Hello, welcome to my professional photography blog. My name is Martina and I live in Austin, Texas. Capturing a beautiful moment or place is my passion. I am a natural portrait and wedding photographer, creating beautiful and timeless photos that tell your unique story. My documentary style of photography captures true emotion and allows you to be yourself in front of the camera. If you are interested in scheduling a portrait session or wedding, contact me at: info@photosbymartina.net. If you enjoy my work and would like receive updates, submit your email address below. I hope you will pull up a chair and stay a while!

Monday, May 25, 2015

Rain photography

Photos taken during a rain storm in Austin, Texas.

Click to see picture of leaf in the rain
Aperture: f/1.7, Shutter speed: 1/60, ISO 1250

Click to see picture of an umbrella in the rain
Aperture: f/1.7, Shutter speed: 1/60, ISO 800


Click to see picture of umbrella in the rain
Aperture: f/1.7, Shutter speed: 1/60, ISO 1600
Click to see raindrops on a window
Aperture: f1.7, Shutter speed: 1/60, ISO 100

Aperture: f/1.7, Shutter speed: 1/60, ISO 1000

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Butterfly photography

Photos taken at a local park in Austin, Texas.

Click to see picture of butterfly on a flower
Aperture: f/5.6, Shutter speed: 1/640, ISO 400

Click to see picture of butterfly on a flower
Aperture: f/9.0, Shutter speed: 1/800, ISO 400

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Caldwell Zoo photography

Photos taken at the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, Texas.

Click to see bird at Caldwell Zoo
Aperture: f/5.6, Shutter speed: 1/400, ISO 400




Click to see primate at Caldwell Zoo
Aperture: f/5.6, Shutter speed: 1/800, ISO 400
Click to see picture of alligator at Caldwell Zoo
Aperture: f/5.6, Shutter speed: 1/400, ISO 400
Click to see picture of lion at Caldwell Zoo
Aperture: f/5.6, Shutter speed: 1/320, ISO 400

Monday, May 11, 2015

Taking better photos with your DSLR: Series 3

In this series on how to take better photos using a DSLR camera, I will quickly touch on camera settings, image editing processes and ND filters. By maximizing the capabilities of your camera, you can get vibrant and professional looking photos. These settings are based on what I use for my Nikon DSLR camera.

What formats should I shoot in?
There are several formats you can shoot in. I recommend shooting in JPEG (fine) and RAW image formats. You can set your image format to RAW if you want to edit them later, otherwise for quick shots, you can use JPEG fine quality. I always shoot in RAW format, so I can edit the images in Photoshop later.

What about color and post-processing?
I try get the image as close to what I want by adjust the settings on my camera. To do this, I mostly adjust the exposure and saturation settings on my camera. Under menu, go to optimize image, then custom. There, you can customize the saturation, hue adjustment, color mode, etc. I like to enhance the saturation. There is also an exposure button on top of the camera (+/- button). You can increase or decrease the exposure manually to help make the image lighter or darker depending on the lighting conditions you are working with. Finally, I do some fine tuning in Photoshop to get the results I want. I use Adobe Camera Raw into Photoshop. I start out with a pretty natural rendition of a given scene, then I might pump up the colors, warm things up, or cool things off. If you don’t have Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom, there are some free software options you can try: PicMonkey,  Picasa, or Gimp.

What about camera filters to enhance my image?
You can also try using neutral density filters (or ND filters) to reduce the amount of light entering the lens on a very bright day. For example, a polarizer filter is used to help darken skies, increase the saturation, and also help reduce reflections from water surfaces. I find the polarizer filter is especially helpful with correcting an overexposed sky.