Free Photobook from Shutterfly

Shutterfly has a House Party going on with an amazing deal right before the holidays.

FREE PHOTOBOOK FOR YOU
OR
FREE PHOTOBOOKS FOR YOUR FRIENDS AND YOU GET A FREE SHIPPING CODE!

All you have to do is go to Shutterfly's House Party and click "Forward Now" to send a free photo book to five friends or you can look below for "No thanks. I'll just get my free photo book" and click "Redeem my free photo book" on their page.

No one will think that you are selfish for not sending them a free photo book offer and claiming yours! Keep in mind that to get the free photo book you have to pay any applicable shipping, handling, and tax charges for the product.

Here are the official rules per Shutterfly:

* Free 7x9 photo book offer must be redeemed by December 14, 2011. Limit of 10,000 free books — order early to ensure redemption. Offer valid for one free 20-page, 7x9 photo book with soft cover only. Any additional pages will incur a per-page fee. Offer not valid for licensed premium photo books or leather or padded books. One offer per household. Taxes, shipping and handling will apply.

**Offer good for free standard shipping only. One offer per household. Offer ends December 7, 2011.

Good luck on getting or giving your free photo book. Who knows maybe you can gift your free shipping code to your friend too and that'll make for a wonderful, customized gift for the upcoming holidays.
I have not completed this offer and do not know if Shutterfly allows the code to be used in conjunction with a free photo book offer.

Organ Lutheran Church - Salisbury, NC

I was thoroughly impressed by using Organ Lutheran Church as a photography venue because I had never stopped to appreciate all of the architecture and posing opportunities that it had to offer. I made the trip to the venue with Denise and her daughter Mackenzie, who was the lucky tween getting to do the cool photo shoot. It was Denise's idea to try Organ Lutheran Church as the venue, and I wasn't sure because I had never been there. But, I kept my mind open because the key to good photography is being able to make any place the perfect photography venue.

Organ Lutheran Church has a new church building and the old church that sits in the middle of the cemetery. For a church you would think that this place doesn't have the pizzazz that other non-church location may have, but you're definitely wrong. First, I want to show you the best parts about shooting at the old church site, and then prove that you can get the same great photos at the new church building.

For those of you that don't know why I'm referring to the old church site better, well that's because the old church was made out of beautiful stone and has and Old World feel to it.

Old Organ Church

Mackenzie was absolutely wonderful! She patiently walked with me around and tried out different locations around the old church. We used everything from the stone walls, doorways, windows, outbuildings, and even ventured for a few non-morbid shots in the cemetery. You'll just have to see the photos to get my excitement:

Old church entrance

Behind the church until the covered patio

Beautiful stone wall

Cement path leading to the old church through the cemetery

Looking in the old church window

Taken in the cemetary

Cemetery wall

Now, I promised to show you that you can get the same results with the newer construction church. You just have to be a little more creative when it comes to these photos because you don't have the ornate structure to work with. Plus, these types of photos can be taken at any church.

New Organ Church building

New church entrance

Tree planted at the new church

The gray and white cement/stone backdrop

Organ Church has a variety of different styles and looks for the photographer and the client. You've just got to be willing to walk through the venue prior to the shoot to find them or have a willing client walk with you so you can test them in those areas. Like I mentioned above, I was extremely pleased with how this location turned out, and I would definitely suggest that you check it out. Be sure to first check with the church schedule so that you are not there shooting while they are holding service or an event. No need to get in their way or have them get in yours.

Old church cemetery wall meets new church


Organ Lutheran Church
1515 Organ Church Rd
Salisbury, NC 28146

Cannon Village - Kannapolis, NC

I grew up in Kannapolis, NC and most of my family worked at Cannon Mills until it closed in the early 2000's. A staple for this mill town was the lovely Cannon Village, but as a kid, I didn't know how to appreciate the area. Recently, I decided to go back and see what I had been missing for all of those years -- apparently it was an amazing photography venue.

Cannon Village is a wonderful, colonial style village of shopping, history, and eating. Not to mention the staple of the entire area the Gem Theatre built in 1936. To me, it just screams Americana. Throughout its 75 years, the theatre has seen poodle skirts, bell bottoms, 12 cent movies, and anything else that makes you nostalgic for any of the decades. Keep each decades fashion, feeling, and attitude in mind when in Cannon Village because you can use those to your advantage outside of the Gem Theatre.

Gem Theatre

Box Office

Cannon Village has a lot of nooks and crannies that can be taken advantage of for photos. For example, beside of the Gem Theatre you have an alleyway with white walls and a rusted staircase. I utilized this area for a more masculine photo for a Mother's Day shoot, but I can easily envision a more high, fashion feel female shoot here too.

Alleyway

Up shot from the stairs

Rusted stairs

White wall

Throughout, the center of Cannon Village there is nothing but bricks, stores, and ornate design. Take advantage of the storefronts and the lamp posts to add a vintage look to your photos.

Storefront

Other side of the storefront

Building entrance

The features of Cannon Village include all types of greenery and sitting areas for you to enjoy the outdoors and the small town, upscale feel that this place affectionately known as "Idiot Circle" by car lovers who would cruise the circular drive around the shopping center. Again, take advantage of the little things that this place has to offer.

Picnic area and these are located throughout the village

Greenery growing up the sides of the walls at Forty Six

On the other side of Cannon Village, within the last decade a park area with a statue of racing legend, Dale Earnhardt. You can utilize the statue, the brickyard surrounding it, or even the Music Hall of Fame beside of it for your photos.

Park around the statue

Dale Earnhardt statue

Overall, I am in love with Cannon Village and all that it has to offer photographers. You just have to appreciate the vintage look enough to make it modern if that's not your or your client's style. Don't just stick to the areas that I have listed here. Walk around and look between every building and get different vantage points for your shots. You never know what kind of amazing photographs that will definitely make your client happy.

Cannon Village
200 West Avenue
Kannapolis, NC 28081

Halloween Costume Photography

I just wanted to share a quick post with everyone regarding Halloween costumes and Halloween photography. This isn't a how-to guide, but it gives you some ideas of how to make the most of your spooky festivities.

Every year my fiance's family hosts a Halloween party and everyone gets involved with being dressed up. Unfortunately, this year I didn't dress up for the party, but my fiance out did himself this year.

I suggest if you want to remember Halloween and capture photos of your family, friends, etc. in their costumes to do some sort of quick theme to your shoot. For example, if your child is dressed up as some sort of animal, take him or her outside to get some shots with nature in the background. Be creative and take your imagination as far out of the box as you can. My fiance decided he wanted to be The Joker from Batman, but most importantly Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight. Of course, we had to take some dark images.

The photo above was taken in the entry way to the kitchen. Rather than keep the photo with the busy background. I decided to open Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 and burn the background even darker to give the photo an eerie feel.

Want your scary Halloween costume photos to be even more spooky? I suggest you open your photo editing software and desaturate the entire photo, but leave one color bright and vibrant.

For The Joker, we kept all of the photos dark and we tried different angles. We took this photo with me standing a few stair steps above The Joker and shooting down to create a creepy look.

Just to help you guys out with your creativity with your costume photos, I've included a list of costumes and photo ideas below:

- Jersey Shore cast member: Find a strobe light or other lights and shoot them in dance poses
- Nurse/Doctor: Use a white wall as a background and make the photos look as sterile as possible
- Zombie: Shoot outside in the dark. Highlight the gruesomeness of the zombie and even look for a hole for the zombie to crawl out of.
- Cowboy/Cowgirl: Shoot them at a rickety, old building or outside with the lonesome highway behind him or her.
- Superhero: Definitely take some shots of the superhero standing on top of something to mimic the "on top of a building" shots you normally get with superheros. Also, try for as many action or flying shots as you can get. Having your superhero stand behind a door frame with his or her arms stretched out ahead of them gives the illusion of flying.

Those are just a few examples and being creative is all that it takes to get the best photos. Think of stereotypical roles of your costume in movies and be sure to include any props if you have any. Make these Halloween portraits fun and memorable for many years to come. It'll be hard for you to top last year's costume if you have awesome themed photos to show off year round.

How to Take Pet Photos

Recently, I was very fortunate enough to do a short photo shoot at Hurley Park with Samantha and her little dog Lulu. I asked Samantha if she would be willing to do a shoot with her dog specifically for my blog, and she gladly accepted.

Because of the Fall weather, Samantha took complete advantage of that by pairing her pink sweater to Lulu's pink sweater and pink toenails.

Here are a few tips to remember when incorporating pets into portraits:

1. Be aware of your animal's temperament. That means have a leash to restrain hyper or aggressive dogs because depending on your venue, you may come across other animals. This goes for crate carrier for your cat too.

During this photo, Lulu barked ferociously at dog that was being walked on the road behind me.

2. If taking photos in a public place, please bring some sort of bathroom cleanup kit for your pet. There's no reason to leave behind unexpected gifts for others to find.

3. Action shots are great of animals; but for portraits, you almost always have to have the animal restrained somehow. I suggest having the pet owner be in most of the shots. This way you get an awesome shot of the owner with the pet instead of a shot of the pet with random hands or a leash restraining it.

4. Be wary of home comfortable an animal is with being held, lifted, etc. when looking for those unique poses. Lucky for us, Lulu was okay with being lifted in this next shot.

5. As a photographer, you need to take the time to get to know the animal beforehand. I have know Lulu since Samantha first got her, but it has been years since I have seen her. So, I took the time to regain her trust by letting her sniff me and eventually being able to pet her. If the animal does not trust you, you will not be able to pose the animal how you want without upsetting or getting yourself bitten.

6. The final and probably the most important step is that the owner needs to bring some sort of treat to give the pet. It's classic behavior modification, but on a smaller more immediate scale. If the pet remains still for a series of shoots, feel free to praise the pet and have the owner give him or her a treat. Some continued reinforcement of the right behavior for the photography shoot with treats tells the pet that he or she is doing something right. You can usually get your best results this way.

Taking photos of pets requires a lot of patience and flexibility. You need to be able to shoot at the right time to get the shot. Sometimes you may find yourself needing to shoot at a higher shutter speed to capture the pet in motion. This was not the case for me seeing as Lulu was an absolute angel for the entire shoot. Just have your finger on the shooting trigger at all times and be ready to snap that golden shot.

R.I.P. Lulu

Sadly, a week or so after the photo shoot Lulu passed away from health complications. I was extremely happy that Samantha allowed me to shoot these photos for her to remember her sweet dog by.

If you are a pet lover, I suggest that you get some portraits shots of you and your pet because you never know when their time with you will be up. It's a great way to spend an hour or so at the park with your pet and to enjoy the time spent together taking photos.

How to Take Sports Portraits

Recently, I was approached my my stepsister-in-law to take some cheerleading portraits of my niece. She had missed the official portrait day for her cheerleading squad, so I was happy to take the portraits and spend a little time with family.

Sports portraits can be taken anywhere and it is really up to the person requesting the photos regarding the location and the look. I personally am a fan of sports portraits taken at the field, gym, track, etc. Because Sierra is a cheerleader and in the middle of football season, I thought she would enjoy some photos at her school's football field. Here is where I must advise anyone taking photographs outside to position your subject where the sun is out of their eyes. It can be a hard thing to do, but your photos won't have squinted eyes.

Cheerleading pose with the goal post

Above I decided to include a beautiful, blue sky in the background of the goal post in one of Sierra's signature cheerleading poses.

I also highly suggest using sports symbols like the goal post or the scoreboard to keep with the theme of the photo shoot.

Scoreboard photo

Keep the photographs fairly simple. Families are wanting these photos to remember that their children played a sport. So, I suggest showcasing the sport-specific equipment and the jersey. In this case, we used the solid color wall of the concession stands to show off Sierra's uniform and pom-poms.

Showcase the school's colors and the sports equipment

Finally, I would suggest using some traditional sports photo poses and then be creative with some poses you can't get from your school or team's photographer of choice.

Traditional female pose

Action shot of a cheerleading jump with the school symbol in the background

Sports portraits can be anything that you want them to be as a photographer. However, keep in mind the vision that the player and the player's family have for the photos. That's why I mention taking some traditional, not over-the-top poses and mix in some fun poses, like some action shots or funny shots.

How to take sports portraits in three simple steps:
1. Your shoot location is literally the playing field
2. Highlight school colors, uniforms, equipment, etc.
3. Use traditional sports photography poses and creative poses

If you remember the three simple steps of sports portrait photography that I mentioned above, then you will be sure to have successful photos.

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Here are the conditions that apply to the offer:

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2.Offers expire November 6, 2011, while supplies last.

3.Offers apply to mail-order purchases only and cannot be used for in-store pick up. All taxes and shipping fees apply.

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5.Offers valid for U.S. customers only.


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