Category Archives: links

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Heads up.. Color Inc!

 

Just got some news from my favorite lab, Color Inc

Very cool!

AND if you haven’t ordered from them before you can use the code: pa08 and get 50% off your first order!

Totally off Topic- Hoo-Dee-Hoo!!

 

I just had to give a shout out to my favorite person on TV right now.. Carla, who is still going strong on Top Chef! She’s narrowly beats out Fabio as the one I find most entertaining this season (last season it was Andrew)

I have loved Carla from the moment I saw her. I mean who wouldn’t? She’s got quirky slightly cartoonish facial expressions and is so thoroughly excited about everything that I laugh every time they show a clip of her.

Sam and I have now taken to using the Hoo-Dee-Hoo technique whenever we get lost in Walmart.  (See the Video to see what I am talking about)

Ok, Ok, We don’t use the technique, because Sam would kill me if I started yelling that in public.. But I wish I could say things like this and look as awesome as she does:

I’m gunning for Carla, although I do think that Stefan will take the show since he is consistently the winner. Anyway, had to just throw that out there.. Anyone else a Top Chef Fan?

Phaunt U Student Interview- Charlotte Stringer

 

It’s been almost a year since the first phaunt U started, and I thought it would be cool to interview some past students and see where they are now and what they’re doing with their photography.

One of the things I love about the U course is the chance for me to get to know some amazing people. Charlotte was the first student to sign up, and I’ve gotten to know her over the last year. She’s an amazing friend and photographer, and I feel blessed to know her. And lucky me, I get to meet her in April at the phaunt Vention!! :)

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Location: Terry, MS  

Links to blog/website/etc: http://www.charlottestringerphotography.com/  and   http://www.charlottestringerphotography.com/blog

How did you get interested in photography?      When my mom and dad let me have their  Kodak 110 (circa 1972) when I like 10-11 - I loved loved loved going to Fox Photo!!!  I have been hooked ever since… But taking photos of my kids really inspired me to start getting serious about it.

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Primary focus (children, weddings, etc):  I love all ages!  I love people, period.  But mainly kiddos and weddings 

Describe your style in 3 words:  Timeless, Classic,  Emotive

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What is your dream for your business?  To stay relatively small so I can still be the best SAHM

What’s in your camera bag?  5 CF cards (can’t put all your eggs in one basket) 2 5D’s, a 70-200 2.8 L, my 24-105 L, my 100mm 2.8 macro, my 50mm 1.4 and a Fong lightsphere.  Ok, so I don’t put all of it in there all the time…

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If you could only use ONE Lens for the next year what would it be?  my 70-200!!

Goal in photography for 2009?  to not over-extend myself.. achieve Quality over quantity

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Favorite Photoshop Tip?  use layers always!!

Favorite thing about phaunt U?  Hum.. Honestly I learned {with others} and realized that my photos were  not supposed to look like "that" {yah know, perfect} sooc!

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What was the last movie you saw?  Marley and Me  - yes, I wept like a baby

Last song played on your Ipod?  Put your records on.. Corrine Bailey Rae

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Thank you Charlotte!

Fun Stuff Monday

 

So it’s Monday, don’t want to go back to work, right? Me either. So I figured I’d give you some good linkage to keep you busy and bring a smile to your face.

First up, one of my new favorite blogs… Cake Wrecks. Jen (the author) takes user submitted pictures of cakes that were made by PROFESSIONALS and shows us what happens when cake making goes horribly wrong.

One of my personal favorites was this little gem:

SEE POST HERE

This is actually one of the decent cakes, just a bit odd in the concept. Check the blog out if you’re needing a laugh. I check my feed burner every day to see if she’s updated.

Next up.. a blog I’ve linked before, but still is amusing from time to time… Photoshop Disasters. They post examples of very bad Photoshop work. Some of the pictures are a bit boring (like the perspective is wrong or something), but some are downright hilarious..like this POST HERE- Nuff Said :D

Another always fun place to stop by is the What the Duck comic strip.

One of my favorite comic strips:

And I just got an email that WTD is now selling Plush Ducks.. I just had to get one.. it has a detachable Camera!!

GET YOUR OWN HERE!!

Plus if you’re one of the first 50 you get a signed poster. I’m hoping I was quick enough. We’ll see when it gets here :)

And the last link I’ve meant to share for awhile, just haven’t remembered to do it. I read Scott Kelby’s blog whenever I get a chance and I was perusing the old posts and found THIS ONE by Matt Kloskowski. He talks about the "non destructive workflow" and how for many of us it is a pain. He sums it up pretty good here:

 

                  "So what you’re saying is I should learn Photoshop like I learn many things in life. I need to learn the rules and know why they’re there. Then I need to learn when to break them. If I’m just starting out in Photoshop then I’m probably better off trying to save as much as I can because I’m still learning my way around. As I become more comfortable though, I shouldn’t feel like I have to work the same way I was taught in the first place?"

I think like most things, you need to learn the rules first before you know when you can break them. I usually tell my U students that if an edit takes me 5 minutes or less I don’t bother saving the layers or saving it as a PSD. If it only took me 5 minutes to create then it would just take me 5 min to re-create. If I’ve spent 30 minutes perfecting something, then I’ll save the layers. Otherwise it’s just a waste of space on your hard drive. I also regularly go back and delete PSD files. If I haven’t printed it in 6 months or so, best guess is that I won’t need the PSD again.

So that’s all the funness I have for this week. Hope that brightens your day a bit.

Oh, have you checked out the forum lately? We have something really cool going to be introduced this week.. it will change how you use your phaunt bucks :)

Great things in store for Jan- VIP Speaker ROCKS

 

We’ve just announced who the VIPhaunt speaker is this month, and we have the privilege of having Kim Townsend of KimTown & Co all month at our disposal.

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She’s answering questions about websites and what YOU need to know to get yours in ship shape for the upcoming photography season. Since most of us are in the lull between Christmas and spring sessions, this is a great time to think about revamping your website/blog.

She is also doing indepth website critiques for 10 lucky VIPers, and we all get to  read and learn from it.

We are also introducing some awesome new features for VIPers that you do not want to miss, stay tuned to hear more.

Wait.. you’re not a VIPhaunt?? What’s wrong with you?? GO to the FORUM and visit THIS THREAD for more details.

See you on the flipside!

Snow!!!

 

We’re back home (obviously) and I’m starting to go thru the backlog of emails/etc. I’ll do a "real" post soon but wanted to post a pic of the girls today enjoying all the snow we got this morning. I made the storyboard using the Heart is Found Storyboard maker.. my favorite tool for collages/storyboards.

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Now I’d like the snow to go away please… That’s about all I want to deal with, thank you very much.

Oh yeah, Happy 2009 everyone… wahootie! :D

Help find a Cure- And get some Great Art in the Process!

 

I found this website last week and thought the concept was really cool. I contacted them about the process of being featured on their site and they got back to me right away and said they’d love to feature my work!

http://wallblank.com/

I’m featured today, No Profit Friday, all the proceeds from the sale (minus their printing costs) will go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I’m so happy to give something back to the place that will some day help find a cure for my sweet Lilly! This is the photo they are featuring, it’s one of my personal favorites of Lilly from about a year ago.

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More info in their No Profit Fridays: HERE. I do not get any of the proceeds from the sale, all of the proceeds to directly to JDRF! I do get 5 prints of my own though, so I can’t wait to see them! :)

If you order a print it will be there in time for Christmas, AND you’ll get a signed edition.. think of it as your own "phaunt art" :)

Also, anyone who orders, I’ll give you a $35 gift certificate towards the phaunt store OR 1/2 off a VIPhaunt membership (so you’d just pay $40 instead of $79). If you order just email me at info@phaunt.com with the info on your order and I’ll send you the coupon code or details on how to do the VIP with the discount.

Thanks for looking and supporting me, I’m so happy to do my part to help find a cure for Lilly. :)

Good Old Fashioned Phaunt Contest

 

I figured it’s time to have a good ole fashioned phauntastic contest.. It’s been awhile!

The price this time is a fantastic new product from Heart is Found. I post with Malin (the owner) on the Beyond Just Images board (a fantastic board BTW) and she just released this new Storyboard Maker:

READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE

The price is only $50, and that is a STEAL considering you are not limited to any layout or configuration. The cool thing about this script is that all you have to do is open up your images (any size, doesnt matter) and then run the script and it automatically resizes them and places them for you. It stays open in layers so that you can move the images around after you’re done too.

I made these 3 in a matter of minutes.

(from Sam and I’s mini anniversary vacation this last weekend)

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You can make websized storyboards or print sized ones, which is a huge bonus. Kudos to Malin for making such a great tool!!

Soooooooooooooooooooo The giveaway… Now till Friday, leave a comment on the blog and a random winner will win the new HiF Storyboard Maker. No requirements except you gotta leave a comment :)

How’s that for an easy contest?

Have fun and good luck!! :)

Geek Alert!

I know I totally am lagging on the blog. I’ve got a few cool things this week.. including a radtastic update on the PS Naked Project.

Just had to post in case you didn’t know that tomorrow in the AM Adobe is going to be spilling the beans about CS4!!

Sign up HERE to Watch the Webcast

And you can see some of the features on this website if you want to watch:

and Check out THIS

phaunt Life- The Girls

 

Hope everyone had a great labor day weekend! Lilly was itching to go back to school, she was not happy that she had to wait 3 days.

We’re gearing up for a brand new month of VIP goodies on the phaunt board. We have a fantastic speaker this month, and the goodies section is already filling up with shares from our vendors (and members). Remember that the price for the VIP section goes up on September 15th, so if you’re thinking of joining, now is the time!

I will be announcing the speaker for this month later this week as well as a sneak peek of what you can download in the VIP area, but today I wanted to blog some pics of the girls and send a shoutout to my friend Jodi Friedman who is releasing some awesome new actions tomorrow!

We live about a block from the local middle school, and the girls and I decided to take a short walk the other evening and they actually let me snap some pics of them together.

 

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Lilly snapped this one of Kate and I.. a bit out of focus, but I love it anyway. 

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And here is a few collages that I created using Jodi’s Brand new Blog It Board actions. They’re SUPER fast and easy to use. I LOVE the look  of collage blogging but never have done it because I’m too lazy to make the collages myself. Now that I Have these actions I can do it in literally 10 seconds!

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The Magic Blog It boards go on sale tomorrow at 12, so don’t miss them, they’re a steal of a deal! :)

AJAXed with AWP