Chino Milkcan Soccer Tournament

This week end was a very busy one: both Nicholas' and Anthony's soccer teams were playing in the Chino Milkcan tournament. Nicholas' team, the Crossfire, played a total of 6 games in 3 days and finished in third place for the boys U12 division. Anthony's team, the Crew, played three games in two days and finished with a record of 2 wins and one loss. Unfortunately, they did not have enough points to advance to the semi-finals. However, their last game was against a team that defeated them before and they manage to pull out a win, ending their season on a positive note!
Here are a few action shots from the tournament!
Anthony played well this tournament and scored two goals in the first game!

The Canyon Country Crossfire has won another third place!

Nicholas had his ups and downs during this tournament but managed to score two goals and had two assists!

Cesar, AKA "Tiny" entertained everyone between games by imitating Coach Alec... very funny!

Negative Vibrance

Today, I was reading a PopPhoto.com feature titled: "3 Ways to use Vibrance" (here is the link). I always try to stay current with the new trends and reading these short articles and/or photo tips helps me keep up with everything that is going on in the world of photography.
This particular article reinforced my knowledge about the Vibrance adjustment. I also enjoyed reading about the last tip: decreasing the Vibrance to obtain a different look. I have used this technique in the past and really like the result. First, I perform some minor adjustment to my image (exposure, white balance, contrast, etc.). Then, I use the Vibrance slider in either Aperture or Photoshop CS4 and I slide it to the left (going into the negative). Finally, I add a vignette around the image and voila! See for yourself:

High Speed Continuous Shooting Mode

As I wrote in my introduction, I love photographing sporting events. I am currently following my two boys' soccer teams, the Canyon Country Crew and the Canyon Country Crossfire. I take photos at each tournaments and upload them to a gallery for all to view.

At the soccer field, I get a lot of comments about my camera and lenses such as: "this camera must take great shots!" or "wow! you must get really good shots with that lens!". And while the camera and the lens do make a difference, the operator/photographer is probably the most important accessory to have! Last year during one of Nicholas' soccer game, an older gentleman came to me, asking me what camera I had and what lens I was using. "I use a Canon 40D with a 70-200mm F/2.8 IS lens", I answered. He looked at me kind of funny and said: "Do you like your camera? Because I have the exact same camera and it takes terrible pictures!" I tried to explain to him how I shoot soccer, but when I mentioned ISO, he looked at me funny and asked: "What's that?". And that's when I realized that this man had no knowledge of photography. I politely told him that it is not the camera that takes bad shots, it's him that does not know how to use it properly!
But seriously, a lot of people ask me if they have to spend a lot of money to get good action shots. And I always tell them that if they don't know anything about photography, they are better off investing in a professional photographer. However, if they know a little bit about photography or if they are willing to learn, there are a lot of good entry level DSLR's that will do a pretty good job for action shots.
One of the feature that I probably use the most on my camera is the High Speed Continuous Shooting Mode. In this mode, I can press and hold the shutter down and the camera will take up to 6.5 shots per seconds. This allows me to get a series of photos of the same subjects. When I review my photographs, it looks like this series of photos taken during one of the Canyon Country Crew's games at Patriots Cup on June 6th, 2009.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!
For my first blog entry, I decided to introduce myself: My name is Nathalie Seguin and I am the owner and principal photographer of Nathalie Seguin Photography. I am based in Santa Clarita, California and I offer modern children's portraiture and youth sports photography services. My approach is simple yet impactful, and I strive to capture the spirit and essence of your child and the story of your family.
Besides being a photographer, I am also an Occupational Therapist working in Early Intervention. Working with children with disabilities and their family gives me a unique set of skills that sets me apart from other photographers.
I am also the mother of 3 beautiful kids: Nicholas, 12 years old, Anthony, 10 years old, and Christina 7 years old. They are my pride and joy and probably my favorite subjects to photograph! All 3 are involved in sports, which is where my love for sports photography comes from. I have been capturing their exploits since the beginning and will continue to do so as long as I can! Currently, the boys play soccer at a competitive level and I have been photographing every game I can. And for the past year, I have been photographing sporting events at College of the Canyons for the Sports Information Office. My work can be seen on the COC website and has been published in the Canyon Call, COC's newspaper.
There you have it! Me, in a nutshell! Hopefully I didn't bore you to death...

Thanks for visiting my blog and came back soon!

Nathalie