New Assignments and Color Issues

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.

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

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

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!

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 . . . .

. . . 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

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! :)