Before I became a Christian, I had just met Jennifer.  Immediately, I took a liking to her.  She is as friendly and joyful as she looks, a true testimony of Christ.  She was one of the first and most influential on my life when I was a new Christian – we had in depth talks over lunches, she was patient and a huge encouragement as my mind was renewed, and she always delivered God’s word to me in a way that I could understand, and yearn to grow.  Her sweet spirit is what drew me in, and seeing her genuine heart is why I confided in her as I tried to find my footing in my early stages of my new life.

It’s been years since I met her, and when I think of our genuine friendship, it reminds me that a friend like her are the ones that are hard to come by.  I think of all the times she was there for me when life got hard – like really, really hard.  Through it all, her presence alone comforted me and she always gave me the gift of her prayers.

I’m excited to document baby boy number three who will probably be given an equally awesome and strong name as his older brothers Owen and Eli.  Congratulations JM, you are like a real sister to me.  I feel so fortunate that the Lord placed you in my life at every moment I needed you.  I love you so much and you bless me with your friendship that makes God feel all that more present in my life.  I admire you more than you know, and you have shaped me so very much into who I am today.  I cannot wait to love on your next little one!

She’s also a signed with talent agency Dani’s Agency, not surprising!

Diana Elizabeth is going to share a random fact with you – she got baptized in JMar’s pool many years ago.

Portraits

Hoping you have a wonderful Mother’s Day this weekend.  If you ask me, you can never over give to your mom.

If you enjoyed the infographic about Mother’s Day created by FTD.com, please feel free to share it!

Diana Elizabeth thinks her mommy friends are amazing.  By watching what they do, she realizes how much her own mother did for her.

Personal

I found myself talking to the photos as I edited, gasping in between saying things like, “Oh Farrah!” and “So gorgeous…” as if I were talking to my sweet friend.

I am always honored to be asked by a client turned friend to photograph stages of life (she was the model for the PHOENIX magazine cover I shot a few years ago in Sedona, Arizona).  Mr. Wonderful and I are itching for the day when Farrah and Matt move closer to our neighborhood so we can happily hang out and see each other more often.  Farrah and I have been plotting this move for what seems years since the day we met.

Baby girl will inherit the most sought after genes in the world. Farrah is most certainly one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen and her heart is just as lovely.  I love you so much Farrah, thank you for choosing me again to capture the important moments in your life.  I am so happy to document them as a photographer, and to live life with you as a friend.

Many thanks to one of my favorite makeup artists Allison Pynn for helping me battle the wind with Farrah’s hair.  As a photographer, I love wind!

Makeup and hair: Allison Pynn / Floral headbands: Elba Brown

Diana Elizabeth knows you are wondering where wheat fields are in Phoenix, Arizona.  Well, she’s always shooting in the same crops that belong to one of her best friend’s parents and the crops are just on rotation!  Sometimes cotton, sometimes alfalfa, this time, beautiful wheat! 

Portraits

I am happy to say that I successfully completed a Pinterest project for my Mother’s Day gift for my mom.  She’s a really difficult one to gift, as she isn’t the typical woman who indulges in really anything.

My mom, a former model and international singer in Asia is pretty low maintenance.  You would think she’d love lip glosses, makeup, smelly candles and all that wonderful smelly body lotion as most women do.  Not my mom.  She does love her fur coats (which I do too!) but she’s more into home made anything.  Making her a card, making her something, that means more to her than any pretty thing most women would squeal over.  Can you see why it’s a little hard for me?

I found this pin on Pinterest and knew that was exactly what my mom would love, and I’m happy to report that it was pretty easy.  I would suggest going to JoAnn Fabrics since Michael’s doesn’t carry the initial paper mache initials.  Right now they are under $2 each.  The silk florals are 50% off.

I always get incredibly emotional over birthdays and the mother and father day gifts.  If you ever feel stressed about days like those, try to remember that one day, you will wish you could pick up a card or gift for those you love on certain occasions.  I’m crying right now just thinking about it, I’m such a mommy and daddy’s girl.

Diana Elizabeth once tried a gold foiling project from Pinterest which was the most frustrating, horrific craft experience she had.  So she was very  happy to find a project that was do-able.

Home + Garden

A spectacularly beautiful maternity session coming up…

Hair and makeup: Allison Pynn /  Belly belt: Elba Brown

Diana Elizabeth says spectacularly beautiful because of who she photographed!

Portraits

A mysterious box arrived this week and I was ecstatic to see it was photography equipment to test!  I was asked to review a pop-up cube studio and I thought, let’s just see how easy this process could be.

This was everything in a fairly compact box about 12″ x 12″:

This was the simple set up on my desk, no instructions included or needed.

Have you ever tried to photograph a product DIY style? I used to use white sheets of paper and a desk lamp. Here’s what I did with a point and shoot on the “flower” setting which is the macro setting, years ago before I owned a DSLR:

Decent. Until the editing part. I had to photoshop the seams together and correct the shadows if there were any. I think I spent like 40 minutes perfecting this image with my DIY method. Ain’t nobody got time for that! – haha!

Now with this kit, the cube pops up like a reflector/car windshield reflector. Just pick the background color you want (included are white, black, red and blue) and velcro the top to the inside corners. I think the best items to photograph in something small like this would be if you were trying to sell jewelry say on eBay or Etsy or you’re shooting a product for a business.

Velvet fabric helps minimize and soften shadows. and you can adjust the lights on the outside. Now look:

After I perfected it in Lightroom, I opened it up in Photoshop actually played with the curves (and now we all cringe that I said that) and used the select tool at tolerance of 20, inverse selected and dragged it on a white blank background. Tada. Took maybe what, 3 minutes. I’m also a photoshop ninja. I smoothed the shadow lines by adding a new layer and white paint brushing with feathered edges and adjusted the layer opacity.

Let’s say you don’t want to do all the hassle I just did which was really an extra minute. Here’s the image I got just by a few quick edits and exporting it out of Lightroom which is sufficient for say any online shopping cart site:

Boom. You also don’t need a DSLR – your point and shoot on a macro setting will be fine.

Tips:

• You don’t have to shoot through the cover with slit if it’s too constricting. Only use it when you are capturing something with a reflection, so it hides your face.
• Steam the wrinkles out of the velvet backgrounds.
• If you do use a macro lens on a DSLR remember to place the product all the way in the back so you can focus on it.
• Use your favorite fabric, a print even to use!
• You don’t have to use both lights, but you can have fun with your lighting.

c/o: 24″ Photo Cube Studio Light Tent Box Kit, $70 at TheLAShop.com. This was a sponsored post by TheLaShop.com.

Diana Elizabeth loves sharing good photography finds if they are worth sharing about. She wonders if anyone now needs shots for anything – she will tell all of her small business owner friends with products about this method.

Photography

This past weekend Kate and Brett came over for a backyard BBQ. Then Mr. Wonderful decided to order a movie at 11 pm!  Then, we were hooked and our crazy night didn’t end until 1 am but it was worth it!

I had been wanting to see the movie since I saw the previews on DirecTV and I have to say, I finally saw a movie worth seeing – the last great one was Oz. The Impossible is based upon a true story, obviously the tsunami that hit Thailand in 2004 and killed over 200,000 but the story of a family of 5 who found each other after it hit.

Which was pretty much unbelievable because Kate and I thought the entire thing was very unlikely, or impossible as we joked about at the end, until the true story family photo popped up and we were totally blown away.

My heart was in agony watching the movie, it was difficult to watch the tragedy, but gosh, what a beautiful film.  Take a peek at the preview and make sure to add this to your must-see list.

Diana Elizabeth’s really thought the little boys in the movie were incredible actors and just precious.

Personal

Everything starts as a baby.  That’s a little green pepper!

And this is what happens when you give your husband the packet of peas (right).  He goes a little crazy and now we’re going to have peas for days!  Better research some recipes now!

Now these I should have shot with my macro lens but I was already outside, lazy and it was hot so forgive me.  Next time.

These are from the seed tape.  They took a little longer to peek up but they are there!  We are hoping for carrot, green onions and lettuce!  Dang those lettuce leaves are tiny.  Good thing I’m not starving over here.

Sometimes I buy things without really reading the label.  Including plants.  After I bought three tomato plants I realized they were cherry tomatoes.  Oops.

So now we have three types.  Cherry, normal and Roma tomatoes.  I don’t know what the “normal” ones are called.

And because the veggies are far from my herb garden, I need a whole new set of garden hand tools closer by!  Found these treasures at For the Love of Old which is sadly closing their storefront but thankfully will still be selling items.  I’m going to put some “S” hooks on it and it can hang my tools from there.

The bird’s nest is still there.  I wonder what she does during the day.  She must work.

Happy spring!

Diana Elizabeth read that in order to continually have green onions, they need to be replanted every two weeks.  She isn’t quite sure there’s room in her mini crop rotation for them.  We’ll see.

Home + Garden

Believe it or not, the weather is still tolerable here in Phoenix.  The 90′s have made their debut, but I don’t mind, I’m still leaving the doors open allowing the air to come in.  This will last until I sweat at my desk then come to realize the good weather is over and it’s time to take on sewing projects indoors!

I wanted a screen door built for our door from the dining room onto the porch.  But, I didn’t want any screen porch door because I don’t like the way it blocks my view of our pretty yard.  I had a special one in mind!  So handyman Dennis came and took down my request.  I basically wanted the door to flip to the other side and stay there until I actually wanted to use it.

Hey, I’m a photographer, I don’t like fuzzy scenery.

This is what it looks like if I were to use it:

And this is the way it is when I don’t want to use it, it’s on the other side (see it on the right) but still looks cute.  Yes I know there’s a cord there hanging from the ceiling and I don’t know what to do with it yet.  I’m not photoshopping it, it’s real life.

Screen door from Home Depot, and Dennis added Pottery Barn handles I snagged on sale for $6 each on both sides of the door.

Isn’t it lovely?

On another note I can’t believe that fern is still alive since I pretty much shoved it into that pot insisting that it had to fit there.

Oh, and I never did figure out how to get that garden rake head off, so I asked Dennis to rip it off.  Here it is, holding some of my garden hand tools next to a very sun-bleached American flag.

Happy porch screen weather – for the next few days anyway!

Diana Elizabeth says the garden is doing well – it’s cute to see the little green peppers growing and starting out small and the tomatoes. 

Home + Garden

Maybe the only thing that could make it better if it were my birthday month.

It’s been adorably, preciously sweet to get tagged and text photos from my friends who are excited to see me now that the PHOENIX magazine Asian Food Guide is now out on newsstands.  I’m even more happy when they pose with me, haha!  I am pretty sure Mr. Wonderful is searching for it at every store that sells magazines just to make sure it’s there.

If you see it, please pick it up to support my favorite magazine.  If you download the digital edition on the iPad it’s pretty fun – there’s music with a little screen shots of the different cover options.

Diana Elizabeth had to rip one apart to put the shots it in her modeling book and Mr. Wonderful was horrified.  He then grabbed the remaining issues he bought and took them away to his office so he could keep them.  

Beauty + Fashion, Personal