Naughty Boys

My boys HATE when I try to take pictures of them. They LOVE to take silly pictures, but they will not sit still for one shot. Really, HOW am I supposed to practice taking pictures with such subjects. But I told them I will NOT buy the $45 ugly pictures from school, so I bribed them with afternoon pancakes if they'd try to take some pictures. I accidentally left it on ISO 800 for the first shoot, so I took them out later (when Jeffy changes his shirt to match) and tried again with worse results because there was no pancake bribe.

Ethan Vogueing

Jeffy's "Portrait"

Ethan's "Portrait"

Ethan's idea of an awesome picture.

What's up with Jeffy's hair?

Ethan made about 50 faces like this.

This is the boys in their natural state.

Sick of taking pictures.

Grandma and Grandpa

Jake's parents were out the door and I made them sit down in the no-good morning light and take some pictures with Janey. It wasn't ideal, but I made it work and good some ok shots that I'm sure they'll love. The colors were not great, so I turned them all BW. YAY!

1/40 F4.5 400 18mm

1/100 F5.6 800 55mm

1/100 F5.6 800 55mm

1/100 F5.6 800 55mm

1/160 F4.0 800 28mm

I was trying slower shutter speeds to try to get better d.o.f., but I just didn't have time to get the setup I wanted and I used my kit lens. So, not great, and lots of up the nosey ones, but good enough, eh?

For Corinne

Here is the different perspective one. I guess I felt like I couldn't get a good focal balance between the baby and Amber at this angle. Not very much room up there on my bed! Too bad, because she was smiling so sweet!

Addy and Amber

I took a few quick pictures of Addy and Amber while the boys were watching a football game the other day. I thought I'd post a few I liked to give y'all a different baby to gawk at.

I wiped that drool off, but she wanted it back.

I wish I had a wider angle on this one.

I like this one a lot. So sweet.

Oh for some catchlights in this one! Um, and a little better focus.

I did this shoot on ISO 400 F2.0-2.2 and 120 to 160. On my bed again. It's really hard to take pictures there because I can't get far enough away from my subject. I did these to show Amber how I got some of Jane that she liked, but I think I'm ready for a NEW location please. I need to get out of my house!

Another problem, I have a seriously hard time telling when my picture is in focus. I tried to do manual a few times, and I really just can't tell. I am really wondering about my eyesight. Could it be that I'm getting a little older and I need glasses? I've always had perfect vision, but between my last driving eye test (which I totally failed) and this, I am wondering if my eyes have problems. Scary. Maybe I'm just tired and look at the computer too long.

Toes Take 2

After I saw this picture from Jeri, I shamelessly tried to recreate it. I ran into a few obstacles. First, I actually tried to use a wood floor, but my kitchen has the absolute worst light ever, so it didn't work. Then I tried to get her on the bed grabbing her toes, but she just kept going on her tummy. THEN, I just couldn't get the right angle or light, and she would never look up at my that way, so I was a little too close and the f-stop really wide, so everything was slightly out of focus. Sad. That said, I do LOVE some of the ones I got. Here they are:

Here's my try of the wood floor. She just kept rolling over. Argh. Plus, it was time to give up on that hat. Too small.

Change of venue, change of hat. Still wanted to roll over.

1/100 F1.8 400 50mm

More bum shots. But I like it.

1/160 F1.8 400 50mm

hanging out

flying
she was being cute while I was walking around to the front of her, so I hurried to capture these shots, but I'll have to find a better composition for this pose in the future.

1/160 F1.8 400 50mm

I feel like my pictures always turn out a little darker than I want, so I slowed the shutter speed more than I usually would for this shot. I think it complicates things when I put her in white--like, every day. Hard to find the right exposure. But overall, I think I like this exposure the best. (I fixed some of the others a little.)

1/100 F1.8 400 50mm

1/320 F1.8 400 50mm
What the . . . I should have changed the f-stop a little before going all the way to 320. Perhaps I would have gotten more than her hat in focus.

She just wouldn't look up

New angle

1/250 F1.8 400 50mm

So, yes, focus was a problem in this shoot. In the first ones, I maybe should have gone to 800 ISO so I didn't have to use such a small d.o.f. In the last ones, I should have changed the f-stop before going so high on shutter speed. I want to take these things into account and try this shoot again. I wonder if smoochy will let me.

Grabbing Toes

So I wanted to get poopsie grabbing her toes on my bed. I wanted to play with the light and decided to try backlighting since I wasn't going for her face. Once again, I had a little trouble with composition, but it's getting a little better. I tried a lot of things this time at least. I took these at about 8:30 a.m. in my bedroom with one shutter open. That's pretty low, cool light. I got pretty much the effect I wanted though. Here are a few:

On this one, I think I wanted her a little smaller.

1/125 F1.8 400 50mm

I cropped this one a little.

1/125 F1.8 400 50mm

Here are a couple I turned BW. I think I may have even made them a little darker to let the light stand out more.

1/125 F1.8 400 50mm

1/80 F1.8 400 50mm

This one is a little blurry--I was trying out Av mode in this one and the last one. I think I'll stick to manual, especially in low light situations. But i did like the composition of this one, and those beautiful catchlights.

1/50 F2.8 400 50mm (+1 Exposure Compensation)

I realized today that one of the reasons I have a hard time composing a picture with this camera (and specifically this lens) is because I have to actually reposition MYSELF rather than zoom in and out. It was easy for me to get a shot when I was doing it with my fingers. I need to have a whole shoot where I look at the same object (stationary) and just reposition myself over and over so I get used to it. Nonetheless, it's starting to sink in.

Hoodie

Today I went to our ward's first photography group, but I haven't done my assignment yet. Instead, I worked on a few little things I picked up, and Jeri followed me up to a hill to take some pictures of Janey, and she gave me some suggestions. I need to think harder about composition. I'm sometimes stuck, especially when it comes to over-the-baby shots, on what I've been doing, which doesn't work. Also, I tried some manual focus, and decided I'm not ready for that quite yet.

So, here was my best shot:

1/2000 F2.2 200 50mm

And here was the one Jeri took:

1/2000 F2.2 200 50mm

Like I said, it's about composition. I always start shooting in the wrong place and don't move around and experiment. I need to be careful of "up the nose" shots. Also, I need to move back for a larger d.o.f. and it won't be so hard to focus.

Some other shots, just for fun:

Here was the "artistic eyelash shot" as Jeri put it. I totally overexposed it, so the picture quality is no good really, but I like how it looks like she's discovering grass, so I played with it until it looked ok.

1/500 F2.2 200 50mm

This could have been a good picture if I'd had a little larger depth of field.

1/1000 F2.2 200 50mm

One more for the road. Just to see if I could, I took a picture in the middle of my kitchen. I finally got it to where I don't hate it. If I must take a spontaneous picture, it is possible.

1/125 F1.8 800 50mm

I'll post again when I've done my assignment!

Note--things I learned today (so I won't forget): Metering--put in Av, get close to your subject, press the button half-way to find meter, then use that shutter speed in manual. Shade--put subjects just inside the line of shade.

Portraits again

I practiced on Janey (of course) and a few other kids today. I got some good portraits/personality shots that I like. They were in afternoon window light against the back of my white chairs, and I think I put the white balance to the shade setting. Here they are:

Logan

50 mm 1/200 F2.2 200

William

50 mm 1/320 F2.2 200

Addy

50 mm 1/400 F2.2 400

My Janey

50 mm 1/320 F2.5 400

I actually put these in reverse order of taking them, in case you're wondering why I would have switched from ISO 200 to 400. It was really the other way around. But I'm SO happy with that picture of Janey!! Oh yay! I finally got that big Janey smile, and I didn't even have to crop or fix colors. Good times!