Check out these images from a WPT reader...

The above image, "Little Lady Bug", is from one of our readers (and Flickr group member) Matthew Mendenhall.



I love this shot, how it was setup, the composition, and the processing... so basically, everything about it.



Matt was kind enough to share the details behind how this image came to be, how it was shot and how it was processed.



"I started out photographing some wildflowers in my front yard that I planted earlier in the year, there were some large sunflowers growing among my wildflowers and thought that the bright yellow sunflower would look great on a black background.



I went out and cut one of the sunflowers to photograph and as I was opening the front door I noticed a ladybug crawling up the screen door, so I scooped the ladybug onto my hand and brought it inside with the sunflower.



With the flower in a small glass I put the ladybug on to the flower and hoped it wouldn't fly away. I used a piece of black fabric under the glass holding the sunflower and then raised it up for the background as well. I used this setup so that if I changed angles from a side shot to a top shot the background would remain black.



In an effort to hide from my 2 young daughters who really wanted to hold the ladybug she frantically crawled around the sunflower and ended up hiding on the bottom of the flower. I turned on the television to "distract" the girls and when I came back the flower had drooped over, showing the back of the flower and putting the ladybug in the perfect spot to be photographed.



The shot was taken with a Nikon D300s and a Tamron 90mm macro lens on a tripod. It was lit with a Nikon SB-600 flash with a umiQuest softbox attached to it. The flash was fired in TTL mode and it was handheld to the upper right of the frame.



I shot in Aperture Priority mode at F25 and 1/60 of a second at an ISO 200.



The lady bug was selectively sharpened using a brush in Lightroom, it was then imported it into Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 where I used the vignette blur effect. I adjusted the center point, size, transition amount and the opacity. I knew that I didn't have much at the top of the photo for the blur to effect so I moved the center point so it would take the outer aspect of the flower petals out of focus. I then saved the photo back to Lightroom and gave it a small amount of vignette and some noise removal.



So to say the least, much of this photo was luck! But as they say, being in the right place at the right time is part of getting great shots. In the end I had another fun shot and my girls had some fun with the Ladybug before it flew off. I hope you can get some creative ideas from this picture and workflow."



I also took the liberty of grabbing this shot from Matt titled "Good Boy", which has a very simple setup. It was shot with a Nikon D300s, an SB-600 inside a Westcott 28" Apollo Softbox, and fired via TTL. It's another outstanding shot using my favorite softbox, the Apollo 28" (you can read more about how much I like it including a video review here and here).

A BIG thank you to Mathew for sharing part of his photography world with us, please be sure to check out his website and Flickr stream.

(clicking on either image will open it larger and in a new window)

The rain and macro photography...

The last couple days we have been getting some much needed rain, and one of my favorite things to do is to take my Nikon 60mm f/2.8G AF-S Micro out as soon as the water stops falling and grab a few shots.



I like to get real close, have the depth of field real shallow, and here are the results.



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

Free and waaaaaay better than good...

There are a bazillion choices when it comes to image editing software and many are free and surprisingly some of those free options do a better job than some of those programs that you shell out your hard earned money for.

One of those that is free and outstanding is Photoscape.

It does just about anything you can imagine when it comes to image editing, you can create an animated GIF, do batch processing, and so much more. Their fake tilt shift feature is pretty cool.


Photoscape is powerful and full featured editing option that you can download for free right here.

Below is a two minute video that demonstrates just how powerful the clone stamp is, watch the part where they use the tool to change the title of a book in a library.

They have put together a large number of tutorial videos that you can watch, simply follow this link.

HEATHER & DUANE - SNEAK PEEK!!

Heather & Duane were married at one of Viva's favourite venues, Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello in Montebello Quebec. Not only do we love coordinating at LCM, we love working with Derrick Rice so this wedding was a real treat as we got to do both.



Derrick recently joined forces with Ottawa wedding photographer Andrew Geddes and together they created Union Eleven. Derrick and Andrew can be found in their new location at 619 Bank Street in the Glebe, right next door to The Flour Shoppe. Drop in to say hello and stay tunned for more stellar images of Heather & Duane's fabulous day!!

HANG IT WITH STYLE!!

Viva loves candid shots. The images your photographer takes you’re not aware of that truly capture the emotion of your day are priceless. I know, I know. You’re probably sick of hearing us talk about how much we love candid shots but it’s true. When the many talented photographers we are so fortunate to work with send us images of our wonderful couples on their wedding day, it’s as though we’re experiencing the anticipation and excitement all over again.

Viva also loves the details. Details are a big deal for most brides and having them captured on film is a must. The pictures of her stunning dress, designer shoes and beautiful bouquet are all favourites. And we can’t remember a time when a bride didn’t request that her photographer sneak into the reception venue prior to their guests being seated to snap shots of the exceptional details she put so much thought into to ensure that their wedding truly did represent them.

While we understand why most brides live for these images, there’s one detail shot Viva can absolutely live without - The dreaded “stunning bridal gown on a plastic retail hanger”. It just kills us to see this. So much so that Viva now carries a hanger in our emergency kit to use whenever this detail is overlooked. I mean the bride certainly doesn't need to worry about a hanger on her wedding day, does she? Whether she got a great deal on it off the rack, bought it on consignment, found it at a stylish boutique, or had a custom couture gown handmade, so much consideration goes into choosing the perfect dress. Why not hang it with style?

The images below from Melissa & Steve’s backyard wedding were captured by Garrett Elliott Photography and boy does the shot of her dress make us happy. Not only is the hanger not plastic, it’s personalized with Melissa’s soon to be married name. What a great keepsake! To get your own personalized hanger check out Suspended Moments (on Etsy of course!). Not only are they great for the bride, how fun would it be to give these to your bridesmaids too!!

You are all cordially invited...

The Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk is this October 1 & 2 and yours truly will be leading the walk here in Portland Maine.

This is a great opportunity to meet new (photography) friends, share information, learn new things, and if that isn't enough there will be lots of very cool prizes as well.

Follow this link to see some of the best images from last years walk.

So if you are in the Portland (Maine) area you can sign up right here, if you live elsewhere follow this link to find a walk near you.

Walks are limited to 50 attendees so sign up soon.

Phenomenal sports images...

I saw this image while "surfing" this morning and thought it was brilliant.

It was taken by award winning sports photographer Adam Pretty, you can see more of his images here.

And I am off to another wedding today, thank goodness it will be under 100 degrees this time, have a great weekend all.

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