Monday, November 23, 2015

6th Annual Royal Dragonfly Book Award Winners Announced

CHANDLER, AZ (November, 2015) – Winners of the 2015 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards have been announced by Five Star Publications, Inc.

Slow Dancing with a Stranger by Meryl Comer has earned this year’s $300 Grand Prize as well as First Place designations in the Aging and General Nonfiction categories and Honorable Mention in the First-time Author category. An Emmy-award winning broadcast journalist and leading Alzheimer’s advocate, Comer has written a profoundly personal, unflinching account of her husband’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease that serves as a much-needed wake-up call to better understand and address a progressive and deadly affliction. When Comer’s husband Harvey Gralnick was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease in 1996, she watched as the man who headed hematology and oncology research at the National Institutes of Health started to misplace important documents and forget clinical details that had once been cataloged encyclopedically in his mind. With harrowing honesty, she brings readers face to face with this devastating condition and its effects on its victims and those who care for them. Detailing the daily realities and overwhelming responsibilities of caregiving, Comer sheds intensive light on this national health crisis, using her personal experiences—the mistakes and the breakthroughs—to put a face to a misunderstood disease, while revealing the facts everyone needs to know.

Additional first-place winners include The Tiny Portrait by Heidi Carla, illustrated by Karla Cinquanta, which was also the $100 drawing winner; Bee in the Sea by Adam Reed, illustrated by Izzy Bean; American Mojo Lost and Found: Restoring Our Middle Class Before the World Blows by Peter D. Kiernan; Ballerina Detective and the Missing Jeweled Tiara by Karen Rita Rautenberg; tNumbers!: Take the Dog Out by Lynne Dempsey, illustrated by Mandy Newham-Cobb; Nickerbacher, The Funniest Dragon by Terry John Barto, illustrated by Kim Sponaugle; Posie Pixie and the Pancakes by Sarah Hill, illustrated by Sarah Mauchline; Posie Pixie and the Snowstorm by Sarah Hill, illustrated by Sarah Mauchline; Hi My Name is Hanna and I'm Adopted by Angie Barton; Colors!: Take the Dog Out by Lynne Dempsey, illustrated by Mandy Newham-Cobb; Castle in Danger by Karen Rita Rautenberg; Simmer and Smoke: A Southern Tale of Grit and Spice by Peggy Lampman; Going to the Park by Elizabeth Gorcey, illustrated by Kajiah Jacobs; and Ashes and Asphalt by Trevor Halloway.

"We had a very tight competition this year and our judges definitely had their work cut out for them," says Linda F. Radke, president of Five Star Publications, Inc. “I want to extend my sincerest congratulations to all of our winner.

For complete winners list go to:

http://ift.tt/1PKWPrO

and click on "Winners." The next Royal Dragonfly Book Awards contest is already underway. The early bird deadline is August 1, 2016. Final deadline for submissions is October 1, 2016.

In addition to the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards, Five Star Publications, Inc. also has two additional book contests: The Purple Dragonfly Book Awards and the Story Monster Approved! program. The early bird deadline for the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards contest, which recognizes outstanding children's literature, is March 1, 2016. The final deadline is May 1, 2016. For complete rules and submission forms for these contests, visit http://ift.tt/1PKWMMz and click on the contest of choice. Entrants who meet the early bird deadline are eligible for the Early Bird reward: a free e-copy of The Economical Guide to Self-Publishing or Promote Like a Pro: Small Budget, Big Show written by Linda F. Radke.

The Story Monster Approved! program identifies quality children's books that have been kid-tested and judge-certified, making it easier for buyers to choose exceptional fiction and nonfiction books that parents will approve and youths will enthusiastically devour. Authors interested in having their books considered for the Story Monster Approved! designation should visit http://ift.tt/1PKWPI4 to download an entry form. There is no deadline to enter and books are judged as they are received.

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Thursday, November 12, 2015

A memorable night at the ARIZONA LITERARY AWARDS BANQUET

Saturday November 7, 2016 was a special date for many authors and writers. The ARIZONA LITERARY AWARDS BANQUET, organized by the Arizona Authors Association and sponsored by the literary community, including Green Pieces Publishing and Barnes & Noble, took place at the Glendale Civic Center on Glenn Drive. Here are a few pictures and memorable moments for that enchanted evening.

The big winner of the evening was ARIZONA BOOK OF THE YEAR (sponsored by Green Pieces Publishing) recipient Tony Taylor for his novel THE DARKEST SIDE OF SATURN Odyssey of a Reluctant Prophet of Doom. Celebratory glass in one hand and award in the other, this is a happy winner. Find the book on Amazon HERE

Many other winners in poetry, short story, essay, unpublished novel, nonfiction, children's books and novels were awarded that night.

Nonfiction category winners, CAVE CREEK CANYON Revealing the Heart of Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains, edited by Wynne Brown and Reed Peters

Here is a group picture of all the winners and finalists present at the banquet.

Also a rare photo of the Arizona Authors Association board of Directors.

From left to right: Vijaya Schartz (Membership Director & Webmistress) - Ron Tobin (Secretary and Program Coordinator) - Cherie Lee (Newsletter Editor) - Toby Heathcotte (Outgoing President) - Nancy Brehm (High Country Liaison) - Lisa Aquilina (VP, Contest Coordinator, and new President as of January 1st) - Russel Azbill (Treasurer) - Missing is our Tucson Liaison, Jan Cleere could not attend this year.

This event is open to the public. A few local press members attended. We hope to see you next year, on the first Saturday of November. If you would like to enter the contest, or become a member, visit our website.

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Thursday, October 1, 2015

Recap for August & September 2015

Catch up on what you missed on the KDP Facebook page…or see it again if you already following me on Facebook.

Phoenix AZ Pet photography Pomeranian 01 Forever shine.

Phoenix AZ Pet photography Pomeranian 02 Light of my life.

Some Before and After goodness.
It’s been forever since I’ve done one.
Whoops.

Phoenix AZ Pet photography Pomeranian 04 I’m shaking the sky. I’m following the lightning.

Phoenix AZ Pet photography Pomeranian 05 Be here now.

Phoenix AZ Pet photography Pomeranian 06 You are my sunshine.

The post Recap for August & September 2015 appeared first on Kira DeDecker Photography Blog.

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Monday, August 17, 2015

Tips for Using Sky Overlays

Working with sky overlays isn’t always easy. It’s a learning process, trust me, I was far from perfect when I first started (wait, what are you doing? No, don’t go look at my archives – let’s pretend that feature doesn’t exists). My hope here is to save you some time by sharing some of my experiences that I learned thought trial and error.

And before I continue here comes the prerequisite Get it right in Camera speech. I love sharing my tips and techniques with you but it’s important to note that the reason I have lush green grass, or amazing skies and what not in my photos are because I shoot for those things. Yes, there are times when things are out of our control or we make mistakes, or simply we want more creative control with our images – that’s why these tutorial’s exist after all BUT always strive to have a good foundation to work on.

So if you are interested, here is post where I used both a sky overlay and another photo where I recovered the sky. And here is another B&A featuring a recovered sky.

So I’ve already written a blog post on to apply sky overlays. It’s old and needs to be updated (it’s on my long to-do list) but it will have to do for now.

Why I do use Sky Overlays?
Because I totally blew out the sky that even RAW can’t bring it back
Because the sky is just a boring blob of blue
Because the sky isn’t just a boring blob of blue but I still hate it anyways
I want a little more drama in my skyline
I want something interchangeable.
and the best reason of all…Because I can.

Tips for Using Sky Overlays

Observe. This is super important, especially if you are a natural light photographer, because this will give you a good guideline of what will look natural in your own photos. So when possible, try to recover the sky in your photos and inspect what you see. How does DOF look in your skyline? White Balance and color? How vibrant or washed out is the sky? How does your position affect the view?

Edit. Cloud overlays work best when you edit them along with the original image. Why? Because it helps give them a seamless look. Don’t be afraid to alter the overlay once you place it in! A few of the things I do once I place a sky: blur, selective color, change blending modes etc.

Opacity. Tweak with the opacity of your sky overlay. I usually stick around 20%-70% range (the median being around 40%) when I want a natural look, 100% when I’m crafting an image with a particular look. I suggest adjusting the opacity to match not only the brightness of your photo, but the look and feel of your image as well. And a side note: decreasing the opacity makes it waaaay easier to blend in!

DOF/Blur. A good rule of thumb is that the cloud DOF should match the DOF in the background (where the sky and land meet basically) but you know what, feel free to break that rule every once in a while. Inevitably whenever I post a photo where I didn’t blur the sky some old dude photographer will try to tell to change it but guess what…that’s not going to happen.

Choosing the right sky. Not all sky overlays are created equal. I sometimes have to try a few skies until I find a few that I really like for a particular image. It’s important to make sure the overlay’s position of the horizon matches your photo’s.

Color. For instance, I like the blues in my sky to be more cyan than magenta so after I place the overlay, I always tweak with the color. Nothing sticks out more than a sky that doesn’t match any of the tones surrounding it.

White Balance. Something people tend to forget that is the sky overlay is going to have a totally different white balance than your photo!

Tree Bokeh. Plant bokeh is a total PITA when working with overlays because the bokeh always seems to have a halo of highlights and leftover sky color in them. Take extra time to blend in these places. Sometimes it helps to change the blending mode or refine the layer mask.

Layer Masks are your friend! Just about everyone has there own technique for placing overlays – none of them are wrong – it really boils down to personal prefence but the one thing I really strongly suggest is using layer masks. Keep your editing as non-destructive as possible! And working with layer masks is way less stressful them using the eraser IMO.

Blending. Using a layer mask, I blend like crazy with a big fluffy brush (usually set to 15%) and blend where the overlay meets photo.

Blending mode. Multiply mode is a godsend to working with sky overlays. If you are having a tough time getting your sky to integrate, try multiply blending mode. The sky will look the same, but now it’s blending into the image much better.

Cut your loses. You can’t keep every little hair or branch. You have to clone out or cut out elements that aren’t working.

Refine Mask. Admittedly, there are like a million ways to use and implant sky overlays (background eraser, layer blend options and so on) so this is very much biased BUT it’s an amazing tool and you should be using it…or at least try it.

The post Tips for Using Sky Overlays appeared first on Kira DeDecker Photography Blog.

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Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Pawtrait Perfect Feature

Phoenix Az pet Photog Feature
After all this time, I am still obsessed with Bear. Our downtown Phoenix session was an absolute blast and one of the highlights of my year. A huge thank you goes out to Pawtrait Perfect for the feature!