Free slideshows for everyone!

Introducing Owen Barabe

Tonight Lee and I had the pleasure of staying (babysitting is not appropriate for a young man of 5 years) while his parents attended a school function. We ate pizza, ice cream and cake. (well sort of, sorry Lee) and watched cartoons on TV. Owen played with Maggie and even took her for a walk to the park. All in all, we had a wonderful time together and are looking forward to the next opportunity to "hang out" Here are some cool shots of this handsome and smart kid!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there. We all know how much we love all of you. Lee and I are particularly sad today because this will be the first full year that we will not be able to celebrate this special day with my mom. She passed away just over a year ago and we all miss her very much. So, if you have a mom, give her a extra special humongous hug for all of us as they are the ones that truly care for us when we need them. We love you mom!

Here is Nancy Siegel (Do you think this hair style will ever come back?)
Walking me down the isle back in the day!

Mom and Dad on their wedding day. (Man, she was HOT!!!) :-)

Painted Portraits

As some of you already know, we have been transforming our original photography images into truly unique works of art using digital painting processes for quite some time. Here is one example of an image that utilized a very special pastel brush technique. Here are the before and after. I hope that you enjoy it!

This is the original image.


Here is the completed painted portrait.

Nothing new

Hi folks, not much going on today but I thought i would post a cute photo of our baby Maggie. Why is it they say that dogs look like their owners?

Hey, that's my chair!

Kristen and Chris's Engagement session.

Ok, I am going to try and remember the joke that Chris told me last night. "What happened to the pretzel when he went on vacation?" "He was Assalted!" Well, not what I would call typical Rodney Dangerfield material but I laughed and enjoyed these two very much. Both of them are very engaging and we are looking forward to their upcoming wedding in June. See you there!

Diego's First Communion

This past Saturday was the First Communion of our Godson Diego Farinha of San Jose, CA We truly enjoyed being with him on his special day and also the opportunity to record some special memories for his family. Here are a couple of pictures of this very special young man!

Always the ham for the camera!

He might be shorter than the others but he sure gets the girls attention!

Diego and his Dad Paul



Here he is getting some massive air!


Diego's sister Paula and his Mom Iara.

Brooke and Nathan

Sorry for the delay in posting this week. We have had a rash of inquiries since the huge success at the Folsom Bridal Fair on Sunday. As I always believed, our customers come first. I just wanted to share some of the images from the wedding we attended at the fabulous Newcastle Wedding Gardens this past Saturday. Georgia is truly a magnificent hostess and always puts on an event that her customers will be extremely pleased with. I also wanted to showcase the absolutely beautiful floral designs of Martha Andrews of Blooms by Martha Andrews. She is the Bomb! The party continued well into the night due to the fun and exciting entertainment provided by Anthony from A & A Music Events. Well, we hope that you enjoy the images. Have a great week! :)

What is a print worth?

Well, this subject has risen once again and I find it necessary to help educate the public on why we charge what we do for our finished prints. Yes the price for a finished print at our studio is considerably more that what you would pay if you went to Costco® or your local retail photo finishing lab. However, when you look at it from the opposite standpoint of the small business owner, you can quickly see that not everything is as equal as it seems. Take in point our 11x14 print. Our price is $105. Odd number but that’s just how the math comes out. I get parents of the brides who say that this is an overcharge. I say not. For one reason, most of my clients are not generally proficient at Photoshop© so when they take their images in to get prints, they are normally straight from the camera. No adjustments of any type other than a small bit of color correction by the lab technician. (Let’s be honest here, this tech is not going or cannot spend a whole lot of time on any one image due to the sheer volume of prints at the local one hour photo lab) Your professional wedding photographer on the other hand is much much different. I personally retouch each image by hand and can spend 30 minutes or more on an image gently massaging until it has just the right blend of contrast, color saturation and density. Removing blemishes, and clarifying eyes, teeth and skin is an art if you expect professional and natural results. OK now comes the business expenses.

· We have to purchase the finished print at a professional color lab.

· Mounting (An extra step that preserves the print and not available at most 1 hr labs)

· Shipping expenses to receive the print.

· Handeling and storage of the print.

· Packaging

· Invoicing (to the customer)

· Delivery

So when you factor in the time it takes to successfully complete all of these items, it is not too much of a stretch to understand why we charge what we do for our finished prints.

Remember, when you hire a professional photographer, you are investing in his/her talent and time not only to create memorable images but to be able to deliver professional quality and you should expect professional results.

Black and White Study

Here are some pictures from a shoot that I completed this afternoon at the Old Sugar Mill
in Clarksburg. This was made possible by the kindness of Wedding and event coordinator Donna Steffey. She gave me permission to take some pictures of the grounds at the facility which is gorgeous by the way. Simply a wonderful event location in a rustic environment. The adjacent building is currently undergoing a renovation and I was able to snap off a couple of shots before too much progress has taken place. These images were taken with my 5d Canon Camera and a 70-200 2.8L IS lens. They were then converted into a special recipe of Black and White in Photoshop. I hope that you enjoy them.

Senior Portrait Sessions

The class of 2008 is quickly upon us. Your young graduate is looking forward to their new life full of new experiences and adventures. Don't let this special time pass you by without having some custom portraits taken either in the studio or outdoors. We have some special pricing for our future leaders and also we have a very cool referral plan. so recommend Siegel's Portrait Design to your friends and earn free print credit! Call today!

What you see is not what you get.

A while back I had a conversation with the mother of one of my clients who called to express her dissatisfaction over my reprint pricing. The word she used was "Unfair". this happens at some point during the year, so I thought it was time to help you understand why they are priced like this as well as share some examples of what we do.

The image on the left represents a straight out of the camera, un-retouched image file. In all it's glory. Remember, digital files can be a bit unforgiving depending on the light and angle and the image on the right has been given our tender loving care in Photoshop.


We will start with an image of one of our grooms. Good looking guy and for the most part, a decent image. For sure a keeper.

This image of Celeste was taken in her hotel room prior to her wedding ceremony. The image out of the camera was a bit cool for her beautiful skin tones. A bit of warming, some porcelain skin tones and a soft focus vingette made this image pop!

this image of Jamie at the Granite Bay Golf Club was just too harsh. flat lighting from the on camera strobe begged for some TLC, Nice!

Here is a nice image from the camera. Good skin tones and soft lighting made this portrait of Niki and Stanford look beautiful to the naked eye. A bit of eye work, some blemish removal and a some contrast bump,,,

This happy image of April and Keith coming out of the Pioneer Church was not bad but with a little color correction and some Siegel's magic, made this image ready for their wall at home!

Here is another good example of how a cloudy day can effect the in camera sensor and cause a very flat effect on an otherwise beautiful young girl. Sweet!

So my point is, I know anyone can get a 4x6 print done at Costco for roughly 19 cents, but for the amount of time and skill required to tweak the images in Photoshop, I really don't think our prices are "Unfair".

It is that time again! We have been nominated once again to participate in KCRA's A-List for your favorite photography studio in the greater Sacramento Area. We want to Win! But we can't do it without your help. Tell your friends, Tell your neighbors, Tell your families and tell them again to vote! Sign up is easy and it only takes a couple of minutes. Please visit the site here www.kcra.com

Sunset Whitney Country Club

Wow, what a transformation! Event coordinator Heidi of the www.sunsetwhitney.com and Mike Regan of www.mrdjservice.com spent several hours making their already fabulous ballroom into one of the most spectacular reception halls I have ever seen. Their combination of tastes and Mike's cool lighting effects really made this facility shine. If you are in the market for a first class venue where you can have that special party or wedding reception, I highly recommend this facility. It is situated in the beautiful Whitney Ranch area of Rocklin, CA. Well, they asked if I would take a couple of images for their website and of course I was glad to help.

Really cool slideshows

New on line slideshows for you to share with your family and friends.Book by June 30th 2008 and I will create one just for you for free!

Is Spring here yet?

I can bet that now that the holiday season has passed, we are all most likely ready for some warm weather especially since the last few nights have been particularly cold!

I know that I am ready for some warmer weather.

My father had a colorful expression for the kind of rain we can expect this weekend. I won't repeat it here, but I will say is that it had to do with a cow and a flat rock. Maggie just does not want to go outside when it is like this. It makes for a real rough time when we are working in the studio or whatever and she makes up her mind to go for a walk. We like to let her off the leash so she can do her own thing but it sure makes for a lot of work when we get back home.

It is nice to know that the spring weather is just around the corner, though. It reminds me of the rapidly-approaching wedding and outdoor portrait season. This year we begin with our first wedding after we return from Brasil and without a doubt, we won't stop running until November. I'm both anxious and excited.

For you brides preparing to wed this year, I've been thinking of a way to help get you ready for communicating with your photographer (even if it isn't with us). The following is a brief dictionary of photography jargon to aide you:

Fast Lens: A lens that photographs well in low light. Maximum apertures (openings) range from F2.8 to 1.4. Also typically expensive.

Soft: Usually referring to the quality of focus of an image. This means out of focus.

Tack-sharp: Focused very well.

Crop: To remove the outer edges of a photograph and enlarge a center portion.

SLR: Single Lens Reflex. Basically, a camera where viewing and focusing is done through the lens rather than a separate optical device. This kind of camera is used by most, if not all, wedding professionals.

Proofs: Un-corrected images (no retouching or cropping). Can be in print or digital/virtual form.

Happy Brides: Those of you whom have chosen Siegel’s Portrait Design as your official wedding photographer!

I've got to go now. More to come soon.

Keep Smiling,
Rick