Manic Mother

Online Photoshop Class

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:15:00 PST

Thought I would share this over here too. Many of you have expressed and interest in taking an online Photoshop class from me, well I am excited to announce that I am now offering online Photoshop classes!

I remember when I first started out on my photography journey, I had no clue what I was doing in Photoshop. I thought if I bought a lot of Photoshop actions all my problems would be solved. Not so much. Don’t get me wrong I still use some actions, but today the majority of my editing is done with steps I have learned through trial and error. You don’t need actions to have great edited images.

My class is a one on one class, we will even edit some of your images together.

Here is a little of what you can expect to learn:

- skin smoothing and tucking, teeth whitening, bringing out the eyes

- how to do a black and white

- head swaps

- how to apply a texture to a photo

- how to change colors

- how to pop colors

- how to sharpen for web and for print

- how to remove distractions from your images

- and so much more!

Cost: $200

I am offering $25 off for the first 5 people that sign up.

The class is open to anyone!

If your interested or have any questions please email me at: manicmotherphotography@gmail.com

I am still here.

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 18:20:00 PST

Gosh please excuse the cobwebs around here, I swear I didn’t forget about this blog. Between running my business and having three kids, I am a lot more busy than I had ever anticipated. How is everyone out there? What’s new in your world?

I will just update you with pictures..since that is what I do best. Highlights have been, Judah turning one, Ro turning seven, Ezra’s Make-A-Wish trip, Ro losing his first teeth, and a trip to Lego Land.

Cancer Sucks. Please Read This

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 04:53:00 PDT

Yesterday kicked of September, which is also National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. I wrote a post on my other blog, that is near and dear to my heart. Please take a moment to read it, and please share. It would mean the world to me.

10 months| Baby and the Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:28:00 PDT

Ten months. Well, almost eleven since I am just now getting around to posting these pics. Judah is becoming more of his own person every day. He already has quite the sense of humor. He finds himself the funniest.

He is crawling, pulling up, and cruising. He says da-da and ball. His favorite thing to do is spend time with his brothers. I think its so neat that he already prefers their company to his parents. I guess he just wants to be one of the boys.

I love these pictures. I have had it in my head for awhile now that I wanted to take Judah to the beach for a photo shoot . I envisioned him sitting in his little sailor outfit, holding his balloon. Only problem was I didn’t factor in that Judah may not want to sit, or that the wind would blow his balloon all over the place. Balloon or not, I love these images. I am so glad I did this, and I know will cherish these images for many years to come.

You can find me here as well.

Update.

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 14:50:00 PDT

Gosh I really stink at blogging lately. If you are on Facebook as often as me, I am much better at updating over there…its much more simple. You can find my page here.

Wow time flies when you have three kids. Here is a very random/scatterbrained update.

Judah turned 9 months, in fact he will be 10 months in a few days. I am sad that he will be one soon. I have been doing my best to soak up every little precious baby thing, and taking as many pictures as I can.

Ezra turned four. Every birthday we have with him I am ever so grateful. His birthday also marks two years since his leukemia diagnosis. What a long road that has been. He only has about a year left of treatment.

And I leave you with some random pictures of the boys that I have taken lately.

Shortest blog post ever. Be back soon with Judah’s 10 month post.

Easy Canvas Prints Review

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:59:00 PDT

I think I can count on my hand how many times I have actually done a product review, in fact most of the time I don’t even read the emails sent to me about products for review.

Lucky for me, the email for this product review caught my eye. Easy Canvas Prints is a company that turns pictures into canvases. And since I actually sell canvases to my clients for my business, I jumped on the chance to review one.

Here is a picture of the 30x40 canvas I received.

I took me weeks to decide on a picture. I didn’t want it to be a picture of the boys that would quickly outdate itself. So I decided to go with this picture since its kind of timeless, and I do love the flowers.

I have actually ordered canvases now from 3 different companies and Easy Canvas Prints is just as nice, if not nicer than the other companies I have tried. Its tightly stretched across the frame, and the colors are bright, and it should be noted they matched my colors of the original image.

They have different border options, which I love. I opted to get a yellow colored border, and it adds so much to the canvas. You can also get your image wrapped around the frame, if the color border isn’t for you.

They sell canvases in 8x8’s up to 30x40’s. They also offer image effects like black and white, and image retouching.

I adore my canvas and it will be on our walls for quite some time, and I can’t wait to some day give it to my son.

I highly recommend Easy Canvas Prints for canvas prints.

Find them on Facebook.

*I received this product in consideration for the review.

Baby Bear

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:57:00 PDT

Just dropping in to share with you a storyboard of my baby bear. I knew you all were in need of a chubby baby fix. :)

8 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Tue, 03 May 2011 09:04:00 PDT

My poor neglected blog and readers, I am so sorry I haven’t been around this space much as of late, or your spaces for that matter. Has it really been a month since my last post? Crazy. Life threw us into an unexpected turn in our lives, and I haven’t had much free time to blog, and my project 365 fell by the wayside, which I am very bummed about. Then my photography business became unexpectedly busy, which is a very good thing. But all my free computer time then becomes devoted to editing photos. You should see my Google Reader…it makes my head hurt looking at it! A busy bee I have been.

There is this spectacular wildflower field not too far from us. So we loaded up the boys to go take their pictures in the field. I should really know better by now, photographing my own kids never goes how I plan in my head.

They weren’t a fan of the field. Judah just wanted to eat the flowers. And after Ro got bit by an ant, the party was pretty much over, sigh.

I still love the pictures I did get. They show them being themselves, and I guess when all is said and done if I had to freeze a moment in their lives, I would much rather have it be one of them being themselves, instead of some contrived pose.

Judah still can’t quite sit up with out toppling over, hence the flower pot. He has 4 teeth now and is cutting 2 more….which has been fun ;) He may not be able to crawl yet, but man can that baby roll, he just rolls and scoots himself around the house. He is talking more, and for the most part is still a really happy little guy. He still loves the boys the best, especially Ro.

This picture was actually featured on the Daily Click over on the Shutter Sisters site.

And this my friends is what happens when you take too many pictures of your kids, when you tell them to smile they look like monkeys.

project 365 | week 12

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:57:00 PDT

day 76: We have an ice cream man that circles our neighborhood 365 days of the year…I kid you not. I love this shot.

day 77: Silly baby and his giraffe.

day 78: OMG I love this one. The boys really love Judah…sometimes just a tad too much for his taste. He is going to be so rough and tough when he gets bigger.

day 79: The boys love Lego mini-figures, I think some of them are cute too. I mean this one does have an afro and chest hair!

day 80: One of my absolute favorite things about FL, is the strawberries in the spring. I took the boys to a u-pick farm and ended up with 9+ lbs of berries. I made jam and pies.

day 81: Local county fair. Love this one too.

day 82: My little friends are back!

Seven Months!

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:17:00 PDT

Seven months…I can’t believe it. Our lives have changed so much since Judah’s arrival, yet our family seems the same as it ever was. I think he just fits so perfectly in with the rest of us….its like he was here all along.

He is still ever the chubby baby, 22+lbs….carrying him around is part of my weight loss plan. He is almost sitting up without toppling over, and is a rolling maniac. He has two bottom teeth that are almost all the way in, which has made for a fussy baby at times…and some interesting diapers. His hair has also started to curl….which thrills me.

Five months till he is one. Five very short months.

On a side note….doesn’t he look like a Kewpie doll?

project 365 | week 11

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:50:00 PDT

So I am now a few days behind on this, I will just be thrilled if I end up with 365 pictures in the end.

day 69: My mom and her boyfriend took our family on this shrimping boat tour…sounds lame, but it was actually a lot of fun. The boys loved it and so did the seagulls.

day 70: The fog was really thick the other morning, and since I was on my way to a photo shoot I stopped to snap a few pictures.

day 71: Aw.

day 72: Yes, I bought my son rainbow leg warmers….and he looks just darling in them.

day 73: My shadow.

day 74: Love this one. I was snapping a couple of pictures of them playing Mario together, and all of a sudden Ez leaned over and put his head on Ro’s shoulder. Heart melting….

day 75: Supermoon!

i heart faces | sun flare

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:52:00 PDT

I heart sun flare. This is one of my favorite sun flare pictures, taken during an engagement session for dear friends of mine.

project 365 | week 10

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 17:38:00 PDT

day 61: This is Paynes Prairie, when I moved to Florida I never thought parts of it would look like this. The prairie is home to bison, wild horses, gators, snakes, birds, and so much more.

day 62: I try to do at least one themed craft with the boys for every holiday, this was our St. Patty’s day craft.

day 63: Spring in Florida is a magical time, the weather is short of perfect. And so many trees and flowers start to bloom. This is a limb from a Dogwood tree.

day 64: Judah is all about his hands right now, if they aren’t in his mouth, they are grabbing something. Look at the dimples on his hands….

day 65: Wisteria, it blooms like crazy in our backyard. It is beautiful and makes our yard smell amazing.

day 67: Although I really hate being on the other side of the camera, it is my goal to put myself in more pictures this year. I want the boys to have pictures with me in them too.

day 68: Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Really neat…Ro loved it.

project 365 | week 9

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:07:00 PST

day 54: we introduced Judah to solids…would you believe he liked them?

day 55: We have been having some beautiful weather, so we have been trying to make the most of it before the insane heat moves in. And don’t worry Ezra is alive. ;)

day 56: We had a backyard campout with the boys. Complete with a tent, campfire, soda’s, jiffy pop, s’mores, hotdogs, and flashlights. It was one of the best days we have had as a family in a long time, and we didn’t even have to leave our backyard!

day 57: chubby baby.

day 58: The sky has just been amazing in FL lately. Blue with big puffy clouds. I put a quote I really liked to jazz up the picture a little.

day 59: Have you met Ted? Thought so. I am going to be SO very sad when he no longer carries him around. He truly is an honorary member of our family.

day 60: This little beam of sunshine, makes every single day a little brighter for me. I love him so.

See you next week!

Follow my project 365 on Facebook.

i heart faces | anything but a face

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 15:13:00 PST

I think its only fitting I share this picture again today for I heart faces current theme. :)

To check out more photos visit I heart faces.

6 months!

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 09:30:00 PST

Happy half birthday littlest man. Its truly amazing how fast these last 6 months have flown by.

Following in your brothers footsteps, you are ever the chubby baby. Please don’t hate me later in life for posting naked chubby baby pictures of you. I just don’t want to forget. Just look at all your rolls and dimples, it is pure perfection.

You are still just the most pleasant baby. You very rarely cry, you will start to fuss, but it rarely breaks into a full on cry. You are all smiles and giggles. Lately you find Ezra and his curly hair funny. He likes to jump up and down which makes his curls spring about, which you find hilarious.

You still sleep through the nights most nights, but have been waking up on occasion lately. I suspect a tooth.

Its hard to imagine our lives before you. Thank you for being you. Words can not express how much joy you bring to all of us.

project 365 | week 8

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:50:00 PST

day 47: I love Clementine tangerines, so I thought I would photograph them. When I was a little girl my Grandpa used to sing to me the song “Oh My Darling, Clementine”.

day 48: Judah REALLY wants to sit up, unfortunately he is shaped like a weeble-wobble, which is making sitting up no easy feat.

day 49: brotherly-teddy love. I really love this photo.

day 50: chunky baby legs.

day 51: Ezra is modeling some of my new props for my photography business.

day 52: The day has arrived, they’re here!!! Does anyone else only eat the filling? Or am I just odd…?

day 53: Technically I took this picture awhile ago, but I had a house full of sick boys, so I had to come up with something. Its my project so I figure I can do that :) So I found the RAW file and edited it for my project.

You can follow along with me on Facebook too.

See you next week….unless something blog worthy comes up before then.

project 365 | week 7

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:07:00 PST

Can you believe I am still doing this? Yea, me neither. It sounds so easy in theory, 365 pictures. I sometimes take that many in one photo shoot…. But let me tell you its not that easy!

day 40: I bought this old school Fisher Price camera for a photo prop to use with little ones.

day 41: Ro and I were making Valentines and I snapped a picture of him concentrating with his tongue out.

day 42: sweet baby.

day 43: There is this vacum shop in our town, and every week he puts up a new quote, this was last weeks.

day 44: all you need is love. crayons bought here. This was also shared on the Maternal Lens site, very cool.

day 45: this one just makes me smile, its just such a great snapshot of our every day life, and I don’t want to forget things like this too.

day 46: I went out location scouting and found this, I hope to do a photo shoot there before they remove the hay bales. Looks a little like MN eh?

project 365 | week 6

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 08:09:00 PST

day 33: I love word art. I mean really love it. I saw these photo clips at the store the other day and had to have them…I wasn’t sure why, but I found a purpose.

day 34: I would say poor baby Judah, but he really adores all the attention. Both the boys piled all the teddies in the house on top of him. Silly, silly baby.

day 35: I went to the local Medieval Faire. My favorite part of the fairs are by far the costumes, this lady’s was spectacular.

day 36: I saw these floating around on Pinterest and knew I had to try them. They are pretty fantastic, I would put more frosting in between if I made them again. Recipe here.

day 37: A newborn shoot I did. Such a sweet little man.

day 38: Its pictures like this that make me really happy I started this project. I am not sure what I love the most about it, Ezzie’s tousled curls, the position of the 2 of them, their jammers, or Judah mid silly baby sound.

day 39: I had to paint my toenails for this one. I got inspiration for this shot while perusing Pinterest. If your not on there, you really should be, I love it!

project 365 | week 5

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 12:21:00 PST

You can follow along with my project on Facebook, I love seeing my blog readers there too! I try to post a picture every day.

day 26: me.

day 27: I snapped this pic, after Ezra had snuck out of his bed after bedtime. He knew he was being naughty, but sometimes he is too cute to say no to…..

day 28: cheeks.

day 29: all the trees are starting to bloom in FL, this one is in my front yard. I have no clue what it is…does anyone know?

Anyway, love this quote from this poem.

day 30: when teddy bears attack.

day 31: Judah bear (one of his many nicknames)

day 32: jar of hearts.

a boy & his bear.

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 13:50:00 PST

Two blog posts in two days? Crazy, I know. I just had to share this storyboard of Ezzie.

This was so not a planned photo shoot. I was setting up to take Judah’s five month pictures when Ez said to me in the littlest voice take a picture of me. I of course jumped at the opportunity, it isn’t too often my kids say that to me.

He already had Ted in tow, so I of course asked him if I could take Ted’s picture too. This was the result. I didn’t pose Ezra in a single one of these images, it was all him and his silly self.

I can look at this and tears well in my eyes, because it so accurately depicts Ezra. And to know that I helped to create it, and that someday as an adult he will really cherish this, is so priceless to me.

I am so glad I will have all these images to give to my sons someday.

I am really glad I picked up a camera, I have so much to tell them….

5 Months.

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:43:00 PST

Judah, I can’t believe its been 5 months already since you entered our lives. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is about you, but you truly are my sunshine.

Your brother’s illness has opened my eyes in so many ways. And has made me so much more appreciative of every little thing that you do.

The way you lay in your crib babbling to yourself.

The way you flail your arms and your legs when you see me, like your trying to jump into my arms.

Your naughty thumb sucking.

Your silly baby siren at 5am, where you wake up to babble and most nights, go back to sleep.

The way you explode with giggles when being tossed into the air by your daddy.

The way you admire your brothers from afar.

The way you ask for nothing but love and milk.

You sure are a sweet, silly, little baby.

I love you so much it hurts.

*it should be noted Judah is not a fan of his cherub costume, I had him in it for all of five minutes before he fell apart. Which is really unfortunate since I felt cherub-model was his calling….

project 365 | week 4

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 12:28:00 PST

My dear friend texted me asking about this weeks photos, and honestly I had completely forgotten about posting them.

Life decided to blindfold us, spin us around a few times, and see if we could still stand on two feet. Ro got a flu bug while we were on vacation, only to pass it on to his brother Ezra. Which ultimately ended up with Ezra in the hospital for a few days, due to no immunity and his fevers. Then I got so fortunate to catch the bug as well. I was sick for 8 days, this is the first day I have felt even remotely myself. It was the most sick I have been in probably over a decade. Nasty bug!

So I forgot about posting pictures, but I am really proud I still took them.

day 19: hydrangea, alternately titled- I’m that crazy lady in Lowe’s taking pictures of flowers

day 20: Ez was in the hospital in this pic, I didn’t bring my camera, so my cell phone had to suffice.

day 21: coin laundry. I love this Laundromat near my house, it has a very old time feel to it.

day 22: silly baby is obsessed with his hands.

day 23: this was built by Ro, I just loved it, there is so much going on in it. He is my left brain thinker, that boy has been putting together 50 piece puzzles since he was three.

day 24: crepe myrtle

day 25- there are few things funnier than a chubby baby in a Bumbo seat. I have to pry Judah out of it, but he loves sitting in it.

There you have it, I was pretty close to home for awhile, I am hoping to venture out more this week.

Follow along on Facebook too.

project 365 | week 3

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:14:00 PST

day 12: Spring! These little buds are on a tree right outside my door, I had to put on my macro lens to photograph them, this whole branch was about an inch long.

day 13: Ro was in one of those plastic tubes on playgrounds, I noticed there were holes in it so I thought it would be a great shot, I didn’t even think I got a shot, until I saw this. I love it!

day 14: My dad and his wife came down to FL to visit us and we stayed on the beach, this was the sunset one of the nights we were there.

day 15: This guy so was posing for me, he let me get so close. It should be noted that this bird is almost as tall as Ezra. He was huge.

day 16: Still at the beach. I love the colors on this one.

day 17: I went to go to bed the other night and found this little man in my bed….isn’t he sweet?

day 18: I discovered this brick at one of my favorite places to do family photo shoots, I knew I wanted to go back to take a picture of it. I love how it turned out.

You can also follow my project 365 on Facebook.

project 365 | week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Beth Mancuso) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 05:13:00 PST

day 5: What can I say? Besides the fact that I almost peed a little when I saw this, I was so excited. It gets better, I will be photographing the owners of the car sometime soon…and they have full on gear, including proton packs. I can’t wait!

day 6: Ezra had just gotten home from his chemo appointment, and he kept lifting up his shirt to show me his band-aid. I asked if he wanted me to take a picture of his band-aid, and this is the resulting picture.

He is so proud of his band-aids he wears them like badges of courage. Underneath his band-aid is his port. I heart this little boy.

day 7: Bubblegum in a dish. I tried some new things in Photoshop.

day 8: It has been so cold in FL lately our sliding glass window has been getting condensation on it in the morning. I thought it would be fun to write something in it, and since I do a whole lot of it, dream seemed like the perfect word.

day 9: Peek-a-boo. Judah Grey sees you.

day 10: My husbands robot.

day 11: I have always loved this sign, it looks straight out of the 60’s, so I edited it to give it that old time feel. I am not even sure this place is still open, if it is, its a tad bit sketchy.

There you have it! I have loved doing this project so far. If your on Facebook I have been posting a pic every day, if you want to follow along there too.