How to achieve a starburst effect straight out of camera!

ISO 100, Aperture f/22, Shutter Speed 1/125, Spot metered off of the blue sky.

A starburst of light can add incredible effects to your images. Intentionally creating a starburst is quite simple. Here is the simple formula:

1. Use a small aperture of f/16 or smaller.
A small aperture diffracts the light and the smaller the aperture, the more pronounced the starburst will be.

2. Use a short lens.
A short lens will most likely have better results because zooming in cancels out the starburst effect.

3. Squeeze your light.
For a more dramatic effect, pinch or squeeze your light source between two items.

4. Look in your viewfinder.
Become aware of the starburst effect in your viewfinder before taking the picture.

5. Push the button!
Take the picture, have fun and remember, practice makes perfect!!!

Greetings CTE Tucson photographers!!! Please send me your ideas for our January meetup. Let us plan for January 21th Saturday AM. I will set up a group event once we have decided the meetup location. Here are some ideas for our next meetup. Feel free to add to the list below OR you can also vote for a meetup location already suggested. Botanical gardens has a $13.00 admission. Downtown Barrio Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Saguaro National Park Sabino Canyon Madera Canyon Botanical Gardens (Butterflies)

Achieving a correct exposure and not missing a shot are equally important to me. I need a tool that will help me accomplish perfect exposures quickly. Exposure Pro Plus has become my most important but easy to use tool. Our DSLR camera measures reflective light, which means that we need to know exactly where to point our camera to achieve a correct reflective light reading. Exposure Pro Plus takes out all of the guess work by showing these areas for us!

Exposure Pro Plus gives you five gray cards to choose from, when selecting a gray card Exposure Pro Plus identifies the area in your scene for you. All gray cards will accomplish the exact same results, however, to be successful, try to use the gray card that identifies the largest area.

Here is a challenging situation. A light colored bird up against a very dark background. This is the picture that I took with my iPhone using the Exposure Pro Plus app. I'm going to use this picture because the bird is not overexposed, the light striking the bird is exactly how my eye sees it.

Here are the five gray cards that I used with the Exposure Pro Plus app.

CTE Photography meetup groups are popping up everywhere...

There is no better place to learn than with a group of creative photographers challenging their knowledge, skills and creativity; they come home with a new passion for photography.

Each group leader shares the same vision: to coordinate fun and creative photography events and to share the gift of photography with others. Soon, every group leader will be giving everyone in their group a password to our professional lab, giving full access to all of our professional products and services at cost! If you thought that your images looked good before, just wait to find out how incredible your images will look with high-end professional products not available to consumers.

Each and every one of you has a special gift; no one else can see the world the same way you do, through your own eyes. Join a CTE Photography Meetup group today and take your photography to levels never before thought possible by sharing your photography with others!

Click Here to Join Today!

If your city is not on our list, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to start a CTE meetup group in your area.

Professional products coming soon to CTE Photography members!

Take your photography to levels never thought possible! This is an opportunity to have fun, learn and share your knowledge with others who also have a passion for photography.

The objective of the CTE Photography Meetup Group is to have fun and make friends in beautiful settings, concentrating on giving and receiving shared knowledge about controlling all of the settings on your camera, light, color, metering and composition.

Everyone is welcome to join us! Invite your friends and anyone who shares the same passion for photography as you do.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN A CTE PHOTOGRAPHY MEETUP IN YOUR CITY TODAY!

Make this Valentine's Day a holiday to remember and reap the rewards of this gift for years to come!

Everyone is drop dead gorgeous. Let our photographers reveal the beauty in you. Capturing True Emotion award winning photographers will make you feel comfortable, beautiful and sexier than you ever dreamed possible.

Surprise your loved one with up to three "Sexy-as-you-dare" outfit changes and choose from many unique gift options, such as, high-end custom albums and romantic bedroom wall portraits...

The Ultimate Sexy Photo Session... more creative, more valuable and more intimate than a diamond ring!

The October photo contest Winner is Maggie from Chicago Illinois "Sleepy Meadow" 243 votes!

We want to give a big CONGRATS to our October 2011 Capturing True Emotion People’s Choice Photo Contest Winner, Maggie. Congratulations Maggie what a beautiful shot! We loved it!  Such a serene and calming picture that kind of image let's your imagination run free and warms your heart, Thank you. Your Prizes are on the way!

Here are the Final tallies for the October 2011 contest:

Winner: Maggie "Sleepy Meadow"  with 243

Monica Wilson: "Let's go round before season ends" with 173 votes

Kelly: "Skylight" with 39 votes

We would also like to personally thank each and every one of you who participated in our, monthly CTE: People's Choice Photo Contest.  You are all winners in our eyes! We truly appreciate you sharing your amazing photography craft with the community. The November Photo Contest begins today…good luck!!

Share the gift of photography with a friend or loved one this Holiday Season with Val Westover's book titled, Understanding the basic elements of photography.

This is a very easy to understand book on the basic elements of photography which includes a laminated cheat-sheet on how to shoot in every mode of a DSLR camera.

Whether you realize this or not, to take a picture, there are three things going on inside of your camera: ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed. This book will give you a very simple way of understanding these basic elements so that you can start taking more control of your photography.

Share the gift of photography by including this book in everyone's stocking this year!

Val and I really want to thank you all so much for making this such a wonderful year and here are some Links, Affiliate Discount Codes and some of our Favorite products so you can have a little Holiday Shopping Fun!
P.S. You can always check out our CTE Shop to see New Products and Our Favorite Gear!

Think Tank Camera Bags
Get a FREE Bag with every order over $50!
Coupon Code = WS-378

Capturing Couture   "Where Fashion Meets Camera Gear"  20% off of purchase!!
Coupon Code = CCCTEVWSA

Collages.net Professional Color Lab and On-Line Proofing
- Not Just for the Pro's!! Get Professional Quality products at discount pricing, a way to show off your images to family and friends and an avenue to "Jump-Start" your own Photography Business if you so choose!
Code = CTE

AND….

Do you have a "little-one" in your life who wants to be just like "Mom or Dad"
… Or who tries to use your camera?
Get them started off on the right foot with
"Canon's" Power Shot D10 Digital Camera
- Super Easy to Use!
- Waterproof AND Shock Proof (No bubble-wrap necessary!)
- 12.1 Megapixels WOW!
- 3 x Optical zoom
- Easy to see 2.5" LCD
- Optical image stabilization
- Only $269.00!! Free shipping in the USA and In-Stock!

Happy Shopping and Have a Wonderful Holiday! -Stephanie Adriana

Please use this recipe in "Manual Mode" (M).
This is a "Flash" Recipe you will NOT have to Meter.
*I usually choose my Medium Length Lens (24-70mm or Wider)… Your Flash CANNOT reach as far as your Incredible Zoom Lens (135mm +)

1. ISO (use a fairly High ISO 800+ but.. Not your Highest or at least try not to use your highest ISO)
2. APERTURE. Choose a nice Large Aperture or your Largest sized Aperture when you zoom (4.0- 5.6). Just remember, that when you zoom the people in your background WILL be Blurry (Shallow Depth of Field) so, if you want more people IN-FOCUS do NOT ZOOM. (Shoot Wide Angle)
3. SHUTTER SPEED. You can set your Shutter Speed to 1/60 or 1/125… If your people are not moving very fast your FLASH should be able to FREEZE all of their Motion… If your people are dancing, jumping or falling down (LOL! later in the evening!), 1/60 will Freeze 4 out 5 of your shots and 1/125 will Freeze Every Shot and Everyone in it!! Awesome!!
4. Turn your Flash ON and… SHOOT AWAY ALL NIGHT LONG!!
P.S. Now you can have a little FUN! Diffuse your Flash (Gary Fong Puffer… etc. on our Shop), Bounce your Flash and Possibly shoot in B&W. FUN!!
Have Fun Shooting... Smiles to you!
-Stephanie Adriana

This is where we change it up a bit, so the USUAL 5 steps of manual mode are ...
1. ISO
2. Aperture
3. Choose a Metering Mode/Pattern
4. Adjust your Shutter Speed to get the Exposure Level Indicator (needle, bars, #s) to the Zero (0)
5. Focus, Compose, Ohhh! and Shoot the picture!!

BUT…. For "Hawaii in the Background we need to throw a virtual  "Monkey Wrench" in the works!

1. ISO
2. Shutter Speed!!
*To find out what shutter speed to use when you are using your on-camera ("Pop-up") flash, "Pop-up" your flash, turn it on, try to adjust your shutter speed to your fastest shutter speed… what is it? (200 or 250?). NOW turn off your flash and set your shutter speed to whatever the fastest speed was when your flash was ON.
3. Choose a Metering Mode/Pattern.
(* You can choose 2 ways to meter. You can choose the mode that meters the entire scene OR you can choose the smaller area to meter like Spot to find the "Gray" in your scene. If you meter a lighter part in your scene you will have Extreme Contrast and Saturation! It's your shot you choose!)
4. HERE is the "Monkey Wrench"! You are now going to "Move the Needle to the Middle" (Exposure Level Indicator or #s to the Zero) with your APERTURE!! Yes I said Aperture… feels funny looks great! Do NOT move your Shutter Speed!! So after you get the needle to the middle…(with your aperture)Do a test, take the picture, you should have a very dramatic scene, lot's of "Drama", Color and Contrast or Dark sillouttes.
5. "Pop-up" (turn on) your Flash, pose your people or subject and TAKE the picture!
Nice and "Flashy" eh? Cool! Lot's of Drama!
So there you go… "Hawaii in the Background"
Have fun shooting! Smiles to you…….
-Stephanie Adriana

Capturing True Emotion

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FAMILY         HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR     HEAD SHOTS     SPECIAL EVENTS     BOUDOIR     PETS

The Perfect Gift For The Holidays!

Our photographers want to pour their creative heart and soul into your photo shoot!

Every photographer that we work with shares the same vision, to capture artistically the magic of your wedding, to capture true emotion in your photo shoot and offer you superior products, resulting in images, albums and wall-portraits that you will pass down from generation to generation.

Click Here to reserve your photo shoot today and receive a 50% off coupon good for prints, albums, cards, wall portraits… 

Let’s make magic by understanding Creativity!

“The Creative Photographer ”Understanding creativity with light, color and composition

Keep an eye out for professional photographers Val Westover and Stephanie Adriana, they will be coming to your area leading a very artistic three-hour seminar called  "The Creative Photographer". This exciting seminar is packed with inspiration and information on how to understand and how to start applying creativity immediately. They also will be offering three-hour (small group) creative expeditions for those who want to shoot side-by-side with Val & Stephanie.

As usual, since both Val & Stephanie want you to be able to take your photography to the next level, both the seminar and the expeditions will be very affordable!

All skill levels are welcome and since this is a creative photography instructional seminar it is not necessary to bring your camera/equipment.  

                                                 
The Purpose of this Creative Seminar is to gain a strong understanding of light, color, advanced metering and composition.

Join Val and Stephanie and learn how to pour your creative heart and soul into your photography!

So a few years ago I was spending the day working on the computer, catching up on the blog, sending e-mails and working on images trying to be productive. (pure torture for me… I'd rather be outside shooting!) I exported a few images, low-res (72 dpi) for use on the web/blog and e-mail, then I had to up-load a Gorgeous Wedding to our on-line proofing company Collages.net. Fine. All was going very well, I up-loaded the wedding and then exported the wedding to an external hard-drive and then deleted the project off of my computer to make room for more and called it a day! (very excited to be done and go outside!) About a month later we received a call from Collages.net asking for a large file version of an image from that wedding.. the bride would like to order a 30x40 Canvas and they only had the low-res 72 dpi file….. DISASTER!!!!!! #%$&!!! Ohhh NO!…. When I uploaded the wedding to Collages.net AND to my external hard-drive I exported ALL the images at 72 dpi!!! I forgot to change my export presets back to "Original Size". "Houston we have a Problem" I had already deleted and reformatted those cards I used for that wedding at least 5 times over… Ouch! So what can I do? Absolutely Nothing, you can do nothing with a 72 dpi image, well, 4x6 yes, 30x40 definitely NOT! Since nothing can be done to make a small file bigger and once you delete off of your computer there is no going back. I felt like dying, so I should say Hoodman USA Saved my life! After all that I could think of to do to recover the wedding was exhausted I did one final Last-ditch effort, I called Hoodman USA and asked if anything could be done with the flash cards….. Guess what they said? YES!!! Come on up to Torrance CA and we'll fix your problem!! So not one second later I jumped in the car and drove immediately to Hoodman USA and the Beautiful, Wonderful people there RECOVERED ALL of the images on my (deleted/reformatted) cards and placed the images on a DVD. After a lot of tears of joy, thanks and more thanks I left Hoodman USA vowing I would never use another brand of Flash Card!!
I LOVE Hoodman USA!
Smiles to you all! -Stephanie Adriana
P.S. The bride got her Fabulous 30x40!

Hoodman USA has come out with some incredible new cards and products check them out in our !

The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta is one of the most Exciting and Breathtaking Events we have ever witnessed and photographed! We had 3 action-packed days filled with Hot-air Balloons, Incredible Participants and Photography. The days started VERY early for us (3:00 am) to catch the balloons lit for the "Morning Glow" and ended late (10:00 pm) to catch the "Fireworks Extravaganza" WOW!! we were ALL feeling  like little kids, grinning from ear-to-ear with anticipation and amazement from all of the eye-popping colors of the balloons. This Event is meant to be photographed and we were lucky enough to be there! Thanks to all of the wonderful CTE Participants who joined us and some who traveled from all over the country to attend!
Your Photographer Friends -Stephanie Adriana and Val Westover
Come with us next year!!
2012 CTE Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Workshop and Expedition (Specific Dates to be announced)