INSPIRATION - THE BRIDAL SHOWER

Your bridal shower is one of the many fun events you get to attend leading up to your wedding day. Looking for inspiration? Who better to turn to than Hostess With The Mostess. Here are just a few of the themed bridal shower ideas featured on their site.

Love In Paradise

Beautiful orchids, a little sand, and a vibrant palette of lush greens and rich purples & plums are all you need to create a simple, elegant, and modern version of paradise that bride-to-be is sure to love!

Butterfly Meadow Bridal Shower

Elegant butterflies and earthy greens give a fresh, "New Beginnings!" vibe to this wedding shower. We used white butterflies to play up the bridal aspect - but bright colors would look fabulous as well!

Citrus Twist

Citrus meets sweet in this hot-hued shower theme! You'll find vibrant shades of orange and yellow, adorable flower pots with mod ribbon bands, mini orange blossoms, fruit-lined vases, romantic quote displays, fresh-squeezed OJ...and more!

Something Blue

Give bride-to-be her "Something Blue" a little early! Vintage-mod patterns, elegant ribbons, sparkling champagne, and the ever-enticing "little blue box"... Something Blue = something she's sure to love!

Natural Bride

Photo Credits: Hostess With The Mostess

It's time to talk social media & online marketing...

For the next two weeks we are going to spend a good deal of time on social media, social networking, SEO (search engine optimization), and we hope to cover the important aspects of what we as photographers need to do to maximize and capitalize our online presence.

As I mentioned a few posts back, if you don't know where you are now it makes it extremely difficult to get directions to where you want to go.

Seriously, if someone called to ask directions to your house the first thing you are going to ask is "where are you coming from?" and if they respond with "I don't know" it would be impossible to guide them to your home.

So before you start mapping out your "directions for success" find out where you (and your website) are now with the free SEO tool "Website Grader".

Some of the resources we will will talk about are products and resources you can get for free, and some you will need to pay for, but today we will kick it off with some (really good) free resources.

1. New Media Photographer - It is both a blog and podcast produced by Rosh Sillars (a photographer and teacher). Rosh talks about the business of photography and social media (Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn).

2. Google Analytics for Photographers - Is a free 50 page pdf from PhotoShelter that walks you through everything you need to know about using Google Analytics to sell more photography and book more work using your website.

3. Social Marketing Playbook - This is another free 56 page pdf download dedicated to getting you started down the road to social marketing.

4. Seo Photo - I think the title pretty much covers it, I do like the fact that they provide a good deal of information on how to optimize for the new Microsoft and Yahoo search tool Bing.

I know, I know, this kind of stuff is not "sexy" and some of you may find it mind numbingly boring, but if you ignore this (very important) aspect of marketing you will have yourself to blame when the only person checking out your website is your mom.

And the flooding continues...

The rain, wind, and flooding continues.

We even ventured down to the beach to see what was happening there, nothing like running the risk of being washed away!

Despite the weather the rehearsal was a fun and loved fill event.

Time to get on the "wedding day game face".

Can't you just see me with black smudges under my eyes and bouncing up and down just before "the game"?

;)

This is crazy!...

I am on Long Beach Island on the Jersey Shore getting ready to shoot a rehearsal dinner tonight and a wedding tomorrow.

We arrived yesterday to a horrible storm, wind was strong and steady and the streets are flooded.

While checking into the hotel we found out that the beach the wedding was to be held on was washed away by the storm, so folks are scurrying around for a new location.

And things have only gotten worse, the storm continues today, raining just as hard, wind blowing like crazy, and we now have a tornado watch until noon!

The weather is supposed to break by tomorrow morning, let's hope so.

These images were taken with an iPhone as we drove in yesterday, the water in the street outside our hotel is over our ankles.

Here's another online educational resource...

Web Photo School has some really good free and paid photography courses.

If you are new to photography you can start with their very thorough free course like "Understanding Exposure", "How to Use Umbrellas", and "Simple Head Shot".

You can take a look at all their lessons here.

They have also put together a great offer for the readers of Weekly Photo Tips, you can get up to 35% off their more than 300 photography lessons, including the upcoming lessons include Hot Rod Pin-ups, Dog Portraits, Commercial Portraits.

35% off One-year subscription (regularly $79.99) Only $49.99 Coupon code: WPT12M (that’s a numeral “1” not an “L”)

20% off three-month subscription (regularly $24.99) Only $19.99 Coupon code: WPT3M

Both coupons can be redeemed at this link.

Get Free Photography Education Online...

This is a guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about accredited online colleges for OnlineColleges.net.

Whether you are professional photographer or just a photography enthusiast, there are plenty of courses, lessons, and tutorials online that can help you improve you photography skills.

Here are 15 places to get a free photography education online:

Photography Basics - Individuals who are just beginning to dabble in the art of photography will find this free Suite 101 course useful. The course consists of four text-based lessons covering the history of photography, camera types, camera basics, and lighting.

Digital Photography Course - This free online course from CreativeTechs focuses on digital photography. The course lasts for ten weeks and is taught by John Greengo from the PBS series Art Wolfe's Travels to the Edge. Online classes start on September 2.

Online Library of Digital Photography - This digital photography resource offers dozens of free lessons for digital photographers. Lessons are aimed at beginners but include information that may be helpful to more advanced photographers as well.

Digital Photography School - Created by a digital photography enthusiast, this site offers an impressive collection of articles, tips, and tutorials for digital photographers. Education is available for beginner, intermediate, and advanced students.

Cambridge in Colour - Cambridge in Colour features a wonderful collection of digital photography tutorials and images. The site also offers an educational forum for photographers. All of the images that appear on this site are from, in, and around the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

Tips from the Top Floor - This award winning photography podcast teaches listeners about digital photography. Tips from the Top Floor also offers daily photo tips and a forum where photography enthusiasts can connect and ask questions online.

MyShutterspace - Created specifically for digital photography enthusiasts, this online social network is a great place to discuss and learn about digital photography techniques.

About Photography - The About.com Guide to Photography provides hundreds of informative articles and tutorials for beginner to advanced photographers. Other site features include a regularly updated blog and community forums.

Photography and Related Media - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers this free online visual arts course to self-learners around the world. The course covers digital imaging, camera operation, lighting, film exposure, development, and photography techniques.

Documentary Photography and Photojournalism - This free self-paced course from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology encourages students to create a photo documentary project. The emphasis of the course is on writing, but there is a lot of class material that would be interesting and useful to photographers.

Family Photo Course - This free online photography course from the UK's Open University teaches students how to handle, examine, analyze, and record family photographs. The course also delves into the history of family photography and portrait settings.

Travel Photography Course - Beren Patterson of TribalCog offers this free online course with a focus on travel photography. The course includes lessons on portraits, landscapes, light, exposure, camera care, and more.

PhotoWalkthrough - PhotoWalkthrough offers advanced-level video tutorials for photographers. The tutorials provide information about how different shots are achieved as well as tips on using processing tools like Adobe Photoshop.

Picture Social - PictureSocial is a social network for photographers. Members can share and critique photos, ask and answer questions, and blog about photography experiences.

Photo.net - Photo.net is a very large online community of photographers. The community has a special section just for learning, forums, an online workspace, and other tools to help photographers improve their skills.

Check out this self portrait...

Some of the best things I see come from the good people who read this blog, this self portrait is no exception.

It is of (and done by) Monica Martin.

There are two things I like about it, it has a "minimalist" look, an image with the least amount of pixels as possible (much like telling a really good story with the fewest words possible), and I think this image is a great example of just how important the eyes are when taking a picture.

"The eyes are the window to the soul" comes to mind.

So I emailed Monica for permission to show her image and ask her a few questions, she kindly agreed.

Monica, how did this image come about?

"It was actually taken without fixing white balance and came out pretty orange. I have a huge window and was playing around with the natural light coming in with a reflector on a very purple wall as the background."

How was the camera setup?

"I used a tripod and timer"

What do you have around your head, is it a hood?

"I have a fuzzy hat and scarf around my head and face. Love hats!"

What kind of camera did you shoot it with?

"I shot this with a Canon 5D and 28-135mm canon lens, 1/100s at /5.6, ISO 500"

And post processing?

"It was edited in Camera Raw and CS3 to convert it to black and white and I used Ron Nichols palette to brighten, to add contrast in the eyes, and to soften skin."

Thank you Monica for letting me use your image and taking the time to answer my silly questions.

Be sure to learn more about Monica at her website and her blog.

(click on the image to view larger and in a new window)