I'm so excited! I finally finished my first Digital Scrapbook Kit, called Summer Treats. It's such a great set of summery designs. It would be perfect for scrapping your summer fun. This kit took me forever and I'm so proud of it. It was a lot of work and I learned so much! I hope you enjoy it. Check it out below and on my Etsy site.
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Just got some amazing Lightroom presets from Kelsey Anderson Photography! Ever since I found her site, I loved looking at her pictures. So I bought some of her presets and decided to test them out on some old photos of mine. Check them out! Also to buy Kelsey's Lightroom Presets go to her blog.
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Kelsey Anderson's Flamingo Preset
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Kelsey Anderson's Black & White Preset
 
The other day I played around with Back Button Focusing, which is basically where you change the focus button to a back button rather than being on the shutter button. For information on Back Button Focus for Canons visit this site.  I learned about this from www.ClickinMoms.com, which is an awesome site. I've been having trouble locking my focus, so the ladies on there suggested to try this. I'm still getting used to it but need to try it out on a human being. My only issue is trying not to move my camera a little after I hit the back button and then pushing down the shutter button. Otherwise, I get some blur which I do not want of course. I want sharp pictures! I took pictures of my dogs yesterday using it. Cooper was an amazing model for me. Miley not so much. She just wanted to play and sniff the back yard. All of these were taken in Manual mode with an aperture of 2.5 and a shutter speed of 1/80 sec and an ISO of 200.  I also used custom white balance but feel like it wasn't accurate enough. So I had to lighten these up a bit in Photoshop because they came out a little dark SOOC. Here are a few of my favorites.
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Cooper is so proper. Laying in the grass is one of his favorite things to do.
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The only good picture I got of Miley
 
I have a new invitation in my shop, which was inspired by a friend's wedding. It has a fall tree design with yellow, green, and red leaves. All colors and fonts and even tree type are customizable. This invitation is PERFECT for a fall themed wedding.
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Check out Erin Leigh Designs on Etsy by clicking HERE.
 
I finally had some time to play with some photoshop actions. I used a picture from my recent shoot of 1 year old Emma. I show you the before and after of the photos. The before shot has a few touch ups from Lightroom.  For the after picture, I used Coffee Shops Perfect Portrait Action and followed the directions to whiten the eyes, brighten the eyes, pop the color, and create a vignette. I also used the patch tool to remove the slobber from her mouth. Here are the Before and After pictures:
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I think it turned out pretty well. There are still a few more things I could do to enhance the picture such as edit out the fly away hair and edit out the distracting piece of grass on the top corner but its still a cute picture of Emma!
 
I am looking for models of all ages who would like a FREE portrait session so I can build my portfolio. You will either get a disc of edited images or a link to a place to download the pictures. You will also agree to let me use the photos for my portfolio. I am looking for newborns, infants, children, seniors, families, couples and especially BRIDES for a bridal portrait session. Contact me through my contact page here or click the link above. To see some of my recent shoots go here or here or here.

Thanks! I look forward to working with you!
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I have a new Bachelorette Party Invitation in my Etsy shop and a Baby Shower invite with a baby carriage.
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To order these invites go to my etsy shop here.
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To order these baby shower invitations, go to my etsy site, Erin Leigh Designs.
 
This past weekend I did a mini photo shoot with my cousin's1 year old daughter, Emma. Isn't she adorable with her little grin and striped bow.  Here's a little sneak peak of the portrait session we did in Mooresville, Indiana's park.
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Thanks for being such an adorable model Emma!
 
I tried photographing Fireworks for the first time with my DSLR last night. I forgot my tripod so I tried to hold the camera as steady as I could. I learned the fireworks technique from the Basic Photography class at PhotographX in north Kansas City. I used the BULB setting as the shutter speed and an aperture of f14. The BULB setting allows the shutter to stay open as long as you hold down the shutter  button. I liked getting more than one firework in a shot. A good article on shooting fireworks can be found here at  Digital Photography School. Here's a few that turned out pretty good.
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Just got a new camera lense. It's a prime lense (If you don't know the difference b/w a prime lense and zoom lense, go here for more information). I bought a Canon 50mm f1.8, which is supposed to be great for portraiture. I've only had a chance to use it on my dogs. Here's a few pics with my new lense!
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