Why I Changed to In-Person Sales (IPS) About 3 years into my business, I was facing burnout.  I was shooting sessions all weekend long from sun up to sun down, staying up until 2 am to finish my edits and upload to g...

Are You Ready to Rock Your Next 365 Photo Challenge? I just finished my second 365 photo challenge a few weeks ago.  Now having completed two 365 projects, I've learned A LOT about what it takes to complete one of th...

Monitor Calibration In this post, we will look at why monitor color calibration is so important, and how you can calibrate your screen in order to ensure the images you photographed look their very best, both when yo...

Newborn Photography: How to Get Baby to Sleep It’s every newborn photographer’s dream to have a session where the baby sleeps soundly - OK, OK, we’ll say it, like a baby - for their entire session.  Where does that p...

Storybook Photography Setting up and shooting a storybook photography session can be quite exhilerating and fun, but can also fairly stressful if you are unprepared.  I've put together this tutorial based on my exper...

DIY Newborn Photography You're expecting a baby?  Congratulations!  Have you been asked by everyone you know if you’re planning on doing a photo shoot with your new bundle of joy?  Are you planning on trying?  You s...

Studio Lighting for Winter Photography I love outdoor environmental portraits - warm, yummy sunlight and lots of beautiful trees and flowers and elegant compositions.  I can't get enough of it in the Spring, early S...

Softbox Vs Umbrella Vs Beauty Dish Is studio lighting using a softbox better than an umbrella or a beauty dish?  Today I would like to talk about these 3 different studio light modifiers and share some example photo...

Is Film Photography Dead? We live in a digital age of photography, that fact is quite obvious!  It seems as though everyone from hobbyists to professional photographers are sporting the latest DSLR’s. So, is real fi...

How to Develop Film at Home Several months ago, I wrote a post about the benefits of shooting film.  As much as I love shooting real film, one of the major drawbacks in addition to the cost is the increasing rarity o...

Which Lens Focal Length is Best for Portraits?  I see this question asked frequently in photography groups and have noticed the topic is quite often debated with great passion between photographers who champion thei...

Senior Picture Poses I love photographing seniors.  They are a fun, happy group - excited to be graduating and generally enjoy having their photos done. Personally, I like to take a guided, natural approach to all o...

How to Photograph the Night Sky A little over a year ago I moved to Alaska where the Northern Lights are often visible from September to March.  I will never forget the first time I saw them “dancing” in the sky. Nig...

Understanding the Exposure Triangle I have a secret.  Well, after this article, it won’t be a secret anymore.  But I will feel better after sharing this with all of you.  I know there will be some of you that can rel...

Family Photography: 3 Must Have Shots For many photographers, heading into a family storytelling session means that the family is going to heavily control what happens in the photos.  Depending on your philosophy as ...

Have you been wanting to learn how to create beautiful images with a beautiful blurred background that brings attention to your subject? Understanding Shallow Depth of Field is the key to make that possible! What is ...

Golden Hour Photography You have probably heard the term “the Golden Hour” at least once, but chances are if you're a photographer, you’ve heard it a lot, because many photographers, myself included, are obsessed wit...

What is Backlight? In photography terms, backlight is when your subject is illuminated from behind.  This means you will place the light source behind your subject and in front of you (the photographer).  Having the ...

6 Newborn Photography Tips (To Help You Rock Your First Session) Newborns are sweet and squishy and oh so cuddly, who could resist photographing them?  You tell yourself, “It can’t be that hard, they just lay there!...

Understanding ISO in Photoghraphy There are a lot of written tutorials and videos about what ISO is and the various ways it affects your image. So often we are told something is important and that we should understan...