Anne Mangiante, Office Manager

For most of us, summer will officially end with the start of school over the next few weeks. As always, our office has been preparing for the upcoming school year since the beginning of summer. While you are out buying pencils, crayons, notebooks and binders, why not think about buying the perfect ensemble for your child's school photos?

People often ask us about the best items to wear for portraits. Throughout the years, we have found that solid colors work best for portraits. We typically advise staying away from bold patterns or prints as they tend to avert the eyes away from the subject's face. Another important tip would be to make sure and try out new hairstyles before photo day. That way, you won't regret having tried a new style only to have it turn out wrong. Having a child's hair cut too close to photo day can be disastrous!

We usually advise parents to make sure they know what day their child will be having photos taken. Contact your school directly or even the photographer to find out what day has been scheduled. You don't want to miss preparing your child for a fantastic photo you will cherish for years to come!

Michael Spikes, Operations Manager

If my headline makes you think I am going to write about anything involving a trench coat, then you are going to be disappointed. However, I will tell you a tip for photography that will improve your outdoor photos in a "flash" (pun intended).

During the summer, people tend to spend more time outdoors. The days are longer, there is plenty of sunshine and the temperatures are warmer, if not downright blistering hot. These are great times for photos. What you may not know is that bright sunlight can make for terrible photos. Sunlight can produce harsh shadows and extremely bright highlights. While the human eye can make sense of all the contrast between the two extremes, your camera cannot. Digital cameras in particular have a narrow exposure range. This means your camera can only record a limited range of contrast from light to dark. Often, your camera will meter the scene, record the highlights of the image and will make the dark shadows completely black. This will eliminate any details in the shadows. To help avoid this scenario, use Fill Flash.

Fill Flash is a technique that uses the flash in or on your camera during bright scenes to "fill in" the shadows with light, while balancing out the exposure with the existing bright light. Most cameras now have a "bright sun" setting or "Fill Flash" setting. If not, almost all cameras can be set so your flash fires on every frame. Check out the images below to see the difference using Fill Flash can make.

Gene Mangiante, President

Mangiante Photography is proud to welcome our newest client! Incarnation Catholic School has chosen Mangiante Photography as its official school photography provider.

The future of our business truly depends upon the satisfaction of our customers, and we are happy you have chosen to become part of our family. We strive to provide all of our customers with fast, efficient service, along with the highest quality products available.

If you are interested in our products and services, please contact us for more information!