Lenspiration Blog
Welcome! Wherever you are on your photography journey, learn to take better photos through the photography tips and stories you'll find in the following free articles. By learning from the experience of others, you can also start taking pictures that you're excited to share with others!
On Assignment: Training the Next Generation
If you have been doing any of the recent monthly photo assignments, this new one will be quite easy. It’s not too different than some of the recent assignments we’ve done, but with my schedule being packed with so many end-of-convention-season things, I found it...
No Later than 9:00am!
The Lamplighter Summer Guild had just ended! Despite going to bed around midnight, I was up early and heading to the airport. From Mt. Morris, New York, to the airport in Pittsburgh was about 4.5 hours. It was important that I get there no later than 2:00pm so I...
Backpacking: Full-Frame or Crop Sensor?
I had been planning a backpacking trip with my friend Tim and brother David for months! Now it was time to pack up my camera gear. What should I bring? Photography was not the main purpose of our trip into Dolly Sods. But I was not about to go on a two night...
On Assignment: Personal Quiet Time
Summertime is such a great time for taking pictures! The warm weather. The lush foliage (depending on where you live ). The abundance of backyard wildlife. The late sunsets. The family vacations. There are so many things to take pictures of! As we enjoy taking...
Experience the Reality of God!
Ever heard of Journey to the Heart? Well, if you want to get a clue on what the next photo assignment will be, go to their website (www.lifesrealjourney.com) and start guessing what kind of photos they might be asking for! I had the opportunity to go on several...
Only 30 Minutes to Spare
Scheduled excursion commencement: Tuesday, 4:00pm. Scheduled excursion conclusion: the following Sunday, 9:00pm. And something planned for every single hour in between! Drive to Winchester. Sleep. Drive to rendezvous location in Pennsylvania. Drive back to...
On Assignment: Sharing the Gospel
When I found out that this next assignment was about “Sharing the Gospel”, a lot of different ideas for what to shoot started coming to mind! A tract sitting with a tip on a table in a restaurant. A closeup of a Bible on the knee of someone in a living room with a...
How to Use Your Camera to Share the Gospel
With the current assignment wrapping up this weekend, it means a new assignment will be launching next week! Want to know what it is? Well, you’ll have to wait. But what I can tell you is that we’ll be shooting for Creation Today again! I appreciate the ministry of...
What Happened on August 19
Julianna and I have a date set for our wedding, now! It will be August 19, 2022. It will be an important date in our minds forever! But, has it always been? No. I’ve walked around on many an August 19 oblivious to the fact that it would ever be an important date to...
Looking for Portraiture Resources?
It’s been a long time in the making. Ever since Lenspiration started, you could say. An article here, a blog post there, forum discussions everywhere in between. Each article, blog post, and forum topic meet the need of the moment. But what about weeks, or...
On Assignment: The Intricacy of God’s Creation
There are several ways you can do macro photography on a budget, but for this assignment (see details here!) I explored one way I had never tried before! It’s true that flipping the lens isn’t the sharpest way to create macro photos. For starters, macro...
The Best Kind of Photography Job
It was very dark when I pulled into the driveway. But the headlights revealed quite a stately homestead. A gate led through an ivy-wrapped archway into a manicured back lawn where a shapely pool reflected the light reflecting off the clouds from downtown Dallas, 20...
6 Observations from A Very Special Event
A special event just happened last week that made me appreciate portrait photographers a whole lot more. Their experience. Their patience. Their expertise. You see, instead of being the portrait photographer, this event found myself on the other side of the lens. I...
Going Deeper Than First Impression
Looking forward to the first homeschool convention of year next week! Never been to a THSC Convention before. They say it’s the “biggest and best homeschool convention in Texas.” I guess we’ll find out soon what it’s like! Thinking about heading to Texas got me...
How Much More Can I Learn?
For last month’s photo assignment, 6 photographers submitted 44 photos. There were some fantastic photos among those 44, but there was one in particular that I really liked. This photo was submitted by Samuel West: When critiquing everyone’s photos on the Coaching...
On Assignment: Photos of American Patriotism!
I was so excited when Pennsylvania State Representative Andrew Lewis said we could do a photo assignment for him! This could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! And as such, not even a snowy day could keep me from shooting (or at least attempting to shoot!) some...
Revisiting a Photo Shoot From 2015
Any guesses as to which State this capitol building belongs to? I’ve only been to this State capitol building one time. Driven through the city many times, but only stopped in downtown once. And the reason I was there was to take some pictures for a client! He was...
An Example of a Published Photographer
Let me show you a photo that my Grandpa took back in, ...actually, wait a minute... can you guess what year it was taken? This was a question I asked on the last coaching webinar. And I said whoever guessed closest to correct would be the featured Lenspiration...
Can You Fake Golden Hour?
I was going through my archives today, looking for example photos for some new training material. And I came across this simple, well-composed shot taken in pretty much the middle of the day. It’s a grand-looking photo because, yeah, it’s literally the Grand...
On Assignment: Family Moments Together
As I was preparing for this month’s assignment, Christian from Christian Family Reformation introduced me to this idea of a new kind of photography I hadn’t really tried doing professionally before: Family Photojournalism. Why not professionally, artistically,...
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