This past Saturday, we had a girls’ day with Gramma and Auntie Kika (a.k.a. Misti!). Misti is the coolest auntie… she brought over all her fun patterned paper and helped my girls make Valentine’s cards. My oldest is in love with paper. Sometimes I think she is a clone of Misti, they both are obsessed with paper and art! She was in heaven using all of the fun paper. The excitement was almost palpable. You just had to smile at the giggles and squeals over her discovering new patterns and colors of paper.

The highlight of the activity was driving to the post office to mail their Valentines to their great-grandpa. They nearly popped out of their seats as they saw the big blue mailboxes!

My littlest could barely reach the opening but she was so excited to drop her letter in the hole.

Do you remember the excitement of making your own Valentine cards and delivering them to the friends and family you made them for? Has it been awhile? Take a moment and pull out some paper and crayons and make a Valentine’s card for your sweetheart (or sweet little one)! It’s not too late!

It’s true. Disney knows how to write a cute little love story. But sometimes it doesn’t take words…not a thing was spoken toward the beginning of “UP,” but during that time…audiences fell in love with Carl & Ellie. That was the case for my husband and I the summer we saw the movie while we were still dating two and a half years ago. It was so fun to follow Carl & Ellie on their life’s adventure throughout the movie and Steve and I couldn’t wait to start an adventure of our own. You know how couples usually have a song? Well, Steve and I have a movie! And this one is it. Steve even gave me the movie while we were celebrating our first Christmas together on our honeymoon.

So, when we heard about a builder who had built the “UP” house just across the border into Utah, we had to make it a little adventure and plan a photo op! This is a private residence, so in order to be respectful of their property we shot a couple of photos from across the street.

I edited the photo using Color Efex Pro 4 from Nik Software. Be sure to check out page 20 of Love that Shot Magazine to see our full review of this plug-in and find out how you can get special savings! I also used the Six Swans photo texture from our Fairytale Collection to enhance the sky, because sometimes Mother Nature just doesn’t give you what you want! Find out how you can take your own photos on a Fairytale Adventure on page 30 of the magazine. Oh, and I couldn’t resist adding a few balloons to the chimney to finish things off!

Hover over the photo to see the before image…

Nikon D7000 | 18-55mm lens at 30mm | f/4.5 | 1/2000 sec | ISO 400 | Edited using Nik Color Efex Pro 4, and Fairytale Collection: Six Swans

We can’t wait for you to dig into this special Creativity Issue! We’ve spent the last few months gathering ideas and trying out some pretty cool products that will surely kick your creativity into high gear. In this issue, you will find creativity, inspiration, and a whole lot of fun!

Discover new ways to “Create Your Own Rules,” learn how to take your photos on a Fairytale Adventure, and find inspiration from talented photographers in our new feature, “The Gallery.”

You may be wondering how photographer, Matt Shumate, captured the gorgeous photo you see on the cover…he’ll share his insight and more in “Capturing the First Winter Snow.” Join Stacy Julian as she shares her secrets for an easy way of capturing your memories with Photo Album Scrapbooks. Learn how to turn your photos into dramatic black and whites in five simple steps. And this is just the tip of the iceberg!

You’ll also discover great products from Lensbaby, Nik Software, Kubota Image Tools, Kolo, Mod Straps, and Ella Publishing.

So don’t wait any longer…click here to read this special issue, and let the creative juices start overflowing! And be sure to sign up for our Magazine/Newsletter, where you’ll receive notice of future issues and fun events going on here at Love that Shot!

Giveaway Details

Join us throughout the month, as we celebrate the release of this special creativity issue of Love that Shot Magazine with a fun giveaway full of AWESOME PRIZES! Many of the companies you’ll see featured in this issue have generously donated their products to be given away. Enter for your chance to win a Lensbaby Composer ($250 retail value), Nik Software Color Efex Pro 4 ($199.95 retail value), $150 in KubotaBucks, Brown and Green Classic Mod Camera Strap, $20 Ella Publishing Gift Certificate, and a Kolo Noci Photo Album with our new Remember When Collection of Photo Album Templates! Will you be taking one of these awesome prizes home?

Here’s how the giveaway works:

• Share the news about this exciting issue with your friends by copying this link (http://lovethatshot.com/blog/?p=9202) and posting it on Facebook, tweeting it, or sharing it on your own blog, etc.
• Then come back and tell us in the comments below, including a link back to your post (click here for step-by-step instructions) so we can interact with you…it isn’t called “social” media for nothin’!

BONUS ENTRY:

• “Like” our participating sponsors on Facebook: Lensbaby, Nik Software, Kubota Image Tools, Kolo, Mod Straps, and Ella Publishing. And us, Love that Shot!
• Then come back and tell us in the comments below! (Please only leave one comment for your bonus entry)

Giveaway closes: February 29, 2012
Winners announced: March 1, 2012 (one prize per winner, 6 winners total, chosen at random)

*Note: We will be moderating comments, so if you don’t see yours show up immediately…give us some time to approve them!

LEGAL: This giveaway is NOT sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. You will NOT be notified publicly via Facebook if you are a winner. You MUST be 18 to participate. By entering this giveaway, you are providing information to Love that Shot and NOT to Facebook. Prizes do not have cash value.

This last weekend, I grabbed my Dad and we went out shooting. I needed some shots to finish out some articles I’m writing for the next issue of Love that Shot Magazine (which will be hitting the web next week!), and Dad wanted to capture some awesome Black and White images for an upcoming workshop we’re working on for our Love that Shot Subscribers. We had a blast! First, we headed downtown to a favorite spot of mine, “Freak Alley.” It’s a section of town where they have allowed several graffiti artists to do there thing…it makes for a very colorful experience. But seeing how it’s an alley, I was glad my Dad was right there with me. You see, I scare easily.

I snapped on my Lensbaby Composer equipped with the Pinhole/Zone Plate optic, set up the tripod and away I went! Here is one of my favorite shots from the alley using the Zone Plate optic, edited with Photoshop actions from the Kubota Lensbaby Pak. I’m going to make you wait for the Magazine to come out next Tuesday (January 31st) to see the rest…how’s that for suspense?

After we had our fill of the downtown scene, we headed up towards the bench. This is a favorite vantage point of ours for a great overlook of the entire valley. We shot the sunset and the lights over the city, and then I turned around and saw this scene behind me. It’s one of my favorites from the whole day. I guess that goes to show you that you can plan out a photo all you want but sometimes the ones that turn out even better are the ones you discover along the way.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to be notified when the next issue of Love that Shot Magazine goes live! We’ll be having an amazing giveaway to celebrate, and with sponsors like Nik Software, Lensbaby, Kubota Image Tools, Mod Straps, Kolo Photo Albums, and Ella Publishing, you’re not going to want to miss this one!

I woke up to this beautiful sight this morning…our first winter snow. And boy, is it coming down! Now, for living in Idaho, this is unusual to go this long without snow, and the excitement hit me! I couldn’t wait to get outside and start shooting. I felt like a kid again pulling on my winter boots, my warm wool coat and scarf, and stepping out into this wintery wonderland. I was half-way tempted to fall into the light fluffy stuff and make a snow angel…maybe later, when my camera is tucked safely away.

This is one of my favorite shots. I used my 55-200mm lens, set to f5.6, 1/200 sec, and Manual focus. I love how you can see the snow gently falling around the evergreen, while piling up on its branches.

A couple more shots from this morning, using my 55-200mm lens…

What are some of your favorite wintery photos? Share links with us in the comments below!

Are you in the midst of the winter blues? Is finding inspiration and creativity a little tough? Well, we have just the thing for you! We’ve just released our latest workshop, “Winter Blues | 18 Ways to Kick-Start Your Creativity.” It is filled with inspiration and ideas to get you out shooting.

Here is just a taste of what you’ll learn in the workshop:

Find out how to create photos like this using a fun camera technique.

Learn some tips on how to see things in different ways.

Find out some ideas on how to capture your everyday life.

Plus a bunch more fantastically fun ideas to get your creativity flowing! If you are a Love that Shot Workshop Subscriber, simply log in and click on “Access Your Workshops” to get started. If you’re not a subscriber yet, we’d love to have you! Click here for more information about our workshops and how our subscriptions work.

Years ago, I was going through my grandma’s old photos. I came across a photo of her and two of her girlfriends, giant grins, and their arms around each other’s waists. They all had matching dresses on, save the belt buckles, which were different shapes. I love that photo. It helped me to see that my grandmother hadn’t always been “Grandma Toots,” matriarch, stooped over, filled with fierce love and slightly intimidating. She had been a young woman, filled with laughter.

I want photos like that.

Do you have any photos of your friends? How about any of you with your friends? Ahem, how recent are they? Just because you are a grown up now, doesn’t mean you should stop taking pictures of your friends? Just because your friends like to be bashful and say they don’t want their pictures taken doesn’t mean you should stop taking pictures of your friends. Sometimes you need to convince them that they are beautiful just the way they are.

Someday, you will all treasure those photos.

Sometimes we are so focused on documenting our families and children (both human and furry) that we forget those other important people in our lives. Friendships are a huge part of our stories. Who else will go with you to the midnight showing of Harry Potter? Or Twilight? When your kids are grown and you have grandkids of your own, will those grandkids see you only as a grandparent? Or will there be evidence of the fact that you had another life?

These are story-telling pictures. The importance is the mood, capturing the moment, catching your goofy friend with a Japanese beetle on her face.

They don’t have to be perfectly composed. So what if part of the golf cart is in the foreground? That’s part of the story. Let’s be honest here. If you are going to have photos of you with your friends, you are going to have to give up some control. Get over the perfectionism and tell the story of your friendships! (Disclaimer: there was NO ONE in line behind us. I have been thoroughly chastised for taking photos on the golf course and I am careful that it is not slowing us down.)

I was that kid who moved every two years or so. By the time I was 14, I had lived in 16 different homes and attended six different school districts. I may not have those friends that have known me for my entire life, I do have friends scattered all over the country. (My husband, on the other hand, still has friends from preschool. It’s so strange to me.) Facebook has allowed me to find those old friends, and given me a reason to dig out some of those treasured photos from childhood. I am so grateful that my mother allowed me to take her sweet Kodak Disk with me to Girl Scout Camp; otherwise I wouldn’t have a photo of my troop from 1984.

I have now been in the same home for almost 13 years. What began as a save-my-sanity playgroup for my kids has morphed into a bookclub filled with some of the most supportive, wonderful women I know. I am so excited to have the chance to take photos of these  ladies who have been in my life for a decade now. They get kind of annoyed with me, but we are all getting over it. I did promise them that I wouldn’t humiliate anyone by sharing any of the shots of us playing “Just Dance.” But believe me, those are some of my absolute favorites and I will love looking at them for years.

Have you taken the time to photograph and document your friendships? We’d love to see how you have done it. If you haven’t, give it a “shot!” and then share links in the comment section below!

Last month, we launched a brand new collection of photo textures and featured several gorgeous photographs from some very talented photographers. I thought I’d feature several of those photos in some short how-to videos, showing how I edited each photo. Today, I’d like to share with you a little video on how I edited this photo by Jessica Hester, using Golden Goose and Enchantment from the Fairytale Collection.

First, let’s take a look at the before and after of Jessica’s photo (mouse over the image to view the before photo)…

photo by Jessica Hester | edited by love that shot | Fairytale Collection: Enchantment and Golden Goose

If you’ve used any of the Fairytale Collection photo textures in your own photos, we’d love to see them! Leave us a link in the comments below.

It’s amazing what you can can use as light sources in your photography. You just have to get a little creative! The simplest things that you may come across every day can turn into a great way to light a subject. If you have children, you probably have countless toys and playthings that light up. I know I do! Take this photo for example. We gave our daughters iPods for Christmas and ever since, they have been glued to them, listening to music and having fun with the built-in cameras. Those little screens give off a good amount of light! It was daytime when I took this photo, but the light from the iPod was shining on my daughter’s face so nicely. I deliberately underexposed the shot so the majority of the light coming in was from the iPod display.

Look around your house today and see if you can find any creative light sources you can use for a photo. You could use a computer screen, the light over your stove, a book light, the lamp beside your bed, your cell phone… the possibilities are endless!

We want to see your year in photos! Have you learned new techniques or discovered a new style this year? Did you participate in a P52 or P365? How has your photography grown and developed over the last twelve months? Gather together your favorite shots from 2011, blog about them or upload them to Flickr, then come back here and join our link-up. We can’t wait to see your photos!

Have a fantastic New Year’s holiday!
To enter your photo in our Favorite Photos of 2011 Link-Up, just follow these simple steps:

• You must link directly to your blog post, not your blog’s home page. Are you entering a FLICKR photo? Click here for a how-to on how to enter your photo. Facebook photos don’t play nice with our link-up tool, so we will no longer accept photos linked-up from Facebook. We apologize for any inconvenience.
• Add our button to your post (our button is located towards the bottom of our sidebar to the left).
• Your photo must not contain any nudity.

This link-up will be open today through Thursday, January 5, 2012 11:59pm (MST).
If you’re not sure how our link-ups work, see our FAQ page.