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!
Pic of the Month: March ‘13
What a grand time spring is! Pea plot planting, bee box building and peach tree pruning are the every-day-type activities around the Staddon’s place. Though it was kinda cold this year for the month of March, one couldn’t help but observe Michael’s honey bees...
The Publishing Process
It’s been a great week! With many design projects in the works recently, it’s been neat to see each one move forward one step at a time. This week I’ve focused on the proofing stage for several projects, one of which was the 2014 CEF Calendar. Here’s a sneak...
The Overlook
The Desktop Publishing class here at Verity has been going very well! It’s hard to believe we’re so far into the week already. The majority of teaching is finished and now we’re focusing on covering the needs specific to each student and preparing for the...
Family Fun
I’ve greatly enjoyed the time I’ve been able to spend with my family over the past few weeks! From attending the first FEW Conference of the year in North Carolina to working outside preparing for spring, we’ve had a lot of fun together. I went through some random...
Birthday Sunrise
The sunrise of March 10 was simply spectacular! God must have known it was my Mom’s birthday. Right as it was getting light that morning, I saw these stratocumulus clouds spreading out evenly across the sky and I knew it was going to be a pretty sunrise. So, with...
Clever Framing
As I was going through archives today, looking for some grand pictures to use in a new set of greeting cards that are in the works, I ran across this great shot from an excursion in the Sierra foothills near Mammoth Lakes, California. It didn’t quite make the cut...
Learn the Tools!
I just finished up a little project for the 2014 CEF Calendar. The big name badge needed edited out in Photoshop. Ever tried to do anything like this before? It certainly took some time, but stuff like this is easy to fix once you know how to use the powerful tools...
A Lion in the Way
The verse that stood out to me on the morning that my brother Michael and I drove from Waxhaw to Marble for the North Carolina FEW Conference happened to be Proverbs 26:13: “The slothful man saith, ‘There is a lion in the way…’” In other words, instead of viewing...
Taking the Next Step
Life is made up of many steps. How far you go depends on the amount of steps you take. It’s comfortable to stay put, but progress is only made when you allow God to move you to the next step. The Business Owners Planning and Strategy Workshop hosted this past...
The Right Day to Fly
Having brought the CEF Calendar project to a close on Wednesday, I was scheduled to fly on Thursday from St. Louis to Charlotte to attend the Stelzl Business Workshop. No big deal, right? It was fairly early in the week when I first heard about the serious snow and...
Can You Read Clouds?
You might think that after shooting landscapes for a while, I would know all about how to read the clouds. Well, I have to admit that I’m still just learning. The first time I began to realize the importance of reading clouds was during a visit to friends in New...
Colors of Winter
Just wanted to announce that I have added two more desktop backgrounds to my Wallpapers page! It’s fun to go through pictures and find pictures like these that really focus in on the detail. They make perfect wallpapers. Colors of Winter Download as Desktop...
Evening at CEF IHQ
As I walked to dinner this evening at the CEF International Headquarters here in Missouri, I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful cloud formations in the sky. The past few days have been either very cloudy or completely clear, so I knew the sunset was going...
How to Design a Newsletter
Along with my work on the 2014 CEF Calendar these past few weeks, I’ve been doing little projects along the side for MissionTalk. Today, my job was to design a newsletter template that will be sent to MT customers on a quarterly basis. I started with three...
Miracle of Creation
“Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.” –C. S. Lewis About the picture: My brother David and I watched the sunset over Two Medicine Lake in Glacier...
Pic of the Month: January ‘13
Sunday Morning This is a picture of the little church that my family has been attending for the past several years. I’ve always had in the back of my mind to take a nice “portrait” of it, but this has always been difficult because of all the distractions in the...
20 Tips for Improving Your Nature Shots
This is amazing! Here’s an excellent FREE e-book I found the other day that gives 20 incredibly helpful tips for increasing your skills as a nature photographer. Not only was it beautiful to look at and informative to read, it was an inspiration for me to put...
The Beginning of a New Adventure
Yesterday, I traveled out to the Child Evangelism Fellowship International Headquarters in Warrenton, Missouri, to commence work on the 2014 CEF Calendar! It’s a new place with new faces, but I already feel like it’s the great beginning of a great project. I’ve...
Make Your Winter Pictures “Pop”
Do you have a hard time getting your pictures to “pop” during the winter months like I do? Everything is dull. The sky and trees are grey, the grass and water is brown, and when the colorless snow falls, it smothers everything in a great blanket of off-white...
First Impressions
It actually snowed last night! What a great excuse to get outside and play around with the new camera! And how refreshing it was to be out in the “field” again. The 5D Mark II is very similar to my old 40D in appearance but has some nice improvements. The screen...
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New month - new photo assignment! And this one is pretty sweet. 🙂 Our goal is to take beautiful photos that reflect the truths of Psalm 119:103, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
Get all the details at the link in bio!
Another behind the scenes shot....thanks to @real_lukas_n Though I usually use a tripod for landscape photography, there was no time in this situation where it was literally raining. When I saw the distant mountains after pulling in for only a short time at this open-to-the-public farm, I knew there was a shot somewhere. This vast field of flooded strawberry plants was the foreground I was looking for, offering perfect leading lines to the triangular peak framed by the sweeping mist.
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Family-friendly photography training: www.lenspiration.com
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#farm #landscapephotographer #shootingintherain #rainyday #behindtheshot
New blog post! The last bit of light after sunset doesn`t take long to disappear. Sparkling stars were peering through the pinyon pine boughs above us. We were in the deep shadows of dusk as we picked our way down the rock strewn trail back to the parking lot. Read more at link in bio.
#lenspiration #homeschoolphotography #homeschool #christianphotographer #photographyeducator #photoinspiration #photography #photoblogger
Behind the shot photo.... When it`s rainy, and you`re not on lights`s time table, there`s time to chat with friends while you`re out in the field! 🤩 Thanks @real_lukas_n for the second photo! --
Family-friendly photography training: www.lenspiration.com
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#outdoorphoto #lowkey #mystery #photographyfriends #explorenc
Happy Memorial Day! Let us honor their sacrifice by using our freedoms not to do as we please, but to live as we ought. #freedom #integrity #selfcontrol #memorialday #Godblessamerica
New blog post! Rain poured down in torrential waves as we made our way through the Smoky Mountains. We had gotten up insanely early—long before dawn—to make the most of our time photographing at the high-elevation overlooks before the storm. But now the rain was coming down so hard that even the most dedicated among us didn’t feel like stepping out of the car for a photo. Until we rounded a bend and saw... Read more at link in bio.
#lenspiration #homeschoolphotography #homeschool #christianphotographer #photographyeducator #photoinspiration #photography #photoblogger
Join me for some LIVE photo coaching on Tuesday, May 26 as we look at "Glowing Scenery" photos. . . Register at link in bio!
Foreground element, framing, leading lines, human element, vibrant color.... Definitely one of my favorite shots from EXPLORE Springtime in the Smokies.
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Family-friendly photography training: www.lenspiration.com
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#photographycomposition #photoworkshop #composition #landscapephotography #springtime @greatsmokynps @blueridgenps
Before/after....look at the difference! A little editing is just what it needed to make it pop (IMO). What do you think?
"For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills." Deuteronomy 8:7-9 Every time I photograph a waterfall I should thank the Lord for letting me live in such a blessed land.
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Family-friendly photography training: www.lenspiration.com
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#waterfall #verseoftheday #landscapephoto #thankful #godsblessing
New blog post! The photographer who makes decisions based on comfort won’t get out in the field, even in a place like the Smokies—and therefore won’t come home with any photos. Read more at link in bio.
#lenspiration #homeschoolphotography #homeschool #christianphotographer #photographyeducator #photoinspiration #photography #photoblogger
The photo assignment for May is live! Take beautiful, landscape photos that have a warm, glowing sense to them. Photos could include warm sunlight glowing at the end of a path, over water, over a stream, in a field, or over a mountain. Details at link in bio.
New blog post! Read more at link in bio.
#lenspiration #homeschoolphotography #homeschool #christianphotographer #photographyeducator #photoinspiration #photography #photoblogger
Someone got a photo of me taking the group photo at Family Conference last week! @familyconfs @alertacademy #familyconference #eventphotography #groupphoto #eventphotographer #adventurous
A quick stop in Paris for a selfie! 😄 #paristexas #travel #selfietime #texas
So much fun to photograph a family conference as an actual family! (Thank you Rebekah for the photo!)
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Family-friendly photography training: www.lenspiration.com
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#family #behindthescenes #together #teamwork #wvphotographer
On the lookout for puddles on a rainy first day of Conference!
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Family-friendly place to learn photography! www.lenspiration.com
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#rainyday #homeschool #conference #familylife #puddlejumping
Join me for some LIVE photo coaching on Tuesday, April 28! Register at link in bio.
