The year Keith and I got married, we started a tradition of our own—adding photo ornaments to our Christmas tree.  Toward the end of each year, we go through our photos and select one shot to add to our tree.  It’s a great way to remind of us a place we visited or something fun we did that year.  And I’m hoping that in fifty years, we’ll have a tree loaded with nothing but photo ornaments (and twinkling lights, of course!) to show our journey as a couple.

And last year, we started that same tradition with our clients—we sent each family or bridal couple one of our favorite shots from their photo sessions.  Since we got a ton of great feedback, we decided to do the same this year.  And all the effort of printing, cutting, and prepping the ornaments for shipping was well worth it, especially when you see how adorable they all look sprawled on our dining room table.  We feel so lucky to have worked with so many great families.  To all our 2009 clients…thank you!

To celebrate the new season—today is the first day of fall—we thought we’d hold a contest, so we’re asking you: What is your favorite part of fall?

It’s simple to enter. Just leave comment in the box below between now and September 30. One lucky person will be chosen at random to win a $10 gift card to Starbucks. This is your chance to get your hands on their fantastic pumpkin spice latte! And feel free to tell your friends to enter. If they win, they can share the prize and treat you to a cup o’ joe.

We look forward to your responses. Happy autumn!

EDIT TO ADD: September 30, 2009

Thanks to all who took the time to comment!  We have a winner!!!  Congratulations to DinaMeri!  Your gift card is on its way.  Enjoy!

You might remember our post last year on Mr. Kelby’s simply titled tome, The Digital Photography Book. Since we loved his first volume so much, we knew we had to check out his second volume and provide a full report.

Of course The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2 isn’t the first how-to aimed at helping hobbyists learn some of the secrets of the trade, but as far as we’re concerned it’s definitely the most practical. While the first volume is a general overview of digital photography and divides its guidance into various types of photography (weddings, flowers, landscapes and people each gets its own chapter), the second volume devotes significant time to lighting as well as chapters on studio equipment, macros and “getting the shot,” among other topics.

If you’re like us and don’t have the patience to decipher the technical jargon in photography textbooks, when you’re making the transition to digital photography you don’t really want to know the physics of light and what computations your camera goes through to create the image you see. What you want to know is: how did (insert your favorite photographer here) get that shot? And Mr. Kelby answers that question succinctly by show-and-tell.

For example, page 89 describes how to take advantage of window light by actually showing a picture of the photographer in relation to the model and instructing you how to setup the shot. Page 32 illustrates a practical method of shooting sunset portraits with off-camera flash, once again providing a picture as an example of a successful shoot. Wondering how to use your fish-eye without a ton of distortion? The answer is on page 112, again with a complementary illustration.

Whereas most overview photography books either dumb it down with overly elementary information geared toward complete novices or overly complex information intended for students of the art, Mr. Kelby’s book manages to cut to the chase with practical, easy-to-follow steps that ensure great photos. We highly recommend it.

And it’s quite affordable, too! Amazon is our favorite place to buy books, and it seems to have the best prices for this series. The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2 is currently listed at $16.49. And if you haven’t picked up Volume One yet, it’s only $11.99. Plus, Keith and I were excited to see that Volume Three is available for pre-order. We can’t wait!

Right out of the box it looks cool and takes great pictures. Even before you learn to use manual settings (and you will learn manual settings) you take this great little toy out on vacation and impress yourself with shots that you always missed with the old point-and-shoot. The ability to adjust aperture and shutter speed, in addition to plenty of lens options for those with the budget for such things, means higher quality images that you are pleased to post on Facebook and share with your friends and family.

Unfortunately, the Rebel inspired the shutterbug spirit in both of us. This little SLR led to fancier and more expensive accessories like nicer lenses and fancy Pocket Wizard flash goodies. Our Orange County photography business doesn’t rely on the Rebel anymore, but it’s good enough to function as a backup camera in case something goes wrong on site—and in fact we still carry the camera on photo shoots.

Over the past year, a number of our clients have been searching for their first digital SLR camera.  When they ask us for advice on a good camera to start with, we always recommend the Rebel.  Canon’s latest version is the Digital Rebel XSi. This 12.2-megapixel beauty with its 3″ LCD should definitely get you excited about taking your photos to the next level.  Check it out on Amazon.

And if a new camera doesn’t quite fit your budget, consider purchasing a used one from our favorite camera store, B&H Photo Video. Their used equipment is top notch.  We’ve never been disappointed with the used lenses or camera bodies we’ve bought.

And if you’re interested in jumping into photography, but don’t want to pay top dollar for new equipment, B&H has an awesome Used Store. We’ve bought a few used lenses and they always arrive in near mint condition.

Is this a shameless plug for one of our favorite stores?  You bet!  But we really do trust all of the camera equipment we buy from them.  If you are interested in checking them out, click the banner below.

100mm, 200 ISO, 1/3, f3.2