Learn, Love, Laugh....

I finally took a few pictures-just for kicks.

The water droplets on the grass caught my eye one morning when I was outside with the little ones:

And then I had to take the obligatory dandelion shot:

Then I decided to get a little closer....

and lastly, a little fun; faux thru the viewfinder dandelion. Probably my favorite actually, but I confess, I have a love for scratched, damaged, old looking images.

Oh, yes, all these were taken by 32-week-pregnant, big-bellied ME. You could only imagine how hideous I looked crawling on the ground to take pictures of weeds. Thankfully, I don't believe any of our neighbors were out to witness the horrific event.

I cannot believe that my oldest child.....

is 16!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TALK about making me feel OLD!  

Tomatoes

Ok. Playing in the kitchen again--with my flash off camera and my trusty reflectors. 

I had the urge to try to light glassware. Oh, not good.

So I was playing in the kitchen with my Nikon sb800 off camera, and some reflectors. I felt happy to be taking pictures again. These are so far from good that I feel almost embarrassed to post them, but on the other hand, with no experience and no training in shooting glass, I am not going to be too terribly critical of myself. (for once. ;) )

Having fun with sunflare

Again, at a wedding with Niki (Eloquence Photography).

A wedding this weekend....

I went with Niki to photograph a wedding this past weekend and I had a really nice time. Its the first time I went to a wedding with her and didn't feel like I'd been run over by a Mack Truck by the time I got home. Ha, that's good news for me. So, while I was there, I  took a few pictures that I am actually proud of. Maybe they aren't that great, but I still really like them. I think this is a first for me, to say such a thing, so take it for what its worth. And if you think these stink, then eat your words before we chat again.

Hummingbirds

 am not really happy with these because I hate seeing the red feeder in the pics, but nature photographer--I AM NOT. LOL So I'll take what I can get...

I finally had the nerve to take Travis and Tara into the studio....

this is a sample of the results. Most of the images turned out horrible. They jumped and sang and played peek-a-boo most of the time;  but I guess we had fun!

More to come....

Tara's first haircut

If I had only known....

That I should take five minutes to read how to do a pano, I could have done my pano on the beach. Or on the way home. But I never thought to find out how to do it before I left. So I did my pano when I got home, but I got to choose from a wide variety of corn fields. The old lady outside mowing on her riding mower said, "you wanna take a picture of my corn?" Sometimes its best just to laugh and agree. So here is my panorama of a nearby cornfield. I have to hand it to photoshop--its amazing. This is made of 9 images stitched together. 

A few images from the drive home...

I had to add texture to this image, and then I couldn't decide which version I like best, so you get to see both. Can you believe that those teeny tiny things are HAY BALES!?
I took this picture because the place looked like ....well you can see for yourself. I decided it looks better in sepia.

my favorites from the beach

Click the images to see larger!

ANOTHER boring flower shot

but i can't stop myself.....
this one has a "texture" applied to it

this one has a neat little aged border on it....because I'm an obsessive tinker-er. (MY definition: one who tinkers LOL)

and lastly, one different shot with only a little sharpening...oh and a border. LOL

Another flower...

 
for kicks, here it is in color too, but I prefer the b/w:

Bradford Pear blossoms

I tried two diferent edits. The first one is pretty much how it looked, the second one i did an apply image  in Lab mode. I sort of liked the warm look.

again....just playing around.

Actually I think that picture looks over done and rather like crap. Here is the one I actually like. It looks like her. No, its not very high contrast, but it looks like her.

I have been trying to figure out how to create a frame...

Ok, I used a tutorial, but I think I got it. Here's my first frame I MADE myself! :-)

Wright Patt Air Force Museum

Another favorite assignment in the Photo Design class.

my pictorialist pictures...

these were my personal favorites. Probably my favorite assignment in Photo design.

This picture is from this post. I did the sepia tone and scratches to make it look weathered.

This plane is from this post.

Rules for Portraiture

Ok, first of all, I certainly don't know much about portraiture, I am just now learning; But I'll share what I've learned, because I believe its good stuff. 

One of the first rules I've learned about photography, is that rules can and sometimes need to be broken; but you still need to know the rules. Fair enough, right?

I think and hope that I'll be learning more very soon, after all my next class, Portrait 1 begins in mid January. I cannot wait! I was reading this fantastic article  today and it described some of the rules that I have learned in Lighting and Advanced Camera so definitely check it out; 10 Rules of Good Portraiture.   

This page has even more links to lighting and posing, as well as those 10 rules.

Here are some of the basic rules of portraiture including purpose, types of poses and head views. This website, Romanzolin.com has the best info I have found on the web so far concerning portraiture. It is very thorough and covers TONS of information on portrait lighting and poses, etc. It is just fantastic! Enjoy!

Cutting down our Christmas Tree

Travis and Tara pose with the tree.  Travis has never been so excited about a Christmas tree; he was beyond excited about it!

The way the light hit this tree seemed pretty...doesn't it look golden?

Travis asked me to take his picture and he posed like this on purpose...because he's goofy.

infrared photography

Ok, I know this image looks, well, bad. Ok, very bad.  But its because I didn't have a filter holder and had to hold the filter up for a 6 second exposure. So you can see where some stray light spilled in. Ick. Other than that, I like it. I like the way infrared photography looks. I plan to buy an IR filter so maybe I can have better luck than with this image.

There is more to know about IR photography than I thought possible. I found some very interesting links to share. At Photo Tidbits I found an article Infrared Photography with a Digital Camera has tons of info. They cover many aspects about IR photography from wavelengths, exposures, camera types, filter types, post-processing and even subjects to shoot in IR. Another page on the site discusses two of the IR filters and some differences between them ; Hoya R72, Tiffen #87.

Here's an Infrared  Photography FAQ. Some cool info here too!

Another link about IR photography at Digital Grin-- its in someone's gallery. Its short and sweet, but a nice visual.

I'm almost too ashamed to post this here, but here goes...cut me some slack, it was my first IR shoot, and the filter was rather crinkly.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!!!

I love the STROBIST blog. I have enjoyed reading it for months, and now I love it even more. LOOK at this! This is great information! Unless you're an old pro, which I'm certainly not, haven't you always wanted to know how to get the best shots of Christmas LIghts? Now you can! Just read this; How to Photograph Christmas Lights.  I only wish I had read it last year, when it was posted. Oh well, you learn something new every day. This is definitely worth learning.

While you're at it, here's the link to the Flickr group-Christmas Lights so you can go get inspired!

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue

Buzz couldn't sit still for even a second, so here he is in action

A grasshopper

sat down beside me...so I took his picture.