photographer – Padraic – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

baby photography baby babypadriac ashley mcnamara danville photographer 98 Baby Photographer – Padraic – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

baby photography baby babypadriac ashley mcnamara danville photographer 103 Baby Photographer – Padraic – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

baby photography baby babypadriac ashley mcnamara danville photographer 105 Baby Photographer – Padraic – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

baby photography baby babypadriac ashley mcnamara danville photographer 99 Baby Photographer – Padraic – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

baby photography baby babypadriac ashley mcnamara danville photographer 101 Baby Photographer – Padraic – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

baby photography baby babypadriac ashley mcnamara danville photographer 102 Baby Photographer – Padraic – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

baby photography baby babypadriac ashley mcnamara san diego photographer 100 Baby Photographer – Padraic – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

baby photography baby babypadriac ashley mcnamara danville photographer 104 Baby Photographer – Padraic – Ashley McNamara – Bay Area Photographer

Photoshop Tutorials- Newborn Skin Tutorial – Ashley McNamara – Danville Photographer

September 8, 2009 – 4:41 pm

This is supposed to be August’s tutorial but I was running a little late..

I posted on facebook asking what my next tutorial should be and I got an overwhelming response to cover newborns, topics I was asked to cover were how to get rid of baby acne and how neutralize yellow or red skin tones… which brings me to the reason my tutorial is late. I don’t have many issues with acne or skin tones I was having a lot of trouble finding a photograph to use for the tutorial and this got me thinking, “why don’t I have these issues?”

#1 Exposure is VERY important. If you are not exposing correctly the skin imperfections/tone will be magnified.

#2 I typically shoot within the first 5 days and babies start to get acne around day 10.

This little guy is a good friends baby, who is 10 days old. Which provided the perfect picture for the tutorial. I know most of you were hoping for some big secret but there isn’t one. The key is exposure and getting in there early if you do those two things then you should not have any issues but if you do here are a couple of things you can do to fix it. If you are a seasoned professional this video probably isn’t for you but feel free to take a peek just to hear how silly I sound! You have no idea how much I dislike hearing myself on video!

If you have comments or questions feel free to leave them in the comment box. I appreciate it and hope this is helpful for all of you that are just starting out.

By Ashley McNamara | Posted in Photoshop Tutorials | Tagged liquify in photoshop, liquify tutorial, photoshop cs3, photoshop lesson, Photoshop Tutorials | 27 comments Show Comments | Add a Comment

Ashley McNamara Photography