Hi, I’m Sandra Burns, the photographer behind September Blue Photography. This is my blog, where you’ll see my most recent work, upcoming events and specials, and get to know me a little better. Check out the About Me section to learn more about my style and my approach to portrait photography.
Like my page on Facebook to see even more recent work and chat with me.View my full portfolio by clicking on the link to my website up there.
I’d love to hear from you so post a comment and let me know you were here! Email me anytime at info@septemberbluephotography.com. ~Sandra
Some time ago, this cute little video appeared in my Facebook feed.
Inspiration strikes in unexpected ways… this entire shoot was inspired by this little clip. THIS is what my mind saw when I saw Izabella playing her guitar… It’s amazing and truly feeds the creative soul to be able to bring a vision to life in photographs. Thank you Antonella & Izabella for inspiring me!
Wow it’s November! This year is flying by… almost the way 5 years have flown by for me since officially launching September Blue Photography back in October of 2008! To celebrate, I’ve decided to give away by giving back some of the photography love my clients and fans have all shared with me. I know that most of my clients and followers are lovers of photography like me so I’m giving away a One-on-One Photography Class with me! You’ll come to my studio in Massapequa and/or we can go outdoors and I’ll give you the basics of digital photography, portrait photography, and even a little bit of post processing tidbits. Bring your camera – whether it’s a DSLR or a point and shoot and I’ll show you how to make the most of what you’ve got! All levels of photography lovers are welcome to enter as I will customize the class to you. PLUS… you get to take home my Clean Post Processing Photoshop Action Set for you to play with at home on your own pictures! Just follow the instructions below to enter – giveaway ends Saturday 11/9 at midnight.
I leave you with a shot of my three little troublemakers…I took them out the other day to attempt our holiday card pictures. Sigh. Shenanigans. This is what I got.
Here’s the thing, I know that not everyone can see the difference – but for those that can, or for those that may want to try – there is often a big difference in the way an image appears on Facebook in terms of sharpness and color. We photographers work very hard to perfect our color to our tastes and style – we calibrate our monitors & cameras, calibrate with our labs, edit under specific lighting conditions, use special software and hardware and test in various browsers (Firefox offers color management options, btw). Sometimes that’s all thrown by the wayside on FB. We have zero control over how, why and when FB modifies their compression algorithims and whatever else they throw into their image squashing soup that tends to make our images look NOT like we intended.
I love editing fall color. Here’s the way these two images should have looked (color & sharpness may vary based on your monitor, calibration, lack thereof, zoom level, and/or lighting conditions & mood and whether or not you have crying babies in the background when viewing 
)
I can spot a fake smile. We moms know our kids’ fake smiles and we know them well. “Don’t smile like that, give her your real smile!” I know a child well-trained to give the photographer a “cheese” smile when I see one. But my goal is to always get a genuine smile and real expressions (even if they aren’t smiles). You get that by engaging your subject. I was culling this session and came across a set of frames that were a good example of how I got Andrew to give me that REAL, melt-your-heart smile.
And as I started writing this blog post, I realized…this little series illustrates two other points very well:
1 – Ever wonder why your photographer may fire off dozens if not hundreds of frames at your session, but you probably see quite a bit less in your final gallery? We keep the absolute best and ditch the rest. Out of focus, blurry, under exposed, over exposed, eyes half closed, funky expressions…those go without saying but then there’s the images taken purely for the value of warming up your subject. Getting them used to hearing that shutter click. Getting them interacting even as your face, and your eyes are constantly disappearing behind that big black thing in front of your face. Ever try having a conversation with someone checking their cell phone? You kind of check out too, right? It’s probably similar to how a child feels when being photographed.
2 - This is why when someone says “I really just need ONE GOOD picture” or “just a FEW pics” it really doesn’t make sense. It’s always hard to explain why it just doesn’t work that way. It takes time, energy, effort and work to get to that ONE GOOD picture. Not just one press of the shutter in the perfect location with the perfect light. One picture? Sure. One GOOD picture…ah… takes alot more. The MORE is why you want it in the first place. Thanks for reading!
