Last day to enter Scott Kelby giveaway...

Today is the last day you can enter to win the Scott Kelby DVD "Mastering Camera RAW".

To be eligible all you need do is write a comment on ANY blog post by midnight June 30th (today) and we will pick (randomly) from those comments to determine the winner.

There is no limit on the number of blog posts you can comment on, the winner will be announced here on July 2nd.

Good Luck!

Grid hack from David Hobby...

I got this idea from a post David Hobby made on Strobist a few days back.

It's an easy, inexpensive, and fast DIY project that will improve your store bought or "home made" grids.

For subscribers (and you know who you are), because videos aren't pushed through you'll need to return to the blog or directly to our YouTube channel to watch this short (2 minute) video.

VIVA LA BABY!!

Before the rumours start flying, Viva didn't just have a baby. And while we know that many wedding coordinators also plan events, we've had to regretfully decline these requests in the past as Viva la wedding is and will always be only about weddings... except this once. When your BFF is expecting, who can resist the urge to throw her a baby shower to show her just how happy you are for her and how much she is loved?

Prior to the wedding season kicking into high gear, Viva (along with the help of a couple of our favourite wedding vendors) planned a little celebration in honour of a precious baby girl who was getting ready to enter the world.

Here are a few detail shots taken by the wonderful Melissa Johnston. Thanks to Flowers Talk for all the beautiful flowers and the Manzanita wishing tree, The Candy Store for providing the cotton candy and pink rock candy on a stick as well as the raspberry and lemon coconut macarons, and to Little Cakes who baked the delicious pink lemonade and vanilla cupcakes of course!

Melissa Johnston is also responsible for little Rachel's newborn shoot!

Some macro photography...

One of my favorite things to do after it rains is to wander through my yard and take some close-up photos using my Nikon 60mm macro (what Nikon calls Micro).

Luckily I live in Maine and there is plenty of opportunity to do this.

Motion photography...

We went to Old Orchard Beach last night for their balloon festival but sadly it was too windy to send them aloft.

So I decided to grab a few shots of the rides with slow shutter speed before we left.

Can't go back to the balloon festival tonight was we will be watching some muscle bound men in bejeweled man-panties.

Free Facebook marketing tools...

I wanted to share a valuable marketing resource for you photography business.

The good folks at HubSpot are (for a short period of time) giving away three resources that will help you understand Facebook as a business tool and providing the information that will help you develop a sound marketing plan.

They start with explaining what Facebook is, how it works, and and then walk you through the do's and don'ts of setting up a business Facebook page.

And don't make the mistake of thinking "how good can this be if it's free?", I promise you it may be free but it's extremely valuable.

With 250,000 people a day signing up for Facebook it's a marketplace you need to be involved in.

You will need to fill out an "application" page to get to the downloads, but you won't be inundated with unwanted email, when I do get the occasional email from HubSpot I am thankful as it contains some kind of useful marketing information.

"On-Camera Flash" book review...

I know, I know, the goal of most photographers is to get their flash off camera, but let's be honest, there are some fast paced, fast moving events (like weddings, Bar mitzvahs, corporate events) where this is neither practical or even possible.

"On-Camera Flash" by Neil van Niekerk is the best book I have read on the subject of shooting with you Speedlight on your hot shoe (you can get it at Amazon for as little as $19).

Several things I liked about the book:

1. There are a bazillion light modifiers out there and though Neil talks about them the results he shows us in the book are achieved using a foam card and/or the stofen diffuser that comes with your Speedlight.

2. Too often authors will give us "easy" examples, not in "On-Camera Flash", Neil takes us to some difficult to light places (like a restaurant that is essentially a black hole) to show us how to light a subject.

3. This is probably the first book I've seen that shows examples of lighting both very fair skinned to very dark skinned people.

4. You will find sample images on almost every page (sometimes up to 4 images per page) and each is thoroughly explained, what made the shot difficult and how those difficulties were overcome, and done in a writing style that is easy to understand and follow.

Don't think you'll get this book as an easy way out, it's not a lazy mans solution. Neil will make you use your brain. The first two sections are the things you need to know before you even turn on your flash. Section 1 covers the direction, intensity, and color balance of light. Section 2 is the "technical" stuff like exposure metering techniques, flash modes, sync speeds, and how to add flash to ambient light. In section 3 he shows us how to use what we learned in the first 2 sections to take the shot and "get the light right".

If you own a flash and especially if you shoot event photography, you really need to own this book.

To learn more about Neil van Niekerk be sure to check out his website, it has a ton of information on photography from metering, composition, (lots about) flash, and equipment reviews.