Saturday Morning I Joined over 30,000 photographers all around the world for Scott Kelby's World Wide Photowalk. It was a blast meeting and sharing the fun of walking around downtown Charleston SC, it is a really lovely city.

Our Flickr Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/pw2010csc/

It was super warm but i think not as hot as i expected, Charleston is a little cooler than Florence i think b/c of the nearby water.

It was a great day, I enjoyed the walk and the aquarium afterwards and i've now got a nice archive of images to go though.

(I also did a little set of townhouse pics Friday, and a meeting of a coworker's adopted child at the airport Sunday; what a pictastic weekend! :) )

It's amazing the life you can find in a tiny little backyard like mine, this is the first really good dragonfly picture I've taken i think. It was nice and cooperative and just let me shoot till my heart's content. :)

I've posted this many times but this is my all time favorite shot, one of the first i took with my first SLR; it will always hold a special place in my heart.

Delicious watermelon, some of the sure signs of summer. Can't believe i waited so long to get one soooo very good!

I think there were more events this year b/c the 4th feel on a Sunday; I ended going to 3 events;

One in Hartsville on Friday, nice little show; lots of people!

One at the Oakdale Country Club on Saturday ; a VERY impressive 45 min show; by far the best this year!:

and then lake Wateree with the family on Sunday very tricky shooting from a wobbly boat – but I got some good videos and it was fun cruising around on a boat.

and today I’ve enjoyed not being at work; a quick baby birthday photoshoot and a lot of cleaning / grocery shopping / photo editing relaxing and movie watching! woo!

I’m glad I got a chance to shoot some video; and also that pano; I have a few possible HDRs too we’ll see.

I miss my cruise, i need to go on another one soon. I highly recommend Royal Caribbean (only one I've ever been on though).

My favorite shot from last year's independence day: from the deck of an aircraft carrier in Charleston

an older picture, from years ago i think; gotta love sparklers and long exposures :)

Eye dropper for White Balance:

(click on white /gray to get correct temp/tint)

TAG:  (targeted adjustment tool) click and drag on what you want to change

double click a slider to snap it back in place:  crazy important tip, if you need to go back to where the slider started at just double click on it.

my basic workflow:

1. fix color with eye dropper
2. adjust exposure if needed
3. add a little fill light + adjust contrast if needed
4. usually raise the clarity / vibrance if needed
5. if i was using a higher ISO use noise reduction (so very happy with LR3's noise reduction; i don't have to use dfine on every single picture anymore)
6. I tend to slightly vignette most of my photos, i like how it draws focus on the  subject
7. For most shoots I'll put all my favorite shots into a collection as virtual copies then make the treatment b&w on the library tab; pick the ones that look the best and fiddle with them to make nicer black and white pics;  sometimes with LR3 only, sometimes in OnOne's Silver Efex Lightroom plugin.

bonus tip:  best websites for learning lightroom

kelby training:  http://www.kelbytraining.com/

Love these guys, they make some of the best video tutorials

lydna.com:  http://www.lynda.com/

How I learned Photoshop; also very good video training

lightroom killer tips; i've gotten so many tips/presets from here... amazing blog!

http://lightroomkillertips.com/

presets rule! I've gotten a ton from killer tips

My 2 Favorites: sin city:  http://lightroomkillertips.com/2008/presets-sin-city-look-sort-of/

300 (like the movie) look:  http://lightroomkillertips.com/2008/monday-presets-the-300-look/

Probably one of my favorite shots, shot from the coast on myrtle beach last year.  Good starburst I think.