OnOne Pro Phototools - Ummm...Can I Say Awesome!!

Ummm...Mike...what can I say... except...THANKS! This is so awesome!!


Hey, all you photoshop effects lovers - go and download this free demo version of OnOne Pro Phototools software. If you're anything like me with your editing - you won't regret it (and you thought actions were great!)

Click here: http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=28

Thank You to My Photoshop Angels

Julie & Cathy,

I felt I had to make a special thank you post to both of you for really coming through for me with my Photoshop issues this week!

Seriously - I really appreciate you trying to solve my issues and I finally have something I'm satisfied with!

You are both great friends and I appreciate your support! Having friends like you both that come through in a pinch is a wonderful thing!!

It's nice to know that you've "got my back" for something as important to me as my photography work is great feeling.

Thank you both!

The B. Family II (Communion Portraits Continued)

More of the B. Family!

To see all of the B. Family photos posted so far HERE.


S. looking over at mom...I love moments like this:



Such a sweet smile...



The bow!! Such a beautiful dress - we wanted to show the wonderful details:





With the rosary beads from grandma:



Without the beads but hands in prayer:



So cute with the feet up:



And a quick candid of "J." What a cute face! I love the colors that mom chose for J. & E. to wear.



Definitely more to come soon!!

The B. Family's Sneak Peek - Communion and Family Portraits

This morning I had pleasure of photographing The B. Family! M. & M. have the most beautiful family. Two very lovely & sweet girls (S. & E.) and their cute little boy (J.) who will be turning very one soon.

We had lots of fun and tons of giggles while taking S.'s Communion Portraits, a collection of "sisters" portraits, sisters with brother, the entire family, and a mixture of Mom with the kids and Dad with the kids.

J. was a little tired but we got him smiling with the help of his favorite quacking duck. (I might have to invest in my own quacking duck if it gets great smiles like we got from J. today!) I got a kick out of how he would slowly find a way to crawl off the backdrop after a few shot. At once point we decided to turn him around mid crawl and aim him back in the direction of his family. :)

We started the day out with some "detail" shots of S.:

(click photos to view larger)

And then we continued onto portraits:


Look at the beautiful long eye lashes!










I love the over the shoulder pose.





Vintage effect:




Also, a BIG THANK YOU to JoAnn for being the most wonderful assistant today! JoAnn, I soooooo appreciate you giving up your Sunday morning to let me a hand. You were such a tremendous help to me and I appreciate it! Looking forward to next week's photo assignment with you!

To see all of the B. Family photos posted so far HERE.

19th Annual Civil War Reenactment 2008 - Neshaminy State Park PA

If I can give you any tip regarding your journey with photography - it's to get out there and try different things that you never thought you would..

It's like that old saying "You'll never know if you like it until you try."

Today my sister and I decided to try something different for a new photo opportunity. We attended the 19th Annual Civil War Reenactment at the Neshaminy State Park in Bensalem. PA.

(click all photos to view larger)

I found out about the event after I came across Michael Belgie's Flickr stream with Civil War Reenactments photos. I sent him a note and he kindly provided me with information about the event. We made sure we found him at the "headquarters" and said hello since I wanted to thank him for sending me the information.



The official event website described the day as:

The 28th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, together with the First Battalion of the Army of Northern Virginia, The Historical Society of Bensalem Township, The Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Museum, the Delaware Valley CWRT, and The Neshaminy State Park are sponsoring a Civil War living history weekend on the Spring of 1863 Campaign.

This weekend, we will be portray a portion of the Battle of Chancellorsville that took place on May 3rd., the day after Jackson's flank attack. We will portray portions of Archer's, McGowen's and Lane‟s Brigades.

News story
Brochure

This was something really "different & interesting" for me photography-wise. The history was interesting too. I never thought I would enjoy an event like this but I did. Everyone was so friendly and we enjoyed speaking with many of the participants.

Favorite face of the day:



I have over 800 photos (mostly taken with my 70-300VR -- which produced EXCELLENT results for me today!). Due to the fact that I have a few paying photography jobs coming up in the next couple weeks it's going to take time for me to sort through and edit that many photos I took today - but I created the gallery that the photos will be housed in when I finally get to them (and I promise I will!).

Here's one that made me smile...the irony of the modern cameras with the period dress...I had to snap a photo.



You can check this blog and the new gallery I created for this event, periodically, to see when the (over 800) photos are completed and ready for viewing.

Click here for: GALLERY WHERE PHOTOS WILL BE STORED

Please be sure to check back and bookmark the link to the gallery!

The "Brats"

My friend Tiffany's mom, Donna, is learning how to make her own wine at The Grape Escape Winemaking School in Dayton, NJ.

She's calling her wine "Two Brats" and she wanted me to take some "bratty looking" photos of her grandsons (Tiffany's boys) to use for the wine label.

I thought the idea was so funny we we tried to do some "bratty" poses. Normally I would have cropped them more but I wasn't sure what size she would need.

These are my favorites of what we came up with:







Even thought D. (in the back) is out of focus I can't help but love M.'s expression here. They're great little actors!



And just one more...



To view them all click HERE.

Lakeside

EDIT 4/25: When I got to work today on a different monitor I see that none of photos below look how they did last night when I spent hours working on them.

Ever since I darkened the brightness on my monitor I have had trouble with how my photos on every other monitor but my own. I guess I will have to brighten my monitor back to where it was and re-doing every one of the photos below because of the terrible halos on every photo that involves the sky (which is 98% of them).

I have so much to edit and it is really upsetting that I wasted a whole night on processing all of these photos and now I have to re-do them all.

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Original post:

I took some time to go to the part after work again. Today I gave the flowers and the macro lens a break. I brought my tripod with me because I was interested in doing HDR waterscapes near the lake.

I can't even express how wonderful the weather was today. I was so glad to be outdoors even if it was only for a little under an hour.

In order to get these you have to go on a little path through a wooded area and there are little great spots in between where I was able to stick my tripod and get different views of the lake.

These are all HDR shots with 3 exposures each:

(click all photos to view larger)

Next time I'll try from the other side of the lake. I only had so much time before I had to leave and there were a lot of people out and about at the lake so I was limited on what angles I chose.




Oh the reflections, the reflections!!






I made my way over across the street to another section of the park with a lake and got some more great angles!




This place is gorgeous and the afternoon light was perfect for these photos!



These are some of my favs of the day. I love bendy tree trunks!







Oh and while I was there 2 of the geese at the park had the nerve to hiss at me! LOL! So I hissed right back at them!



I always visit this place so I'm sure you'll be seeing more of it from different perspectives soon enough!

Feel free to check out my entire HDR Gallery: http://jenweaverphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/3868580_st8qe/1/284706791_saeNW