On Assignment: Harvest!

by | Aug 4, 2020 | Assignments

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

by | Jul 17, 2020 | Tips & Tricks

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 »

What Quality Setting Should I Use for JPG Photos?

by | Jul 13, 2020 | Recommendations

What Quality Setting Should I Use for JPG Photos?

The topic of image quality (specifically JPG format image quality) comes up every so often in photography circles, and Lenspiration is no exception. I’d venture to say that all of the photographers here at Lenspiration are shooting for the best, so they naturally want their photos to be the “highest quality” possible. However, the downside to high quality is high file size!

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Homeschooling Photo Shoot!

by | Jul 3, 2020 | Assignments

Homeschooling Photo Shoot!
If your family already does homeschooling, this month’s photo assignment should be easy! To make it more challenging for me, I focused on lighting and doing what I could to get it just right…. While bounce flash certainly is better than direct flash or no flash at all when photographing not-so-well-lit areas, I feel... Read More »

Caught by Storm Chasing

by | Jun 29, 2020 | Stories & Expeditions, Tips & Tricks

Caught by Storm Chasing
A self-described country boy from a farming family on the coast of southern Virginia, John has been active on the Lenspiration forums since 2015 and a member on Lenspiration since 2018. When he has time for photography, his excursions tend to evidence his undeniable hard-work ethic, love for adventure, and complete... Read More »

A Little Experiment with Focal Length

by | Jun 22, 2020 | Perspective

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!

by | Jun 15, 2020 | Stories & Expeditions

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 »

On Assignment: Perfect Order in Nature

by | Jun 5, 2020 | Assignments

On Assignment: Perfect Order in Nature
According to the details for the current assignment, perfect order in nature could also mean perfect order in man-made landscapes, so off I went looking for symmetrical gardens and manicured lawns at the closest botanical garden I could find! Oh what a surprise I was in for! It was different being on a time-crunch... Read More »

Waiting for Just the Right Storm

by | May 29, 2020 | Assignments

Waiting for Just the Right Storm
The wind rustles through the trees, revealing the light undersides of every leaf. It starts sprinkling on the windshield. Puffy white and gray cumulonimbus clouds roll along the horizon. Maybe today will be the day? I’ve been keeping an eye on the weather for the past week or so, hoping for an opportunity to... Read More »

Pulling It All Together!

by | May 25, 2020 | Updates & Opportunities

Pulling It All Together!
Back in January, it was exciting to announce the launch of the Pro Posing Database . . . now, it’s time to announce a big update to the Portraiture Training section of Pro Posing!All sorts of disconnected, portrait photography stuff has randomly gone up on Lenspiration over the years. A blog post here. A forum topic... Read More »

Just Curious

by | May 8, 2020 | Updates & Opportunities

Just Curious
Homeschool Summits is wrapping up their online Curriculum 2.0 convention today, and they’ve given me two All-Access Passes that I can give away for free. If you’re into homeschooling and would like one of them, feel free to enter the drawing by filling out this quick little survey about Lenspiration. Survey will be... Read More »

On Assignment: Go Forward!

by | May 1, 2020 | Assignments

On Assignment: Go Forward!
When I read the details for this month’s assignment, I thought “Hey, this is going to be easy; I have plenty of brothers to use as models, it’s a bright sunny day, and I know exactly where to shoot it!” Well, as usual, it didn’t exactly turn out as expected. . . .  The dynamic range between the light and dark areas... Read More »

Invisible Enemies Worse Than COVID-19

by | Apr 18, 2020 | Perspective

Invisible Enemies Worse Than COVID-19
It’s 2020. The year the world found out how vulnerable it actually was. An invisible enemy has entered our world, and we are all taking extraordinary precaution against it. Suddenly, we are willing to endure incredible sacrifice and inconvenience for the sake of ourselves and others. Who would have thought the... Read More »

On Assignment: Into The Danger Zone

by | Apr 4, 2020 | Assignments

On Assignment: Into The Danger Zone
 It’s time to take some pictures for the missionaries in Europe again! This time, we’re going for a spring-time theme. And illustrating Psalm 119:103, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" If you decide to go out and take pictures of honey bees like I did, beware. Don’t get... Read More »

A Special, Unexpected Pass

by | Mar 27, 2020 | Stories & Expeditions

A Special, Unexpected Pass
Remember the blog post, One Picture Only!, recounting the hilarious encounter my friend John and I had while photographing in Virginia a while back? Well, that wasn’t the only crazy thing that happened that day. It only got better! Here’s what happened next, from John . . . After a short and memorable time exploring... Read More »

More Than Just a Picture of a Blue Bird

by | Mar 7, 2020 | Assignments

More Than Just a Picture of a Blue Bird
I had an idea of what I wanted to take pictures of for this month’s assignment, but I had to patiently wait for the right timing. It’s interesting how things worked out perfectly! Almost. Now let me show you the photos I took in the video! Keep in mind that these are my favorite select few from well over 400 photos... Read More »

First Real Snow Day of the Year!

by | Feb 14, 2020 | Pic of the Month

First Real Snow Day of the Year!
Very soon after trying to shoot for the “Pure” assignment in the very un-pure looking surroundings that February was giving us at that time . . . it snowed! So I re-arranged things on my calendar and went out again hoping for some better shots. And I was kinda surprised. Just because it was snowing wasn’t making... Read More »

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