Learn to take better photos! - Lenspiration Blog

On Assignment: . . .you’ll never guess!

For a while now, there’s been a particular object/concept that I’ve been wanting to photograph for a Shoot to Serve Photo Assignment. I’ve talked with many publishers who describe the type of photo they need . . . audio book, Christmas, fatherhood, balloons, etc. But no one needed this one thing I’ve been itching to... Read More »

Outward Beauty Isn’t Enough

In my last blog post, I talked about covered bridges. As nostalgic, iconic subjects worthy to be included in the Scouting Guide, they were just the perfect thing to blog about in light of the current assignment. So, when it came time to think about what to blog about this week, I thought, “Why not highlight the... Read More »

A North American Icon

In May, a wedding shoot took me to Pennsylvania. The couple I would be photographing wanted rustic charm in their wedding photos and, besides a weathered barn, what is more iconic and charming than an old covered bridge?! The particular covered bridge at which they wanted photos taken was just a short drive from the... Read More »

On Assignment: Picturesque Places

Where is the most beautiful place you have ever been? Did you snap a high-quality photo or two while you were there? If so, you may already have some prime material for this month’s assignment! Or perhaps there’s a picturesque spot nearby you’ve always wanted to photograph, but never had a good reason to visit at a... Read More »

Take Better Photos at the Zoo!

If you’ve been following the blog, you would know that I went to the zoo for the Fatherhood assignment awhile back. It was a great place to photograph that assignment! But how could I be at a zoo and take only pictures of people doing things? I wanted to make sure to take photos of animals too! And not just animals.... Read More »

Experimenting With Lightroom’s New Denoise Feature

I totally didn’t feel like getting up that drizzly, spring morning in Texas. We had just come off a 5 day Photography Team at the Family Conference and I was very tired after having gone to bed after midnight almost every night for a week. But this was the one and only opportunity Julianna & I had to go... Read More »

Inspired in Richmond

I grew up as a homeschooler in Manassas, Virginia. It was in the 1990s, and I didn’t think twice about it. I would hear Dad talk about speaking on homeschool-related topics at City Council meetings. And there was a time or two that Dad went to Richmond. I think. But it wasn’t until I was a little older that I... Read More »

On Assignment: Listening to an Audiobook

Have you ever tried to portray, in a photograph, the idea of someone listening to something? I never had! So that made this assignment a unique one for me. To begin with, I had one idea for how to photograph someone “listening to an audiobook”, so I started with that . . . and then it was amazing to see how other... Read More »

The April 8, 2024, Total Solar Eclipse

A solar eclipse is almost a once in a lifetime experience. Maybe more like a once-in-every-ten-or-twenty-or-thirty-years experience, but because they don’t happen every day, it is certainly a unique photography opportunity! The first time I ever tried photographing a total solar eclipse was in 2017 in North Carolina.... Read More »

The Ugly Spot

It was dawn when I woke up.The early April air was crisp and cold as I climbed out of the Outback at our primitive campsite in central Arkansas. The air was filled with bird calls and sounds of the swamp. There wasn’t a single ripple on the inky black water that bordered our encampment. I looked up at the lightening... Read More »

Unexpected Kentucky Landscape

I can still remember the feeling, driving down the “beaten path” on I24 through Kentucky on that cool, breezy afternoon. We were headed to Texas for the total solar eclipse and I was enjoying the scenery as we spun along in our Subaru. Julianna needed a place to stop and feed the baby, and we were hungry too. I... Read More »

On Assignment: Fatherhood

The assignment for this month is “Fatherhood”. Family Conferences will be doing a social media post on Father’s Day, so they are looking for a nice, authentic photo that illustrates anything that has to do with being a Dad. Since I was visiting my brother and his family at this time, it was only natural that I would... Read More »

Full Moon Over Ohio

Have you been wondering about the intriguing subject I mentioned at the end of my last blog post? We were on our way back from the IAHE convention in Indiana, driving east through Ohio. We had enjoyed a visit with friends over a delicious and filling meal. We made our necessary stops for feeding the baby and gassing... Read More »

Mounds State Park Sunrise

I’ve done a lot of traveling in the past 15 years. I’ve pitched my tent in the snow-laden wilderness. I’ve hiked back from epic mountain overlooks for miles in the dark. I’ve camped in my car underneath a canopy of green by the side of National Forest roads countless times. And along the way, I’ve taken lots and lots... Read More »

Ready for a Celebration?

I watched my first Lenspiration Photo Coaching Webinar in 2018. I had submitted a photo of “the silky water effect” that I was soo excited about—the water did indeed look silky! Uh, it also looked kinda slimy…which is exactly what James said in his critique of my photo. I hadn’t even noticed that... Read More »

Easter Sunday

Last Sunday was Easter Sunday. And what do you do on Easter Sunday afternoon? We take nice family portraits while we are all dressed up in our Sunday best!I was looking forward to our Easter photo this year, now that we are a little family. I asked my brother Jonathan (who is a great photographer) if he could take... Read More »

On Assignment: Party Backgrounds!

When I first found out what the theme would be for the photo assignment we would be shooting for Homeschool Summits in April, I got a wild idea in my head for what to photograph. However, I had a very difficult time figuring out how I would actually go about shooting my idea! Finally, after thinking about it for a... Read More »

The “Exceptional” Is Always Just a Handful

In February, God provided the opportunity to photograph a wedding for a friend in Pennsylvania!Of the thousands of photos that Lydia and I will take at a wedding, only hundreds are good enough to be delivered to the couple. And scattered throughout the good ones is that small handful of photos that happen to be... Read More »

Do I Really Need A Wide Angle Lens?

“Let me think. Should I bring my wide angle lens with me?” One of my responsibilities at the family conference last weekend was to take family portraits. “No, I wouldn’t need a wide angle lens for that.” Also, even though the conference was all the way down in North Carolina, it was going to be a whirlwind of a trip.... Read More »

On Assignment: Prayer

Photographing something so broad as “Prayer” might seem kinda boring. However, when I got to thinking about how I would photograph it, I started getting excited! Instead of being limited to a certain subject, style, or location, I could take the assignment wherever I wanted. I could make it my own! What is special... Read More »