Orange County Photography Archives

Give Your Holiday Cards a Little Extra Pop

One of our favorite things about the holiday season is receiving the wonderful cards our friends, family, and colleagues send us. As a photographer, I also have fun (maybe a little too much) helping my clients select the right photos and greeting styles for their holiday cards. We have a ton of holiday card designs to choose from and we can even make completely custom-designed cards too, but here are a few tips to really make your cards memorable.

Spritz a little holiday scent

Wonderful memories come to mind when I smell the pine or fir scent of a Christmas tree, or the sugary smell of fresh baked cookies. Try spraying just a little of your favorite holiday scent on your envelopes to really give your recipients an extra boost of holiday spirit.

Jo Malone and Williams Sonoma have some wonderful scent sprays, or make your own using these essential oils tips.

Sprinkle with Some Whimsy

For some whimsical fun try sprinkling a few pinches of confetti or glitter into your envelope.

Envelope Makeover

Adding outlines to your envelopes, a family seal, or even a wax seal can add that extra luxurious look to your cards.

This photo and other great DIY tips at camillestyles.com

Hand addresses

For that completely custom and heartfelt look, consider hand-lettering your recipients’ names and addresses. Don’t have time or the skillset? Consider hiring a calligrapher or hand-lettering expert to help. This added touch really makes your cards pop.

Hand-lettering by Wandering Heart Paper on Etsy

Professional Portraits

Whether your family style is silly and casual or more refined and elegant nothing compares to the quality of professional family photographs for your cards. (Hint, hint, that’s me)

Go Big(ger) or Small

To really make your holiday cards stand out this year choose a non-standard card size. Sure, you might have to pay a little extra for postage, but the look just might be worth it. We’re happy to help you select larger or smaller cards or even custom sizes that fit your family’s unique style.

Capture your family’s unique personality

Speaking of that, be sure to select cards that show your true colors. If you want to stand out, consider alternative designs, unexpected colors, or adding a personal note, or even embellishments like embossing, gold or silver foil, or ribbon.

Whatever you send out this year, I hope you enjoy the season.

Custom Photo Holiday Card Ideas to Inspire You

‘Tis the season to send real paper greetings to your friends, family, and loved ones. Below, we’ve compiled some of our favorite custom photography holiday cards. I hope this helps inspire you as you select yours this holiday season. And remember, if you’re a Blue Sky’s Studio customer ask about our 20% off promotion. But hurry, it ends Nov. 30th!

Classic black & white family photo cards:

Have a little fun with a more casual, personal five-fold card!

Beautiful family tri-fold modern:

Traditional top-fold card with a modern chalkboard look:

Feature your cutie-pie in a gold and black foil Christmas card:

Get more elaborate with our custom cut, elegant holiday cards:

And finally one of our family holiday cards from a few years ago, casual hand-drawn elements and updates on each family member make this card one of my favorites:

No matter what your family’s personal style is, we can design a stunning, custom card to wow your loved ones this year!

Blue Sky's Promotions, Family Photography, Orange County Photography, Portrait Photography

Your Memories Deserve Great Prints, Wall Art & Frames

So you’ve had some wonderful family photos taken, now what do you do with all of these amazing new images of your loved ones?

With all the options out there these days it can be hard to decide just what to choose when it comes time to order your new photos. Well, don’t worry, we’ve planned ahead.

We have some great products and packages, but today I just want to give you a sneak peek at just what they look like. It’s hard to show just how high-quality these items are online, but know that when you come to your review session after your photography shoot, you’ll be able to see all of these wonderful options in person.

Professional family photography is an investment–not just some quick prints from Costco–but it’s hard to think of many better investments than high quality images of your family! Your portraits will be adored for years, decades, and generations to come. Let’s take a look at some beautiful ways to showcase your new photography.

Folio Boxes

Let’s start with folio photo boxes. This is one of my absolute favorite products that we carry, and not just because it is completely hand-crafted in Italy and looks amazing, but because of it’s versatility as well.

One of the challenges you’ll have when you come to view and order photos is that it’s so dang hard to choose between so many amazing shots. Folio Photo boxes are an elegant and practical solution to this problem.

As you can see from this video below (yep that’s me, in studio), you can display one lovely image, framed and matted in the box–maybe on your coffee table, or an entry table, and you can also switch it out whenever you want. Just open the box and view up to 20 matted images or store some of the images while you swap others out into frames you have elsewhere in your home. You can even display the images on a nice photo ledge like I’m doing here in our studio in Laguna Canyon.

Fine Art Matted Prints

Now that you’ve seen an example of one of our folio boxes, let’s talk about just how crazy-amazing the prints inside them are! Printed on luxurious acid-free paper, these ultra high quality prints can be available the very same day as your review session.

Like I said, it’s hard to really show just how gorgeous these super saturated fine art prints are online, but trust me, when you see them during your review session, you’ll know what I mean.

These allow you to easily change up your photos each year, or even throughout the year, since they come in expertly crafted mattes.

We select our very favorite 20 images from your session (before you arrive) to present to you in person and when you purchase, each print includes the fully edited digital file as well!

You can display these luxe prints on an easel, on a photo ledge, or even in a frame. They also make great gifts for loved ones.

Frames & Wall Art Collections

We have a variety of framing and matte options to fit your home’s unique decor. We love to go the extra mile for our clients and we’ll even create mockups of your home using real images from your shoot and a picture of the wall(s) in your home. Check out some of the great frame and canvas print collections we’ve mocked up.

Blue Sky’s Studio takes all of the guesswork out of your photo purchasing process by even laying out and installing all of our wall galleries. You can replace the hassle of measuring tapes with gorgeous photo groupings you’ll enjoy for years to come, and I promise there will be lots of laughs at our girl tools, too!

Albums–Your Family Story Book

Our Orange County photography sessions include so many special moments that it can be difficult to choose only a few images for your home.

Albums are a perfect solution for the client who loves many (or every) image. We endeavor to create memories to fill the page, and what’s more, we’ll work with you to create a one of a kind album as special as your session.

We’ve been in this business for many years and have tried just about every album out there, but we’ve elected to offer only the highest quality albums for your memories. But we also have different options at different price points. Here is a tiny sampling of our beautifully-crafted photo albums.

The best part about photo albums is that they give us the opportunity to tell the story of your family. From silly faces, to soulful looks, we want to document it all so you have tangible memories just as special as your kiddos!

Our albums also make beautiful gifts, and are timeless and wonderful ways to remember your loved ones’ most precious moments.

We look forward to helping you choose the right images from your Orange County photography session. And remember, if you want the latest news on our best promotions and even tips and tricks on how to get your best photos join the Blue Sky’s Studio email list. We promise we’ll only send good stuff.

Want to see our photography portfolio? Visit our full Orange County Photography website.

Family Photography, Headshots, Orange County Photography, Portrait Photography, Senior Photography, Studio photo session

Behind the Scenes: Why You Never Need to Worry About How You Look Again

Have you ever worried about having the right clothes, makeup, or hair for your photo session?

Or maybe you’ve worried about how you’d look with those few extra pounds you gained recently?

I can relate! But I want you to know a few behind-the-scenes things that just might change everything for you (really)

If you’ve had portraits done with us before you likely know just how far we go to make sure you are thrilled with the results. But if you haven’t, or maybe if it’s been a while, I want to share a little story with you.

Last week you may have seen that I posted a new senior shot on my Instagram. This beautiful high school senior was nervous about her session.

She’d never had a photo shoot like this before and wasn’t sure what to expect. Just after she arrived at our studio, one of our makeup artists went to work, while her mother and I popped in from time to time to weigh in on lip color or hair style. We had fun talking and joking and by the time she was done we could see a visible difference in her demeanor and confidence. When it was time to start the shoot she posed like a pro.

high school senior photography instagram

This experience reminded me why I do what I do. I am so grateful to be able to help people look their best and feel their best in front of the camera. It also made me realize that maybe because I’m so in the moment I don’t always tell people ahead of time just how much care we pour into our photography sessions.

Every time we do a session we employ not only high-end lighting, cameras and backgrounds/settings but we invest in professional styling (for what you wear), makeup artists and even hairstyling.

Why do we do this?

Because we don’t want you to just be happy with your photos. We want you to be thrilled. Blue Sky’s Studio is not your typical photography studio and we don’t base our values on dollar signs. We base our success on how we affect the lives of our clients.

Before your shoot, if you want help with deciding on what to wear–even for your whole family, one of our stylists will work with you a few days before to help you select items not only from your own wardrobe, but from our freshly cleaned items from style library as well. Whether it’s accessories or even a dress, chances are we have what it takes to make you look and feel your best on photo day.

When you arrive at our studio we have fresh, cold beverages ready. A makeup artist and hairstylist will be there ready to give you the look you want.

And once they’re done, we’ll head to your first shooting location.

During your session, I’ll help you pose in ways that highlight your best features (and hide any you’re not so fond of). My assistant will make sure the lighting is perfect and your hair and clothing is in place.

After your session, my team and I go to the next level and retouch, adjust lighting, remove blemishes, smooth clothing wrinkles, etc.–we can even shave off a few of those pesky extra pounds ;)–so when your picture review day comes, you will be blown away by how great you and your family look. I don’t want to reveal too much, but we also have a few wonderful surprises when during your review session at our studio.

I hope this little behind-the-scenes look at what we do gives you the peace of mind and confidence to get those family photos done so that you capture all of the precious milestones of your life.

Orange County photographer Kristin Karkoska

Family Photography, Headshots, Orange County Photography, Portrait Photography

Top Secret Photographer’s Trick: Subtle PhotoShopping to Make You Look Like a Celeb!

These days, we all know the controversy over severely PhotoShopped celebrity magazine covers and images. Most of us are pretty familiar with the fact that while many celebrities are gorgeous to begin with, their images are often altered to make them look even more extremely “ideal.” What we see on the cover of a magazine, or in an ad is often so highly retouched that the person almost doesn’t look like themselves anymore.

At Blue Sky’s Studio we don’t believe in making you look like a perfected-plastic version of yourself.

We work with a variety of tools like lighting, camera angles, stylists, makeup artists, and the right setting to make you look your absolute personal best. And sometimes we use PhotoShop to achieve that extra bit that cameras sometimes miss out on.

Let me explain…

We all have bad hair and face days, right? And just because you happened to look tired, or have a big pimple on your cheek on the day of your photography session doesn’t mean that’s what you really look like. We know that.

That’s why we use PhotoShop as another tool to tweak your photos so that they are the best representation of who you are.

Here are some examples of how our expert photo editors adjust lighting, blemishes, pose, alignment and sometimes even swap body parts (your own of course, don’t worry you’ll see) in order to create perfect pictures of you and your family.

Light and Brilliance

Sometimes even with the best lighting tools, the raw images could use a little tweaking. In this before and after image, we adjusted the lighting and a few other features to not only lighten up the image, but bring out the brilliance of our client’s features–especially her eyes. Sometimes the camera just isn’t able to fully capture the glow we can see with our natural eyes.

Family Cooperation

If you’ve ever tried to take a group shot, or a family photo, you know how hard it can be to make sure everyone is looking their best. While we have some awesome tricks up our sleeves–even professional photographers sometimes have trouble making sure everyone looks exactly how they’d like. Not everyone in the shot always looks their best or cooperates–we’re looking at you toddlers. Ha ha.

In those cases we take many variations of the pose and we can then adjust a variety of features to create the perfect group shot. Take this one for example.

In the before image you’ll notice a few subtle adjustments we’ve made, namely we’ve removed the woman in turquoise from the background; we adjusted the awkward angle of the woman on the left’s whose dress made her look larger than she actually was (we know most ladies don’t want that!), and we’ve adjusted several family members poses (just swapped from another version of the same shot, where they looked better), then we even moved the man on the right in just a smidgen closer to his wife. Finally, we tweaked the shadows on the sand to remove the driftwood and make a more uniform, subtle shadow.

Lighting, Drama and Modesty

J Lo isn’t the only one who gets wardrobe malfunctions and there’s no reason you should have to live with those awkward clothing moments in the family photos you hang on your wall. In this senior photo session, our subject’s dress revealed a little more than she preferred, so we tucked her in a little bit, smoothed the way her dress fell and tweaked the lighting to bring out her beautiful glow. We also smoothed out the tiniest of blemishes and evened out skin tone.

Pose Fixes

In this before and after, you’ll notice we adjusted lighting as well, but what you may have also noticed right away is that we also slightly moved the model’s pose so that she wasn’t as hunched over. We also tucked the back of her dress where it was pooching out a little bit.

In this before and after, you’ll notice we also adjusted her shoulder slightly to reduce the appearance of a hunch and lightened up her face and removed a few very minor blemishes or uneven skin tone.

Simplicity

In this comparison, you’ll see we adjusted lighting, but we also edited out the house on the hill and the wrinkles on the woman’s beautiful red dress. We also adjusted her arm pose and waist, ever so slightly. What you might not also be able to see is that we retouched her lipstick a bit as well, as it had rubbed off a little bit during the shoot.

Kids will be Kids

We know one of the secrets to getting great shots of children is taking a ton of photos–the more photos, the more likely we’ll capture the perfect moments.

But what if you have a picture with the perfect pose and setting but one of the kids has a better smile in a different photo? No problem.

As crazy as it sounds we can swap out a head as we did in this before and after example, so that both kids have the beautiful, natural smiles that we want, in the perfect setting and pose.

You see, PhotoShop can be a great tool to adjust lighting, pose, wardrobe and even expressions to provide the best combination and photos that you will cherish for generations, not photos that you’ll look at and think “it’s almost perfect except for that….[fill in the blank].”

Nobody wants that when they are hiring a professional photographer.

We’re committed to helping you and your loved ones look like their best, true selves whether that’s in Orange County family photography, high school seniors photography, or even professional headshot photography. We hope you’ve enjoyed learning a little bit more about how we use PhotoShop to achieve stunning results for our clients.

Want more tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your Orange County photography session? Sign up for our email list! Or visit our full Orange County Photography website.