2...is my magic number.

2

This is the number of Photoshoots I have this week.

I am nervous.

...not sure why, cause I KNOW all of them.

Maybe nervous cause I want it to be GREAT!

I have alot of ideas, so let's hope I don't blank out! haha!

So check back soon...and I will share some sneak peeks! :)

Light Painting

Summerly and I did a little light painting last night...pretty spur of the moment, for about 4 minutes I had NO clue what I was doing...then I quickly figured it out.

Have I mentioned that I LURVE my new camera?!

Enjoy the fun below...

Somedays I feel like I need to have six arms to get things done!

The Summerly monster...muahahahhaa!

Who doesn't love a light smiley?!

I realize this one is a little frightening, but OH so fun to do.

Check back soon when we experiment with COLOR!!! :P

New Cam - Snapshots

Here are some of my favorite pictures from my first day and half with my new camera...whom I am calling "Bonita." Cause she is soo purdy.

Anywho...here's my Pickle-Bear...playing around in the backyard...

This is a great shot of my new foxgloves (given as a gift for my birthday from my favorite TT and Mr. B, and Andrew!)

Notice Pickle in the background?

 

This is one of the trees outside my office building at work...it was a gorgeous day today!

This was me most of the evening last night...reading my manual...lots of info here!!

Here's Husby trying to plug in the address for our dinner last night...I  love how crisp this photo is...



My dinner last night...it was YUMMY!



I was messing around with shutter speed last night and caught Olive in a disappearing act!

This was the sky today. So pretty and blue!

So those are just a few of my favorites. I still feel like I have  NO clue what I am doing...but I am soaking in all the reading that I can...and looking to schedule some online photography courses as well!!

Thoughts?

OH!

So...remember when I posted what I wanted for my Birthday?

Well...

I am getting my CAMERA!!!

I am so terribly excited that I can hardly contain myself. I can't wait to start learning more and taking pictures and expanding my use of the camera!

My goal is to one day take pictures for people on the side. I know...Husby is probably laughing his head off at me cause I am eternally looking for something to earn money on the side with...But hey! I say why stop trying to earn MORE money?! Getting out of debt doesn't happy by accident! :P

I have been reading all kinds of blogs and tutorials about the camera and the different types of lenses and their jobs, filters and posing. AHHHHH!!

So you may be asking yourself...how do you know already what you are getting for your birthday, there's still 10 days to go?!

Well...funny story. Back in January Husby asked me to start putting away $50 into savings each month for my birthday present. So I have been. Well I told him a couple days ago that he had $250 saved up for my present..."well that isn't enough" he says. He knew I did what he said...and we are assuming that somewhere in the translation he meant to tell me to save $50 a pay...for $100 a month.

Either way, he said he wasn't going to go out and purchase the camera himself, cause he knew I would want to find the best deal...and he didn't want to get the wrong thing. So he told me...that I could use the money saved and any other monies needed to get my camera for my birthday. You see...we have a $50 rule in our house. If you are spending over $50 on any ONE item, we run it by the other person first...so we don't buy needlessly. So that was the permission to use other monies aspect mentioned above.

SO...yeah.

I am going to do some research and find the BEST deal. And *fingers crossed* I may have my new camera by the time vacation to Boston rolls around in June!! Thank goodness for three pay months...that basically means one extra paycheck for both of us = extra money!

So if you have a DSLR or a Canon EOS Rebel T1i and you have any favorite or helpful websites, tutorials or advice...PLEASE let me know! I need to learn all that I can!!

I am just ecstatic!!

DSLR Photography....Part 2

April writing...

While I am waiting on this sweet little thang, I am learning all that I can about photography!!!

Check out Part 1.

I have been searching all over the Internet for the best tips, tricks and tutorials!! I ran across a great one over at A Southern Accent that I would love to share with you!

You can find the original here and here.

here are some ideas to quickly improve your photographs, regardless of what camera you use:

1) Taking digital pictures is free! Take a lot of pictures. You won’t run out of shots like your old 24-frame film camera. No more “3..2..1..Smile!” Don’t just take one shot, take three or four of the same scene. Chances are that someone’s got their eyes shut in two frames, leaving you one or two good shots. Fire away and dump the bad ones.

I am trying to get better at this...I tend to take pictures specifically based on what I want, and I think in that process I have been missing some potentially great shots!

2) Get closer. I’m not just talking about relying on that 8x digital zoom, I’m saying physically get closer to your subject. By filling the frame with your subject, you’re reducing all other distractions.

Here is a great example. When doing a maternity photo shoot for a dear friend of mine, She was sweating at the thought of me and my camera being so close to her tummy. I assured her not to sweat it...I would take good care to make sure she looked amazing! I really do love close up shots...and thanks to excellent cameras and photoshop...anything is possible.

3) Find a better background. Take a moment to check what is behind your subject. A great picture doesn’t have trash cans or a parking lot in the background. Maybe you can move five feet to the left, changing the background from a parking lot to nice bank of trees. Keep the background clean and simple.

4) You’re allowed to turn the camera sideways. With some exception, you’re more than likely taking pictures of people who are vertical, yet most beginning photographers only take horizontal pictures. Turn the camera on its side. You can do it. It works, particularly for close-up portraits on a person’s face.

5) The most direct route from a good picture to a great picture is the time-tested “rule of thirds”. I’ll bet many of you put your subject smack-dab in the middle to avoid the old fear of cutting someone’s head halfway out of the frame. While simple and effective, it also makes for rather static, boring pictures.

Here's another example of the "rule of thirds."It's one of my favorite pictures of my youngest sister. As you can see I have used the left third for my subject, and her eyes alone along the top and middle thirds.

To use this rule, cut the frame into thirds horizontally and vertically. The main focus point of your picture (like the person’s eyes) should be near one of the intersecting points.

For whatever reason, our brains like to view things following the “rule of thirds”. Look at any magazine ad, the Mona Lisa, any of your favorite photographs. Chances are the main focus lies at or near one of these intersecting points in the frame.
Here’s how to do it:

a) Focus on the main subject and press the camera shutter halfway down. This focuses the camera on your subject (always the eyes in portraits).

b) Keep pressing the shutter halfway down, locking the camera’s focus on the subject.

c) Move the camera slightly to recompose the shot, placing the subject near one of these intersection points (usually the top intersection points for portraits).

d) Press the shutter all the way down to take the picture.

6) Last but not least, sometimes break all the rules. Take pictures from crazy angles. Partially cut off the subject in the frame. You’ll develop your own style.

Here are some more tips....

1. If you shake the camera when taking a picture, it's going to be blurry. This may sound like an easy one, but even the action of pushing the button on the camera makes it move, so you really need to be conscious of that. If you want clear, clean pictures, you gotta stabilize that camera as much as you can. If you have shaky hands, you're gonna have fuzzy pics. So, stabilize it on a table, on a little tripod, put your elbows on something - just be still.

2. Your best pictures are going to be ones with clean, solid backgrounds. Don't worry about whether you're in front of the house, or the flowers in the yard or whatever - you don't even want that stuff in the picture, so get a solid background. The more color, the better.

3. Perspective is key. If you want good pictures, don't shoot something as you are seeing it. Get down on the ground and shoot up. Literally lay on the ground - don't feel stupid, just do it. It makes kids laugh and when you're outside, you can use the sky as your solid background and the ground to stabilize yourself. Take photos at an angle, get up high, get really close, get far, far away.

I have a great example of using the sky as a background, of course it's on my home computer, so I will have to add that one later.

I hope these tips are helpful to you guys, like they have been to me. Challenge yourself to take some shots in a different style or manner than you are used to! Post them and come back and give us the link!! I would love to check out what you guys come up with! I will be sure to do the same!

DSLR Photography...Part 1

April writing...

I would say this post is more for my benefit...but I have been doing alot of reading lately on digital photography. Not so much point and shoot, but using a DSLR camera. (Digital Single Lens Reflex) All in all it pretty much means you are in control of the shutter speed, the aperture, the ISO...in order to take better pictures.

I haven't taken any formal classes, which I would really love to...however...I need a DSLR to work with. I have my eye on one. It's the Canon EOS Digital Rebel T1i. She's top-of-the-line for what I am looking for...but I need to save some moola for her! I keep trying to convince Husby to let me have a portion of the tax refund for her, but ehhh, not too sure how that's gonna work out. :P

So, in the meantime, I will continue to learn as much as I can, because one day, I will own her! Husby is going to laugh his face off at this one...(since he thinks of me as such the entrepreneur!!!)...but I would really love to do photography for some extra $ on the side. I already love taking pictures of friends and family and their babies. I would love to take pet pictures as well! But anywho...I still got some learnin'-to-do!

So, journey along with me in a typical day of learning!

In the beginning, here are some important things to know:

• Don't throw away your camera manual...it should become your new best friend.
• Learn to use all of your SLR's camera functions, like ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed. (more on those soon.)
• Some important additional pieces of equipment are a sturdy tripod and remote release. (important in taking pictures that require a longer shutter speed.)
• If you are finding that your pictures are blurry, change to a faster shutter speed.
• Learn through experimentation.

So, now let's learn a little about ISO: (taken from slrphotographyguide.com)

• The letters ISO refer to the film speed.
• ISO determines how sensitive the image sensor is to light.
• The most common ISO settings are 100, 200, 400 and 800.
• Depending on your camera model, the range can be between 64 and 1600. (the camera I want has a "Wide range ISO setting 100-3200 with ISO expansion: 6400, 12800"...freaking sweet!)
• The lower the ISO number, the slower the speed. The higher the ISO number, the faster the speed.

General rules for using ISO:

• Use an ISO of 100 or 200 when taking photographs outside in sunny conditions.
• If the sky is overcast or it is evening time, then use an ISO within the range of 400 to 800.
• Night time or in cases of low light you might need to set your digital camera ISO to 1600. If you don't then your photo will appear too dark if at all.

If you set your digital camera to a low ISO, for example 100, the resulting photograph will be better quality than one set at 1600. The higher the ISO the more grainy the photo will look. Therefore go for a low ISO number whenever possible.

Now. What about Aperture: (taken from slrphotographyguide.com)

For photographers who use SLR cameras, AV (Canon) or A (Nikon) mode determines whether all the photograph is in focus or part of. For example photographers can choose to have a sharp foreground and background, or they can blur the background.

On SLR digital cameras, aperture is indicated by a f-number value.

The higher the F number, the more of the photo that will be in focus. For instance if you're taking a photograph of a landscape, chances are you will want all of the foreground and background to be sharp and in focus. For this to happen you will need to set your digital camera f value or aperture as its known, to a large number, for example F/11.

On the other hand if you're taking a photograph of a bird and you want the animal in focus but not the background, then you would choose a small F number like F/4.

When the f number is small, the lens diaphragm is actually wide open. So if someone says to you that you need to open your lens more, they mean to lower the aperture or F number. Alternatively, if the aperture is a large number, say F22 then the lens diaphragm is smaller or more closed. This often causes much confusion with beginners.

• Opening your lens more refers to lowering the f number.
• Closing your lens more refers to a higher f number.

And last for today, let's learn a little about Shutter Speed: (taken from slrphotographyguide.com)

Shutter speed is described as being the amount of time a digital cameras shutter is held open for when taking a photograph. Shutter speed allows light to reach the cameras image sensor.

To set your digital camera on shutter priority, turn your mode dial to TV like the image on the right. In case your wondering, TV stands for time value. Now rotate the main dial until you have the shutter speed your after.

Shutter speed is measured in seconds and looks like 1/500, 1/250, 1/2 or 1 as in one second etc. It can range anywhere from 1/8000 to B for bulb. Bulb keeps the shutter open for as long as the shutter button is pressed down.

How do you know what shutter speed to use?

The shutter speed you will need to use depends on the type of photograph you want to take. For example, if you want to take a photograph of water frozen in action with every little bead in focus, then you would choose a fast shutter speed like 1/500 of a second. If you want to blur running water like the example below, then you would need to use a slower shutter speed like 1/4 of a second. Often when you use a slow shutter speed, you will also need a tripod to help avoid camera shake.

The photograph of blurred water shown above was taken with a shutter speed of 0.25 sec (1/4). At this speed I was lucky enough to hand hold the digital camera steady to avoid having to use a tripod.

Now in contrast, here is a photograph of water taken with a faster shutter speed of 1/60 sec so every bead of water can be seen.

Night photography also requires a slow shutter speed. Once again, this allows enough time for light to reach the cameras image sensor. Otherwise your image might turn out nothing other than a black rectangle or a series of colorful circles. Here's a neat tutorial on taking pictures of light trails.

So here's a recap of shutter speed:

• Slow shutter speed, slows motion.
• Fast shutter speed, takes the image almost instantly as in frozen in time.
• Use slow shutter speeds of at least 10 seconds or more for night shots of cities, buildings and streets etc.
• When using a slow shutter speed it's also a good idea to use a tripod and remote shutter release to avoid camera shake.
• If for any reason you don't want to use a tripod, then a general rule to avoid camera shake is to never set your shutter speed slower than the reciprocal of the focal length value. For example, if your lens focal length is set at 50mm then don't use a shutter speed any slower than 1/60th of a second and so forth.
• To photograph a running child or animal while blurring the background, set the shutter speed to between 1/40 sec and 1/125 sec. Then follow the running child or moving animal as you press the shutter button. This is often referred to as panning.

Gosh, all of this just makes me giddy with excitement, like I want to try it all now! haha!
So do you have a DSLR? Are you self-taught or did you take classes? I am off to look at DSLR pictures and drool over the thought of owning my Canon EOS Rebel T1i one day! :)