Photography Wannabe

The cousins tile

2010-12-06T18:47:00.000-08:00


First Draft (ignore ugly font)


Second Draft

Just so we're all clear, I am just posting these so my siblings can approve and give commentary. It is a work in progress! But I think it's done now. I will actually be ordering it AS a tile, like an actual tile. Isn't that fun? Thanks for all the nice comments!

Christmas Card Mistakes

2010-11-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

1. I forgot to comb the boys' hair. I combed Ethan's half-way through, but not Jeffy's.

2. When I was inside, I changed to ISO 1600 so I could get a nice aperture, but I forgot to change the aperture, so only Jane is in focus in my best shot.

3. When I moved outside, I forgot to change ISO, so the first several were blown out.

4. I gave up too soon. I ALMOST got great pictures. ALMOST. Ugh.

5. I'm trying too hard to make them work.

Here are the results so far:

Here's a little collage--the boys are not in focus on the one on the left. Also, NO one knows that the theme of Christmas this year is Toy Story 3, so this little scrappy message is not so making sense.

I took Jane's race from a different shot and put it in here. I don't think it quite works. I couldn't get her head exactly right.

I like these pictures together, because Jane is smiling SO cute in the second one, but Ethan kind of looks like he needs to go potty, and there's this window driving me crazy in both shots. Plus, it looked kind of weird.

So then I put on a message. Now it looks a little too busy.

Then I thought of just having ONE picture, but the way I have to crop it just doesn't leave room for a cute message. I'd have to put it inside a card. And it's not really the CUTEST picture ever, so I'm just not sure.

So that's that. I think maybe I'll put them back in their clothes and try again. I DO like the red brick. It looks very nice. But there's all this nice snow! But Ethan keeps folding his arms because he's cold and ruins the shot, and Jeffy squints. Only my munchkin is cute. Hmph.

I'll probably try one more time and then I'll just use one of these if I have to.

OK, I've tried again. I got exactly ONE usable picture, but I think it's pretty good. Here are some card ideas:

Those are my card ideas. I will probably use one of these, but I don't know which!

365

2010-08-07T23:14:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of these challenges? Sometimes it's taking a self-portrait every day for a year, sometimes it's just a picture a year. At first I thought, that's easy! I'm SURE I take a picture a day. But take a picture I'm creatively proud of, and fix it up, and post it? It sounds daunting.

However I DO want to try it! Perhaps I'll start in September? Tomorrow? Today? Never? Do I post them here? On Flickr? Is it just another stress since I can't even keep up on movie reviews?

Hmmm . . . I'm thinking about it.

A Session

2010-07-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

So. I vowed I'd never do it, but so many people in my neighborhood have been asking me to take family pictures, I just decided I may has well start charging--just a pittance. I'd already told a few families that I'd take their pictures, so I'm going to do theirs for free, but after that, I'm going to set some dates with session times, and just let people sign up for those--I'll only have to work a few hours a day, on days I set aside, and then I'll quickly proof my favorites and give them all CDs and they can print them out on their own. I'll probably only do it before the holiday season, and in the summer, in case people don't love fall photos. Just a couple times a year. I think that will be fun! Maybe if I get better at infant photos, I can charge for those too, but I'd rather just do a session as a gift--then I wouldn't feel bad if they are ridiculous. I seem to be better at families. I guess we all have our forte.

ANYway, so since I decided to charge, I figured I'd better figure out if I can even DO what I'm going to charge for. I did a quick (30 min) session with a family--friends of mine--for free, and I think I feel pretty confident that I can get enough good shots that people will be pleased. Here are some of my favorites:

My friend asked me to take the pictures because of the ones I took of my kids and put on my mantle. So she wanted the same thing--some close ups of the kids in BW. These are what I got.

I was worried about the last one not being quite like the others, but it was SO much better than the other one I got of her that I had to use it. You'll see it in color later.

These are the best of the family shots I got. The little bear they are holding represents the little girl they just lost at 30 weeks.

Some of just the kids

I love that this last one really show their personalities. The water was pretty cold!

And for me, I love these next two the best. Such sweet girls!

YAY! I love this location, because there is LOTS of shade, and lots of STUFF--trees, rocks, water, bridges. But I really do need to find something else, or all my pictures will look the same. I took these at about 6:30 p.m. The light was lovely, but I want to try some at dusk.

Anyway I had a great time, and I feel pretty good about doing some cheap sessions for my own neighborhood. If I don't start charging and setting up sessions, I'll just end up doing a session once a week for free, and that isn't going to work for me. I don't think I'd ever advertise or make a website or anything, but this is "going pro" enough for me. :)

Photography Group--other handouts

2010-06-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

In addition to the assignment below, I also handed out my suggestions for getting started and some info on exposure. Here it is:

My recommendations for STARTING OUT:

1. READ YOUR MANUAL. Every camera is different and you need to know yours. Besides that, most manuals give really great ideas about which settings to use for which pictures. Keep it in your bag and refer to it often.

2. GET A BOOK. I got Digital SLR Cameras & Photography and just read a little every day, taking notes as I went. It was mostly what I'd heard before, but rereading always helps really understanding. Just read a little every day and get other books on children's photography, or anything else you're interested in.

3. PRACTICE EVERY DAY. Just going outside or chasing your children around at least for 5 minutes a day really, really helps. Reading can only go so far. If you don't get it, keep going. It will click. Practice different kinds of things—motion, lighting, landscapes, closeups, everything.

4. PLAY AROUND WITH PROCESSING. Every single digital photographer processes their photographs afterward. Choose your favorite program (photoshop, picnik, etc.) and play around with your pictures to learn how things work. It really makes a difference in your pictures.

Exposure: how light works with your camera.

When you venture out of your camera's automatic settings, you need to be able to understand the three ways light enters and interacts with your camera. This exposure triangle is made up of ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. When you adjust one, you need to adjust the others in order to get the perfect exposure.

ISO:

In traditional (film) photography ISO (or ASA) was the indication of how sensitive a film was to light. It was measured in numbers (you’ve probably seen them on films – 100, 200, 400, 800 etc). The lower the number the lower the sensitivity of the film and the finer the grain in the shots you’re taking.

In Digital Photography ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor. The same principles apply as in film photography – the lower the number the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain. Higher ISO settings are generally used in darker situations to get faster shutter speeds (for example an indoor sports event when you want to freeze the action in lower light) – however the cost is noisier shots.

SHUTTER SPEED:

Defined most basically – shutter speed is ‘the amount of time that the shutter is open’.

In film photography it was the length of time that the film was exposed to the scene you’re photographing and similarly in digital photography shutter speed is the length of time that your image sensor ’sees’ the scene you’re attempting to capture.

Let me attempt to break down the topic of “Shutter Speed” into some bite sized pieces that should help digital camera owners trying to get their head around shutter speed:

Shutter speed is measured in seconds – or in most cases fractions of seconds. The bigger the denominator the faster the speed (ie 1/1000 is much faster than 1/30).

In most cases you’ll probably be using shutter speeds of 1/60th of a second or faster. This is because anything slower than this is very difficult to use without getting camera shake. Camera shake is when your camera is moving while the shutter is open and results in blur in your photos.

If you’re using a slow shutter speed (anything slower than 1/60) you will need to either use a tripod or some some type of image stabilization (more and more cameras are coming with this built in).

APERTURE:

Put most simply – Aperture is ‘the size of the opening in the lens when a picture is taken.’

When you hit the shutter release button of your camera a hole opens up that allows your cameras image sensor to catch a glimpse of the scene you’re wanting to capture. The aperture that you set impacts the size of that hole. The larger the hole the more light that gets in – the smaller the hole the less light.

Aperture is measured in ‘f-stops’. You’ll often see them referred to here at Digital Photography School as f/number – for example f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6,f/8,f/22 etc. Moving from one f-stop to the next doubles or halves the size of the amount of opening in your lens (and the amount of light getting through). Keep in mind that a change in shutter speed from one stop to the next doubles or halves the amount of light that gets in also – this means if you increase one and decrease the other you let the same amount of light in – very handy to keep in mind).

One thing that causes a lot of new photographers confusion is that large apertures (where lots of light gets through) are given f/stop smaller numbers and smaller apertures (where less light gets through) have larger f-stop numbers. So f/2.8 is in fact a much larger aperture than f/22. It seems the wrong way around when you first hear it but you’ll get the hang of it.

Depth of Field and Aperture

There are a number of results of changing the aperture of your shots that you’ll want to keep in mind as you consider your setting but the most noticeable one will be the depth of field that your shot will have.
Depth of Field (DOF) is that amount of your shot that will be in focus. Large depth of field means that most of your image will be in focus whether it’s close to your camera or far away.
Small (or shallow) depth of field means that only part of the image will be in focus and the rest will be fuzzy.

BRINGING IT TOGETHER

Remember that thinking about any of the exposure triangle elements in isolation from the other two elements is not really a good idea. As you change one you’ll need to change one or both of the other elements to compensate for it.

For example if you speed up your shutter speed one stop (for example from 1/125th to 1/250th) you’re effectively letting half as much light into your camera. To compensate for this you’ll probably need to increase your aperture one stop (for example from f16 to f11). The other alternative would be to choose a faster ISO rating (you might want to move from ISO 100 to ISO 400 for example).

The best thing to do is practice playing around with all three on manual setting until you understand how they work. Even zooming in will sometimes change the aperture, so be careful. Semi-automatic settings are also helpful in that you can change shutter speed and the aperture will change automatically, or vice versa. Keep trying until you figure it all out.

PHOTO GROUP Assignment 1: Light

2010-06-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, so now this unused for a year blog is going to be the host site for our little photo group. Here I will post the assignments, and all are welcome to post their own pictures (give me your emails and I'll be able to invite you to contribute). We'll look at pictures during our group, but it's nice to look at them ahead of time and get critiques here, because we don't always have time to look at everything.

SO. Here's our assignment #1 (yes, it was stolen from my photography group of old.)

LIGHT:

Our first assignment was to TURN OFF YOUR FLASH! We're trying to shoot in manual at least a little bit every day to get used to it, but you are welcome to use Av mode while you're trying to just get some good pictures. We're working on finding light in your own houses. So look for the good windows, bad windows, and make it work. Then move outside and see what works best around your house. Here are the specific pictures you should take:

First, get a subject and photograph it using at least 3 different windows in your home.

Window #1
Soft window light/Close to window/ Light and Shadow on face.

Look for a window that creates a soft glow. No harsh light coming in the room, or sun shinning brightly on the floor. Position your subject near this window, so there is a light side of the face and a dark side. It doesn’t have to be half and half (split lighting), but experiment with how much light and shadow is on the face.

Window #2
Small window/ small amount of light/ Can you make it work?

Now look for a window that is very small (maybe the bathroom)....that lets in a little bit of light. Try to place your subject in the most pleasing spot for this small window. Don’t worry about the background...we are looking at the light. Change where you are standing, change the direction your subject is looking....See if you can MAKE it work.

Window #3
Big window/create flat lighting (no shadows on your subject)

For the last window sit on the ground under a window (or sliding door) with your back to the wall/door. Have your subject directly in front of you. Try not to block the light landing on your subject, you may have to move or duck a bit.

Outside
Move outside/ get your subject in the shade/ Look for catchlights in the eyes.
Now get outside. Look for open shade. Examples: A covered porch, in shade of a house, inside a garage, under a shady tree (without dappled light), or a totally cloudy day.

How to find the best spot? Walk around your subject and look into their eyes. Are the catchligths there? (Tiny highlights (bright spots) in a subject's eyes, caused by reflections of the light source.) Would those catchlights be better if they turn around? Do they have harsh shadows on their face. Have them look up a bit or tilt their head, WATCH the shadows as they do this. Don’t let the background determine where you take the photograph...only worry about the light.

Select your FIVE best images to post to the blog or bring next month. Feel free to bring your photos that didn’t turn out so we can discuss them.

A few tips.

Shoot in AV mode, (if you don't already shoot in manual) and select a few different f-stops. EXPERIMENT.
Fill your frame with your subject.
Take a picture of the entire scene...window,where the subject was standing, etc. It will help us all know your set up.

New Assignments and Color Issues

2009-07-06T06:47:00.000-07:00

So, this month I'm supposed to be working on slow shutter speed pictures. I don't know where my tripod is, so I am kind of lame about it, but I did my best. I did some fireworks and sparklers (just the kind we did ourselves) and I'm glad I have time to read up some more, find my tripod, and try again on the 24th. But here are some I got that I will figure out how to fix up and have fun with:

So, we'll see what comes out of those.

Now, here are some I took with my babydoll eating an apple. I really wanted a big contrast between the blue of her eyes and the red apple, so I enhanced those colors. On photoshop they look great, and even in a slide show on Flickr, but just looking at them in my photostream, they look really processed and dark. I'm going to try them here to see how it goes here:

This first one is unprocessed, so you can see the regular colors.

These next three are processed--brighter eyes and apple.

Well, I think they look fine here, I don't know why they are being funny on Flickr. Any suggestions on color enhancing? Anything else I should do on these photos?

This was a hard one.

2009-05-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

The photography group assignment this month (one of them) was to take self-portraits. At my current weight I try to stay behind the camera as much as possible. So this was hard. (Even harder to post them.) But I buckled down and did it. I tried several kinds of setups, but I liked pictures of me reading a book the best. I tried to really look natural. And since I just had to do the timer and run back and forth a million times, that was not easy. But I narrowed it down to two:

This is the one that looked best to me as a portrait of myself and probably the best composition. Jake chose this one as well. It's probably the most flattering, and it looks the most natural. Down side, my face is in shadow (except my nose!), and my eyes are very dark. Since my eyes are one of my best features and my nose one of the worst, that's just really the wrong way to go. (But I did do some editing to soften that contrast.) My hands were really bright and I poorly (for now) shaded them a little. And last but not least, the picture is not quite in focus. Is this really just a portrait of my hair? So there you go for that one.

Next:

Pros on this one, the lighting is much better. You can actually see my eyes. And it's silly, but I actually like the way my hair is going a little crazy. I don't look quite so tired. (I was tired, so this is the least tired shot--they bags are less visible.) And it is in focus, but still looks soft enough to flatter my skin. Cons are, I wish I were a little lower in the frame, my hand is a little prominent, the top of my nose is cutting the far eye in a weird way. Are those deal-breakers?

Anyway, I'm having trouble choosing. Any suggestions? The color ones looked a little weird, so I'm going for BW on this one, but did I do an ok job of converting? The second one had some really bright whites to work with.

The second assignment was a chronological series of something. The only problem I have with that one is choosing 3-5 of either A. Janey walking, B. Janey eating chocolate cake, or C. Janey eating strawberry shortcake. That's about it.

Behind

2009-04-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

So, I finally have finished taking pictures for all the assignments I've missed while moving away from my photography group. But I'm still going to follow all the assignments! SO, I didn't love any of my red, yellow, or orange pics. I like them, but I didn't adore them. I kept kind of trying again after I posted my assignments, because I really wanted to be inspired. But I never did find anything great. I feel the same way about my blue, purple, and green. I have several to choose from, but none of them really just JUMP out at me. The good thing is, I usually get some really good shots that I love while I'm trying for the assignments, so nothing is lost!

Anywho, here are my tries for green. I can't decide which to choose:

Abstract:

Or literal:
I mean, she's not wearing green, but she's surrounded by it. It was her first pleasant encounter with grass.

Purple was a challenge, and I got some great shots of my niece in a purple shirt, but none were really focused on the purple. And then I took some of a purple sunset, but again, not QUITE purple enough for me. So I just got this shot:

A little boring and all, but hey, it's purple.

Then blue. I had some shots of sea and sky that were all blue, but I decided to have a blue focus instead with this one:
I cropped it to make the blue a little more prominent, and I also have a landscape shot of this pose, but it's much less blue.

SO, now this month's assignment is to make a 2-shot collage of the same situation from different angles. I tried and TRIED to take my beach pictures with this in mind, but I never could quite get what I envisioned. So I took a million pictures and decided to just see what I had and work it out later. So, I spent all morning putting together some pics, and here are my choices:

Janey smiling in the grass. She is cute and all, but I don't know if I love the two together.

It was such a sunny day, I didn't really get any shots of Janey's face on the beach, but I LOVE her expression in the crawling picture, so I just chose a rock examination close up to be its companion.
Here is the landscape pic of the earlier blue picture, then I just found a playing in sand picture. Again, no faces on my Jane.
Here's my brave Jeffy. I guess I should switch the pictures to be chronological, but my eye always lingers on the right picture, and that one has much more visual interest for me. I'm not sure these really have the right balance to go together.
I didn't get too many shots of Ethan, but I do like these two. Again, I'm not sure they really go together, but it was worth a try.

Here's the one I probably like best for a collage. You can barely see Jeffy in the first one, and his back is to us in both pictures, but the two work together better than some of the others.
So now I've got some deciding and some posting to do to be all caught up just in time for the next assignment.

It's been fun to be motivated into picking up my camera again. I should start a photography group here too and be double challenged.

RED

2009-02-10T10:43:00.001-08:00

Ok, I got some red pics in the last couple days. I need to choose between them or try again (I don't really LOVE any of them) so I will post them here for consideration.

Here's Janey on a walk in her snuggly red stroller. She is so cute!

Here is an attack of uno cards.

and another kind of cool attack.

Here is my diaper bag hanging up and ready to go, along with the clock subtly in the background telling me I am for sure late. Oops, I think this one is overprocessed. Thought I fixed that. But you get the idea . . .

Here's Ethan's first day of Kindergarten apple telling him which class to go to. Now it hangs upon his schoolwork basket.

I'm also contemplating red socks and a book (together, and upon feet and in hands . . . you get the idea). I am not being so inspired this time!

Yikes!

2009-01-21T18:43:00.000-08:00

Our assignment this month is kind of hard. I have to take a picture that is mostly red, another orange, another yellow. I just never leave my house. I guess I'll have to drag myself out and about.

SO, does anyone have any ideas? I've seen lots of red around since I've been looking, but who knows if I can make a good picture.

BUT, just to give myself HOPE (and a way out if I really don't find anything) here are some pictures I've already taken that fit the category:

So, I could use these, and maybe when we do our little gallery, I will. But I really do want to take new pictures for the assignment. I'm on the hunt!!

Just Because You CAN . . . .

2009-01-13T20:25:00.000-08:00

. . . does NOT mean you should.

I've been a little too excited about my new CS4, it seems, for I have been doing very uncharacteristic things. I mean, sure, I love a good picture collage, and fine, it's all good to add a little "Janey Jump Up" now and then, just to be cute, but THIS is getting ridiculous:

It all started out so innocently, with my searching for shadows for this month's photography assignment, and I found some great ones in Janey's bed:

Then to accentuate the shadows, I turned in BW:

It's a good enought picture on its own, but I felt it was a little lonely, almost sad without an actual BABY in the picture, so I thought I'd tell a little story through a mini-collage:
Then, because I had just downloaded some fun new fonts, and because I had a cute title for the picture, I thought I'd just SLAP the title RIGHT on the collage, and what do you have?

Photo Scrapbooking.

Not that there's anything wrong with that . . . it's just . . . not for me. I'm not a big scrapbooker. Plus, what is this for? I mean, if I were putting it into a scrapbook, sure, or some other little storytelling project. But a photography assingment??? Nope. And to be honest, for my own personal style, I'd choose the collage without words over the cutesy one with words 9 times out of 10. So why do I do it? Because I can, I guess. Because I'm practicing with my new software? And also because every now and then, words can really accentuate the picture and help tell the story.

In this case, it was a mistake. Without the words, viewers can bring to mind their own stories. Did she just wake up? Will she not go to bed? Is she just having some pre-nap playtime? Does she just love time in her crib?

Yes, much better.

So, I'm posting this to remind myself to EDIT my edits. RETRENCH! Sometimes simple is much better.

Flashy

2008-12-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

So, I have an Amazon gift card that I want to use on photography stuff. Here are my thoughts:

Some sort of flash or flash filter so I don't just keep taking yellowy grainy pictures inside and whatnot.

OR

A new lens. Macro? Telephoto? Something I don't know about yet?

What do you all recommend? My gift card is only $50, but that doesn't mean I can't spend more! :)

PC assignment 3.1

2008-11-25T06:41:00.000-08:00

Here's one of my situations. Making pumpkin bread with my boys. They love to bake with me, and I love to bake! This year, pumpkin bread has been especially popular, and Ethan wants me to make it every day. There is pretty much no light in my kitchen, so I just did the best I could. They may not be the best quality, but I LOVE that it really captures my buddies helping me bake, and fooling around and making a mess at the same time.

The next situation I did was Miss Jane in her Jonny Jump Up (we call it the Janey Jump Up now). She is in it all all ALL the time and loves being in it more than anything--well, she's starting to like crawling around a little more. She just loves her independence and she spins, jumps, walks, looks around, and just hangs out for hours every day in her little bouncy seat. Again, it was hard to get good lighting in a door jam, but I did my best and they get to be BW. Also, extremely hard to get in focus pictures of a bouncing baby, but I figured that blur was part of the appeal. So, here she is:

I made a couple collages of actual jumping techniques as well, here they are:
There you have it. Part one of assignment all done. I took a MILLION pictures, and it was so hard to choose from them. Sometimes I had to sacrifice quality of the picture to get the idea I wanted, sometimes the other way around. But it was so fun, and now I have these lovely keepsakes! If I ever happen to have an indoor trampoline in Jane's room or something, I think I'll print these out and put them on the wall!

Photoshop Questions

2008-11-21T12:22:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I often take pictures that are too cool. Sometimes I like them that way, sometimes not. While I was waiting for my Photoshop, I often changed this in Picnik, which was fine. I usually just told it to automatically change the warmth, and left it at that. So, I tried to do that on Photoshop by putting a warming filter, and it did warm it up, but it seemed to change a few things. Whenever I try to change the colors using a filter, I am always disappointed in the eye color. Besides, it looked a little greenish. I had to put on a red filter in order to make it look more natural. Look at these two for example:

original

edited in Picnik with one button

edited in photoshop using a yellow warming filter and another red filter

I think the picnik one actually looks better, and it took a lot less effort. What is picnik doing that I am not doing in photoshop. I mean, I could fix the eye color by using a sponge, changing the color filter, and saturating just the eyes, and maybe tone down the read a bit, but maybe I'm just not doing it right. Still, it seems I'm doing a lot of work to try to make it look like the Picnik one. And anyway, what is the advantage of photoshop then? I know I have a LOT more control, but if I just need a quick warming effect, should I just use something like Picnik? Or is there something wrong with the Picnik one that I don't see?

Another quesiton--BW conversion. I tried it 4 ways. Three of them are the multi-step processes from this article. The other was my plain old desaturate and play with brightness/contrast on Digital Photo Professional. Can you tell which is which? I asked Jake which he liked best, and he chose my lame-o "flat" conversion. I am not seeing the depth vs. flat. I know it looks flat if you just desaturate and leave it at that. But do the layers really add a lot of depth? I mixed them up when I put them in, and now I'm not even sure which method is which.

SO, photo peoples, please tell me what I'm missing here. I have used PS extensively as a desktop publishing tool, and didn't do much photo editing besides crazy effects or fixes, so I'm new to actual photo editing.

Also, don't feel obligated to answer. Many times I just post these questions so as to remember them and see what I was working on for the future when I'm smarter and stuff.

As far as getting to know PS again, I've been making my way through the help. It is actually quite helpful.

A Little Edit . . .

2008-11-01T18:30:00.001-07:00

Piano and Viola Antique edit
Originally uploaded by Cami Turpin

So, Jeri gave me hope that my piano and viola pics were not all a total loss, so I put this picture in Picnik and fixed it on up, adding a little antiquey feel to it, desaturated the color, gave it a little vignette, and a few other little things. Suddenly I like it a lot! I would like to do more to it, but alas, my photo editing capabilities are still crippled. Hooray for digital photography! What would I do without editing?

(p.s. I did this using Flickr's "blog this" button. Pretty easy!)

PC2 assignment 2: Books

2008-10-30T18:49:00.001-07:00

This was going to be Books, Blankets, and Beds, but I thought books were busy enough. Obviously I'm a reader. I wanted to show a big stack of books without it looking too posey. I had some on my favorite reading chair, but it was too hard to get right, so my chair theme didn't work for me this time. (Did you notice they are all on a chair of some kind so far? But I guess this is on piano bench, so it still sort of works.) I tried on the bookshelf too, but it just didn't look fun. These still look too posey for me, but I do like some of them.

Jake liked this two stacky one, but it looks a little haphazard for me.

I was trying out the open book thing. Probably should have used a different background.

Then I added the open book to the stack. Much better. I toned down colors a little in this one and added a little more contrast.

Here it is with the WHOLE stack. I wasn't sure if I liked the extreme angle on this one, but I do like the idea of the tower of books.

The end. I think I won't do food, which was going to be my last favorite thing. (I'm not counting people.) I could do a whole SET just of foods. I'm thinking maybe I'll do dishes to represent foodies! I could do a stack. I seem to be leaning toward stacks of things . . .

PC assignment 2--favorites: Music

2008-10-24T17:53:00.000-07:00

This one is hard. I can get shots I like of the viola. I can get shots I like of the piano. But together, it is way hard. And that's after I gave up on adding the guitar! I may just give up on this whole shot and just make a little collage of each individual instrument. I'll just leave it out of the "favorites" assignment.

THIS:

plus THIS:

does NOT equal THIS:

Lame-O.

So, I have many other options, and I suppose I can use one of these if all else fails, but maybe I'll try to work something else out. It all just looks so posey!

PC assignment 2: blanket, books, and rocker

2008-10-24T13:31:00.001-07:00

Ok, so sadly there was much ado to get this chair into decent light! And then it was hard to find a good background and a good angle. I think I will also probably tweak this to make it a little warmer, more cozy. But here are the best shots I could get in my limited space:

This one looks to focused on the books.

This one looks a little too confusing.

I like this one best, but it is all a little confusing to me. I can't tell what's good anymore.

So, what do you think? Does it convey time with babies? That's what I was going for. Any ideas for better shots to convey that? I only REALLY want the rocking chair.

PC2 assignment 2: Scarves, Sweaters, and Boots

2008-10-23T16:58:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I did a little shoot of the first of my "favorites" group. I chose fall clothing. Scarves, sweaters, and boots. I took about 20 and narrowed it down to three. Here they are:

This was the first of the shots I liked (there were many before this), but it still looks so posed.

This is the first one that really jumped out at me. I really liked it, but it didn't have the boots. And I did want the scarf to be a little in the d.o.f.

So I recreated the shot with the boots in. Well, one boot. I can't decide.

Anyway, I'll choose one of these and move on. My other favorites may include books, musical instruments (maybe, I'm deciding on that), some chocolate, and a rocking chair. Maybe my bed will make an appearance. We'll just see.

PC2 assignment 1, take 2

2008-10-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd try the 12 frames of an object with my viola. Here is what I got:

Do you like the apples or the viola better.

Photo Class Lesson 2

2008-10-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

We had photo group today and I never can wait to do my assignment, so I'm finished with part one, take one. I thought I'd do it with a few objects, just for fun.

So the first assignment was to take 12 pictures of the same object. Not 35 shots, pick you best 12, just take 12 frames. I wasn't sure if I could move or reposition the object or not--I did in a couple pictures--but mostly I just moved myself around the object. I chose an apple. I put it on the kids' table next to my big window right about at noon. I'm sure I could have waited for better light, but hey, no kids around.

Anyway, here's a slideshow of my pics. I did a little color editing, but no cropping. I did this pretty much on ISO 400 F3.2 and 1/40-60 with my 50mm lens.

So, I think I'll do this one again for more practice. Any suggestions for another object? I'm supposed to choose my favorite 3 and post them. If I use my apples, I think I know which three I'll choose, but you can vote if you'd like.

The next assignment is to take pictures of 3-5 of our favorite things, or things that describe us. This will be a journal page for sure. I have some ideas, but I'm going to try to be creative in setting them up. Those will take a while. Still, we have a whole month! I'll get some more assignments for myself to fill in the time. :)

Fall Leaves

2008-10-15T11:35:00.000-07:00

I am scootching down Kellie's AWESOME tips from her photography retreat, so scroll down and read 'em!

Now, I went out today in what I THOUGHT was a warm, overcast fall day. It turned out to be a HOT, very sunny fallish day and after Felicity, Daisy, and I ran around the lake looking for autumn-colored foliage for a while, we gave up, Felicity went home, and Daisy and I dragged my very sleepy child to the Harris Teeter parking lot where there were pretty leaves. Awesome. It was hard to avoid traffic and get good shots of a girl who just will NOT sit up, and who is ALWAYS my subject. So that said, here are some. Also, I sharpened these, per Jeri's tip, but I STILL don't have my photoshop, so I just used my DPP to sharpen it. I believe I overdid it a little. 50mm lens for all of these.

She just wanted to eat the leaves.

1/800 F4.0 ISO 400

Also, she is ALWAYS sucking her thumb.

1/800 F4.0 ISO 400

One of the only smiles we got today! Trying to avoid the road in the background.

1/800 F4.0 ISO 400

Tired and distracted Janey gave lots of profiles today.

1/1250 F4.0 ISO 400

I feel I oversharpened this one. I like the glowing yellow leaf in the middle, and the ALMOST heart-shaped patch of grass.

1/1250 F4.0 ISO 400

I was lying down with Jane on my legs. Her chin is cropped out to avoid my knee.

1/400 F7.1 ISO 400

Here's one of the swing shots I got. She is FLYING!

1/1000 F4.0 ISO 400

There we have it. Leaves take ONE. I had a cute fallish sweater for her to wear, but I swear it was 90 degrees! Yuck.

Top Tips from Creative Photography Retreat

2008-10-13T07:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, at Cami's request, here are a few things I learned, in order of the strength of the AH-HA! response it elicited in me and my pal:

Spend a day observing the light in an open door in your house. Find times when the light is bright outside, but shady just inside. Every portrait pro I had a class with regularly uses wide open doors (placing the subject just on the shady side of the line between the light and the shade) as an easy way to get good, open shade. Sometimes they use the door frame to frame the shot but more often they don't. By metering on the subjects and using a large aperture, you can make the inside of the house darken to shadow and blur out.
This was also suggested by every teacher I had: If the light is tricky (dark background, backlit subject, etc.), rather than metering on the whole composition, Walk over and get really close, meter on the subject's face using aperture priority, note the settings, then move back, put the camera on manual, recompose, then set thesettings according to the metering. Ignore your camera telling you it's wrong.
The best way to get good photographs of people is to get out of yourself and really talk to your subjects. Take your time and be willing to be silly, firm or friendly. Take risks and really observe your subject. Don't ever criticize or make a photoshoot into a task for the subject. Be honest about the time the shoot will take, i.e., "We are going to spend about 10 minutes with this pose, so stick with me till we get it right."
Focus right between the eyes so that if the focus falls off to the sides, you still have nice sharp eyes rather than soft eyes and sharp ears.
Celebrate and capture the goofy expressions. Ask for them so you can build the trust to then ask for the nice faces. "Come on, I need 8 more funny faces, PLEEEAASSE?"
Try different approaches to figure out HOW you like to take pictures. The last two teachers I had had a significant personal impact on me because their approaches were so opposite but yet both get wonderful results. Don't try to copy someone else. The first of these last two teachers uses only film and limits every shoot to 72 images. She challenged us to slow down and do the same thing, even in digital-limit our next photo shoot to 72 images. This teacher is calm and commanding. She greets her subjects with, "Hi, I'm Karen and I'm in charge of the photo shoot." She is serious about her work and moves slowly. She follows all the classical rules of composition (never cut off a limb, never cut off any part of the head, always show creases in limbs to let the viewer know they are connected, etc.). The next teacher I had uses the "Spray and Pray" (her words) technique of photography. She uses an 8 gb data card, puts her camera in continuous shooting mode and takes tens or even hundreds of images of each pose with the mantra, "ONE OF THEM'S GONNA BE GREAT!" She interacts with her subjects like a broadway actress crossed with a motivational speaker-she is affectionate and demonstrative. She frames photos in unusual ways and cuts off limbs, ears and parts of heads all the time. She says that she's pretty sure the mom knows the child has all their parts, even if one is missing from the photo.BOTH OF THESE WOMEN TAKE PHENOMENAL PHOTOS.
Every professional digital photographer uses Photoshop heavily to post-process their photos. It is not cheating. It is the digital darkroom and, while the photographer should still use all the technical know-how they have to make a good image in-camera, almost every image can be and is enhanced using the basic fixes of sharpening and contrast. The next group of fixes that every pro there mentioned included exposure, skin smoothing, and adjusting color.Thus, it is a priority for a digital photographer to learn to use Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or Gimp (a reasonably powerful freeware substitute for Photoshop). I'm getting wordy here, but even though I have learned to use Photoshop, I always felt faintly like I was taking the easy way out. Not so. Even the film photographers use Photoshop to some extent.
One of the best instructors there, Jessica Sprague, has online courses and tutorials directed at moms with cameras (some free, some with tuition charges) here.
If I don't upgrade my software, I am going to seriously consider purchasing the Adobe Camera Raw Plug-in for Photoshop. It was quite magical for those basic fixes and can be used even if you don't shoot in the RAW format.
Photoshop Elements 7 is about to be released, so you might be able to find a deal on version 6. Elements is incredibly powerful and more than enough software for any mom with a camera in her hand.

I don't want any heads to explode so I'll stop now. Interestingly, there was little hands-on shooting in the classes. They were all lecture and slideshow. My friend and I wanted to relax and catch up so we didn't enter the crazy scavenger hunt for prizes, so I have no images from the weekend. I have tons of notes, though and I'm going to start practicing. Evan says he'll let me take photographs of him.

An Early Autumn Walk

2008-10-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

Today I felt like my colors were a little muted for my taste, so I played with saturation and sharpened up the images a little, just for fun. Here's an example of what I got:

I was going for sort of cartoony even on that last one. It was fun to play with for sure. This is just an example. I put the rest of them on Flickr.

Just Practice

2008-10-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

I mostly wanted a picture of Janey in this cute outfit, so I thought I'd practice while I was at it. I've found, I CANNOT get good catchlights in any part of the back of my house--at least, not at the time I'm doing pictures--usually the afternoon. But I thought I'd move on up my f-stop and see how I like those half-profiles, because I'm always getting the one eye in focus shots. I am happy to see that I was able to get more of them in focus than usual, but there are still a large number out of focus. Probably, she's just moving too dang fast. I was shooting at ISO 200. Maybe that's just impossible with Janey-pie. I can go up to 400, use a much faster shutter, and then maybe it will work better. Hard to know at the time, eh?

I'm not going to put all the stats, unless it varies. I pretty much stayed at f5.0 and moved the shutter between 160 and 250. I think I may have used the shade white balance. It was around 2:00.

A funny smile.

Closeyup for those eyes.

So, I like this balance a little better. Not SO out of focus on that back eye.

Here's one that would have been out of focus at a lower f-stop.

She started falling asleep on top of the picnic table.

So I am happy that I was able to get a little better focus on most of these. I guess I just have to keep trying and experimenting. I'd like to get some more creative shots next--not just portraits. I can't wait for our next photography assignment!!

In other news, I was forced to get some prints (5 8X10s 5 5X7s and 10 4X6 for free with my camera by Sept. 30th) and I am not SO happy with the way they actually turn out printed. Totally different than I expected on some of them. Hmmmm . . .

Naughty Boys

2008-09-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

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

1/160 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

2008-09-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-19T09:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-18T06:08:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

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!

Bathtub Composition

2008-08-31T17:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've been having to do a lot of one-handed shooting lately (baby in the other arm), so things have not been so good. I'm planning on "going shooting" with Felicity tomorrow--does anyone have an assignment for us? Also, does anyone want to come to our labor day BBQ/photo shoot at 12:00? Let me know. Anywho . . .

So, today I thought I'd try to do some bathtub shots. Mostly, I used the flash, since there's no way to get natural light in my bathroom, and I'd read that bathtubs are actually great, because they reflect light all around. Now, my babypie lays on a bath sponge as she bathes, so there's always this yellow thing. There you go.

My problem today: Composition. What is up? I didn't take ONE shot that I liked without editing. I could SAY it was because I was worried about aperature, etc, but I was using a flash, so that's no excuse. WHY did I take such lame-o shots? Today I'm going to show you the before and after. You shall tell me what I am doing wrong, and also if my edits look any better! (Be honest please. How else will I learn?)

Here we go. (I'm not including info on these because we're about composition here--I may have just used auto. I don't know how to use the flash on manual effectively . . .)

What's up with this picture? I really have no idea what is floating around in the water above her--did it come off the sponge? Is it shadows of bubbles? Maybe. Anyway, this one could be blamed on the fact that I was trying to be "modest" for the shot. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that's it.

Here's the cropped shot. Better?

Ok, so this one wasn't SO bad, but it still wasn't great. I think another problem was that I didn't want to get too close with the flash, because of red eye and washing her out.

I cropped it tighter and cut out lots of the sponge-head.

For this one I tried to do without flash, just to see. I couldn't get the tone right. She looks yellowy as the sponge when I brighten it. So I decided to turn it BW in my edit. And why didn't I compose this shot better by getting closer? No flash to blame this time. Next time I'll use my 50mm lens and see if it turns out better.

Here's the BW shot. Of course it looks grainy, because I was on ISO 1600, and because I did a lot of editing to get the brightness right. (Still haven't gotten PS worked out on this computer, so I'm just using what I've got.)

Here's another one I turned BW--not very successfully (and erased the color file--lame). I could NOT figure out how to work this composition. What would you suggest.

On both of these, I knew they'd be grainy, but I felt like doing it for a sort of old fashioned feel. Kind of fun.

Anyway, there you have it. My bath shots.

Hammock take 2

2008-08-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

I wanted to try the wood/rope background of the hammock on our deck again, this time with smoochy-roo, and Ethan wanted to join. I think I did keep the white balance at shade pretty much the whole time. Mostly I was working on composition for this.

First I thought the hammock might not be comfortable for the baby, so I used a blankie. But it did let me get a different angle than usual on her.

47 mm 1/200 F5.6 400
I also used a small tone adjustment

Then I put her straight on the ropes. I like how she grabbed right on and folded herself in.

47 mm 1/160 F5.6 400

She was pretty much hanging upright and holding herself on. The hammock was good for different positions--it holds well and is a little safer.

25 mm 1/200 F5.6 400

A more natural upright portrait, because she was hanging vertically. If I wanted, I could use my 50mm for this shot and really blur out those ropes.

47mm 1/160 F5.6 400
Tone adjustment.

This is just about the only way to get Ethan to safely hold the baby. I love his face! Also, apparently my boys are ALWAYS wearing these white undershirts. I need to change them every now and then . . . .

25 mm 1/320 F4.0 400

So, I still don't actually have Photoshop installed yet, so I just did a quick BW job on this. But I really do like how the ropes stand out. I also did a crop on this one.

25 mm 1/320 F4.0 400

Jake took the nest down from the rafters and we found a walnut casing in it. I played around with color saturation and it really made the nest stand out from the wood and brought out some reddish tones. I tried to change the focus meter, but I couldn't figure it out. Good thing I'm currently reading my manual!

18 mm 1/200 F3.5 400

That's it for today. School is starting soon, so I'll be able to get out and take some pictures away from my house! (gasp!)

White Balance and Texture

2008-08-13T20:20:00.001-07:00

I grabbed the boys and their friends and made them play on the hammock today, but I only got about 6 shots altogether. However, it was all I needed, because today I was trying to play with texture (the hammock and deck), and also see how a different white balance would change things--per Matt's suggestion.

Here was my first shot--just a test to see how it would look on auto WB:

Then I changed it just to the setting for shade--I tried cloudy too, but it was pretty much the same. Here's what I got:

I think the wood and the hammock make a great background, but it's hard to get the right angle on a shot. If they're in a better mood maybe I'll try again.

If I'd had my way it would have been more of a panorama with 4 little sets of feet having their own personality with just a little hammock above. Still, I like the fun swingy feel that Xavey's feet are giving it while Jeffy pushes. So much friendlier with two.

I wish the boys had given me a little more time to compose a shot. By the time I had the settings I wanted, it was all too late. So I didn't do much, but I do like the warmer shots better--especially to bring out the wood.

No specs today, because it's late and I was only looking at white balance.

50mm Retry

2008-08-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd work on poopsie for a little while with my 50mm lens. I tried some different angles (even though they all sort of look the same) and had her sitting up this time (in a Bumbo chair--LOVE those!). I also tried making the f-stop a little smaller. Here are the results:

50mm 1/200 f2.8 400

50mm 1/125 f2.8 400

With the smaller f-stop I was able to get her whole face in focus on this one.
50mm 1/160 f2.8 400

A tragic tragedy. She flailed out of my focus just as the picture took. UGH! Any remedies for that with such a small d.o.f.?
50mm 1/160 f2.8 400

I wanted to show her sitting in her Bumbo, but I focused a little wrong here. One of her little hands is really sharp, but not her face.

50mm 1/160 f2.8 400

For FOCUS, the one below is better.

50mm 1/160 f2.8 400

Jeffy wouldn't cooperate here and baby's face is not great, but this IS the idea I was going for with the d.o.f. I wanted Jeffy a little blurry and the baby sharp.

50mm 1/160 f2.8 400

Actually, this one with Ethan is even more what I was going for, except of course for the faces and whatnot.

I thought I'd throw this one in just because I was fast enough to catch the end of this sneeze!

50mm 1/160 f2.8 400

It is so much easier to get pictures of smoochy when she isn't lying down! I'm confused about those. Jeri, what is the taking pictures of your baby book you told me about? I want ideas . . .

Action

2008-08-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I was checking out some slow shutter speeds at the pool to see if I could get some good action shots. It's hard to tell what is camera shake and what is the kind of action I want, but the main thing was, it was really hard to get the shutter speed I wanted without making the aperture very small, and it was constantly changing. Gotta be quick on your toes! Also, it was hard to get the part I wanted to be in focus and just capture the spirit of the movement.

So, here's what I got. I don't love any of them. Somebody tell me what I'm doing wrong!

Here's Jeffy showing the divers how to do a triple twist from the safety of the grass.

18mm 1/80 F11 100

Hailey with her best tricks.

47 mm 1/40 F22 100

Sheely, showing serious diving form. Either I didn't have time to get the lighting right, or a cloud came over just in time. Either way, SOME of the picture should have been clearly focused.
47 mm 1/60 F22 100

Tufty at full speed. Actually, I like this one, but he's too close to the top of the frame.

55 mm 1/80 F13 100

Jeffy working through his fear of spraying water. I do like that he is somewhat statinary while the water shows motion.

55mm 1/80 F18 100

I wish I'd gone with a little faster shutter speed during the diving shots. I liked 1/80 the best for what I was going for. I guess it's all preference, but also a little control and I'm sure there are some rules I know nothing about. Anyway, there's my first try.

50mm lens

2008-08-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

I got my new lens yesterday so I attacked my children again! Mostly Ethan, because he's my biggest challenge. You've got to CATCH him. No posing. So I often have low-light situations with him.

Today I had 9:00 a.m. light in my window. Getting the right lighting was GREAT with this lens! The problem was focus, of course. The d.o.f. is so small! But I got a few good ones and a few weird ones. Here they are:

This was the best I got. I love his expression.

50mm 1/125 F1.8 400

This one is blurry. Just the shutter speed is different, but I thought a faster speed was always better. He probably just moved out of my focus before I took it.

50mm 1/250 F1.8 400

This next one is crazy. One eye is in focus, the other, nope. Maybe I was too close to him? I needed to set a different metering setting? A smaller aperature?

50mm 1/125 F1.8 400

These next two are in focus, so I'm wondering why. Did I just focus on a more central area? My settings are a little different in the first one.

50mm 1/160 F2.0 400

50mm 1/125 F1.8 400

One last one for kicks. Jeffy did this pose for me and asked me to take it. HA! I actually quite like the composition.

50mm 1/320 F1.8 400

Sad that my children are always in their jammies when I take pictures. Later today I'm going to try shutter speed at the pool--if there is any movement from my children, that is!

Shutter Speed Examples

2008-07-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

f/6.3, 1/320 second, 57 mm using my Tamron 18-200 zoom lens.

f/32, 1/6 second, 102 mm using the same lens.

Okay, Cami invited me to contribute, so I am considering myself unleashed. Here is an attempt at an answer to one of Cami's questions. Please note that I am a self-taught photographer, so please chime in and explain it better-I will not be offended.

So, how you choose shutter speed and aperture to obtain a correct exposure is a matter of desired effect. Nothing more, nothing less. How do you want the photo to look? It is at the heart of the ART of photography. Here is an example of one of those effects, which you already saw in the photo of Ethan: Motion Capture.

Motion capture is SHUTTER SPEED DRIVEN. If you want to stop motion, as in the top photo (if you look closely, actual drops of water are suspended in the air), you use a fast shutter speed and open the aperture wider to get the right amount of light.

To show motion, as in the lower photo, make the shutter speed way slow and close up the aperture to create the correct amount of light.

The other primary effect to be aware of when deciding what combination of aperture and shutter speed to use is depth of field or depth of focus.

DOF is APERTURE DRIVEN. The more of the photo that you want to be in focus, such as in landscapes, group shots and the like, the smaller the aperture you need to use. The more you want the subject in focus and the background all fuzzed out in that fabulous bokeh, the wider the aperture needs to be. In either case, you then adjust the shutter speed to get the correct light.

The fun is that you get to prioritize the effects you want, then choose your settings.

This is the short version, because of course there is all the stuff that happens when you change focal length, but that you will figure out with experience. Let's not cause any cerebral hemorrhages here.

As in many artistic endeavors, once you know the rules, you are free to break them in order to have fun as a photographer. I like experimenting with slow shutter speeds because I like the edgy, immediate feel those photos have-more photo-journalistic. Some photos can be like exquisite sculptures-meticulously created, with a stillness to them. Some can be liquid and dynamic and a little crazy. It is all a matter of what story you are trying to tell.

Bollman Bridge

2008-07-28T17:40:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I though I'd do a photo shoot for FHE tonight (under the guise of playing at the cool bridge) because I can get an 8X8 photobook for free if I order by the 30th, so I wanted to get enough good shots to have a good siblings with new baby book. I had my successes and failures again, but I thought I'd post my best and some I wish were better so you can all advise me if you have solutions.

There's a lot, so get ready!

55 mm 1/125 F5.6 400
I wish I'd gotten more tracks here, with the boys more at the bottom. Composing a shot was really hard with how fast these boys move.

55 mm 1/200 F5.6 400
Jeffy is such a poser these days. This one seems strange because the bridge is the same type of angle as his head.

55 mm 1/200 F5.6 200
Faster shutter speed for this one? Actually, I kind of like it showing his constant movement.

33 mm 1/200 F4.5 200
Man, I just caught that dimple big time.

18 mm 1/200 F3.5 200
I had to come to terms with the fact that this is the best I'll get of Ethan. Those power lines can be photoshopped out.

31 mm 1/250 F4.5 200
I was lucky to get this extreme closeup. Ethan is in constant motion. It's really tricky to keep the lighting right when I have to zoom out, move around, and keep an eye on everything. I do realize I can make the aperature stay put even if I zoom at some levels, but man, I'm not sure I should if everything changes so quickly!

37 mm 1/200 F5.0 200
Finally got a thumb sucking shot I like!

33 mm 1/160 F4.5 200

46 mm 1/160 F5.6 200

33 mm 1/125 F4.5 200
Check out that bokeh baby! (Is that what it's called?) Does the lens do that? Ah, but no one is looking with THAT smile in the picture!

18 mm 1/100 F3.5 200
I think I was going for movement here, with that shutter speed, but my depth of field was way too short so I didn't focus right. Ugh.

18 mm 1/100 F3.5 200
I had NO time time to set up for this, so I'm surprised it turned out so well!

18 mm F3.5 1/125 400
Jeffy on his way to Mordor.

AN EDITING SECTION

37 mm 1/200 F5.0 200
I got this shot . . .

turned it b/w . . .
then cropped it closer.

18 mm 1/200 F3.5 200
I took this lame-o shot and . . .

made this panorama ACTION shot!

Ok, so my questions for this shoot: When do you use higher shutter speeds and when do you use higher aperature? I don't know which to change when. Also, what's the best way to keep the lighting right when I zoom my camera a lot or my kids move a lot? Tricky!

Today's Lesson: FLASH

2008-07-27T18:13:00.000-07:00

Cami, the flash is not evil. If you are documenting a friend's going away party and it's indoors in the evening, JUST FLASH! (Didn't you learn that at Emily's reception????) Otherwise, yes, you'll have to go all the way up to 1600 sometimes, and everyone will have dark eyes. Ugh. Why didn't you think of that!?

That is all. I'll leave some examples, and a few good shots from the party.

Ok, so in the above picture I used a flash and I hid the shadow well. Why not in the picture below?

See, the picture below is how most of the shots turned out in the back part of the house. I was looking so much at the light meter that I forgot about how the shadows would fall on the faces.

In the front room they were better because there was evening light coming in the window, as seen below. And even so, someone's shadow is falling over her, and with a flash that would have been eliminated.

Ok, so in the picture below, I was just rejoicing that I got both boys smiling at the same time! Oh these two are hard! Never underestimate a good "BLA BLA!" to get a kid's attention. Lame that I didn't move that stuff in the background until the next group of shots! Oh well--PHOTOSHOP!

I've decided not to put the specs on here because next time I will work with the flash a little more in an indoor evening party.

In other news, thanks to Kellie who gave me a bunch of photography books today! Also, she is now going to be a contributor!! Woohoo!!

Today's Pictures

2008-07-25T12:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the answers everyone! Please don't feel obligated to answer the questions I put on here. I mostly ask them to myself so as to make myself answer them sometime. But I DO appreciate help from you all!

So, I made myself go out and practice for 5 minutes today. Further trials involving shutter speed and aperature. Finding the right balance is getting easier. I took much fewer pictures today to get the same results.

Just a simple picture of the house, but it was harder to get than it seems. It is hard to find good composition for a townhouse.

18 mm 1/200 F3.5 200

Good composition:

55 mm 1/200 5.6 200

Bad composition:

55 mm 1/125 F5.6 200

Jeffy was moving a lot but I was able to get a couple pictures nonetheless. I'd like a little more contrast in the light for shots like this. Zoom out, move in to get more light. Plus, work on that composition! I could always crop it, but I need to stop putting so much space above his head like that.

34 mm 1/125 F4.5 400

Too bad the background was my legs and his bum. These feet are pretty cool!

18mm 1/125 F3.5 400

Better Now (Indoor)

2008-07-23T09:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I think the bulk of my problem in the last shoot (post below) was that it just wasn't good light. I waited till 11:00, opened the window a little more, and I had MUCH more luck! Here's what I got:

I did the first one at ISO 1600 just to save myself some anguish, and I got this one.

ISO 1600 Tv 1/125 F4.5

I saw that there was enough light, so I went down to 800 and played around with Tv and Av and got this one. I also turned her the other way by this point to face the light. And she was really mad.

ISO 800 Tv 1/125 F3.5

I turned a couple bw and found out that on my little photo professional program they DO have curves, so that's fun. I changed it only a little, because they seemed pretty good on their own.

ISO 800 Tv 1/125 F3.5

This one of the boys is kind of funny, and my feet are in it. I still kind of like it.

ISO 800 Tv 1/125 F3.5

And this one is cute of Jeffy. Too bad the baby's face is in shadow. Although that's kind of cool too.

ISO 800 Tv 1/125 F3.5

So, I guess I can't make the f-stop if the camera doesn't let me. I'll figure this all out eventually.

Ugh

2008-07-23T06:36:00.000-07:00

Oh, the frustration. It seems the more I learn, the worse I get!

Here's what happened today. I went to get the baby some clothes and left her on my bed. I came back and she was sucking her thumb so cute! So, of course, I ran to get my camera, and proceeded to take pictures which got worse and worse as I experimented. Today I was looking at the light meter and trying to get it right by experimenting with everything!

The only one where I actually GOT the sucking of the thumb was this one:

ISO 1600 F5.6 Tv 1/8

There was no light except my bedside lamp. So of course, it's horrible. Even at ISO 1600 I had to have such a slow shutter speed that there was no chance for a clear picture.

So, I opened up my window shades and got the 7:00 a.m. sunlight. I thought I should have been able to get a good shot, but no. I guess I was reluctant to put the ISO all the way to 1600, so I kept it at 800 and tried to adjust the shutter and f-stop. I couldn't get the f-stop right, so my shutter ended up still being too slow. Ugh.

ISO 800 F3.5 Tv 1/20

I had to put the baby back to bed before I got the picture right, so I used Jeffy next. I wanted to get a shot of him with his beloved blankie. It took me a while, but I finally got some goodish pictures once I gave up on ISO 800 and just went back to 1600. I don't know why I was able to do it with a faster shutter for him. Maybe the angle of the shot, maybe I let more light in the window. Who knows. I wish he had a little twinkle in his eye. I need another light source. I thought the lamp would do it.

ISO 1600 F4.5 Tv 1/100

I doctored the blankie one a little to make it sort of look antiquey while still retaining the color of the blankie. Again, no photoshop right now, so it's the best I could do at the time.

ISO 1600 F5.0 Tv 1/125

HOW do I get a good indoor shot?? I still feel like I'm not taking any better pictures than I did with my p.a.s. camera.

ALSO, new question, why do I not have total control over the aperature? Sometimes I can only get it down to 4.5, but in some of my pictures it's at 3.5. Was that when I was experimenting with a different priority mode? I'm not sure. But why can't I do it in full manual mode?

Also, I think I need a new lense. Matt tells me there is a good one for low light that's pretty cheap. That's what I need. I thought I should learn the ropes before getting some nicer lenses, so we didn't get the image stabalization lense right away. And that's probably true. I'd probably be more frustrated. Let's see what I can do with what I've got first.

Shutter Speed and ISO

2008-07-19T13:01:00.001-07:00

I went to the park today and thought I'd try out shutter speed. I had it on manual setting, but I didn't change anything else besides Tv and ISO. Av was F5.6, Split Metering, Flash was off and I mostly used manual focus.

This picture was actually not in the shoot, but I take a lot of pictures on this white chair by our big glass sliding door. How can I get it right?
Tv 1/30 ISO 800

Jeffy was playing in the sand in partial shade. This is the best one I got, but two seconds later I got the one below, which is too dark on his face. I don't love the composition of either.

For the last two shots: Tv 1/320 ISO 200 F5.6

These are some shots of Ethan in shade. They are nice, but a little dark.

Both shots: Tv 1/250 ISO 200

I got a lot of shots that were really dark like this. How disappointing! They were really cute.
Tv 1/250 ISO 200 Full Shade F5.6

I used Digital Photo Professional to lighten this one and the next one by clicking Tone Curve Assist--High.

I like this one but the baby's face is so dark. Is there any way to fix that besides arranging shade better?

This one I should have focused manually. Ethan's sweaty head is in focus.

This one's better, but the baby is still too dark and the background too light. I feel drawn to that upper corner.
For all three above: Tv 1/250 ISO 200 F5.6

How DO you get a good aerial shot? I can never figure out the angle.

I just snapped this without thinking of focus, but only those chubby little thighs are in focus here. I usually do close ups, so I need to make sure I can take a picture with everything in focus too.

Both shots Tv 1/250 ISO 400 F5.6

After totally washing out a few shots, I got to this setting. Still a little too light unless that's what I was going for. Tv 1/250 ISO 800

These two are a better for lighting (I think--are they still too dark?) but this is a GREAT reminder to always focus manually. They are almost identical, but in the first one her whole face is out of focus--it focused on her dress. In the next one her face was in focus. I was holding her hand to make her happy. All I did was shift the camera a little to change the focus.

Both shots: Tv 1/250 ISO 400 F5.6

That's it for today. I was going to ask what people use for a typical setting in the shade would be, but since I used the same setting and some turned out and some didn't, I guess I should just keep experimenting. I guess for starters I could always turn it to the auto shade setting and see what the camera thinks it should do and then I could mess around from there. Also, I read a little today about using Av and Tv auto settings and just changing one setting instead of two. I'll have to try that out as well.

First Experiments

2008-07-19T12:50:00.000-07:00

I had this post on my Family blog and thought I'd just paste it in here. The only thing I changed in these photos was the ISO, and I don't feel like going through and posting exactly which setting it was on, so this is going to be good enough. So, here is the pasted blog.

I haven't read much of my books yet, and I still don't have the foggiest what I'm doing, but I thought I'd just play around with my new camera for the last couple days. I thought I'd show you some of my experiments. The captions will let you know what I was playing with:

There you have it. I think you know who my main muse is from this. She's easy. Let's see if I can get a picture of ETHAN next!!

Photo Blogging Here I Come!!

2008-07-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I really want a place to keep track of my photo experiments, give myself assignments, and share my pictures (perhaps to get some advice from family and friends who have more experience than me?) without bugging everyone on my regular blog. So I have created my sixth, (yes, sixth) blog for this purpose. Here I shall post all my mishaps, successes, and my progress and record why and how I did it so I can avoid, duplicate, or improve upon it in the future.

WHERE I AM NOW:

Here is my photography experience. Umm . . . I've taken a lot of pictures over the years? Around 2001 I got a point and shoot digital camera then upgraded three times to other p.a.s. digital cameras until I got ever-loving sick of them. I had tried to change a few settings on my p.a.s. after I got some advice from a friend, and got some decent shots, but nothing to shout about, and definitely not the quality I wanted. So I finally jumped to DSLR. I have a Canon Rebel EOS XTI, a mid-grade beginner DSLR, and no special lenses yet. I have done a few experimental shoots playing around in full manual mode changing exposure and shutter speed and whatnot, but so far if I've gotten any good shots, I've been lucky. Mostly, I've been taking pictures of my kids--the baby mainly since she stays put. I'm reading a DSLR for Dummies book, and my camera came with an online training program which I think will help once I get around to it. Also, I'm using a basic program for editing right now that came with my camera because we just got a new computer and can't find our Photoshop CDs. So that's what you get here.

WHERE I WANT TO BE:

I am not trying to start a photography business or anything, I am just doing this for fun. I want to be able to take nice pictures of my family and fun places I visit in a more artistic and beautiful way. I want to be proud of my pictures instead of saying, "Well, that's good enough." I want to be able to get a quick shot without red-eye or over exposure or low light and know enough to do it. I want my camera to enhance rather than get in the way of my creative ideas. Also, it's interesting. I like it. I want to know more and be better at it because it's a new thing for me to learn right now. And that's it.

WHAT THIS BLOG IS FOR:

It's for me to keep track of what I'm doing and share pictures with anyone interested. If you would like to join me, you can let me know and I'll invite you to be a contributor. We can work on our skills together. Or, you can keep your pictures to yourself and just give me ideas, assignments, or advice. I am all ears. I am a total beginner.