Selecting focal points

After all this time, I just learned to do this today. Wow. Thank you to all of my Yada ladies that help me to tame this beast called photography on a daily basis. I look forward to sharper pictures, and better focus!! *cheers*

Today I took Aiden to the park for some play...

and of course PICTURES! I am falling deeper and deeper in love with my 50mm every time I get to use it!

It was 48 degrees so we weren't outside very long. But, I got some good shots of him nonetheless.

My fav
In B/W

Snowy days.

Today I just had to take Aiden out in the snow and get some cute pictures of him before the winter was over. It was the first time all winter he actually got to walk around in it, and touch it. Last time it snowed, it melted before he could even see what it was. When he saw it on the ground he said "snomannn" even though it was only a half inch. So, today I made extra time in the morning to get some shots of him enjoying himself.When Aiden got home from school today he was totally pooped. He hasn't been napping at his new school so he usually just falls asleep in the car and goes to bed without dinner. So, while he was snoozing on the couch I had to try and get the picture of his beautiful lashes that I've been itching for. Such long lashes, just like his daddy.

Small vacation from blogging...

I took a small vacation from blogging because I was feeling uninspired and had little motivation to take pictures. It is cold and dreary outside, so that limits my abilities and creativity. I anxiously look forward to the warmth so that I can take Aiden to the playground, park and on walks to get some different shots.

Yesterday, it was 60 degrees out and beautiful! So, after Aiden got up from his nap we went outside. He enjoys playing outside and getting some fresh air. He is very interested in the "pie-cones" and he likes to hold them up to the sky to try and put them back in the trees. At one point, he even picked two of them up to put them in a wedge in a tree. My little environmentalist...

At any rate, I took some pictures of him and played with a little post processing to try and develop my skills in that area. This is my favorite of the set. I love the conversion, I think his eyes are my favorite part of this picture.

And here it is in color, with a 70's feel...

And this one came out EXTREMELY underexposed, so when I edited it to try and bring it back (because I rarely get smiling shots of him) the background is blown...cute with mommy goggles anyway!

New Design

Today I did one of my favorite things, designing a baby announcement. I just love playing with baby pictures. I wish I was in Florida to take his newborn shots.

With the help of my amazing husband, and the Yada girls I finally came up with a fresh, new design that I totally love! Now I just need a baby boy so I can use this for myself. haha

Atlantic City skyline

A beautiful shot of the Atlantic City skyline on a brisk winter day. I was on the Cesar's pier so it looks like I am standing in the ocean to get the shot. I love the colors.

Mommy and Aiden

This picture is courtesy of my favorite local photographer, Cara. This picture is one in a series of pictures that show Aiden's absolute frustration with the camera. We tried like hell to get him to look at her ONE time, but it just didn't work out. At any rate, this picture is the only salvagable one. I like it! I am usually behind the camera, and only have a handful of pictures with Aiden. So, this is precious to me.

Lesson 2, Assignment 3

This assignment was to utilize various shutter speeds to creatively portray an effect. I used a fast shutter speed to catch the acorn going into the lake, but because I don't have a tripod and had to throw the acorn, focus the picture, and snap it all in one motion-I was only able to capture the after effect. However, I really like the ripples and reflection of the trees.

ss 1/250
f 4.2
ISO 400

Lesson 2, Assignment 1 and 2

These are the photos I submitted for my Lesson 2, Assignments 1 and 2. The first Assignment was to take a photo of a landscape at ss 1/60, while adjusting the aperature to see the difference it made. The initial aperature set at 3.5 created a totally white photo. With the ISO at 400, the exposure was best at f20, which is shown below.

The next task was to take a picture while adjusting the shutter at a set aperature to best expose a picture. This picture's settings are : ISO 400, ss 1/125, f 9
I look forward to the next Lesson, and need to work on the 3rd assignment tomorrow.

Groundhog Day?

It was news to me. I remember when you were in school, they would make a big deal about it being Groundhog's day and how we would all do arts and crafts around the "holiday." We would wait to see if Mr. Groundhog (his name escapes me) came out of his hole and make a big fuss about it. Now, mind you I am from Florida...but having winter be over 6 weeks sooner was still exciting to us. We just didn't really KNOW exactly what "winter" entailed for the rest of the states. haha

Well, at some point through the years this day has become insignificant to me. I was reminded today when picking Aiden up from daycare that today was the BIG DAY. His teacher presented me with this cute little groundhog hat that the kids made, and Aiden wears it proudly.

He is the cutest groundhog I ever did see. Mommy goggles please:

My child the animal.

When I went to walk Chance, Aiden let himself in to Chance's home. He shut the door himself, and I found him in there when I came back inside. He fought me to stay in there, and cried when I took him out. For being such a "good boy" I made sure to give him a "treat" for good behavior! *bow wow*

103.8

Just got home from the ER with Aiden. They second day of his new daycare and already they had to call, and said he had a 103.8 fever. I called the dr. but they weren't taking any more appointments, so I took him to the ER for our monthly double ear infection. They sent us on our way with an antibiotic and a suppository to lower his fever, as usual.

I can't wait for him to get his tubes in. But in the mean time, he got an adorable peach shirt at the hospital because he puked all over me when they tried to get him to take Tylenol by mouth.

Is it over yet?

Winter that is...

I am missing the warm weather and beautiful flowers in our neighborhood. I got my camera in October and this was a picture of a flower in our neighborhood that I took during my first use with it. I didn't get much outside enjoyment with my camera before the dreaded winter came in.

I am very proud of this picture, and now I am just waiting anxiously for this weather to be over so that I can work on my landscape skills, and not wear a jacket!! This picture is one of my favs!

Valentine Card

I designed this at 5:45am this morning and I'm pretty pleased with it. I am thinking I might start diving into the "template" business as well as designing invites and announcements. I really enjoy laying out a card and matching it with brushes and fonts.

I especially love the feeling I get when I know I've just created a very cute masterpiece! With the help of some great photography, and an adorable little boy, I created this and I can't wait to send it out!

Fun with pp'ing!

Here is my first attempts at photoshopping. I have not been the best at this in the past, but I love the way pictures look with a little tweaking!

I want to practice this as much as I can because pp'ing goes with photography hand and hand. Let's face it, a good picture is wonderful thing-but can always be enhanced! I can't wait to make a Valentine's card to send out, seeing as I slacked on the Christmas cards!

Valentine's Preview..

Here is one of the shots I took today at Cara's house. I had the pleasure of meeting Cara and her lovely family. She has an amazing home, and an even better studio setup. I am truly jealous. They are the most friendly people I have ever met.

It is so nice to have a friend that has the same passion for photography that I do. We could talk about it for hours, and we did. =)

She was awesome at what she does, and I can't wait to play with her again soon!!

Mr. Businessman.

Even on Friday nights he is on the phone talking business.

So not in the mood to be a "subject," but cute as hell anyway. =)

Introducing

Mr. Chance Devlin.

I know you had a brief introduction the other night but here is a pic of his little face! He is normally running around like a mad man so I had to catch him unexpectedly when he was eating. Isn't he adorable? It is virtually impossible to get a good picture of him because he is mostly black and his features DISAPPEAR in pictures. But, he's adorable nonetheless.

Man versus beast.

Aiden had a very rough day today. I got a call at 2:30pm that Aiden fell at school and needed to be picked up because his tooth went through his lip. I rushed through the 30 minute drive with a vengeance thinking my little boy's tooth was surely going to fall out and that he was going to have a disfigured face for a while (shallow, I know). So, when I got there I was pleasantly surprised that there was only a minor cut on his lip. He seems to be behaving normally-I am relieved.

Tonight was a typical evening in the Devlin home. You could hear whining and arguing between the puppy and Aiden as usual. There seems to be an ongoing battle for toys between the two, you would think they were siblings. Aiden is very laid back. He doesn't usually like the high strung personality of our 3 month old maltipoo "Chance" but lately they have been playing well together. Until tonight, they both HAD to play with this stinkin' ball. The ball IS the dogs. But, Aiden had his eyes on it and the dog thought they were playing tug of war.

This is how it all played out.

Please don't mind the runny eye or ketchup stained face. I rushed to my blog instead of worrying about it! Hey, priorities! =) You can see the cut on his left cheek if you look in this one.

This is my favorite of the set. He is growling like the puppy. It is neck and neck!!
And Chance takes the lead, Aiden is becoming weak...
I WANNNNNNIT! (cue Rocky theme song)
A last stitch effort...
And Chance runs away with the ball..TOTAL MELTDOWN!
I giggled my whole way through this post. I love my little boy, I feel so lame for even documenting the brawl but I think it's funny. Gotta love the determination of a two year old!

(Don't think I didn't grab the ball from the dog and give it Aiden him as soon as I put my camera down. Hey, what are mom's for?)

Leaky Faucet

Using a slow shutter speed to get some pix of the dripping water.

I'm pretty pleased with the results. Focus was pretty easy on these. I just used continuous mode to get the right "drops."

Lesson

Taking pix of TJ to show him the difference between pinholes and catchlights. It was dark in the room so the second picture isn't the best example. =)

Direct flash:
Reflected off of tv:
He hates to be in pictures, but I think he's a great, sexy subject! =)

Lesson 1, Assignments 1 and 2

So, here is my first attempt at the lesson 1, assignments. The first assignment was to "get close" to something abstract so that the subject was nearly unrecognizable, and to use composition techniques that were discussed.

The second assignment was to capture a subject from multiple angles, while still maintaining composition techniques that were discussed.
I enjoyed working on these assignments, and look forward to moving on!

Mastering the histogram.

Today in my photography class we went over the histogram. I have been looking forward to this lesson for a while because I know it is very important when determining if a picture is correctly exposed. I learned how to read a histogram, and correct any exposure issues.

Here are some test shots I took of some rocks outside of the Abbot House where our class is held.

This first shot was taken at ISO: 100, ss 1/80, f 10. The histogram was leaning towards the left and was clipped so...I decreased my shutter speed. ISO: 100, ss 1/50, f10. As you can see this is better but still a little underexposed. The rocks in the back right corner are to dark. With this picture, the histogram still leaned to the left so I adjusted my shutter speed one final time.

Here is my final product. ISO: 100, ss 1/30, f10. This picture produced a perfect histogram and I can see the results. The picture shows perfect exposure. Now, focus...that's another story.

By Jobe, I think she's got it! I love learning something new on a daily basis. This is getting to be so much fun!!

First REAL event.

So tonight I attended my first "event" to photograph. I went with Berkan to a corporate party with a lot of very friendly individuals that, by the end of the night were sick of my camera. I am finally feeling like I am learning enough to take great pictures. It was a wonderful experience to be able to ask Berkan exactly what I needed to obtain a great shot. I used my 18-135mm with EF (and new Stofen) for most of the night. I did use my 50mm 1.8 to shoot a few dessert shots, which ended up being my favorite shots of the night (go figure). I mean, people are great and all....but dessert shots are what people really care about! haha

This first one has GREAT BOKEH! It is really my favorite, mainly because of the clarity and ROT. I am going to use it for my lesson 1 assignment!