Clickin Moms, an awesome community of photographers of which I’ve been a member for nearly two years, is kicking off a fundraiser for a charity that is near and dear to my heart. From the sales of their Clickin Moms’ 2010 Charity Gift Pack, 100% of the money received will be donated directly to the Fisher House Foundation. In return for your donation of $10, $25, $50, $100, or more, you get a digital bundle full of fabulous tools, educational materials, and visual inspiration!

The Fisher House Foundation is a public-private nonprofit partnership that donates “comfort homes” on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers. The program provides free accommodations to family members so that they can stay close to a military loved one who is being hospitalized during an unexpected illness, disease, or injury. Clickin Moms chose this foundation for their fundraiser as a tribute to the many servicemembers and military spouses who are also CM members; several of our members have also directly benefited from the wonderful services provided by the Fisher House Foundation.

I am deeply touched to say that Clickin Moms has decided to give the donation in the name of my late husband, SSgt Bryan D. Berky, who was killed in action in Afghanistan in September 2009. It is very moving to have my husband honored in such a way and I deeply appreciate this kind gesture made by the admin at Clickin Moms. And from the deepest part of my heart, I say a big THANK YOU to all who donate to this cause. Many military families lives will be greatly affected by your kindness and generosity!!

What are you waiting for? Support a great cause and get a little something for yourself, too! Make your donation and receive your Gift Pack at the new Clickin Moms Store!! And if you are a photographer, hobbiest or pro, or are simply interested in learning more about photography, check out Clickin Moms.

The new year will bring some fresh and exciting changes for Erin Berky Photography…including an entirely new look! I am very excited to unveil my new look for 2011, so excited in fact that I am going live a bit early, haha

I’ve been working with the lovely Kim from Madilu Designs on designing the perfect branding for the business and I absolutely love what we’ve come up with. Kim was a dream to work with and knew exactly what I was going for. Check her out if you are looking for any custom design!

This week’s theme is “Self Portraits.” I recently did a self-portrait study as part of a workshop, so with those shots fresh in my mind I immediately knew which photo I wanted to enter. Of all the photos I took during those four weeks, this one is the only head shot (beauty shot? mug shot?) that I actually liked. In fact, I chose to use it as my bio picture on this site. Like many other photographers, I am much more comfortable behind the lens than in front of it. But apparently somewhere in the random clicking of my wireless shutter release on this quiet afternoon, I must have had an internal moment and let my guard down. Because there is so much emotion in this photo.

So, here it is. Or, here I am. I heart faces, sometimes even my own.

I can’t believe my little kiddo will be turning 2 in less than a month. Seems like just yesterday he was a tiny newborn! This year his party will be train-themed, so I took him to a nearby park that is right next to the train tracks and features a train car. He had a blast watching the trains go by, but refused to stand on the train car for a picture. So, in true child photography fashion, I had to improvise! But I managed to get a few shots for his Two Year portraits, our annual tribute to Daddy, and a few of us together for our holiday portraits…so I thought I’d share!

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend! Big smiles to you, from our family to yours!

Announcing 2010 Holiday Mini-Sessions!!

Two Days, Two Packages, One Memorable Holiday Season with Erin Berky Photography

To celebrate the Grand Opening of Erin Berky Photography and get in the spirit of the holidays, I’m running a holiday mini-session special! These mini-sessions will be held on two days — Friday October 22nd in Starke and Saturday October 23rd in Gainesville. Each day will have 5 consecutive time slots available (4:30, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, & 6:30) and will be held at a single location of the photographer’s choosing.

For just $100, your holiday mini-session will include: a 20-30 minute  on-location photo shoot with Erin, 10 fully-retouched and enhanced proofs in a password-protected online gallery, and your choice of 1 of the following holiday packages: the Jingle Bells Package (includes 5 high-resolution digital negatives with a limited print release, and an additional 10% off a la Carte items) or the Deck the Halls Package (includes 1-8×10, 2-5×7′s, 25 custom-created holiday cards, and an additional 10% off a la Carte items). As always, a la Carte items such as Gallery Wrapped Canvases, Custom Albums, Accordion Mini Albums, and more are available.

And to top it all off, I am currently running a Portfolio-Building Special! To celebrate my Grand Opening, all prices (other than the $100 mini-session fee) are currently 50% off! That’s right. All prints, a la Carte items, and full session fees are 50% off for a limited time. This means a la Carte items purchased in addition to your mini-session will be 60% off!

Book your Holiday Mini-Session today! These 10 slots will fill quickly, so don’t delay. Contact me using the form above, email me at erin@erinberkyphotography.com, or call 352-641-0646. I’d love to capture your family’s cheer this holiday season! <3

Examples of 2010 Holiday Card Options:

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I’ve had some questions lately about how I post-process my images, so I’ve decided to participate in Fix-It Fridays over at I <3 Faces! Each Friday, the awesome Amy and Angie post an unedited SOOC (straight out of camera) image and the blog contributors share how they would edit it. Members are encouraged to do the same on their photog blogs, and then share the links on IHF. It’s a big learning fest and a great way to see different post-processing techniques.

So, here is this week’s photo followed by my edit. Below I’ve included brief notes about what I did. What a cute kiddo!

1. Opened in Adobe Photoshop CS5.

2. Opened a Levels Adjustment layer and brought the two outer sliders in a bit, and slid the middle slider over to the right a tad to create some contrast and remove haze.

3. Opened a Curves Adjustment layer and brought the middle point of the curve up and to the left to brighten the skin.

4. Created a Duplicate Background layer and changed Blending Mode to Screen. Brought the opacity down to about 65 to brighten the image.

5. Ran Pioneer Woman‘s Warmer action to warm up the image. Brought the opacity down to about 50, I think.

6. Cropped the image in a little tighter and sized to 900x600px.

7. Added a vignette, ran a slight web-sharpen action (can’t remember where I got it), saved and viola!