January 7, 2010

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Posted in Family, Kids, Teens 24 comments

Hello and welcome to my blog where I cut through the bull and give you real advice in real.plain.english.

I’m a professional photographer who loves Lightroom, Photoshop & PSE (Photoshop Elements). I love to share my knowledge with you!

I have a passion to help parents take better photos of their kids (my DVD is coming out soon!)

I’ve got loads of great readers who get a daily dose in their inbox of:

Before & After Monday
Techie Tuesday
Reader question Wednesday (send me any photography questions and I’ll answer ‘em!)
Freebie Thursday (I troll the WWW to find you the greatest swag for your photographic pleasure)
Reader Photo Friday (you send me your snaps and I take time editing them!)

So have fun and subscribe to stay in the loop. All the cool kids are doin’ it.

Posted in Family, Kids, Teens

24 comments

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Catherine Sim - January 13, 2010 - 6:48 am

Hi Elizabeth, I was forwarded your post about shoot to live by my friend Rachael we both have a daughter with Rett Syndrome and have become life long friends as a result of our daughters intorducing us to each other via school.
I so enjoyed your post and also have one of those photo’s of my daughter Georgina, she was bum shuffling her way out of the toilet ( her favourite hang out at that time :-) and I called her name she looked straight at me and smiled and its about the last time she looked at me as if she knew who I was its one of my first saves in the event of a fire, after the family. Georgina is now 14 and I have just received her school photo and for the first time ever the photographer bothered to take the time allow Georgina to relax and I have another precious photo to add to my list.
As we have another snow day here in England, we are so rubbish when it snows a bit in this country I think i will scan them into the computer so my friends can share my joy in old and new pictures on facebook.

Keep well and I hope someone nice comes and does your dishes every now and then :-)

elizabethhalford - January 13, 2010 - 1:27 pm

Oh thank you so SO much for your reply. We just had Grace’s first multiple disciplinary assessment today and I am sooo relieved to get that ball rolling. They’re sending Grace so many amazing pieces of equipment for standing, sitting, bathing, etc. What a huge relief. Where in the country do you live? As I get more entrenched in this world and feel that I ‘understand’ these girls a bit better I would love to do days to photograph them for their families. That would be dreamy.

Adena - February 4, 2010 - 11:40 pm

I just found your site via digital photography school and I LOVE it!! So much wonderful information and I am just a sponge. I started my interest in photography about 8 yrs ago due to scrapbooking. But it has only recently become more of a passion that I really want to pursue. I just bought a Nikon D90 and my order for Photoshop CS4 Extended is being delivered tomorrow. My question is that after I thought I researched this thoroughly and that CS4 is everything I would need, it now seem I need Lightroom also? Won’t PS CS4 do all of the image editing that I need to do? Especially interested in good skin tones/removing blemishes, etc for portraits. Thanks.

elizabethhalford - February 5, 2010 - 6:34 am

@Adena: Oh wow you sure did dive into the deep end! Lucky you with an absolutely amazing camera (love the D90) and, yes CS4 is an amazingly capable piece of software. Photoshop was developed with graphics in mind and, naturally, extended to photography easily. However, photographers have what we call a ‘workflow’ whereby we load images into our computer and put them through our own conveyor belt of customisations. In my workflow, I apply general edits in Lightroom, fix colours, apply presets, heal blemishes, alter contrast, etc and then in PS, I edit a few selected images which I want to texturise or do other special things to. Every photographer’s workflow is different. If you plan on taking a lot of photos (I would imagine so with such a beautiful camera in your hand!) then PS will be time consuming because you have to deal with each photo individually. When you have a set of images in LR, you can apply the same changes to every shot with one button rather than open > edit > save you’d have to do in PS. The list of things you ‘need’ in photography never seems to end :) Stick around I’d love to see what you come up with! Are you on Flickr?

Alison - February 5, 2010 - 9:39 am

Hi Elizabeth, I just wanted to let you know your amazing. Your so talented and its so great that your willing & able to share your knowledge & talents with people you dont even know. I absolutely love your site. I get so excited every morning to wake up and check what new posts are on your blog for the day.
Thank you for all that you do & keep up the good work!!!

Robyn Woodroffe - February 21, 2010 - 10:28 pm

Hi Elizabeth,

I just wanted to share some thouthts with you. I first “heard” of you last week, and since then have been blown away by you and your website. Not only do you use PSE–when other courses I have done or tuition attempted have only used PS and have looked down their noses at me for having an inferior product. SO it is just WONDERFUL to have someone with your talents using this medium.

Secondly I thank you for being SO generous with your ideas, information, tutorials etc. A lot of people believe knowledge is power and are reticent to pass it on, but THANKYOU for your generosity of spirit. ANd your advice is practical, and knowledgeable.

Thirdly, THANK YOU THANKYOU THANKYOU for introducing me to the Florabella actions–I bought the vintage triple set, and am so happy I could cry. I have paid an instructor a few hundred dollars to try to teach me how to do these vintage looks , with not much success. And there it is, the look I want with one click !!!

So keep up the good work , I LOVE your site,

Robyn (AUstralia)

Robyn Woodroffe - February 21, 2010 - 10:32 pm

PS What does SOOC stand for ??

elizabethhalford - February 21, 2010 - 11:03 pm

@robyn: oh my goodness what an amazing and lovely message! 1} I really want to escape full version PS if at all possible and you’re right there isn’t enough out there. 2} people try to ‘warn’ me about the dangers of sharing what I know. They say I’ll put myself out of business. I wouldn’t know anything if it weren’t for all the free help on the internet. So happy you found me too stick around! Oh and SOOC means ‘straight out of camera’ xoxo

Nathan - February 25, 2010 - 10:37 pm

Hey, I was wondering how you put together that little insignia at the bottom of your photos. Not how to put it in your photos but how did you make it. I’ve been trying for hours to make a good similar one but have had no luck thanks.

elizabethhalford - February 26, 2010 - 1:30 pm

@Nathan: Hello! I had mine custom made by a designer, but you can find loads of the same type of thing at The Album Cafe (top right square over there in my sidebar —>)

Rachele - March 19, 2010 - 4:53 am

How do I subscribe? The Daily Dose sounds great!

Simone - March 25, 2010 - 5:20 pm

Hi Elizabeth

Like the new site layout. I can’t find today’s post. I’m going to freak out! JK = Just Kidding. Checking your post is like brushing my teeth or having my morning tea; something I have to do every day. I did take some time to read these past comments here, and ego what Alison said on Feb. 5. I as well as many other readers, appreciate what you’re doing here and I’m glad you did agree with what people were saying about it putting you out of business. You have many many years of experience and have learned your craft.
I think I will be a hobbyist/novice for many years to come. I really enjoy reading your blog and love that fact that you respond to your readers as well.

Simone - March 25, 2010 - 5:24 pm

oops. correction. I meant, ECHO what Alison said and I’m glad that you DIDN’T agree with what people were saying about going out of business.

elizabethhalford - March 25, 2010 - 8:17 pm

@Simone: Hi! Yeah still trying to tweak it :( I just hated knowing that people who got a hold of my business card go to my website to find out about booking a session and get hit upside the head with a massive blog. I wanted them to find it easy to choose the blog or the studio. But then when you click through to the blog, you just end up on the one welcome post. To see daily posts, you just click ‘old news’ and ‘march’ and that’s the ongoing list of blogs. Must go write a note to tell everyone that, come to think of it!

elizabethhalford - March 25, 2010 - 8:26 pm

@Simone: Oh one more thing: You can subscribe to get my posts in your email (although they always look better on the site!) That way, you never miss one! It’s in the sliding drawer on the top left of the site.

Bryce Wilson - March 28, 2010 - 5:33 pm

Elizabeth, thanks so much for the effort you put into this blog, I recently discovered it on the DBS site. While there are many sources of photographic knowledge, yours are both informative and delightful. I, very much, doubt that you will loose business by sharing your knowledge, your creativity and love of life make you a artist one that will always be in demand.

Thanks again,

Bryce Wilson

Louisville, Kentucky USA

hfng - March 31, 2010 - 11:34 am

Hi Elizabeth,

Looks like you have a lot of fans! Me included. I enjoy very much your posts and your tutorials on Photoshop especially when you do things from scratch without the presets.
I have added you to my must read feeds
http://www.reddotstudio.ch/rds-feeds/

hfng

Lauren - April 11, 2010 - 9:59 pm

Elizabeth!! Hi :)
I have been reading your blog for several months now and signed up to emails so I get it in my inbox every day so it feels like I know you already! So I’m glad I have finally got around to sending you a message! Checking my e-mails is now guaranteed enjoyment as I know that there will always be something good to read! I would just like to agree with everyone that’s praised your willingness to share your passion and creativity with us all! Reading your blog has kept me going through my intensive teacher training course when I haven’t had time to pick up my beloved camera and the lack of creativity in my life was making me shrivel up inside…. Anyway- Now I’m done-hooray! I’m planning to dive back in head first and first on my to-do list is to get myself a light scoop- so i’m seriously excited about that!! My first question (probably of many to come i’m afraid) is camera/flash related!! I have been doing photography for fun for a while and through contacts have started to get requests to do some headshots, weddings, band photography etc, which means I really am in dire need of an external flash. As a poor student I haven’t been able to afford one! My dilemma is that I have a Sony DSLR and as I’m sure you’re aware Sony are a sneaky bunch and have to have their own individual version of everything.Grr! So…I am debating whether to buy a flash+lightscoop for the Sony A200 (which i wont be able to use when i eventually upgrade my camera) or whether to wait a little longer, save up a little bit more and upgrade my camera sooner rather than later and build flash/lens empire from there. What are your thoughts?
Many thanks in advance, and PLEASE, keep up the fantastic work! Have a great week, Lauren :)

Janet - April 18, 2010 - 12:20 pm

I would like to subscribe to your blog. Your work in great.

Dianne - May 9, 2010 - 5:52 am

Just discovered you via your dPS posting on shooting in the sun and loved every photo so came here to subscribe to your blog. I am an avid hobbyist who also has resisted PS and have only used PSE but am sorely tempted by Lightroom after seeing a demo at one of our camera club meetings. Am looking forward to delving further into your site.

Kylee - June 15, 2010 - 7:24 pm

Hi Elizabeth! I love your blog and check in daily! I love your new gallery of favorite pics! What is the name of the song and the artist that sings it that you have playing? It is beautiful!

elizabethhalford - June 15, 2010 - 8:31 pm

Hi Kylee! Her name is Priscilla Ahn. Isn’t it dreamy?

shrinivas shastri - August 23, 2010 - 2:50 pm

great photos!!! and u have catched the emotions like anyhting and i m not a wortthy person to judge the photos
bt can say my view simply i m impressed

srinivas shastri
hubli,karnataka,india

m.husain - September 3, 2010 - 4:42 pm

Your photographs are so lovely and beautiful, I myself a photographer, the best feature I fond in your photography is they
are well composed sharp and pleasing, English is my problem I know that am not expressing my self properly, sorry..
husain

Elizabeth Halford Photography » Cut through the bull and get real advice in plain English

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