Here’s the deal: I’m going to donate 6% of all my online print and product sales to Thirst Relief International. So far this year I’ve donated $79.69 to Thirst Relief International. Below is a short preview video of the work Thirst Relief is doing.  Last year, several highly influential photographer visited Tanzania to document and help out the cause.  Watch the video and see what you can do to help.  Also in the next two days two longer full length documentaries to view. Make sure you come back and watch those.

Here’s some quick facts relating to this cause.

-1.1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water, and nearly 2 million people die each year due to waterborne-related disease (90% of which are children under the age of 5).

-Every week, due to easily preventable causes, diarrheal disease claims the lives of 30,000 people, most of them young children.

-The lack of clean drinking water is at the root of the African HIV/AIDS pandemic. Children and adults living with HIV/AIDS require clean drinking water to survive. Waterborne illness considered normally mild in healthy adults becomes an incurable death sentence for those affected by HIV/AIDS.

I met them downtown in Augusta for their engagement session and instantly knew that we’d have a great time. We all had great time shooting that day. They wedding isn’t until May of 2011, but why go ahead and get started.

Enjoy some of the images from their engagement session below. If you’d like to be notified when the rest of the engagement session is available, please click here and register your name and email address. Well send you an email once the images are released.

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The tradeshow is really a daunting experience in itself.  I’ll be scoping some new products and staying current to my vendors I use now so that a can continue to provide my clients with the best possible products and service I can.

To my clients – if you need me, please email me or message through Facebook.  I will be checking my email throughout the days and will respond when I can.  Also, be sure to check my blog daily this week as I’ve got a super engagement coming out, a few featured post on this year’s charity giveback, and my favorite webcasts.

Until then everyone – Viva Las Vegas!!!

On Valentine’s Day weekend in 2010, we received around 7 inches of snow here in Augusta, GA.  Both of my kids were in heaven.  We live on a golf course and while we were playing I shot this image.  It’s Haley right after she fell.  The first shot is straight out the camera. Now a bad shot but could use a little bit of post processing.

After importing the image into Adobe Lightroom, I bumped up the exposure and brightness setting to balance the color of the snow from a slight gray to snow white.

The next step in Lightroom was to increase the vibrancy and contract of the image. Not too much, but just enough to make the image pop.  It really shows up in her boots and sled.

The last step was to add just a little more brightness to the image and deepen the black some.  Finally I  sharpened it in Photoshop.  Here’s the final product.

Next week I’ll be in Las Vegas for the annual WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographer International) convention.  I will be doing some shooting while in Las Vegas, so next Friday’s before and after post might possibly feature something my adventures in Las Vegas.  I also have several posts coming out over the next several days that are so important to me.  I also have a fabulous engagement session as well.

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If you missed there engagement session, click here view those.

If you like to us to email you went the proofs from the are released, please click here to send us your information.

My oldest daughter was a bell ringer.

My youngest daughter and my niece were flower girls.

Two of my best friends – the groom and his brother.  His brother occasionally second shoots with me. Very talented.

Wedding cake was by Sarah-Ann by Baking by Sarah-Ann. Not only did it look wonderful, it tasted awesome.

Delicious mini cupcakes by The Hungry Fox.  These were the Doublemint made with dark chocolate mint cake and mint buttercream.

This joker got the only banana pudding. It just wasn’t fair.

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One of the ways I soak in the insane amount of knowledge out there is through podcasts, videocasts and webcasts. Most of them come directly to me on a regular basis via iTunes. Most of the time I’ll listen to them late at night when my brain seems to soak in the information or I’ll listen during lunch. Many, but not all of them are photography related. I’ve got some photgraphy, business, geeky tech stuff and even a few radio shows. I’d like share a couple of those here and what each is about.

This first part will be focused on podcasts and videocasts. Part 2 will be about webcasts.

1. The Pictage Podcast – hosted by Sara France. Click here to listen in iTunes. To learn more about the Pictage podcast, visit their website here.

2. Geekbrief.TV – hosted by Cali Lewis.  Geek Brief TV is a Video Podcast with news about tech tools and toys featuring Cali Lewis. The format is fast, fun, fresh and flirty.  Click here to listen in iTunes.  To learn more about Geekbrief.TV, visit Cali’s blog right here.

3. PhotoFocus – hosted by Scott Borne.  Scott hosts the photography shows with the occasional guest and answers users questions.  Highly recommended.  Click here to listen in iTunes.  To visit the Photofocus website, click here.

4. TWiP – This Week in Photography – hosted by Frederick Van Johnson.  Join Alex Lindsay, Frederick Van Johnson, and friends each week as they discuss camera technique, technology, and news. With in-depth guest interviews, and discussion around everything from taking family photos, to understanding how state-of-the-art cameras work — you’ll hear it all on This Week in Photography.  Check here to listen in iTunes.  Check out the TWiP Website.

5. For Wedding Photographers – hosted by Louis Torres.  Louis Torres provides encouragement, business development expansion and marketing ideas for Wedding Photographers Worldwide.  Click here to listen in iTunes.

6. Diggnation – hosted by Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht.  Diggnation is a weekly tech/web culture show based on the top digg.com social bookmarking news stories. One of my favorites. Click here to listen in iTunes.  Be sure to visit the Diggnation website.  These guys are very funny.

Alex has participated in the entertainment industry for six years. He founded and directed the popular, Los Angeles-based improv comedy troupe, The Misfit Toys. The group was featured in Stuff Magazine and on MTV. Alex subsequently appeared in a number of national television commercials for companies such as Volkswagen, Dominos and Dell. After a chance meeting with a TechTV producer at a wedding, Alex landed the co-hosting role on TechTV’s The Screen Savers. It was at TechTV that he met Kevin Rose, and one of the most successful Internet television partnerships was born. In 2004, Kevin and Alex decided to create a weekly podcast called Diggnation. The popular Revision3 show consistently ranks as one of the top podcast downloads available from the Apple iTunes Music Store.  In addition to Diggnation, Alex has teamed up with his two buds Dan and Jeff to create the raddest show on the net, The Totally Rad Show. TRS is an eccentric mix of movie quotes and radness.

Kevin Rose is the founder and chief architect of Digg. He oversees all aspects of the management and development of the Web site. Kevin started Digg in September 2004 as a personal project. His initial idea was to conduct a social experiment in how masses of users could control and promote news and other content on the Web, without external editorial control. After a very short time, he realized the power of his idea, as Digg was becoming a resource for breaking news stories and developed a strong community following. Kevin is also a co-founder of the Internet Television Network Revision3 where as a member of the board he provides strategic direction to the company. Kevin co-hosts the extremely popular Revision3 show, Diggnation, a weekly video podcast based on digg.com news stories and content. Diggnation consistently ranks as one of the top podcast downloads from the Apple iTunes Music Store.

Prior to founding Digg and Revision3, Kevin was a co-host of the popular technology television programs Attack of the Show on the G4 Network and The Screen Savers on TechTV. During Kevin’s tenure at The Screen Savers, a live TV program focusing on computers and technology, it was the highest rated show on TechTV, reaching 55 million households. Before working at TechTV, Kevin worked for several technology startups as well as for the U.S. Department of Energy.

7. Camera Dojo – hosted by Kerry Garrison.  Are you a camera enthusiast, photography newbie, or even a semi-professional that wants to make the most out your digital photography? Camera Dojo is home to a wealth of information about digital SLR photography with tutorials, product reviews, and tips to help you get the best pictures possible. Augment the learning you get in digital photography magazines or classes in this fun, conversational show. Learn about new digital photography software as well as hardware and maximize your photography budget. The Camera Dojo podcast is hosted every week by southern California photographer, Kerry Garrison with regular guest co-hosts and guests that all bring a different perspective to the world of photography. Each week Kerry and his guests will discuss topics of interest like shooting techniques, business related issues such as marketing and how to deal with clients, as well as the latest photography news. Camera Dojo covers the latest news in cameras, including Nikon, Canon, Olympus, underwater and safari products, panoramic formats, batteries and power, flashes, light meters, special effects, close up, fisheye, telephoto and macro lenses, filters and step up and step down rings, bags and cases, straps, tripods, digital picture frames and more. Whether you have a basic point-and-shoot camera or the hottest DSLR to hit the shelves, you are sure to get information and help from Camera Dojo.  Click here to listen on iTunes.

8. Pro Photography Show – hosted by Gavin Seim.  Pro Photo Show is the informative and informal podcast, hosted by Gavin Seim and a plethora of world renowned guest photographers. It’s the show for serious photographers, pro’s and enthusiasts who want to stay up to date and share fresh ideas.  Click here to listen on iTunes.  Be sure to check the articles and forums over at the Pro Photography Show wesbsite.

Those are the podcasts and videocasts I listen and watch.  Stayed tuned to Part 2 about Webcasts.

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This shot is from a wedding I did my very first year shooting weddings.  It’s one of my favorite parting shots ever.  It was very dark with the exception of the sparklers.  It was also before I started shooting in the RAW format. Straight JPEG.  Here we go!!

The original SOOC (Straight Out Of The Camera).  A little dark.

First, because it was jpeg I decided to open it in Adobe Camera Raw.  I added some exposure and brightness to slowly bring up the light.  Then added some fill light for the shadows. I also increased the contrast to balance some of the fill and finally a bit of vibrance for color.

The next step I used the Yin/Yang action from the Totally Rad Action set and painted on the brides dress and painted darkness into the background.  Now it’s looking good.

The last step after resizing the image for the blog was the add a little Magic Sharp from Kubota.

Now when the image looks pretty darn good now and natural expression and happiness in their faces is what really made the photo.

Take care,

Kent

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Here’s the SOOC camera shot.  A little warm from the tungsten lights.

I really didn’t do anything in Photoshop CS4 on this one.  Everything was non-destructively edited in Adobe Lightroom.  I added just a bit of exposure and blacks.  Then to balance the warmness of the photo I set the white balance to auto and then adjusted it up a tiny bit to the warm side.

Next, I added some fill light to fill in the shadows a bit and added a medium to strong vignette.  I also added a small amount of blacks as well.

I then exported the image from Lightroom and opened it in Photoshop and applied the Kubota Magic Sharp at 50%.  That’s it!  VIOLA!!

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NOTE: I’m trying out a new slideshow style for displaying my images.  I’ll still be posted regular images but wanted try it this new way.

I also do a full edit on the images that appear on my blog.  It’s usually a selection of my favorites from an engagement session or wedding.  That does take some time, but over the years even gotten very efficient at it and I know the look I want for my images and since there very close to how want them out of camera 95% of the time, I churn those out somewhat quickly.

I’ve been wanting the start a weekly post showing some before & after shots and explain how got from beginning to end.  This is the first post of the series and it’s from an engagement session I shot last spring for a couple who got married in May 2009.  The photo was taken at the Savannah Rapids Park in Augusta, GA.  Enjoy.

Here’s the straight out of the camera (SOOC) shot with no adjustments.

First, I started in Adobe Lightroom with a bump exposure. Just a little bump.  Nothing too harsh.  Then I increased the darkness in the shadows and added some vibrance to make the blues, yellows and greens pop.

Next, I added a vignette to darken the edges bring your attention to the subjects.  I also removed some facial spots with the spot tool.  After that I exported the image and opened it in Photoshop CS4.

In Photoshop, I use two distinct action sets – The Kubota Imaging Tools by Kevin Kubota and the Totally Rad Actions from Doug Boutwell.  I used Oh Snap at 36% (with Defog at 0% and Contrast at 23% inside Oh Snap), Lighten via Screen at 12%, Derelicte at 20% and Warm It Up Kris @ 24%.  After those action adjustments I flattened the image and ran my image prep action to resize and apply the border and watermark to the image.  The final step is to apply the Kubota Magic Sharp at 25% to sharpen it.

That’s it. Took me about 6 minutes to complete.  This was a relatively easy image for before and after.  Others are a little more intensive with retouching and smoothing skin, brightening eyes, reducing wrinkles and boosting eye brightness.  If you’re interested in the action sets referenced above, check out the two banners below.

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I been using ProPhoto Blogs since version 1 and Wordpress since version 1.5 (of something close to that).  It’s the most stable, most flexible, most user-friendly system around.

So if you’re looking for a custom blog or blogsite, head on over to ProPhoto Blogs and get yourself a custom theme for Wordpress.  Use code LAWKEN334 during checkout to receive $10 off your purchase.  Below is an overview of the theme ProPhoto offers.  They even offer a 110% money back guarantee.  Check it out!

ProPhoto 2.0 Blog from jared on Vimeo.

Well today, Apple announced it’s next BIG thing. Their big spin on everything was that they wanted something to bridge the gap between the smartphone category (iPhone) and the laptop/desktop category (iMacs & MacBooks). The answer was the iPad (I don’t know if I care for the name to much). It’s such a revolutionary device/computer.

I’ve already begun to list things I want to use these for in my business as well as a personal life.  A few things for the business are of course my entire portfolio for potential clients to view, a custom-designed price guide for them to look over.  Then once they’ve decided on a wedding package, I can just open the wedding photography contract with the Pages app and draw up their contract on the spot and e-mail to them to print, sign and return.  I could even take it one step further and take them right to my website and have them pay for their deposit.

This is just make everything so much easier, user-friendly and efficient.  The iPad was announced today, but won’t be shipping until probably April 1, 2010.

You can click here to watch the keynote Steve Jobs gave and learn all about the iPad.

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All and all it was a great day.  Many thanks go out to my mom, my sister Amanda (who getting married in February), Ryan, Kyle and Joe.  Without your help, there’s no way I could have done this.  Here’s a few photos of the booth, which stayed packed all day.

If you missed me at this past Sunday’s bridal show, I’ll be at the Creme de la Cream bridal show this Saturday, January 30, 2010 from 5pm to 8pm at the Peter Knox Conference Center in Olde Town Augusta.

This is Part Two of their session.  This is the Vintage WWII themed part.  Both, Amanda and Steve, are part of our armed forces.  I can’t begin to thank them for playing a part of protecting our country and our freedom.  Thanks again.

Enjoy!!

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Both Steve and Amanda are part of our military.  They are getting married in March this year and then shortly afterward one or both will be deployed overseas.

This is part 1 of 2 posts I’ll be doing from the session.  This is their casual everyday styled session.  The second post is inspired by their military background with a vintage World War II feel to it.

Here’s part 1. ENJOY!!

Check it the rain drops!

Kisses anyone??

Beautiful dogs!

It started pouring after this one.

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