San Diego Photographer

I am proud to introduce you all to the newest team member of The Right Light Photography, Lauren Lopez. She is a recent graduate from San Diego State University’s with a BA in Communication and comes to our company as an intern learning the ropes of the organization and to execute on opportunities that will enrich our clients’ and students’ experiences with our company. She has a passion for photography and marketing and a knack for learning. I am excited to have her on board and would like everyone to give her a warm welcome when you meet her at future classes or events.

Also, if you happen to receive emails from Lauren Lopez, don’t block her, she sending them on behalf of the company and the classes.

After a total of 80 photos were submitted with over 2,000 total likes and a ton of comments being posted there are a total of 6 winners. Three were selected based on their total number of 'likes' they received and three others were judged based on their overall image quality. We had a total of three judges contribute to the contest listed below:

• Tim King with Tim King Photography - Tim is an amazing wedding photographer here in San Diego. You can check out his great blog and portfolio here. This guy really knows how to embrace life.
• Rob Andrew - Rob is one of our great class instructors and an even more amazing commercial photographer. You can learn more about Rob from his website here.
• Jason Kirby - And well, yea I should have been a gimme. I am a San Diego Photographer

I really loved seeing the photos come in for this contest, there were so many amazing photos that were submitted and I am really excited to share with you all who won.

Let's start with the total number of 'likes'

In 1st Place we have Talitha Scott with "Gettin' Dirty"

2nd Place we have Gladys Pamiloza with "Hustle and Bustle in NY"

3rd Place we have Ronald Hons "A walk on the beach"

Now onto the the judged part of the contest. Drum roll please.........

In 1st Place we have Andrew Kliss with "Gorilla Portrait" with a 39.35 out of a possible 45 score

2nd Place we have Daniel Graham with "Weathered" with a 38.25 out of a possible 45 score

3rd Place we have Kendra Stoner with "Mesmerizing" with a 37.6 out of a possible 45 score

Big Congratulations to you all. I will be contacting you soon about your prizes.


And another huge thank you to all of you who submitted photos and 'liked' photos in this contest. Because of all you there will be many future contests to participate in.

The time has come for you to show off your photographic skills and share it with your friends, family and network. 

It is that time for the second photo contest. This time the prizes are better, there are more of them AND two ways you can win. I got a lot of feedback from the last contest and I wanted to accommodate more people and giveaway more prizes. Read the details below to learn more about how the contest will work and how to enter your photo.

Theme: Life is Better in Black & White

It’s unanimous, people love black & white photography. It captures the true emotion in photos that color just doesn’t always get. It stops time in a single frame. This is why this contest is about submitting your best black & white photograph. It can be a photo that was taken with black & white film or a digital photo that was once in color and found better to be in black and white. Need some tips on shooting black and white photos check this article out http://www.digital-photography-school.com/5-black-and-white-photography-tips.

How to Enter: 
1. Decide on a black and white photo that you want to enter in the contest (it must be black and white or else it will not be accepted).
2. Use the “Enter Contest” button below and submit your information along with your photo.
3. It will be reviewed and if approved it will be uploaded to the photo album on the Facebook page (http://facebook.com/sandiegophotography)

How to Win:
Once your photo has been uploaded there will two ways you can win.

         1st way you can win – Like last time, 3 winners will be selected based on the total number of ‘likes’ they receive for their photo. There will be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners (see prizes below). It will be your responsibility to tell your network and Facebook friends about your photo and to have them like it. In order for them to ‘like’ your photo they must first ‘like’ the page (I got a lot of questions about this last time, so make it clear to your friends so they understand). The three people with the most ‘likes’ will win.

         2nd way you can win – Because not everyone has a million Facebook friends, but may have a great photograph it is not fair to only grant prizes to the most popular and determined people on Facebook. Therefore, there will be 3 winners whose photographs will be selected by three professional photographers. The judging criteria will be based on composition, black & white contrast (exposure), and the overall appeal of the photo. Everyone’s photos that are submitted will be judged and three winners will be selected based on the results from the judges. However, there is one requirement for photos to be judged, you must obtain at least 5 ‘likes.’ The purpose of these contests is to promote sharing and critiquing of photos to help improve your photography skills, however if you put no effort into sharing your photos then it goes against the purpose of the contest. Anyone can easily get at least 5 ‘likes’ (one from yourself, one from your dog, your mom, and then find 2 more friends, easy enough, right?).

The Prizes
Prizes for the most ‘likes’ –

     -       First Place will receive a 16x20 canvas print of a photo of their choice, up to 3 free classes of their choice.*
     -       Second Place will receive credit of up to 2 free classes of their choice.*
     -       Third Place will receive credit of up to 1 free class of their choice.*

Prizes for best judged photos –

     -       First place will receive a free ThinkTank Photo bag from www.ThinkTankPhoto.com (a big thanks to our sponsor) and up to 3 free classes of their choice.*
     -       Second Place will receive credit of up to 2 free classes of their choice.*
     -       Third Place will receive credit of up to 1 free class of their choice.*

Also, all winners will receive a $25 gift certificate from www.NationsPhotoLab.com and a free gift with purchase from www.ThinkTankPhoto.com (value of $20).
*Classes available in San Diego, CA, Dallas, TX and Vancouver, BC.

This is over $1,000 in free giveaways! So what are you waiting for….enter the contest now!

Entries will be accepted from September 1st through September 21st. Winners will be notified by September 28th.

San Diego Photography Classes
Dallas Photography Classes
Vancouver Photography Classes

This Poll is for those of you in Dallas looking to take photography classes in November. Please answer the two polls letting me know which classes you would like to see offered and for which days work best for you. For each poll you can select multiple answers. When I arrive on November 10 to teach photography classes in Dallas I will probably be able to squeeze in a total of 4 workshops on two separate days. Please keep this in mind when voting.

Congratulations to our Photo Contest Winners!

1st Place with 107 'likes' - Veronica McCrane w/ "The Stare Down"
2nd Place with 94 'likes' - Nelish Kulkarni w/ "Frozen in Time"
3rd Place with 70 'likes' - Ronald Hons w/ "Reading Among the Waves"
(I will be emailing you regarding the prizes later this week)

There were some absolutely amazing photos in this contest regardless of the number of likes. I will be personally providing constructive feedback to all of the photos once I arrive back from my trip to Europe. 
You can view the photos from the contest here http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150670711300414.709076.106197205413

The time has come for you to show off your photographic skills and share it with the your friends, family and network. The photo contest rules are below.

Do you love photography? If so, prove it by entering a photo of you are proud of. It can be absolutely anything. This photo contest is meant to give you an opportunity to share a photograph that you are proud you were able to capture and share with your friends. Since the contest is about telling a story the winners will not be judged on composition and exposure settings like most contests, however, you might want to have a well composed and exposed shot to improve your chances of winning. This contest will about sharing your story with as many people as possible. The winners of the prizes will be selected by the number of ‘likes’ your photo gets. Once your photo is uploaded to the fan page you will have the ability to share your link to friends and family to ‘like’ your photo to increase your chances of winning. The more people you send your picture to will increase your chances of winning.

If you have the most 'likes' for your photo there will be three prizes:

1. First place: 16x20 gallery-wrapped print of your image you submitted and a credit to any 3 photography classes you want offered by The Right Light Photography
   
2. Second place:  Credit to any 2 photography classes offered by The Right Light Photography
   
3. Third Place: Credit to any 1 photography class offered by The Right Light Photography

How it works: Once you have completed the registration and submitted your photo it will be reviewed and if approved it will be uploaded to the http://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoPhotography Facebook page where you will be able to share your link to your photo to get people to ‘like’ it. You have until June 30, 2011 to submit your photo. No more photos will be entered after that time. Winners will be selected on July 9, 2011 and notified via Facebook. The winners will be chosen based upon the total number of ‘likes’ for their photo. All winners must accumulate 50 or more ‘likes’ before July 9, 2011 to qualify for the prizes. One photo per entry per person, therefore choose your favorite.

This week I was hired to follow around John Walsh, the host of America's Most Wanted and co-founder of TLO, a company that delivers a software to law enforcement agencies and private companies to track people who commit fraud. Having spent three days with John it was amazing to see how much of a stand up guy he was. He was hands down the most genuine celebrity I have worked with. He took the time to talk with everyone he took a photo with and I was impressed with how he was genuinely interested in other people's stories and backgrounds. John was also surprisingly photogenic even after arriving from a 12 hour flight from Brazil.
If I have learned anything from working with John it is to always put on a smile and to take genuine interest into others, regardless of how tired I am. It will certainly pay dividends over time with the relationships built over time.

Have you always wondered how to capture those cool starbursts in your photos? Well I will explain how simple it is to get this effect. First, I want to call out the rumor that you need to buy a specific type of filter in order to get this effect. This is not true. You can get this effect with any lens and no filters. Now filters do have their purpose but I will get to this later.
How to get the starburst effect?It is all about your aperture. The higher your f-stop the more of starburst you will have. It is that simple. Now the photos I have as examples below were taken at an f/22 aperture and that is why you see such an exaggerated starburst. Now if you were to shoot at f/8 you would still get a star effect, but it would be much less of a starry effect. You can get the starburst effect on any direct light source. This includes, but is not limited to:

• The sun
  
• Street lights
• Car lights
• Candle light
• Ceiling lights
• Much more...

So just remember when you are taking photos and you want to get that starburst effect just shoot at a higher f-stop. Typically f/16 and above is ideal. However, in situations where you need to shoot at a wide aperture like below f/8 that is when you need to use a filter.

San Diego Photographer
Capturing Strabursts in Photographs

Finding the photography studio is tough for some people so to make it easier to find the Kettner Daylight Studio watch this brief video below. It will show you exactly how to find the studio so that you will not have any difficulty.

I am excited to announce that I just added a new service to our offerings to our corporate clients. These services include headshots and environmental stock photography at the corporate offices of the clients. I have been getting a lot of requests for this type of photography specific to corporations and I wanted to add specific packages to address this type of clientele. The packages are meant for companies looking to have professional headshots taken of their management team or a small staff to be used on the website or on other marketing collateral. You can review the different packages here Corporate Headshot Photography Packages.

You can view the page with photos and details about the Corporate photography services here