James Staddon, Author at Lenspiration

What Happened on the Way to St. Louis

I ended up having only one opportunity for landscape photography on the 1260 mile round trip to St. Louis last weekend. Instead of sleeping in on Saturday morning, the day of the wedding, I left where I was staying in Louisville to head out for a sunrise. I didn’t get up as early as I wanted to, so it turned into... Read More »

On Assignment: Made In His Image

It was quite convenient that the current assignment, Made In His Image, landed around the holidays! With Robert & Kendalyn and their family in town, I had ample opportunities to shoot it. However, not every opportunity turned out as I expected…. I really liked that first location. The brown, textured curtains and... Read More »

The Gift of Photography

For the past couple of months, I’ve been looking forward to going out to St. Louis for the wedding of a good friend of mine. The wedding is next week. So I decided I had better figure out my travel schedule and decide whether or not I’d make some time for photography along the way. My initial thought was to head out... Read More »

Editing Out Reflections in Glasses

How to edit out reflections in glasses using Photoshop.

The Truth Revealed

Can you tell me what this is a picture of? Maybe it’s a picture of an epic ocean sunrise. Maybe it’s a picturesque old barn on the midwestern prairie. Maybe it’s a grizzly bear on the steep slopes of an Alaskan mountainside! Who knows. You can’t tell. It’s totally not properly exposed. Now, since I’m the... Read More »

On Assignment: Autumn Reference Photo

Maybe you can’t tell…but I had no idea how to go about shooting this great assignment, Autumn Artwork Reference Photo! November is late to be photographing fall colors. I suggest you try to photograph this assignment as soon as you can. Just a couple days can make a big difference in how much fall foliage there is... Read More »

Playing with Tone Curve

While editing the Assateague Island Field Day group photo not too long ago, I felt my typical adjustments in the Basic panel just weren’t getting it right. Maybe it had something to do with how bright both the foreground and background were? I don’t know. Here’s the best I could do using just the Basic sliders like... Read More »

A Twinge of Sadness

Have you ever been out taking pictures someplace that you’ve never been to before, enjoying the beauty of the place simply because it’s a beautiful place . . . and then someone starts giving you a glimpse into the history of the place? It gives a deeper perspective on the way you view the location. No longer is it... Read More »

Behind the Shot: Crimson Display

It was a quaint little place. Not all that attractive in and of itself. But the view was amazing! An especially great place for morning devotions, even when it was cold outside. But on one particular morning, I saw the horizon begin to glow red, I knew it was time to jump into my wool socks and wind-proof jacket!... Read More »

On Assignment: An Illustration of Selfishness

Oh, this is going to be a good assignment! Surely, everyone has a water hose, an algae-covered pond, or an old rain barrel somewhere close by! But has anyone ever thought to take artistic pictures of them?? The pond that was supposed to be all stagnant and ugly turned out to look way too healthy to illustrate the... Read More »

One Way to Reduce Stress While Shooting a Wedding

A wedding is basically a series of mini-shoots, back to back, that continues for the entire day. Every wedding is going to be different, but this blog post outlines 9 basic stages that each wedding generally flows through.

Do You Know What A Tack Sharp Photo Looks Like?

One trait of an amateur photographer is that, in their portfolio, they will showcase photos that are not tack sharp. And why do they showcase them? Simple. Because they think they are “sharp enough”. And that’s what makes them amateur. Professional photographers never showcase “sharp enough” photos. They showcase... Read More »

Creative Posing Ideas

Follow along behind the scenes as James photographed the “Creative Posing” Shoot to Serve Assignment. The purpose of this assignment was two-fold: helping introverted photographers break out of our mold, and learning the intricacies of a single pose.

Observations on the Last 12 Months of Stock Photography Statistics

In order to get 1 free year of Lightroom, Adobe Stock is offering a contributor bonus program. The long and short of it is: before the end of 2020, there has to be 150 of my pictures downloaded from the Adobe Stock site. This is kind of a funny bonus program, because there’s nothing really concrete I can do to... Read More »

Constraining Factors

The sound of my alarm going off was evidently louder than the pitter patter of water dripping off the trees onto the rainfly. Everything inside the tent was still pretty damp from the previous evening’s rain, but outside, the moon was making it’s appearance through broken clouds. Our group of four slowly piled into... Read More »

On Assignment: Harvest!

We’re shooting to illustrate two different verses this month, both with a theme of “harvest” (more details about the assignment here). If you live where golden fields of wheat or rye are around, photograph that! That’s what we’re really looking for. But if you’re like me, and the only kind of harvest around is the... Read More »

Quick Tip: Shoulder to the Sun

Last night, I was putting together a training video about the different times of day and how they relate to photography. If you’ve done much photography, you’ll know that each time of day offers the photographer something completely different to explore! Anyway, I came across these three photos from my archives that... Read More »

Homeschooling Photo Shoot!

Learn more about lighting, helping kids get comfortable in front of the camera, and the incredible effect of focal length on your photos as James shares about a shoot he conducted with a homeschool family for a photo assignment.

A Little Experiment with Focal Length

I’ve been having way too much fun preparing the Premium Training for next week’s photo assignment launch! After doing some video recording with Jonathan at a lake, we went driving around on some local back roads to find a good spot to run an experiment I wanted to do with focal length. I wanted to illustrate how the... Read More »

Locals Are the Best!

Last Friday, I went out waterfall hunting! Needing some specific photos related to flowing water for a new training video, I headed to Valley Falls State Park. It was about an hour away, but it was the closest place I knew of where I could find a “big” waterfall. Well, when I arrived, there was this guy fishing on... Read More »

What Happened on the Way to St. Louis

On Assignment: Made In His Image

The Gift of Photography

Editing Out Reflections in Glasses

The Truth Revealed

On Assignment: Autumn Reference Photo

Playing with Tone Curve

A Twinge of Sadness

Behind the Shot: Crimson Display

On Assignment: An Illustration of Selfishness

One Way to Reduce Stress While Shooting a Wedding

Do You Know What A Tack Sharp Photo Looks Like?

Creative Posing Ideas

Observations on the Last 12 Months of Stock Photography Statistics

Constraining Factors

On Assignment: Harvest!

Quick Tip: Shoulder to the Sun

Homeschooling Photo Shoot!

A Little Experiment with Focal Length

Locals Are the Best!

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