One of my favorite clients to work with is Zumba, Inc. As a regular contributor for their health and fitness magazine, ZLife, I am able to keep up on all things Zumba. If you have not checked it out, you can view the online articles here. I highly recommend that all Zumba enthusiasts check this magazine out!

Recently I shot images for a feature on hair chalking. Yes, that's right...hair chalking. I did not know anything about this but now I am a big fan. Hair chalking is an easy way to add color to your hair and the best part is that it washes out with 1-2 shampoos. Check out the newest article on the ZLIfe Blog for tips on how to chalk your own hair: http://zlife.zumba.com/look/ready-to-streak-heres-our-how-to/

I am excited to announce that I will be judging a photo contest this spring for ViewBug! The theme of the contest is insects which I am very excited about. If you enjoy shooting wildlife and macro images, please do enter your best images of insects. Submissions will be judged on creativity, originality and in concordance with the theme. The prizes are great! The first prize winner will receive a Pico Flex Dolly and a ViewBug storage hub!

All details of the contest are available here. Enter up to 2 photos by March 1st to be considered. Also please vote for your favorite images from March 2 - 16.

I look forward to seeing your entries!

I am excited to announce that the second part of my lighting lesson for Photoflex has been posting to their Lighting School site. In this part of the lesson I take this lighting style a step further and add color to the sparkling background. You can check it out HERE. 

If you missed it, part 1 of the lesson is available HERE. 

I am happy to announce that I recently became a part of the Photoflex Pro Showcase team of photographers. I am thrilled to be working with Photoflex as I am a big fan of their products. If you like to use reflectors, I highly recommend their 5-in-1 LiteDisc, I always have a few at every one of my shoots. I am also a big fan of the Triton Flash system as it is easy to take on location and adjust to the just right amount of power.

As part of Photoflex's online Lighting School, I recently produced a 2 part lighting lesson. If you are familiar with my work then you know I really enjoy shooting beauty images. For this lesson I went over how I create a specific beauty look with a sparkling background. You can check out the first of the lesson HERE. The second part will be posted later this month. Hope it's helpful!

I recently had the pleasure of reviewing a backdrop from Drop it MODERN for Zenfolio's new Product Spotlight Blog feature. Please check it out when you have a chance, it's a quick and easy read: http://forums.zenfolio.com/blogs/blog/archive/2012/10/23/product-spotlight-drop-it-modern-mermaid-backdrop.aspx

Following the success of the introductory workshop, the advanced class was no different. The class was completely full, with a great group of photographers. We had a fun day working with Photoflex lighting, the Profoto ring flash and Drop it MODERN backdrops. We made some new friendships and all learned a ton.

Once again I need to thank the wonderful sponsors, Photoflex, Zenfolio, Millers, Keeble and Schucat and Drop it MODERN. I could not have pulled it all of without your help so thank you so much.

Check out the following gallery to see some of the awesome images created by students who attended the workshop: http://lauratillinghast.com/advaug2012

On July 21st I held my introduction to fashion and portrait lighting workshop with a great group of students. Topics ranged from lighting a white background to classic beauty lighting to natural light diffusion. We had a great day!

I want to thank Beata Pevny of BZM Studio for taking dynamic behind the scenes images during the class. Check out a few of my favorites below as well as a few of the final images from the lighting lessons.

A huge thank you goes out to my amazing sponsors Zenfolio, Millers, Photoflex, Keeble & Schucat, Drop It MODERN and Shoot Dot Edit. The Zenfolio studio was the perfect space for the class and the wonderful lighting equipment provided by Photoflex made my job very easy. You guys are the best!

Check out the following gallery to see some of the awesome images created by students who attended the workshop: http://lauratillinghast.com/introjuly2012

There are only a few slots left in the advanced lighting workshop. Sign up soon to make sure you get a spot! Hope to see you there!

For this story I had the pleasure of working with the lovely Ashley again who came to the rescue when this shoot was about to be cancelled. Thank you Ashley! I also must thank Liz, my amazing make-up artist who helped come up with three looks on the spot. We threw in some feathers, some warm light, lovely make-up and hair and viola! A beauty story is born. Here are a few of my favorite images from this story as well as a few shots we did at the end for fun.

The rest of Liz's lovely portfolio is available here: http://elizabethchangmakeup.com/

In addition to the article in this month's issue of Professional Photographer, they also picked my brain on the photo products and services I use the most. It was a lot of fun. If you do not have a copy of the magazine on hand, you can read through the Q&A below. If you have any other questions about my workflow that was not covered here, feel free to ask!

I am excited to report that I am being featured in this month's issue of Professional Photographer. Woo hoo! It's their lighting issue so I got to talk a lot about my favorite aspect of photography. I had a great time doing the interview and thank the editors for doing such a nice job. You can check out the full article as a PDF here: http://lauratillinghast.com/ppm_june.pdf

For those who want to learn more about how I do fashion and beauty lighting, I have workshops scheduled for this summer. All the details as well as registration information are listed here: http://lauratillinghast.com/workshops

I hope to see you there!

I recently did a shoot with a great backdrop from Drop It MODERN. The gorgeous black and white pattern inspired me to play with color and the intricate pattern led me to experiment with depth of field. Hair and makeup were done by the fabulous Liz Chang. And the wonderful Rebecca was on hand to help me out as well. We had a lot of fun and you can see a few of my favorite images from the shoot are posted below.

In related news, I also did a Blog post for Drop it MODERN on lighting. You can check it out here: http://blog.dropitmodern.com/?p=3680

Register now to attend lighting my workshops this summer in the San Francisco bay area. If you know me, you know I love to talk about photography and lighting. Join me in the studio as I share my methods and tricks for achieving dynamic and flattering portraits. Two sessions will be held, one introductory and one advanced. Classes will be small, up to 12 people per session. Also, there will be an optional portfolio review at the end of the day.

More information on what will be discussed, as well as registration, are available here: http://lauratillinghast.com/workshops

My website is really on a roll these days! I am delighted to announce that Professional Photographer is featuring my Home page in an article for their May issue on expert web design advice. Woo hoo!

"A good home page delivers a message to the reader and search engines. Laura Tillinghast Photography shows the photography in large format, with information supporting the images, but not competing with them visually."

Check out the full article here, it is chock full of great advice: Expert Web Design Advice for Photographers, May 2012

For those of you looking for an affordable service to host your photos and site, you must check out my provider, Zenfolio. They offer an easy to use interface and lots of tools to help you make your site unique and reflective of your own style. They have a 14 day Trial you can set up to see what you think. If you do decide to sign up, feel free to use my code Laura-20 to save 20% off of the first year's service. Enjoy! :)

Does anyone else love Zumba like I do?! If you are a Zumba fan, you may also love the magazine they put out, Z Life. It focuses on keeping fit, eating right and living in style. I am a big fan of the fitness tips and I have found some great recipes!

As a regular contributor to the magazine, I am lucky to get a variety of assignments. For this year's Spring issue, I created an image for an article on which foods contain vitamins that promote healthy joints. It was fun to work with such varied and colorful elements. Check out the article below!

I have had the wonderful honor of my website being chosen to be featured in a joint ad for 2 of my favorite companies, MpixPro and Zenfolio. Both of these vendors are invaluable to my business and I recommend them highly.

You can check out Zenfolio's awesome and affordable web hosting services here: http://www.zenfolio.com/ If you decide to sign up, feel free to use the code LAURA-20 to save 20% off of the first year's subscription.

MpixPro is my all time favorite lab. They always deliver amazing results with the fastest turnaround time I have ever seen from a digital lab. Check out their extensive product line here: http://www.mpixpro.com/