Learning Curve the New Photoshop And Lightroom

I finally decided to upgrade to the BIG Photoshop and Lightroom subscription. I had been using PS Elements 11 and a really old version of Lightroom (3) but a lot has been added to the new version and Photoshop really does have a lot more tools than Elements. I've been editing these photos for the past 3 days using the new programs and I really like them! It's a bit of a learning curve for me for sure but well worth the effort! It's at times been overwhelming trying to figure out all this new stuff but I've definitely learned some skills and hope to continue to learn and keep honing my skills. Here are the results from my first adventures in Lightroom and Photoshop. Click on the link to see all the photos.Click Here to see my first photos edited in Lightroom and Photoshop

Big Life Changes & My newest Calendar

I just realized how much I've been neglecting my blog today when I saw my last post was last year's calendar post and here I am posting my new calendar a year later! Thank you to any of my readers who are still hanging on and I apologize for disappearing for so long. I was seriously geting burnt out with my day job and working for someone else so  last Spring I decided to take the plunge and quit my day job.  I took a couple months off and in July I officially started my photography business. In addition to the nature photography I'm now offering real estate photography services & portraits and I'm learning how to do product photography as well. I had the pleasure of shooting an elopement wedding in the blue ridgemountains in July and I've shot a couple of rental cabins and my newest venture is the product photography as mentioned above.  It's gotten off to a slow start but so far it's been enough to  pay our bills, keep food in our bellies and keep a roof over our heads. My new website  is LaraEllisPhotography.com. And here is the new Calendar Link if you want to purchase a calendar and help me on my new path of photography as a carreer. You can also purchase prints, canvases, cards and various other products including yoga mats HERE. Thank you again to any of you who still follow my blog. Hopefully in the days ayead I'll have more time to write more posts. 

New 2017 Calendars

My new calendars for 2017 are out.

Click Here to purchase  and to view larger images. Thank you for your support. 😊

It's Spring In the Valley. Time for Nesting!

It's Spring time in the Shenandoah Valley and all the birds large and small are breeding and nesting. Spring is off to a chilly start with some night time lows in the 30's and the chance of snow this weekend but the little bursts of color from the flowering trees and the breeding wild turkeys confirm that "yes it really is Spring" even if the weather says otherwise. Happy Spring everyone! :-)



I'm a hobby photographer with professional dreams and my photography is self sustaining at this point but if you wish to contribute to funding my dreams, prints and greeting cards are available below, just click on the images below.  Any little bit is much appreciated! :-)  :

Birds Birds Birds!

I decided to spend a day with the birds a couple of days ago. The top photo is a pine warbler, the middle a white breasted nuthatch who actually picked up that chunk of suet that was the same size as him and promptly dropped it Lol! He bit off more than he could chew but I retrieved it for him so he could finish his meal. The bottom photo is a male downy woodpecker. These were shot using my Nikon 2.8 70-200 VR lens on a tripod (VR mode turned off since it was on the tripod which can actually cause blurry photos if left on while on a tripod). I hope to one day be a full time professional nature and landscape photographer but at this point in time my  photo sales are just enough to sustain my photography as a hobby and pay for my website and a savings plan towards better gear. If you would like to contribute to my journey to professional photographer, my photos can be purchased as greeting cards, prints , canvases, iphone & Galaxy cases and throw pillows.  Thanks for stopping by. Photo Links below if you wish to purchase anything :

Return To Massanutten Spring With The Big Camera

About a week ago I found a little mountain spring  that was a 2 mile day hike from our home. I only had my cell phone with at the time so I snapped a photo with my litle Galaxy. I knew I wanted to return with my "Big Camera". So I set out to return yesterday with my Nikon D300 and a 2.8 17-35 mm lens, a circular polarizer and a two neutral density filters (a 4 and a 10) and a tripod and cable release. For some reason the hike seemed sooo much harder than the first time! When I returned with an aching back and sore knee I realized once I got home and weighed my photo gear that I was toting 11 lbs! Oh well I got a good work out in and a photo I'm pretty happy with. Here is the resulting photo from my hike. I hope you enjoy it too and feel a sense of peace from it like I did when I was there.

Prints and greeting cards can be purchased HERE if you would like to support my photography endeavors. Thanks for stopping by my blog and feel free to share my blog. :-)

Beauty In Our Own Backyard

Sometimes you don't have to go as far as you think in search of photo inspiration. I was recently lucky enough to make a new friend  who told my hiking buddy & I about a trail that we didn't even know existed that ends at this beautiful little spring. I was super excited when I first found out about it and and wanted to check it out to see if it was worth bringing my SLR camera and a tripod and it turns out it is! I shot this with my my phone but I'm definitely going to return with my big camera and tripod soon. It's a good work out too. It takes a total of about 2 hours round trip from the woods behind our house with a good deal of it going up the mountain and then down the other side so I'll be getting back in shape in my quest for beautiful photos too which is a win win! :-)