Photography learning journal

This blog is a bit boring

2009-02-14T09:49:00.002-05:00

I won't be posting here anymore. Finding I am not taking enough photos and I feel I will just post on my regular blog instead. If you are interested in seeing that blog go here. I am going to try and post a photo related post on Wednesdays. Thanks to those who were viewing (if any.)

Been on my mind

2009-01-11T22:43:00.002-05:00

I'm doing a little book about our year in 2007. It's made me think a lot about my father in law lately. Then we sang a song from his funeral in church today. I feel I should post this picture I fixed up today.

Used the cloning brush to take away background distractions

Photo before cloning tool and crop

Read to me

2009-01-10T09:19:00.000-05:00

We're number One

2009-01-09T09:16:00.001-05:00

In my mind anyway -- what a game it was!

New Years Resolution

2009-01-08T09:17:00.000-05:00

Ok, I am a week late so this is already starting on a bad note, but I really want to start taking more photos and posting them here again. I will try my best to get on board again. I started a new job and it seems to be taking a lot more out of me than I should let it. When Gracie arrives in 11 weeks I will have plenty to take pictures of. Yeah!!!

Santa

2008-12-15T18:21:00.001-05:00

Done in paint shop pro with the time machine box camera function, border added.

Whispered secret

2008-12-14T13:22:00.003-05:00

I know it has been over a month and it may be that long again, but I think I will get back in the swing of things soon. Started a new job, been busy with the holidays, and haven't taken the time to do photo stuff for a while. Thanks for still looking.

Happy boy

2008-11-07T10:18:00.001-05:00

That white thing by his left eyebrow is so distracting. I didn't notice until I posted. I will need to fix that.

My Loves

2008-11-05T19:26:00.001-05:00

This photo was done in the same way as the last one. I am not going to put exif info on my posts anymore. I thought it would help me if people commented and said what I may have done wrong, but I am finding it just takes my time and that info can all be found on flickr. But still comment if you think I could do something better because this is meant to be a way to help me take better pictures.

Leaves are falling all around

2008-11-04T11:44:00.003-05:00

canon xti - nifty fifty - 1/200 sec - f/3.5 -50 mm - iso 200

To note about this picture. My black and white process was to use channel mixer in psp. I did red 30, green 24, blue 45. This is almost always a different recipe -- I just take away and add until it looks ok. Does anyone know the right way to do this? Or does everyone just play with the numbers. Then I go to curves and do a curve adjustment. In curves I go right to the middle of the line and click and drag it up towards the upper left corner (but very slightly.) Then I go to the bottom left corner of the line and drag it to a curve so slightly. Wish I could explain it better so that if I am doing something wrong someone could correct me. I think it looks pretty ok. I would love to learn more about how to get my black and whites always looking like I want.

Another thing to note is I learned how to write and run a script. I have liked having a border on my picture for this blog, but it was getting teadious doing it each time. I wrote a script and now it is a simple process for me to put the border on!

Gross!!!

2008-10-31T09:51:00.002-04:00

Canon xti - nifty fifty - 1/25 - f/1.8 - 50 mm - iso200

Caught the action right in time. Glad I had the nifty fifty so I could be at f/1.8 and have a faster shutter speed to get this shot right when I needed to.

Rain Rain Go Away

2008-10-30T11:50:00.000-04:00

canon xti - nifty fifty - 1/100 - f/2.8 - 50mm - iso200

I love to watch the rain....my kids....not so much.

My kids know how to Pout

2008-10-29T11:56:00.002-04:00

Canon xti - nifty fifty - 1/400 - f/5.6 - 50 mm - iso 200

canon xti - nifty fifty - 1/125 sec - f/2.8 - 50 mm - 1600iso

Tagged

2008-10-29T08:44:00.002-04:00

rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you {Kate}
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write six random thoughts about yourself
4. Tag six or so people at the end of your post
5. Let each person know he or she has been tagged --{you will know if you read my blog}
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted

Here are the random thoughts:
1. I have never broken a bone.
2. I have never smoked or drank.
3. I worry all the time about my mothering skills.
4. I wish I was thinner and more active.
5. I already voted.
6. My other blog gets more traffic and I sometimes wonder if I should just stop this blog.

Now tag 6 other bloggers... this is really a test to see if people are really looking at this or not!
1. Liz - my cousin because she always tags me.
2. Ben - my cousin as well.
3. Liz - my residency bud because I know she is looking.
4. Jenny - my highschool friend who never updates her blog so I always tag her.
5. Jessica - my Columbus friend who never updates her blog and I miss her so.
6. Riley the dog - because she loves being tagged.

2008-10-27T14:14:00.001-04:00

Canon xti - nifty fifty - 2/5 - f/11- 50 mm - iso 1600

This was taken far too late in the evening to have a fast shutter speed. I upped my iso so I could at least get a shot at all and then tried to take the shot. It came out showing the action very well. This is my daughter wearing her cape as she swings -- in true child happiness.

Fall

2008-10-24T16:11:00.003-04:00

canon xti - nifty fifty lens - 1/500 sec - f/6.3 -50 mm - iso 200

Only added a border. I can't believe how bright my maple tree was the other day. Isn't mother nature beautiful.

The joy of being in preschool

2008-10-21T13:50:00.004-04:00

Canon xti - nifty fifty - 1/125- f/1.8 - 50 mm - 400iso - flash

clarified and added a border in psp.

Could my baby be this big?

2008-10-16T10:04:00.000-04:00

Canon xti - nifty fifty lens - 1/50 - f/1.8 - 50mm - 100iso

I haven't really even talked about my new lens. I got a EF 50mm f1.4 (comonly refered to as the nifty fifty lens.) It is a fixed lens meaning you can't zoom in or out -- makes you really have to move around a bit more. It has a low aperture setting which helps let in more light which is something I needed so I could take better no flash pictures indoors. It is hard to get used to a fixed lens. I generally shoot in the 50 mm range, but I have been finding that everytime I go to take a shot I feel too close and have to back up. It is harder, but better in someways because I really think about my shot and everything. I haven't taken a ton of shots with it, but I am excited that I finally got another lens. I am now saving up for a zoom lens. We don't have tons of money so I can't buy and L or anything, but I am hoping for the EF 55-250 f4.0-5.6 is. One day I will buy the expencive L lenses and will love the sharpness, but for now it can only be a wish.

Summer is gone, but we had fun

2008-10-14T10:33:00.002-04:00

canon xti - kit lens - 1/60sec - f/5.6 - 55 mm - iso 200 - flash fired

Looking through my summer photos and saw this one. Is summer really over? Hard to believe. We are loving the beautiful fall and cooler weather however, just missing the water fun.

This photo is the original with a border added. I never really like flash photography, but this one looks good to me. It was too dark and late at night for no flash.

City Hall in Philadelphia

2008-10-09T09:42:00.002-04:00

Canon xti - kit lens - 1/500 sec - f/5.6 - 18mm - 200iso

I believe I am on Market Street looking towards city hall in Philadelphia. I don't really understand the process of taking pictures of buildings because every picture looks like the perspective is off. When I used to draw I remember that with perspective generally all the vertical lines would be straight up and down and then the horizontal lines would gradually go upwards or downwards depending one where the focal point was. In all my photos however the vertical lines are not all straight up and down and I think that is where I see a perspective problem. I must try to figure out what to do about this problem. In this photo I clarified and added a vibrant foliage filter (I know there is no foliage, but for some reason adding this seems to make my colors look better to me.)

Red Door

2008-10-07T14:19:00.004-04:00

Canon XTI - kit lens -1/125sec - f/7.1 - 22 mm - 200 iso

This is a red door to a house on Elfreth's Alley: our nations oldest residential street. Elfreth's Alley is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The photo looked crooked so I did a perspective correction in psp (sometimes I feel like it still feels crooked. Do you think it is crooked?)

Liberty Bell

2008-10-05T18:51:00.002-04:00

Canon xti -kit lens - 1/50sec - f/5.6 - 51mm - iso200

Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Clarify and unsharp mask applied.

My Family

2008-10-04T17:29:00.004-04:00

Canon xti - 1/80sec - f/7.1 - 48mm - iso400

Well, I actually didn't take these because I am in it. My sister-in-law was behind the camera. But as I stated in my last post, most my pictures from the last bit were very dull in color. I still haven't figured out why, but I am suspecting it was because my camera was set to standard picture color and not neutral. I put it to neutral which was suggested by someone and we will see what will happen. So these photos were processed in psp. I did some cropping, in different directions (horizontal and landscape), added a vibrant foliage filter, clarified, unsharp mask, borders. The black and white was done with channel mixer: red 70, green 15, blue 15 and then I very finely played with curves to add back in some depth and make the photo not look so flat.

Daddy

2008-10-03T10:02:00.002-04:00

canon xti - kit lens - 1/100 - f/6.3 - 55 mm - iso200

I did my normal psp work of adding a vibrant folage filter and bumping up the contrast by 1 and then I added a border. I am sick of how all my photos have a dull look to them, but then when I play with them I like it a little better. I am not sure what I am doing wrong in the begining that makes me have to fix my photos later. Here is this photo before the work. Doesn't it look dull? I am reading on my canon forum to figure out what I am doing wrong. Hopefully soon I will fix this problem so I don't have to do so much work on all my photos.

photo before psp work:

Red Flower!

2008-10-02T09:17:00.003-04:00

Canon xti - 1/40sec- f/5- 40mm- iso400

In PSP I, clarified and added a vibrant foliage filter. My mother in law needed a picture of a red flower. I found one! Hope this one will look good on her wall.

Kids on Haystack

2008-09-30T11:04:00.003-04:00

Canon Xti - 1/250sec - f/10 - 18mm - iso100

I took this photo at high noon. Both my kids faces were heavily shaded. I selected their faces only and did a flash fill. I also slightly clarified the photo.

Teton Mountains on the Teton River

2008-09-28T22:06:00.003-04:00

canon xti - 1/160 - f/9 - 55mm - iso100

This is one of my favorite places in the world. I clarified this photo more heavily than normal to help the distant Teton Mountains to stand out in the distance. I also added a vibrant foliage filter and cropped.

Caught A Pretty One

2008-09-26T18:15:00.002-04:00

Canon xti - 1/80 sec. - f/7.1 - 34mm - iso100

I'm Back hope someone is still there

2008-09-25T12:32:00.007-04:00

I am starting to feel a lot better. I went on a family vacation and relaxed. I also started taking pictures again, but mostly of the kids. I have a lot of proofing to do and I started today, but it will take me a long time to catch up. Here is the first picture I proofed and worked up. Sorry for the long break, I hope all my readers will come back.

FAST DRIVER

Canon S2is - 1/15 sec - f/3.5 - 21.3 mm

This is my cousin's little boy. He is so cute and got a kick out of driving this car. He drove it into everything -- he had no control except he went fast. This shot was taken by panning along as he went to cause the blurred effect. I also clarified and added a vibrant foliage filter in PSP.

The News

2008-08-25T08:52:00.002-04:00

Well, I haven't taken many pictures the last few weeks due to the fact that I am going to have my third baby. I am almost 10 weeks and haven't felt well this first part of the pregnancy. I have lost a bit of interest in things I normally find fun like blogging and taking pictures. Hopefully this will change as I feel better in the next few months. Anyway we are excited to welcome a third baby to our home.

No activity

2008-08-20T08:57:00.001-04:00

10 days no pictures. There is a reason, but I can't tell. I may start posting again in a week or so. Sorry, but stay tuned.

99: Beach

2008-08-07T17:35:00.002-04:00

canon xti - 55mm - f/13 - 1/320 sec - iso 200 - no pp

I haven't been posting like I should. I really haven't been picking up the camera a lot lately. We did go to the beach so that is what I have for now in terms of subject matter. I hope I will get back in the habit of looking at life and seeing pictures in it. I guess some weeks you just want to be and not think and do. This picture is very cute. My daughter could have spent forever just enjoying the waves, sand, and sun. What it would be to be a kid again.

98: Boys will be boys

2008-08-07T17:33:00.001-04:00

canon xti - 55mm - f/13 - 1.320 - iso 200 - no pp

I think this could use something in pp, but I have been too lazy to do so. It feels a little dull in color, but I love the subject matter.

97: Enjoying life

2008-08-07T17:30:00.001-04:00

canon xti - 55mm - f/13 -1/320sec - no pp

Oh I barely chopped her thumb off on that left hand, but I think it still works. Paying attention to limbs is really important when taking pictures. You never want to chop off limbs and if you do be careful that it is not at the joints because that looks really distracting.

96: Cloning with paint shop pro

2008-08-07T17:24:00.002-04:00

My husband took this photo. I was really happy with it and thought it was super cute except for that blob trying to get up the sand dune at the bottom of the hill. Yeah that blob is me and it was distracting. Using paint shop pro I was able to clone me and my son out of the picture. It is really cool to be able to do this stuff. I would always see other people do it and I couldn't figure it out. Well, I have to say that to learn this stuff I have just played around and figured it out. There isn't very many paint shop pro tutorials out there and some of the stuff you have to get a feel for which is the case with cloning.

96:Pink Cone Flower

2008-08-06T08:37:00.004-04:00

canon xti - 40mm - f/6.3 - 1/80 - iso200 - no pp

How is it that summer is already coming to an end. The flowers are looking old and wilted and it seems they just got here.

95: Red lighthouse

2008-08-04T09:25:00.002-04:00

canon xti - 55mm - f/8 - 1/160sec - iso 200 - no pp

Pretty lighthouse in South Haven, Michigan at sunset. I have been finding it difficult to post everyday this past week. Hope things will start picking up soon.

94: Red-winged blackbird

2008-08-01T10:54:00.003-04:00

canon s2is - 72mm - f/4 - 1/1000sec - PP: cropped heavily, clarify

My trusty s2is came in handy when this bird was frantically chirping at the top of a very tall tree in my yard. Wish I had a longer lens for my xti, but I think the s2 does a pretty good job. I feel that the xti may have been able to keep more detail than the s2 did, but all in all I am glad I still have the camera.

93: Brand New Sunflower

2008-08-01T09:01:00.002-04:00

canon xti - 55mm - f/5.6 - 1/500sec - iso200- no pp

Well, I got in a rut and didn't post for two days. I haven't felt like I had much to take a picture of. Must be my mood because there is always something to take a picture of. I was glad today that this sunflower finally opened up to brighten my day.

92: They can't resist

2008-07-28T15:56:00.003-04:00

canon xti - 37mm - f/5.6 - 1/200 - iso 200 - PP: vibrant foliage filter, clarify (2)

Why does every kid have to spread these seeds everywhere? Oh, well it does make a great photo opportunity.

91: Finally

2008-07-28T15:53:00.002-04:00

canon xti - 18 mm - f/5.6 - 1/400 - iso200 - no pp

They sure did taste good on our tacos. I am excited for salsa in a few weeks. Photography wise this is a boring picture to me. Taste bud wise it was a hit.

90: Hosta in Bloom

2008-07-26T15:32:00.001-04:00

canon xti - 55mm - f/5.6 - 1/640 - iso 1600 - no pp

89: Play

2008-07-25T16:17:00.003-04:00

canon xti -55mm - f/5.6 - 1/60 sec - iso 200 - PP: brighten, clarify, warm tint

Thoughts? : haven't been taking as many candids. When you delve yourself into photography sometimes you avoid shots that could have things out of place or that aren't perfect, but photography for me is recording the events of my life. Here is my son looking much older than I thought he was. I guess in a lot of ways this is not a candid because he is looking at me and smiling, but the 7 or so I took before he noticed were candids. I just loved his bashful smile here.

88: Ouch

2008-07-24T15:01:00.001-04:00

canon xti -35mm - f/10- 1/160 - iso200

Thought? Saw this on a little hike I went on. Not sure if it is a weed, if it hurts to touch, its name, or if it changes color. All I know is that it was really cool looking. I like the way the sun dances on it.

87: Pretty Weed

2008-07-23T16:55:00.002-04:00

Canon xti - 55mm - f/5.6 - 1/50 - iso200 - PP: clarify

thoughts? Other than the brown grass in the lower left corner I like this picture. It is a very pretty flower on what I believe was a weed.

86: Portraiture

2008-07-22T23:38:00.002-04:00

canon xti - 55 mm - f/5.6- 1/80sec - 200iso - PP: brightened, used the time machine to make it punch and then took it back to an old style film.

Thoughts: I went out today just after 10:00 am to see about this building and taking pictures there. I learned a few things. First, I don't know how to pose people. I look at photographs that other people take and can tell that the positioning of the people either looks good or poor, I just can't direct people I take pictures of to stand in that type of a way. Second I learned that I need another battery because my battery went dead and we had to stop after about five minutes. Third I learned something I already knew. Must shoot in early morning or early evening. Most of the shots I took had harsh shadows. This one was probably my favorite of the shots we did get to take. I liked most of the pp that I did on this shot (I have several versions), this particular one was my favorite of them. Here is a few other samples:

85: Purple Unknown

2008-07-21T08:31:00.004-04:00

canon xti - 55mm - f/5.6 - 1/800sec - iso1600 - pp: clarify (2)

Thoughts? I know still in 1600 iso, but I think it works. I really like the grain in this so I didn't try to take it out. I tried to figure out what this flower is and can't put my foot on it. It is either a delphinium, liriope, or even possibly a liatris. What is it?

84: The cilantro turns to coriander

2008-07-20T18:46:00.002-04:00

canon xti - 51mm - f/5.6 - 1/3200 - iso 1600

Thoughts: Oops iso too high again, but the grain seems minimal. I love my garden and it seems the easiest place to take pictures. I have noticed that I can always find something interesting to take a picture of when I am out there.

83: All is Well

2008-07-19T14:05:00.006-04:00

Canon xti - 55 mm - f/5.6 - 1/3200 sec - 400iso -
PP: can't remember I did so many different versions of this same picture using different actions.

Thoughts?
The day is done.
I did my best.
God has signaled me to rest.
Tomorrow will come.
Again I will try
to please Him
up on high.
(poem written by me on a whim)

82B: Add a little texture to my life

2008-07-18T10:57:00.002-04:00

Thoughts: This is just an extension of todays earlier post. It is amazing what you can do when trying to copy other peoples idea. So I really like when other people have textures on their photos, but I kept trying to do and and it didn't look the way I was thinking it should. I did a little searching and found a you tube video about adding texture to pictures using paint shop pro (psp). Then I found that the guy who did this has a website. I was so excited. It is hard to find tutorials for PSP. It seems most people use photo shop and we just could never afford it. PSP is expensive too (IMO), but I found it for 20 dollars on Best Buys website. I went into the store and it was still 100 dollars. I went to the sales person and they looked it up on their website and gave me the website price. I wonder if someone messed up on the website because I have never seen it that cheep since. Ok so now that you know my story on PSP. I really like PSP except that everyone else uses photo shop so tutorials are hard to follow all the time. Everyday I work on PSP I get better and figure it out more. If you are using PSP check out this guys tutorials. I have also linked him in my sidebar under websites that help me where you will also find free textures to download above his link.

The texture I used here was of a piece of wood grain and I made the opacity very low, I also erased the texture over the flower to make it stand out more. What do you think?

82: flowers/weeds for mommy

2008-07-18T08:38:00.002-04:00

Canon xti - 55 mm - f/5.6 -1/4000 - 1400iso

Thoughts? I was sitting watching my children play looking around wondering what to take a picture of when my son brought me these weeds he thought were flowers. Kids are cute that way. We have had a lot of dandelion bouquets in our house this year and now we are moving on to the clover flowers. I thought I would snap a few. I really love the color in this. I was at 1400 iso because the night before I was trying to take some pictures in a really low light situation and I didn't want my flash on. Oops forgot to fix it back to a lower iso.

81: Taken by Ally

2008-07-17T08:43:00.002-04:00

canon xti - 18 mm - f/3/5 - 1/30sec - iso400 - PP: channel mixer

Thoughts? nobody ever sees pictures of me. My son fell asleep in my arms and my daughter said, "oh we need a picture." I was a little nervous at letting her touch my camera, but never have anyone taking pictures of me so I was happy to pose. She did okay. She moves a lot (only 4) so this picture is very oof, but other than that I like it. I changed it to black and white because I think I look better in black and white. he he.

80: Blue Hydrangea

2008-07-17T08:38:00.002-04:00

canon xti - 37 mm - f/5 - 1/40sec - iso400 - no pp

thoughts? I haven't had much to post. Our good computer is getting some repairs done and all my photos are now in storage. I haven't taken any photos for a few days. I better get with it. This one was taken sometime last week of my hydrangea bush. These blue flowers are the prettiest. I like the leaf in front adding some texture and contrast. I also like the negative space on the right side.

79: Swing until the sun goes down

2008-07-15T08:36:00.004-04:00

Canon xti - 18mm - f/4.5 - 1/2000 - iso400 - PP: flash fill, clarify, unsharp mask, noise removal

Thoughts: I totally stole this idea from a photographer named Amy at My Words. I tried to duplicate what she did, but hers was a ton better. The way that she did it the sun was shining super bright and her little girl was still in focus not all dark like mine was (I did flash fill to try and make mine less dark.) She also had sun spots down lower which I tried to do all night last night and couldn't figure out how photographers do it. Anyway, this is not my best work, but it is an attempt and that is what this blog is about -- trying new things to learn how to do it all.

78: Timeless

2008-07-14T08:26:00.006-04:00

canon xti - 27mm - f/5 - 1/50sec - iso400 -
PP:lots, played around so much with timeline that I don't remember all I did.

Thoughts? Sometimes I don't know what to say in the thoughts. I just think it is a bit overdone, but I like it. I think it is interesting and unique. I love her pose (complete accident.) I can't get her to look at the camera or make a cute smile. She usually does a cheesy smile that scrunches her eyes up and she refuses to look at the camera. I need new models.

Book Review: "2008 Photographer's Market" Donna Poehner, Editor

2008-07-14T07:40:00.000-04:00

I haven't done a book review in a long time. Learning is important to me, but I think I have grown a lot by just taking photos and looking at other photographers photos. Recently I have been trying to find ways to make more money. I have been tutoring students and as summer hit a bunch of my jobs were put on hold for the summer. I got to thinking about how I might make money with my camera and after doing some searching thought about stock photography. I saw on a forum a suggestion to get "2008 Photographer's Market." I got the book from the library and have to say it is an excellent book for people who are wanting to make money with their photography. It has everything from stock photography to opening your own business to selling your photography to magazines. The first part is called "How to Start Selling Your Work." The first point in this section is Be honest with yourself. It has you contenplate if your photographs are up to par with your peers. I can honestly say no. I just saw a bunch of people suggesting stock photography and I thought, "hey maybe I could make a buck or two. This book has helped me see that I have work to do if I want to make money with photography.

Also as I have thought of making money in this way I have thought, do I really want to? Sometimes doing something that you love for work can turn that into something that you hate. Stock photography is not the type of photography I admire so why would I want to change the style of my work to match the photography needed on those sites? Understanding these things are important if you want to sell your work. For now I am going to keep enjoying taking pictures and enter a few in some armature contests for fun.

Overall I give this book 5 out of 5. It has more information than you could ever need.

77: Tiger Lilly

2008-07-13T20:32:00.007-04:00

canon xti - 42mm - f/5- 1/200sec- iso 400 - no pp

Thoughts? Have you heard of the word bokeh? It is a word photographers use for a beautiful background with an out of focus blur. In my opinion this photo has a nice bokeh.

76: Raspberries

2008-07-12T09:28:00.003-04:00

canon xti - 49mm - f/5.6 - 1/400 - iso400 - no PP

Thoughts: I was conscientiously trying to have the raspberries be off center. I know it is more pleasing in a composition to do this. Is it too obvious? Does it seem that the raspberries are cut off on the right hand side? I am not sure it is the best composition, but don't they look yummy.

75: Blowing wishes

2008-07-11T14:14:00.002-04:00

Canon xti - 27mm - f/4.5 - 1/1600 - iso400 -
PP: can't remember all I did. I played with channel mixer, curves and a bunch of textures.

Thoughts? I didn't really like the color of this photo and as I got to changing it to black and white I played a bit too much and added all sorts of textures and things to the picture. Turned out ok

74: Bug

2008-07-10T23:51:00.004-04:00

canon xti - 47mm - f/5.6 - 1/2000sec - iso400 - no pp

Thoughts: I like it. It seems to have sharp focus which I like. I really like the shininess of the bugs body. I liked the composition of another picture of same bug but slightly to the left and lower better, but it was out of focus. You win some you loose some.

More thoughts (more brain ramblings)? So a little known fact about me that many of you, actually probably most people don't know: I used to love to draw. I drew and painted all through high school and even took some out of school lessons. I wasn't fantastic, but I enjoyed it. I found that I could draw a lot of things, but never people. I cannot draw people. This was hard on me because I didn't have a lot of interest drawing buildings or painting landscapes. I wanted to draw people. Well, it has been years since I have drawn (marriage killed the time to do it) and I have lost all of any talent I may have once had in this regard. Now I have started this new art media in photography and I am finding myself in the same sort of pickle. I really like my photos of plants and things that don't move much. It is the people pictures that I feel suffer. And again I am more interested in people pictures. We went raspberry picking today. Seems like a nice opportunity to take pictures of the kids out and about. Almost all the pictures I took of people were crap. They suffered composition wise, my shutter speeds were too slow, my aperture to small, most pictures were blown. I just can't do it and I feel bummed utterly bummed. I need to start learning more about what I am doing than just taking pictures and I want to learn to take people pictures. Hope I will start posting more soon.

73: Summer and Ice Cream

2008-07-09T17:55:00.003-04:00

Canon xti - 34 mm - f/5.6 - 1/80 - iso 400 -
PP: clarify, brighten, channel mixer 30,10,70, curves adjustment, border added

Thoughts: On the photography forum I look at it seems a lot of people put borders on their pictures. I always felt like it was silly because if you print it you wouldn't want a border because wouldn't you rather have a nice frame with a good mat on it. I do think however for putting photos on a blog or forum it does make the image look like it is in a frame and adds to the photo. This is my favorite border in paint shop pro it is a photo frame called cross process. Also with my photos I am always in AV mode. I really like a blurred background, but I think I need to read up about shutter speed and us TV mode more because Ally and James pictures tend to be blurry because they will never sit still. Most of the ice cream photos I took Ally was a blur. She was being crazy that night.

72: Corn 101

2008-07-08T19:18:00.003-04:00

canon xti - 21 mm - f/4.5 - 1/400 - 400iso -no pp

canon xti - 35mm - f/4.5 - 1/100 - 400iso - no pp

canon xti - 55mm- f/5.6 -1/20 - 400iso - no pp

thoughts? I have never grown corn before. It is truly amazing. The other day I was driving by a corn field and I stopped to look at the corn. I got a little nervous because the corn was taller than mine, but didn't look the same. Look at my first picture. The corn in the farmers field did not have these long tassel looking things. I started to feel like my corn wasn't growing right. So I did a little googling and found out that all was fine. The top picture is the top of the corn plant and is the male portion of the plant. It produces seeds that fall down onto the sides of the corn stalk and the leaves of the corn help it to get to the right spot to fertilize the female portion of the plant (see second picture). My last picture shows the corn starting to grow after being fertilized. It is very crazy the way it all works out. I can't wait to watch this corn keep producing and getting bigger. I especially can't wait to eat corn. Now onto the reason I post on this blog. What I think of the pictures. I like them all. They mean more to me than I think anyone else, but that is what is so fun about photography. The photographer can love his or her own photos more than anyone else.

71: Traditional Argentine BBQ: The Asado

2008-07-07T11:20:00.004-04:00

Canon xti - 55mm - f/5.6 - 1/250 - 400 iso - PP: vibrant foliage filter, clarify

Thoughts? Everytime I look at this I think it couldn't have been taken by me. It looks like is is an ad for this fire pit. I have been looking into stock photography and this looks like a lot of the stock photography people might take in the way it is composed. Needless to say I like it.

70: more peas please

2008-07-06T22:07:00.003-04:00

canon xti - 55 mm - f/5.6 - 1/15sec - iso400 - PP: foliage filter and clarify

Thoughts? I picked a bunch of peas to put in a salad. I was amazed that the amount of peas I picked did not amount to too many shelled peas. I have a whole new appreciation for a bag of frozen peas. They did taste wonderful in the salad! On the photo: I like the composition of this. I put the shelled peas in a clear Pyrex with the shells behind. I then put the camera at level with the counter and took the shot. Makes it a little interesting.

69: Grab A Hold and Don't let Go

2008-07-05T13:34:00.003-04:00

canon xti - 55mm - f/5.6 - 1/1600 - 400iso - no pp

Thoughts? Aren't these peas amazing. They find something to grab a hold of and they don't let go. They have been such a wonderful subject to photograph. I have also learned and noticed things about the process of how peas grow that I am not sure I would have noticed without my camera. This picture is nice, but my eye keeps going to a little black spot on the green flower leaf looking thing. I am too lazy to fix it just for the sake of fixing it so I am leaving it alone.

68: Family Tree

2008-07-04T20:43:00.005-04:00

Canon XTI - 18mm - f/4.5 - 1/40sec - iso400 - PP: clarify, played with the color to make it pop

Thoughts? We were under a tree and it was cloudy and getting dark so it was really hard to take an in focus picture hand held so the picture ended up a bit soft. I thought if I played with the color it might take away the focus from the softness of the picture. I feel like a lot of photographers are making their photos pop using actions. I really like it, but whenever I try I think that the photos just look fake. I think I like it better when I see pictures of strangers rather than people I know. This time however I tried to make the color pop and I really liked the result. Do you like it or is it too fake?

67: The joys of motherhood

2008-07-03T11:20:00.003-04:00

Canon XTI - 33mm - f/4.5 - 1/400sec - iso 400 - outdoors evening cloudy -
PP: aged newspaper effect, took out distracting heal

Thoughts? I did my first photoshoot. Ok it wasn't really a paid thing or anything. I just took some maternity photos for a friend. I think I did a pretty good job. She was a great poser so I didn't have to direct her much -- something that I think would be difficult to do as a photographer. I realized as we were going that I wasn't always noticing everything in the picture like if her hair was falling in front of her face or if her clothes were falling correctly. It was nice to learn these things. I think I may make more of my friends go out with me and help me practice. I have only proofed a few of the photos. I couldn't decide which one to share first and which version on which one. I liked this new effect of paint shop pro that I figured out so I thought I would share this one first. The effect is really easy. You just click on effects, artistic, then aged newspaper. I also cloned out his left heal that was right by her belly and distracted me.

ps: thanks Liz and I hope you are ok with me sharing what we did.

66: Ice Cream Mustache

2008-07-02T21:12:00.003-04:00

Canon XTI - 55 mm - f/5.6 - 1/80 - iso 400 - no pp

Thoughts? What Can I say: he is adorable. I bet the color could be better if I tweaked it with photostudio, but I just can't find the time to do this to every picture I like.

65: shadows on the wall

2008-07-01T09:46:00.002-04:00

canon xti - 28 mm - f/5.6 - 1/250sec - iso400 - PP:cloned out a sippy cup that was on the ground

Thoughts? Well, I love it, but I love all pictures of my children. Ally asks many nights why her shadow is getting longer. Then she explains to us that it is because the sun is going down and the shadows get longer. I think her grandpa told her this. She retains info so well.

64: making friends

2008-06-30T09:07:00.003-04:00

canon xti - 55 mm - f/5.6 - 1/1600 - iso400 - no pp

This photo was taken at the park. When we go to the park or anyplace with children, my Ally is bound to make a friend. This day was a little sad for me because she asked two little girls to be her friend and they all said no until this girl. It made me sad for her to watch children be mean. I am not sure why they said no. Ally just runs up to them and says, "Hi, my name is Ally, do you want to be my friend." She is relentless, but she always has a friend wherever we go. I wish I was more like her. Now thoughts on the picture. I wish both girls were looking up at me and smiling. They did that a couple times, but the swing was moving so fast I didn't get a great shot of it. This picture I think makes it look like they are not going fast. Maybe it was the first shot when they were just getting going because in later shots they look faster, but the composition wasnt' too good.

63: They tasted good

2008-06-29T14:54:00.003-04:00

canon xti -45 mm - f/5.6 - 1/250 - 400 iso - no pp

Thoughts? Isn't nature just beautiful. Not much to be done to get a good picture when dealing with nature. My hand isn't my favorite prop. When I pick a bunch and put them in a barrel I think that will make a nice picture. These peas have been a great subject for me from when they first grabbed onto the wires till they were edible. I haven't been doing any pp on any of my pictures this week. I am not only working on getting it right in camera first, but I just can't always find the time to fix them. I did go back and do some tweaks with some past ones and they look a bit better, but not too noticeable.

62: Corn to be

2008-06-29T01:07:00.002-04:00

canon xti - 48 mm - f/5.6 - 1/160 - iso 400 - no pp

Thoughts: sorry I am 0n a vegetable kick, but watching my garden grow is very exciting. I never knew what corn looked like before it becomes corn. Very interesting. I have really liked my garden pictures and I am planning on framing them for my kitchen. I love the greens and think the subject is perfect for kitchen wall art.

61: Sweet peas

2008-06-27T10:48:00.005-04:00

canon xti - 35 mm - f/4.5 - 1/500 - 400iso

60: The Pea that will Be

2008-06-27T10:43:00.006-04:00

canon xti - f/5.6 - 55 mm - 1/1600 - 400is

59: Day Lilly

2008-06-26T01:30:00.003-04:00

Rebel XTI - kit lens 50 mm - f/5.6 - 1/500sec - iso 400 - no pp

58: thinning the carrotts

2008-06-26T01:26:00.003-04:00

Rebel XTI - kit lens - 55 mm - f/5.6 - 1/640 - iso400 - no pp

57 : looks Up to Sister

2008-06-24T00:33:00.005-04:00

Canon xti - 34mm -f/5.6 - 1/250sec - iso400

Thoughts? I took a lot of photos today, but I have been proofing through some photos from the past few months and that has been taking a lot of my time so I am posting a photo from a month ago again. This photo really jumped out at me today and I have been surprised that I didn't notice it before. My son loves his older sister and he looks up to her in every way. He does everything she does and follows her around like a puppy dog. This photo really captures his adoration for her which is why I love it. I also love the beautiful greens -- I have decided photos with great greens are my favorites.

56: Blue Wagon

2008-06-22T14:16:00.003-04:00

I know it is one from a few weeks ago just made different, but I just looked at about 100 pictures from the last few days and none of them spoke to me today. This one did. It is a blue day for me.

55: Still love my canon s2 IS

2008-06-20T00:59:00.004-04:00

Canon s2 - 33.2mm - f/8 - 1/250

Thoughts? Today we went to a lake again and I didn't want to take two cameras. Since I wanted to take videos and longer range shots, I packed the s2 IS. Well, most of the shots came out great. This camera truly is a wonderful camera with great capabilities. This shot is a bit soft, but other than that I am proud. The s2 performs great in situations of great natural light like today.

54: Too many distractions

2008-06-20T00:30:00.003-04:00

Canon xti - 18 mm - f/4- 1/60 - iso400

thoughts? Only shot taken on Thursday that was even worthy of showing yet I don't like it for several reasons. First the background is very distracting to me. I am sure if I knew some more stuff I could fix it, but that is not worth my time for this shot. Then for me his hair is so distracting. Does he need a haircut or what? Lastly it is OOF. I feel like I am getting a better eye for this. Soft images can be ok, but I really like sharp. I kept squinting my eyes at this which usually is because the picture is out of focus, but I wasn't sure. Then I took a look at it a bit bigger (see below) and you can totally see that yes OOF. Not sure the reason. Maybe I shook because he was completely still and I fired the flash. Anyhow not the greatest today, but a keeper for the family album.

53: took some advise

2008-06-18T00:27:00.004-04:00

I got a comment from Jules about putting a watermark on my photos. I hate watermarks. They make good photos have a big stamp on them. I am funny about things like this. I don't like shirts that have a big logo on them. I am all for plain plain plain. But I do see Jules point so I tried the program picnik.com that she suggested and it worked great -- I can do the same thing with my paint shop pro, but picnik did seem easier and it had the greatest thing that I have wanted to do with my photos -- make rounded corners and make them look faded in this 1960s way. One bad thing was that it made the resolution of my photos 52% less than the original. Isn't that bad? I would think so. I have only played with the program for a few minutes so I will see if their is a way to save the photo in a better way. I am super excited about the rounded corners. Thank you Jules for the comments and the suggestion -- noted and will change.

I am back with a vengence

2008-06-17T11:15:00.001-04:00

I arrived back home and to my computer and all the things that make putting my photos online easy for me, so boy do you all get a huge treat -- lots and lots of photos. I am not going to comment on them this time except for an occasional few. What I learned overall is that I need a lens with the IS function. I want want want a 50mm fixed lens that is declared to be the "fifty nifty" because it is so great. I also want want want a longer lens because I often say to myself if I only had the reach and sometimes I even took my s2 with me places just because I knew I could get a longer shot better -- and for the video function. I also decided that I want a small, I mean tiny digital camera to put in my purse because lugging around my xti or s2 and sometimes both can be a joke. I love taking videos and I think a tiny camera will better serve this purpose. So now you know my sin of coveting things I don't have. Here are my favorite photos from the past 20 days.

52: First time fishing

2008-06-17T11:11:00.002-04:00

canon xti - 18 mm - f/11- 1/1000- iso400

51: Caught one

2008-06-17T11:04:00.002-04:00

canon xti - 18 mm - f/5.6- 1/500 - iso 400

50: Sandy boy

2008-06-17T10:54:00.004-04:00

canon xti -55mm - f/5.6- 1/400 - iso 400

Thoughts? could those eyes be any brighter. I have always wanted to show eyes like this in my photography, but my kids have such dark eyes that it is difficult to do. I did use some post processing on them by sharpening.

49: Tootsie Roll Please

2008-06-17T10:52:00.001-04:00

Canon xti - 55 mm - f/9 - 1/200 - iso 800

48: Bleeding Heart

2008-06-17T10:50:00.001-04:00

canon xti - 48 mm - f/5.6 - 1/200 - iso 400

Thoughts? That focus sure was on the second flower. I have never had a photo have the focus be like this where something in front and back of something else is OOF. Not sure I love it, but interesting.

47: Excitement

2008-06-17T10:48:00.003-04:00

canon s2is - 60.5 mm - f/3.5- 1/60

Thoughts? I edited this and now I think it looks noisy or has some funny elements in it like under his hat rim. I am not sure if it was from the editing or what. I still like it. Here is the original. What do you think? I am wondering if I sharpened it and that caused what I am seeing. I haven't been sharpening most my images so I am not sure if it was that.

46: Turtle boy

2008-06-17T10:44:00.002-04:00

Canon s2 - 47.4mm - f/4- 1/125

45: Happy boy

2008-06-17T10:41:00.001-04:00

canon xti - f/14 - 1/400 - 55 mm - iso 800

Thoughts? notice that lots of my photos are over 400 iso. I don't think this is necessary especially like this one out in full sun. I don't see grain, but wonder if a more talented eye would. I need to check my settings more. Didn't even realize I shot at 800 so much.

44: Bridge to Terabithia

2008-06-17T10:40:00.002-04:00

Canon xti - 55 mm - f/8 - 1/125 - iso400

43: Mr. Fix It

2008-06-17T10:38:00.001-04:00

canon xti - 55mm - f5.6- 1/4000 -iso 800

42: Family Time

2008-06-17T10:35:00.002-04:00

canon xti - 35 mm - f/4.5 - 1/60 - iso 400

Thoughts? I am sure this isn't a picture people will marvel over, but I sure do. I love everything about this candid. everyone is focussed on what they are doing. It was like I peeked in on the moment and I wasn't even there. I think this is just so cute showing my kids with their aunt and uncle.

41: Simplify

2008-06-17T10:33:00.001-04:00

canon xti - 44mm - f/5.6- 1/200 - iso 800

40: Red Flyer

2008-06-17T10:30:00.003-04:00

Canon xti - f/5.6 - 25mm - 1/250 - iso 800

Thoughts? I saturated this in paint shop pro using an old photo program. Boy do I love it. I am going to be getting this in a large format and framing it on my kids playroom wall.

39: Girls just wanna be mommas

2008-06-17T10:27:00.003-04:00

Canon xti - 31 mm - f/5 - 1/30 - iso 400

38: Sleeping like a baby

2008-06-17T10:24:00.003-04:00

canon xti -21 mm - f/5.6 - 1/200 - iso 1600

Thoughts? why was my iso 1600? It was a low light situation and my brother in law hates my flash. Does it look grainy to you? I didn't use a noise reducing software and I think the picture looks ok. Crazy

37: Baby ear

2008-06-17T10:23:00.001-04:00

Canon xti - 47 mm - f5.6 - 1/25 - iso 800

36: Daddy's hand

2008-06-17T10:21:00.002-04:00

Canon xti - 38 mm - f/5.6 - 1/200 sec - iso 800

my sister wrote a poem about this one that I must share:

My Father's Hands
by Kellie

My Father's hands mean so much
I feel his love with every touch.

My father's hands are big and strong
The ones that will teach me right from wrong.

My father's hands are cut and scarred
Because he always works so hard

My father's hands wrap around me tight
Before he gives me a kiss good-night.

My father's hands clasp together to pray
Which he does for me every night and day.

My father's hands I will always take
Because he does what's best for my sake.

And this is why my father's hands mean so much
For I feel his love with every touch.

35: Wiggly baby feet

2008-06-17T10:18:00.002-04:00

Canon XTI - 38 mm - f 5.6 - 1/80 - iso 800

Thoughts? told you wiggly. Although it is all OOF I like it and it grows on me the more I look at it.