$$$$$ off on CANVAS AND OTHER PHOTO GOODIES

It was like Christmas today when I got this great news in my Inbox:) It was from GREG our last winner of the photo keyring -

Canvas on Demand (http://www.canvasondemand.com/) will give you a $80 or so credit if you open a new "pro" account with them. I did this and got a great 24 x 16 canvas and paid only shipping. Also, H & H Color Lab ( http://hhcolorlab.com/Studio/StudioHomePage.aspx) gives you a $50 credit to use on anything when you open a new pro account with them.

He also said that H&H has photojewelry:)

I am going to order a sample. There isn't a client who doesn't love photojewelry if it is tastefully done:)

Thanks for the Tip Greg!!!

My Canvas People Free Canvas is here

Just got it yesterday and was sooooo excited. Great quality and they were super speedy too. No complaints here:)

Here is my favorite pic of my little man on canvas with my other prints. Fits in nice:)

Their site is http://www.canvaspeople.com/freegift  I did have to pay for shipping and framing.


Not sure if the offer is still good or not. Worth checking out

Canvas is the top right

Picture Share - My little man's first big snow

Hi, all. Probably wondering why so many posts. Well two reasons 1. I now have my computer back - wooohoo was going through withdrawl! and #2 I now have a 10 month old who SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! I thought this day would never come:) So now I can do work until the wee hours of the morn knowing that the little man will stay snug in his crib till 8 or 9 a.m. Instead of up at 2 and 5 and then. It's amazing now how more motivated and refreshed I am with 5 CONSECUTIVE hours of sleep:) And he takes a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day! Mommy can get housework done and photography stuff too:)

Here is a pic from our backyard and his first sledding expedition. yes it is a pink sled and yes he is a boy. My husband was busting my chops, however it did have a BLUE rope. LOL. One thing you forget to get until you have a foot of snow is to buy a Sled so this one was a borrowed one. I'll prob end up turning the pic to Black and White so no one makes fun of him later.... hehe He looks like the kid from the Christmas Story all bundled up! and he wouldn't give up the binky for the ride either:)

Awesome Deal on a Netbook

Last week I was at Shoprite in New Jersey (about 15 min from my house in PA) and they had a special on ACER Netbooks yes the grocery store sells electronics, too. Part of its charm! I had been looking for a Netbook for my husband so he would stop using my laptop:) This is the cheapest I have seen. I bought it last week and I see it is still in this weeks circular for $249.99 with your Shop Rite card. This is at least $80 cheaper than what I have seen anywhere else.

If anyone is in NJ, PA, DE, NY and you need a Netbook check it out. Ours is working great. I decided to give him his gift a little early. I have disabled the wireless on my laptop so we just use the netbook. I can always turn it back on when I need to upload picks. I spent $200 getting the viruses off this thing. Wish I would have just got a netbook and gave it to him a long time ago before he started downloading things on mine... oh well, we live, we learn.

I can carry this thing all around the house. It stays charged for about 4 hours which I love!

Tutorial Tuesday - How I got the shot:)

Since I know when I was first starting out I was soooo curious about photographs I saw and how the photographer took the shot. So I thought I would share my simple set up for the Xmas shots in my living room.

Here is the pull back on the set up....

I had my cheepy IKEA blanket, the Sled and my own (FAKE) Xmas tree. I did three sessions for people I know well in my home (I wouldn't reccommend it unless you know the people very well or are licensed/insured to have a studio in your home). Next year I plan to do full sessions at the clients home or I will do a Mini Session weekend where I will rent out the hall next door and set up a psuedo studio and let everyone come to me:)

So my light is coming from the left (however, even though it looked like it was bright out it was actually a little overcast so I wasn't getting as much light as I wanted) If it was full natural light I would have used a large white foam board on the right as a reflector. I actually just used fill flash to do the job. I put my Fong Puffer (see it in my Amazon store) which is great for portraits like this because it diffuses the light.

Here is the pull back on the scenario

I just cleared a small space in the corner near the window but without the sunlight hitting them directly - you can see where it hit in the left corner of the picture.

Here is a SOOC with a couple adjustments in LR (and cloning in the second one so you don't see my ugly wallpaper) - I also showed you one on a past post for my little man (also from the same set up)

TIME SAVING TIP  ***  my workflow to proof is usually very basic exposure and major flaw correction which I did with these in Lightroom (I love love love my lightroom), once they place the order, I go and do a skin smoothing to give that soft looking skin and do eye pops, and sharpening etc. This is pic is before all that. If you are looking for a great FREE action to make your subjects skin smooth or eyes pop - COFFEESHOP has a couple that are great. I use POWDER ROOM for every pic that I finalize for print and there is also BABY POWDER ROOM for baby touch ups. She is phenomenal over there at Coffeeshop. I just noticed that she and her sister are doing custom blogs, logos, and have a custom watermarking action, too. They have very reasonable prices. I am actually thinking of revamping this blog and having them add the menu bars and all that fun jazz:)

http://www.coffeeteaphotography.blogspot.com/

Marketing Monday/New Years Resolutions - Plan of Attack for 2010

Since it is coming to the end of the year, I have decided to work on my marketing plan and new years resolutions for 2010. I want to be a little more aggressive with my marketing. I plan on "hitting the pavement" and participating in more events (like fairs/festivals) and hitting the mommy groups. As a photographer starting out, you must be vigilant and market every day. I take the TAOPAN workshop with Ana Brandt who is a GENIOUS marketing whiz and AMAZING Pregnancy and Newborn photographer. She had us do a 21 days of marketing challenge. I passed with flying colors and basically launched my business off of it actually:) It is possible to market every day. Whether it is to create material, call or email a moms group, go to a business card exchange or just talk to people in your daily routine. Tell them you are a photographer. Most people are fascinated by that. When I tell people that I am, a lot of them say - I love to take pictures or I always wanted to do that or how fun!

I also am planning my mini sessions and charitable giving for the year as well. Each month I would like to offer a unique mini session idea for my clients - Portraits in the Park, Valentines Day, etc. Maybe designate one weekend for those sessions - pack them in and rent a studio space to save time and travel (and post processing because the lighting would be the same)

I plan on giving away a couple sessions at varius charity events that are high profile in my area. For example, They have a MASSIVE basket bingo at our high school. Usually between 250 and 400 people come. Probably will do a display, sponsor a basket and donate a $50 off print order or Free mini session for that one. EXPOSURE is key. People like businesses who give back. Maybe someone there was just thinking - Wow its been years since a family portrait or maybe I could get that for my grankids as a present.... hmmmm . Any school charity/function is good especially if you are a portrait photographer.

I also plan to market to pre-schools and day cares in the area. At least 3 that I know of within a mile of my house do not do any type of portrait photography. Need to do A LOT more research on that one. I would like to offer something different. Like take the kids to the playground and do them that way. More lifestyle, less stuffy. We'll see. Just a dream for now!

I'll share with you my plan as soon as it is finished (the new year has really snuck up on me!)

As far as a personal note, I plan on working on being a better mom in the new year. Will be leaving where I have been working to stay home, blog, and continue to build my business part time (for now). Don't get me wrong - I love being a mommy and feel that I am a great mom but there is always room for improvement! I will have more patience and understanding. I will enjoy every minute. We will go on adventures.

I plan on taking better care of myself 2009 was a tough year - difficult pregnancy, emergency surgery, complications from the surgery, then my back injury it has taken a toll. I plan on getting out and active and trying to reduce my stress level.And just stay healthy!

I want to be less of a worryer.

I want to renew my faith as sometimes we get busy and don't leave time for that.

I am going to read books again and relax (from time to time hehe:)

I'd like to stick to my blogging schedule that I made:) and if Santa is good to me maybe I will get that HD Cam under the tree so I can do video tutorials:)



Well that is about it. I wish EVERYONE a happy holiday to you and your families!

A BUNCH OF GIVEAWAYS AT ONCE:)

In honor of the holidays, I am doing the rest of the giveaways for this month in one shot. Each item is a seperate giveaway.


$50 Restaurant.com gift card
$25 Restaurant.com gift card
Leather Proof Book
Leather Proof Book
Hand Knit Baby Cocoon (soft blue) prop

You can only win one thing if you are picked via random.org. Here are the ways you can win

1. Subscribe to Newsletter/RSS then post a commment on this thread (this is one comment) If you have already just put a comment saying so
2. Become a fan on FACEBOOK - then post a comment on this thread. If you already are just post a comment saying so.
3. Leave a comment on what you would like to see on here in the future (this is another comment)
4. Tell me in a seperate comment what you have in your camera bag , favorite marketing tip, favorite blog or favorite money saving tip:)

So you have 4 chances to win

DRAWING WILL BE NEW YEARS EVE December 31 2 p.m. at and you will have until January 4th to claim your prize once winners are announced!

Computer Stuff and FREEBIE - PLEASE READ to save you some future time and hassle

Hi, all. Finally got my computer back!!! It was infested with Malware according to Office Depot. One thing that they told me is to Lay Off the toolbars. Apparently they say that it casues spyware. They also told me to never let a subscription to your Anti virus lapse (I didn't but there was two installed on my computer - double the protection?  Nope actually they counteracted each other and canceled some protection out). If you let it lapse there are viruses in your computer now, but the antivirus quarantines them but they sometimes stick around. If you let the AV lapse for even a day you are suseptible to Virus attack. Just thought I would pass this along!!!

Also make back up or RECOVERY disks. If I would have lost pictures I would have been devastated. I transfer all of my pictures personal and proofs to an external hard drive and back up with a CD as soon as I pull them off or make edits. It frees up space (If you shoot in RAW the files are HUGE) and also if your system would crash, you have back up.

Luckily, just lost a few non-essential programs.... CS3 and lightroom were saved.

FREEBIE ALERT!!!!

Today only Snapfish is offering a bunch of freebies for new customers. 50 free prints with an upload, Free photo stickers, Free Coasters, etc. If you sign up today, they will credit these. They will give you an expiration when you use them. To get them you must sign up today, you can use them all at a different time.

A "NEW" Customer means new email address/login:)

http://www.snapfish.com/ is the address