Shutter Love Tuesdays - "Father's Love"

6/29/10 Update:  My photo of Miss I and her dad took the #10 winning spot this week!  Thanks, Trendy Treehouse!

This week's photo topic of Trendy Treehouse's Shutter Love Tuesday challenge is "Father's Love."  Father's Day was Sunday, and although I didn't get to see my favorite father figures - my awesome Grandpa and my mom's amazing fiance, Bob - I did call them and spent the day thinking of them and what a lucky girl I am to have both of them in my life.

I don't have too many images of fathers and their children that can compete with the emotion I feel from my entry for this week's contest.  Recently, I had the pleasure of photographing Little Miss I. on her 3 month birthday.  It was obvious she is adored by everyone, but the way she is adored by her father is on a level all its own.  After her portrait session was over, Dad didn't waste any time - he immediately scooped her up into his arms and silently stared at her lovingly.  Can you see and feel how much he loves her?  Lucky, lucky little lady.

Click to enlarge, back arrow to return.

The {Totally Rad} Winner!

Congratulations are in order to Heather Brandt...lucky #9 and the winner of the Lightroom preset package from Totally Rad!  Heather, please email me to claim your prize.

And for you not-as-lucky ladies...  Totally Rad is offering 15% off their incredible Lightroom preset collection or any of their other fabulous products when you use the promo code SOARSISTERS during checkout!

Congrats, again, to Heather!  I'm looking forward to seeing your images edited with Totally Rad presets!

Stay tuned next month for another giveaway!

Jen @ Jennifer Leigh Photography

Website - Facebook

IHF - Celebrating Teens

This week's challenge topic at I Heart Faces is "Celebrating Teens".  I couldn't be more proud of the teen in this image.  My sister, Nicki, has been riding horses since age 6.  At age 19, she has already earned an Associates Degree in Equine Studies from the prestigious University of Findlay in Ohio.  This past weekend, she exceeded her own expectations with her new horse in their very first recognized horse trial together...and placed 3rd!!

Nicki, I am so very proud of you, and have enjoyed watching you grow into the confident and talented equestrian you've become!

Click on the image to enlarge, back arrow to return.

MacKenzie is a Shutter Love winner!

Just found out that the photo of MacKenzie I entered into this week's Shutter Love Tuesday contest at Trendy Treehouse won 3rd place!  This week's theme was "Smiles" and MacKenzie certainly does have a beautiful smile...okay, I may be a little biased.  This totally made my day!  Thank you, Trendy Treehouse!

IHF - Fix-it Friday 6.17.10

This week's photo was of a beautiful baby girl.  The photographer did a beautiful job with the clarity of the baby's face, but when editing the photo in Lightroom, the red tone in the background object annoyed me.  So...I thought I would practice my Photoshop cloning skills and get rid of it altogether!  What a sweet baby face this is...editing was a pleasure!

SOOC

My edit

Water!

This is my first week participating in the You Capture and In A Yellow House photo challenges!  I saw the upcoming week's theme was going to be "water," which so happens to be one of my favorite things!  My whole life, I have lived next to water...on Lake Erie in Ohio, down the street from Lake Shastina in California, and now next to the Atlantic Ocean in Georgia!  I'm not sure if it's because I was born on the cusp of Pisces (that means I'm Aquarius and Pisces) but I have to be living near water in order to be happy.  I love to drink it, play in it, walk on the beach, fish, watch thunderstorms...you name it!  So it just kills me to see this awful mess of an oil spill we've got going on in the Gulf.

On a happier note, here is my water capture for the week.  I love it so much, I thought I'd enter it in both challenges.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

My {Totally Rad} Lightroom Preset Giveaway!

I am STOKED to offer my first giveaway of the year!  And what an amazing year it has been!  I have been fortunate enough to become a Soar Sister this year and travel alongside some amazing women in our journeys to become passionate, successful photographers! 

During this year, I've discovered many things about myself, my camera, and the beautiful art of photography.  One discovery turned into my new favorite post-production tool: Adobe Lightroom!  I began using Lightroom when I scored an internship with a local publishing company as a photographer and photo editor.  There are so many awesome aspects about this software that have helped speed up my post-production process, but my favorite is definitely the PRESETS!  I absolutely cannot get enough of them, as they almost effortlessly assist me with taking my images to the next level.

I've been searching around for the latest and greatest in presets and found a {Totally Rad} new site!  Totally Rad offers Photoshop Actions, Textures and now Lightroom Presets!  The folks at Totally Rad are a little bit edgy, just like their products, and they've worked hard to bring you a little something different in the digital post-production world.  Check out some of these already amazing photos before and after a {Totally Rad} makeover - can you say gorgeous?!

And now for the best part... I've teamed up with Totally Rad to promote their newest product - their Lightroom preset collection!.  I am so very excited to announce that one lucky lady is going to get a full set of {Totally Rad} presets of her very own, a $99 value!

Each Soar Sister can have up to 4 chances to win...

1) Visit Totally Rad's Lightroom Presets page and test out some presets.  Come back here and leave a comment telling the world which preset is your favorite and why.

2) Become a friend of Totally Rad on Facebook and comment below that you have done so.  (You have to add them as a friend instead of choosing to "like" them...apparently, Kristen at Totally Rad is a little Facebook challenged...self proclaimed!)

3) While you're on Facebook, become a fan of Jennifer Leigh Photography...comment below that you do, indeed, "like" me.

4) Become a follower of Jennifer Leigh Photography, the blog!  Comment below that you are following me in my journey to SOAR toward my dreams!  (I'd love to follow you, too...give me your info!)

The contest will end this Monday, June 21 at 7pm.  The winner will be chosen at random and announced shortly thereafter on this blog.

I cannot tell you how excited I am to be able to give this opportunity to one of my fellow Soar Sisters and share a fun, new post-production product with all of you!

Have a {Totally Rad} week, and I'll see you back here on Friday!

Jen @ Jennifer Leigh Photography


P.S. If you are a Photoshop CS2 thru 5 user, click HERE to score 8 {Totally Rad} Photoshop actions...FREE!

Shutter Love Tuesdays - "Smiles"

The theme for this week's Shutter Love Tuesday on the Trendy Treehouse blog is one of my favorites...SMILES!

My entry is of one of my all-time favorite smilers - my beautiful pit bull mix, MacKenzie!  MacKenzie's always got a smile and a sloppy kiss for me when I come home from work.  What a nice way to end the work day with my happy girl!  But be warned: her smiles are contagious.  Bet you're smiling now, too!

IHF - "All About Babies"

This is my very first I Heart Faces challenge!

Meet Little Miss I.  I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity of photographing this adorable little one on her 3 month birthday.  She already has her Daddy wrapped around her tiny little finger!  This was a candid photo right after the formal shoot, when her Daddy snatched her up because he couldn't wait any longer to hold her again.  I love this photo for many reasons - the contrast between Dad's large hand holding his itty bitty daughter, the wedding ring symbolism, and, of course, Miss I's priceless expression.  Don't you just want to eat her up?

I definitely heart this face!

Fix-It Friday - Susan & Son

I'm trying something new in addition to Follow Me Fridays @ Trendy Treehouse...  I Heart Faces has come up in several conversations with friends, and although I'm usually super busy on Fridays working at the publishing company, I made some time for it this evening.

Each Friday, talented photogs from around the globe download the image of the week, edit it to their liking, and share it with the other photogs.  Not only is it inspirational to view others' work, but I get to make new friends in the process!  Talk about a win-win situation!

This week's photo is a self portrait of Susan and her son.  I hope you enjoy my edit!

SOOC

Edited to my liking

See you next week...if time permits!

Follow Me Friday 6/11/10

Welcome to Jennifer Leigh Photography: The Blog!  Thanks for stopping in and checking me out.  You can visit my website HERE for more photos and info about me.

My Friday highlight consist of working at Great Southern Publishers and a sushi lunch with my very handsome fiance.  Hope your Friday is just as good!

Indigo

I very recently obtained my very own copy of Lightroom...and now I cannot imagine life without it!  The first images I couldn't wait to edit with my new program were the ones I took of my beautiful friend, Indigo, back in February of this year - check 'em out!

For more, check me out on Facebook!

Atlanta {Getaway}

I won a 2-night stay at the Hyatt Regency Suites in Atlanta (with free breakfast buffet tix for both mornings) in a silent auction last year for $30!  Jason and I finally got some free time on Memorial Day weekend and decided to make the trip.  When we arrived at the hotel, I was surprised to realize that we were staying 2 blocks away from where I filmed my commercials this past December! 

Here is our trip in a nutshell: Swedish meatballs at IKEA, fashion observation at Atlantic Station, amazing dinner at Houstons, Georgia Aquarium (see next post), Centennial Olympic Park, incredible alligator tail & crawfish dinner at Pappadeaux, World of Coke, chili cheese slaw dogs at Varsity, and several searches for a Kohl's...not no avail.  We had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back to explore more of what Atlanta has to offer!

Fountain at Centennial Olympic Park

I really enjoyed photographing the kids having fun splashing around!

Me with the man who brought the Olympics to Atlanta

(Yes, I am a dork.)

Sights downtown

Varsity  - An Atlanta hot spot since 1928.  Yummy chili cheese slaw dogs!

The World of Coke

(We thought it was okay...)

My handsome fiance before the Happiness Factory documentary...

And after...it worked!  :)

Checking out the Christmas Coca-Cola memorabilia