"i think i'll go for a walk outside now. the summer sun's callin' my name. i hear ya now. i just can't stay inside all day. i gotta get out get me some of those rays......everybody's smilin', sunshine day everybody's laughin', sunshine day everybody seems so happy today it's a sunshine day"
1.
Reach For The Sun, Crazy Beautiful!, 2.
when the golden sun salutes the morn, 3.
a solar blast warms my winter chills, 4.
Untitled, 5.
© Imagoism XlV, 6.
Lean On Me, 7.
...Golden Girl..., 8.
Pentlands Sunlight, 9.
Setting sun from Mt. Tamalpais, 10.
There's no way, 11.
Say you will, 12.
Euphoria, 13.
Here Comes The Sun, 14.
Flare, 15.
Fall into Autumn, 16.
summer sun, 17.
A Perfect Day on Snowdon, 18.
Rowena Crest at Sunset, 19.
beams, 20.
Sun Breaks Through, Mono Lake, 21.
best of winter ..., 22.
Captive, 23.
sunshine, 24.
Untitled, 25.
Untitled
today's POTD goes to
rebecca lily. what a beautiful image! i hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of sun, family and fun!!
and the winner of the fine art texture pack from
unik design is........
THISTLE CREEK PHOTOGRAPHY!
please email me at thousandwords@bresnan.net for all the details. congrats!!!
if you didn't get the free download from
unik designs, make sure you scroll down to get it and if you didn't win...hop on over to unik design and order your texture packs or announcements today...you will fall in LOVE!!
I am honored to choose the photo of the day taken by a wonderful friend of mine,
erin2kiddos . I love the vintage feel of this photo showcasing a soon to be mother in an elegant way.
I just love browsing through all of the photos in The Maternal Lens pool on flickr, thank you for your submissions♥♥♥
The photo of the day is by the talented
{Emily}. Stop by and check out her stream, as well as the maternal lens
flickr pool.So lovely and simple. I love the delicacy and contrast. :)
Don't forget to check out the Unik Design texture set GIVEAWAY!!!
Leave us a "love note" (comment) with your e-mail or contact info (blog, etc.) That's it! It's that easy!
But wait!!
you want to get an additional entry, leave us ANOTHER love note that says you have clicked to become a follower of the blog or if you already are a follower. (We will check!) This = 2 entries.
THEN, you can get another entry if you grab our button (at the bottom of our blog) and put it on your blog...you need to leave us another comment with the blog URL of where the button is... this = 3 entries.
{all 3 entries must be in separate comments or else they will be counted as one}
contest will end thursday, may 28th at 9pm mountain time. winner will be chosen at random by random.org
The POTD today is brought to you by
Kat Braman.
I love everything about this photo. The genuine laugh, the interaction, the post processing, right down to those dirty feet!
Go check out our
Flickr Group, and stay for awhile. You won't be sorry you did!
aerial photography at it's best! enjoy.
i just love moments like this that get captured. so sweet, so real....so wonderful. this was taken by
aileen. fantastic shot!!!
...and keep on posting those shots to our
flickr group! you could be the next potd!!
so, i was spending some time over at
photojojo and came across this great tutorial. as soon as i saw it, i knew i wanted to try it!! i would love for all of our readers to give it a shot! if/when you do, post a link to your photo in the comment section.....we will post our favorite ones once we get at least 10 entries!!
HERE IS THE ARTICLE/TUTORIAL TAKEN FROM PHOTOJOJO:
you’re twirling. The warm sun is falling on your face, the soft grass is under your bare feet and an ecstatic child is beaming at you. That’s the sort of moment that makes us love summer.
No such a memory? Fear not! With a willing small human and a helpful friend, you can make your very own magic moment! (And a stunning photo record to boot.)
Step One
Position your friend behind you and the child in front, with your friend holding the camera above your arms and pointing it down toward the child. Select a slow-ish shutter speed of 1/15th sec to blur the background.
Step Two
Altogether now: spin!
Step Three
Once our giddy little subject is aloft, advise your friend to start snapping.
Step Four
Review your photos, and repeat as necessary. (We’d wait for your head to stop spinning first.)
Thanks to reader Linda LaSut for the tip! Photo Credit: Philipe Tarbouriech
What photo better represents The Maternal Lens? It screams maternal to me on a very basic level. Taken by
[Amy]2nd Story, she has a whole series with this family, you should check it out, as well as all of her lovely photos.
Betcha thought I forgot, huh!? Nope. I was busy driving across Iowa and Nebraska, deep in the heart of corn country. When I took a peek at TML's
flickr pool tonight, this pic titled "Scarecrow" seemed like the perfect fit for today! A gorgeous shot by
The Days I'll Remember ~ Jennifer. Stop by and visit her stream!
When I first started to learn about Photoshop actions,
Lilyblueactions were always the most raved about. The Maternal Lens gals decided to give them a whirl and tell ya what we think...............WE LOVE THEM!
We tried out the Lilyblue Waterplay actions and presets and they are a must for any photographer. The set includes some proofing actions, some great, subtle "water" actions that give your photo an instand makeover, and some actions that combine a few of the other Waterplay elements to give you a whole new look. Some of our favorites from the Waterplay set are the Sweet Water, Rose Water, Golden Water and Warm Water actions. You can get this awesome set
HERE.Here's a few plays so you can see the magic for yourself!
These two are both Sweet Water plays...
Give Lilyblue a try for yourself!
Earlier this spring, I blogged about my photography goal for the summer, which was to learn to capture great sun flare. Let me be the first to say, I STINK AT IT! About a month ago, during a session, I was excited to get a little bit of sun haze, not quite flare, but it's a start.
Here is the SOOC (straight out of camera) image on the left and the edit I did using
Jean's sunteaser action on the right.
I love the way the edit enhances the haze I had, but I wish I had gotten more of flare SOOC. This is where you come in! I know many of you are handy with snagging some flare, so share some secrets with us!
What time of day do you catch the best flare?
What type of lens and settings do you use?
Where should the sun be in relation to you and your subject?
What about blowouts? How do you determine your exposure and are blowouts ok or not ok?
Do you have PS actions that are great for creating or enhancing flare effects?
We love tips and we love to share here at {the maternal lens}, so please share away! I'll do a follow up post with all the goods!
Happy shooting!
Jen
The photo of the day today was taken by
Arryn with a Y. Congrats!
Isn't it beautiful? A classic, romantic, timeless, lovely shot indeed--and I love the black and white conversion.
If you would like to see
your photo as photo of the day, contribute to our
Flickr Group and it could be chosen!
this gorgeous shot comes from katie of
kat&kat - check out her flickr. you won't be disappointed.
sorry, i had every intention of posting the winner of the actions last night, but life got in the way :).
it was a super long, not so great day AND the finale of
grey's was on...did you see it???? amazing, huh?!?!
anyway, today is a new day, the sun is shining......and here is the winner!!!
catherine getz--congrats!! you are the winner of the vintage actions!! please email me at thousandwords@bresnan.net. for those of you that didn't win, or missed the sign up, please hop over to
quick click designs and check out all the actions that she has to offer!!!
....and now, the photo of the day for
friday! i LOVE the before and after of this. so beautiful. such a gorgeous moment of motherhood. this photo was taken by
bella allure imagery if you have a moment, go check out her photos....just wonderful!!
have a happy
friday everyone!!!
What a sweet photo, using Pioneer Woman's free actions, taken by
sarahafield. I absolutely love going through all of the wonderful photos submitted daily to The
Maternal Lens pool on
Flickr. Keep up the good work, and if you want your photo to be in the running for the photo of the day, please do contribute.
" And thou shalt in thy daughter see, this picture, once, resembled thee. "~Ambrose PhilipsThis is me, at three years old. (Please do excuse the scanned in, ancient snapshots!) This is also one of the only dresses that is still around from my childhood. It would be $.25 garage sale fodder for sure, but to me it is so much more.
Here it is, 27 years later, on my own daughter. She is almost 2 1/2.
{ *photographers note--I used Katherine's Vintage Vannah on these! Read on below this post to see how you can score it! }
Looking at these photos has provoked me think on the path that I have traveled; rocky at times, and makes me wonder where her path will lead her. Where will she be 27 years from now? (Blogging perhaps? Ü) Wherever her feet take her, I pray that she knows without a doubt that she was and is loved.
This image by
jennyb74 is so full of joy, it jumped right out to me! I'm sure anyone who has visited her stream falls in love with her images - stop by and you will too! Also, take a minute to browse TML
flickr group to find some great work and inspiration!
This image made me smile this morning. Beautiful light, color, composition, subject matter...congrats
Hana (Peanut Butter and Ella)!
Would you like to see your photo featured on our blog? Check out our
Flickr Group and see what it's all about.
we are thrilled to know that we have been nominated for the awesome photography blog award! but, now we need your votes to win! please go HERE and scroll down to the photography blog poll and vote for us, the maternal lens! thank you so, so much to all of our readers!! feel free to help us spread the word!***UPDATE*** THANK YOU TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU WHO VOTED. WE ARE THRILLED TO HAVE TAKEN SECOND PLACE. THERE WAS SOME TOUGH COMPETITION....AND
TRULY, WE ARE HONORED JUST TO HAVE BEEN NOMINATED!
thank you so, so much to all of you who entered the giveaway! wow, over 300 entries! MJC is well loved!! we also noticed a bunch of new "faces" to our blog...we want to welcome you! thank you for taking the time to see what the maternal lens is all about. we hope you like it here and continue to check in often. now for the results....unfortunately, there can only be 3 winners....so.....drumroll, please......here are your winners:
mamachanga, shae and elizabeth leighton! a HUGE congrats to you! please email me, shannon, at thousandwords@bresnan.net and i will get all the details to you! so exciting!!all of us here at the maternal lens want to wish a very happy mother's day to all of the amazing mothers out there!! we hope you had a wonderful day full of hugs, kisses and happiness!
xo, shannon, meg, jen, megan and sarah
i've been bursting at the seams waiting for this giveaway! i'm so excited! i hope you all are too! first off, if you don't already know what matilda jane is, let me share with you....matilda jane clothing company makes clothing for girls (and adults too) that is beyond gorgeous. each piece is a work of art. the fabrics used are stunning...full of color, full of life! i think any girl who is lucky enough to wear MJ clothes would tell you how much they love them! so, head on over and pick up some outfits for your daughter, niece, friends....
go check out her website (after you read this post of course) and take some time to look around. you will fall in love! you can never have too many MJ outfits, so order away :)
you may also be interested in hosting a trunk show and get some great deals in return!
also, stay tuned for the online art fair that will take place from may 15- may 17th. 
and now for the BEST part...matilda jane clothing company is giving away 3 MJC outfits!! that means that 3 of our readers will each win one matilda jane outfit!! if you win, you will let me know what size you need and the outfit will be sent directly to you! how exciting, huh?!!!
Here's how to win: Leave us a "love note" (comment) with your e-mail or contact info (blog, etc.) That's it! It's that easy!
But wait!!
If you want to get an additional entry, leave us ANOTHER love note that says you have clicked to become a follower of the blog or if you already are a follower. (We will check!) This = 2 entries.
THEN, you can get another entry if you grab our button (at the bottom of our blog) and put it on your blog...you need to leave us another comment with the blog URL of where the button is... this = 3 entries.{all 3 entries must be in seperate comments or else they will be counted as one}contest will end sunday at 9pm, mountain time. yep, that's mother's day! winners will be chosen by using random.org and i will annouce the winners sunday night. good luck!!
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