Commenter #30, Tiffany who wrote: “I have heard so much about Clickinmoms and would LOVE the opportunity to learn how to take photographs of my children worth putting on the wall. Thank You!”

Thanks to everyone who entered! I apologize for not posting the winner yesterday, I have been in lock-down mode working on a very exciting project that I will share in another post.

Don’t forget, even though you didn’t win you can still join Clickinmoms! For $8 a month you won’t find better information anywhere.. From beginners all the way to pros you will find answers to all of your photography questions in a supportive, positive constructive environment. Trust me, you will make lots of new friends and learn tons on the way! You can cancel at anytime, so it’s really worth the $8 to see if you like it.  (My guess is you won’t dream of ever let your membership lapse!)

Hope to see you there :)

So, what’s at stake? First, a LIFETIME membership to my favorite photography forum Clickinmoms!

I’m often asked how I learned photography, and the answer that I owe everything I know to the amazing photography forums I have been part of almost since I started shooting.  I have joined or been a member of several, and they all have their strengths, but I can tell you hands down the most nurturing, kind, supportive little piece of the world wide web can be found at Clickinmoms.

I admit that I was skeptical at first: Why pay per month when there are so many good free forums out there? But I decided that for $8 a month, I could afford to give it a try and see if it was worth it… lets just say 2 years or so later and the idea of canceling my membership never even crossed my mind! You will find $8 worth of info in about your first 10 seconds there and so much more!

Whether it’s tutorials, business questions, critique, a reality check or just a good shoulder to cry on, you’ll find it there.  And you know what? Despite the moniker, you don’t even have to be a mom (or a woman for that matter) to join!

The lifetime membership can ONLY be given to new members  or those that sign up this month during the contest  (if you win, your fee would be refunded.)  And that’s where the second prize comes in..

In celebration of the long awaited (at least by me LOL!) release of set III of my Wall Guides, I will also be giving away a copy of sets I, II & III of my wall guides AND the LR3 plugins – That’s a $290 value!

Both prizes will go to one lucky winner unless that winner is not eligible for the clickinmoms lifetime membership, in which case they will get the Wall Guides and I will pick another random winner to give the Clickinmoms membership to.

How to Enter:

Leave a comment here saying why you want to become a member of Clickinmoms, or, if you are already a member and are entering just for the wall guides leave a comment about why you LOVE clickinmoms!

Additional Entries:

3 additional entries per person can be made by either liking this post on facebook, posting as a status update, tweeting, or otherwise putting the link to this giveaway out there in the world wide web and coming back and comment with a link to where you did so.

Contest is open through the end of next week (June 26th) and the winner will be announced Monday June 27th.

Good luck – and if you sign up for Clickinmoms come find me over there -  my username is Arianaf  :)

Update: I just realized that Clickinmoms is running a 20% off membership sale until tomorrow June 15th. Enter code CMGOODIES when signing up to take advantage of this amazing deal!

Megan will be getting a both the Photoshop Sets I&II as well as the Lightroom 3 plugins.  I hope they make a huge difference in your sales in 2011 Megan!

Didn’t win? Remember there is always a 15% discount for becoming-mom readers, just enter code “Jasper” at checkout!

LIGHTSCOOP DISCOUNT

I just got an email that the folks at lightscoop have kindly offered becoming-mom readers 25% off! Enter code CHEER at their online store.

Click here for the review of Lightscoop that I did with a giveaway last year! (This is a GREAT stocking stuffer for those of you getting a new DSLR this holiday!)

When I was  invited to participate in this super cool Christmas Blog train giveaway it occurred to me that I’ve had giveaways for my Wall Displays on pretty much every other photography blog BUT MINE! Well, it’s time to remedy that!

I’m giving away Wall Guides Sets I&II AND the LR3 plugins – that’s over $200 worth of products!

The contest is open from today December 14th through midnight Friday evening December 17th and the winner will be announced the following Monday.

Ways To Enter:

1) Post a comment with how you think the wall guides would help your business if you won

2) Tweet about the giveaway and post a comment saying you’ve done so with your twitter handle. Sample tweet: I Entered Photographer’s Wall Display giveaway on #BecomingMom today http://bit.ly/h8GgcS!

This is not required to enter, and will not earn you an extra entry (FB Is cracking down on these contests!)  but I would LOVE if you would like the photographer’s Wall Display Guides Facebook page, or the Becoming-Mom page, or even my Photography Page!

20% DISCOUNT FOR TODAY ONLY!

As part of my holiday gift to you, I am offering a 20% discount for today only (ends midnight tonight!) for anyone who wants to purchase the wall guides for themselves for the holidays :)  Use code WG2010 at checkout!

Don’t forget to check out and enter the other fab giveaways happening as part of the blog train:

Schedule of Events & 10 Fantastic Vendors
Participating

December 6 – Mom Tog – home of the UNposing & UNmanual photography guides!
December 7 – MadiLu Designs -Beautiful custom logo and marketing sets!
December 8 – Boudoir Business Boutique – Marketing and education for boudoir photogs!
December 9 - Sugar Snappers – Stunning hardwood floor overlays for Photoshop!
December 10 – Easy Accounting Solutions – Book keeping for your photography business the easy with  (will be held on the Photo Card Boutique Blog)
December 11 – The JOY Bag – Fun and fresh camera bags!
December 12 – Photo Card Boutique – Affordable, unique photo card templates.
December 13 – Word Smith – A Fantastic what to write & what to wear guides.
December 14 – Becoming Mom (that’s me!) Photographer’s Wall Display Guides – Wonderful wall display guides to increase your large print and canvas sales.
December 15 – Love That Shot – Introducing a brand new and super exciting product so stay tuned!

Good luck!

Hi all,

There is a great contest starting today and I am really excited to be part of it! A group of 10 of the best vendors dedicated to the photographer in business are teaming up for a great Christmas giveaway! The 2010 Christmas Photographer Blog Train is here! Beginning today, Monday, December 6 you can find a new contest everyday for 10 days! Come join in the fun, meet new vendors and have fun winning great prizes!

You will find everything from gift cards to new products and everything in between. Please visit each site, follow them on facebook and twitter to learn more about
their fantastic giveaways on the day of their contest.

How the contest works:

• 10 vendors are participating – find the list of vendors below.
• Each day a new vendor will post a contest on their blog. You must go to their blog and complete their requirements for entry.
• Each contest will last 3-4 days.
• At the end of the contest the vendor will randomly draw a winner from all of the comments submitted.
• Check their blog to see if you are the lucky winner and watch for special offers or discounts too!

Schedule of Events & 10 Fantastic Vendors
Participating

December 6 – Mom Tog – home of the UNposing & UNmanual photography guides!
December 7 – MadiLu Designs -Beautiful custom logo and marketing sets!
December 8 – Boudoir Business Boutique – Marketing and education for boudoir photogs!
December 9 - Sugar Snappers – Stunning hardwood floor overlays for Photoshop!
December 10 – Easy Accounting Solutions – Book keeping for your photography business the easy with  (will be held on the Photo Card Boutique Blog)
December 11 – The JOY Bag – Fun and fresh camera bags!
December 12 – Photo Card Boutique – Affordable, unique photo card templates.
December 13 – Word Smith – A Fantastic what to write & what to wear guides.
December 14 – Becoming Mom (that’s me!) Photographer’s Wall Display Guides – Wonderful wall display guides to increase your large print and canvas sales.
December 15 – Love That Shot – Introducing a brand new and super exciting product so stay tuned!

You can see from the schedule above that I will be giving away the full sets of my Photographer’s Wall Display Guides (sets I&II) as well as the LR3 plugins on December 14th.. so don’t forget to come back and enter on the 14th.. in the meantime, head over today to Mom Tog and enter her contest today!

Congratulations to Danielle and thank you to everyone who entered.  I hope you have enjoyed the series of posts about Lightroom this past week!  Don’t forget that Amazon still has a great price on Lightroom 3 right now.. maybe you can convince Santa to come a bit early this year :)

First of all, in case you missed yesterday’s post, Amazon still has LR3 at an insanely low price – a great time to take the plunge and treat yourself a bit early this Holiday season.

Secondly, for a MUCH better overview than I could possibly give about what’s new in LR3, you should probably refer to Julianne Kosts video here on Adobe TV.

What I wanted to share with you in this little video are just the features that I personally use every day that have made the most improvement in my workflow.  Later this week I will do a complete workflow video showing my process from LR into PS and what steps I do where, but this is just an overview of why I love LR3 and why I think it’s worth every penny of the upgrade price!

In the video I go over the print module capabilities VERY briefly and abstractly, for a much better idea of what makes the new “custom package” options so cool, please see the video demonstrating how the Wall Display Guides plugin works – that drag and drop functionality can be applied to ALL sorts of products such as album and card templates, storyboards – the possibilities are endless!

I also refer in the video to the blog post I wrote about the slideshow module and how I use it to do in person ordering.  I wanted to just link that here because I only touch on it briefly in the video but it’s one of the MAJOR improvements that facilitates in person ordering sessions. It also makes it super easy to create a video of the clients images set to music that you can sell as an add on or as in incentive to order!

Now, on to the part that you’ve been waiting for.. how to enter the giveaway!

Entries will be taken until midnight PST Sunday December 5th and the winner will chosen via radom.org and will be announced on Monday December 6th.

MANDATORY entry:

Post a comment saying which feature you are most excited about using in Lightroom 3 (or your favorite feature if you have LR3 and are entering for a friend!)

Additional Entries: Do any or all of the following to gain an additional entry and then come back and post 1 comment for each:

1) “like” the Becoming-mom Facebook page

2) “like” the Photographer’s Wall Display Guide’s Facebook Page

3) Follow Becoming-mom on Twitter

4) Tweet or post a FB status update about the giveaway (the quickest and easiest way to do that is to use the little icons just below this post – they will insert the link for you and everything!)

Good luck!

PS: If you are just coming here you might want to check out yesterday’s post with rounded corners preset & tutorial!

Commenter #91 Kelly! Kelly, I’ll be emailing you to see what your final choice is between the Missy Gray and Blue :)

For all of you who didn’t win, thanks so much for making this my most popular giveaway EVER.  Stay tuned for a Lightroom 3 giveaway coming within the next few weeks!

And that’s where Jo Totes bags came in. They had pretty much everything I wanted in a camera bag -  tons of room,  magnetic/zip closure, a long removable shoulder strap, metal feet on the bottom, gorgeous vintage design and colors that make me happy (seriously, my marigold rose bag makes me smile when I look at it) and all of this for under $100!

There are two main styles, Missy and Rose.  I have the Rose in Marigold and that is the one I’m reviewing, though I’ve read that both have very similar features and dimensions. The one difference is that the Rose gets narrower/slimmer at the top to fit under the arm so it has a little less room at the top than the Missy.

Anyway, onto the pictures!

Hello Sunshine! The Rose bag in Marigold.

Pretty vintage rose detail

Magnetic snap AND zip closure

snazzy houndstooth interior fabric (other colors have other fabrics)

configurable inserts

And now, what everyone wants to know: What can it fit??

The answer is..pretty much EVERYTHING! At a roomy 16 3/4″ x 11″ x 6″ , I can actually fit all my lenses except the 70-200 PLUS my full frame 5D Mark II body PLUS my speedlite!  But what really sold me on it is that I can even fit my 70-200 if it’s mounted on my camera and it lays sideways. Even with that, I can still fit another lens or two and my speedlite next to it.   The folks at JoTotes are quick to point out that this is NOT meant to be a heavy duty camera bag for toting around massive lenses like the 70-200, but being that it is my preferred lens for outdoor shooting I did want to share how I make it work.

Because I couldn’t take decent pictures of the bag with my stuff in it (can’t take pictures OF my camera WITH my camera!) I decided at the last minute to do a little video tour of what I packed in my JoTote for a newborn shoot this past weekend.  Clearly this is last minute because I decided to record this even though I was home alone with Jasper, which means in between the salient points you will hear whining, and constant interruption from the man himself ( and an up close look at his new haircut!) so I apologize in advance!

Now, I have read other people say they thought this bag was TOO roomy, so I think size is just completely a matter of preference when it comes to camera bags.  Just like some people like a clutch vs a real handbag, people will always have varying ideas about what their ideal camera bag size is.  Personally, I like to have a big bag that I can pack full if need be or just have it be less full and lighter but still have plenty of room for diapers, wipes case etc.

I’ve had this bag for almost six months now and I really have found it to be  pretty darn near perfect.  The only things that would make it beyond perfect would be 1) a sleeve for sliding some paperwork into (like model releases etc) which could fit under the rouching and 2) one of those things that fits on the shoulder strap that you put where the strap hits your shoulder (I don’t know what it’s called!) as the strap is a little on the thin side and can tend to dig in after a while when you tote around a ton of stuff like I always do! But seriously, those things are just nitpicky details, I have a fierce love for my Jo Tote and if anything happened do it I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another in a heartbeat – or even just to try a different color! (Did I mention that I’ve had tons of people compliment me on my “purse” and then watched their jaws drop when I told them it was actually a camera bag?)

So now that you know all about Jo Totes bags and how awesome they are you are totally going to put one on that holiday wish list you plan on slipping to your hubby right?  (You should!)  But before you do, you have a chance to win one of your very own right here!

All you need to do is go to the Jo Totes website and come back here and leave a comment letting me know which bag in which color you want if you win (please choose from in stock items only.)  Additional entries can be earned by:

1) going to the Jo Totes Facebook page and liking them.
2) going the new and rather anemic Becoming-Mom facebook page and liking it.
3) Tweeting about the giveaway with a link:  http://bit.ly/ch3t9V

Leave an additional comment for each of those letting me know you’ve done one or all.

Entries will be taken until Midnight Friday EDT and the winner will be chosen via random.org and announced on Monday November 15th…

Good luck!

Kelly, commenter #122 who asked for the creation cottage for her son’s upcoming first birthday!

For those of you who didn’t win, remember they are available at the KidsCraft website for purchase or from Amazon.com: Creation Cottage ($59.95) and Shuttle Imagination ($69.95)

Congratulations Kelly, I hope your little guy loves his new play house as much as Jasper loves his!