Flying Bird

I was out shooting photos of flowers (and Abbie) when I looked up and saw some beautiful clouds.  I took a few shots and when I came home, I found this picture, where a bird had flown into my frame.  I was shocked by the silhouette of the bird.  I thought it was really cool!

Photo Shoot in EH's woods

I, of course, had to share some of Jenn's beautiful face. It's fun to take pictures of adults and not just kids. The second picture is my attempt at having hands in a picture. (f/6.3, shutter 1/125, 36 mm).

This tree provided the perfect spot of shade. It was a bit tricky to get a picture with no blown highlights. (f/6.3, shutter 1/125, 50 mm).

(f/6.3, shutter 1/100, 50mm)

In the tree. I wanted to try making a black and white out of this picture. (How do you get pictures side by side??)

Heather

Hey Heather,  here's the original and the post produced. I actually didn't touch the saturation- but I did up the contrast maybe one or two notches.  I think maybe the original exposure made the skin around your eyes look a little pink? Maybe it was reflecting off your shirt. :) In all honesty, I would have never noticed. I think your giant Mac screen and careful observation of your own skin tone gives the extra eyeliner look some oomph. Shall I take these photos off? Are they appalling to you? Because I think you are beautiful!!!

Practicing in Eagle Heights Woods

What a wonderful morning I had practicing with Heather! She had so many great insights and advice to share with me. I swore I could never take a good picture with my measly kit lens, but Heather gave me some pointers, and I got some good shots!  (Although, Heather, I'm still jealous of your 50mm and 300 crazy close zoom lens-- fun fun fun!)  I took everything at 55mm and kept my ISO at 200.  Then I altered my f stop and shutter speed according to the light.

 Here's Heather in the shade (but on a very sunny day).  ISO 200, f 5.6, 1/100.  The left photo has the lake in the background, the right I stood up taller so as to only get the ground in the background.  I think I like the right better.  I'm zoomed in all the way- at 55 mm.  And then I slightly enhanced the contrast- but not very much (plus, I don't know how to work Photoshop-- I'm not very photo savvy, let's be honest).

f 5.6, 1/125.  I just love boys in hats. Perhaps I should have used a flash to get his eyes in more light- since the brim covers up his eyes.  Plus, in that third photo there's a tree banch grazing the top of this hat.  You have to look hard- but it's there.  In the future I'll be more careful about looking out for hanging tree branches and the like.  But I do like these shots because they show his cute little personality- belly button and all.

Geez, the kid looks so grown up here- to me.  The sun is above and to the left, so I liked how the background is well lit.  And I kind of like the GQ look in his face.

The above are also f 5.6, 1/125.  Again, sorry there are so many of him- that's what happens when you hang out together all day everyday.

So, here's what I learned.  Keep the fstop open (smaller number) for more light- however, the smaller the number, the less depth of field you'll have- so you have to be careful about how much of the picture you want in focus.  Heather told me that when taking pics of kids, keep the shutter speed faster than 1/100th.  And I even think 100 is pushing it, especially for very wiggly, hyper toddlers.  I used 1/125 for Lane, which is fine for a small print, but if you click on the photo and zoom in, you can see that it's not very sharp. In the future I'll speed up the shutter and try for more light, somehow.  Of course if your aperture is wider, then you can have a faster shutter speed.  You just have to shoot and see what kind of light you have to work with.  Happy shooting!!! Please post!

Dreamy Heather

So here's what can happen with an aperture that's too big. I'm shooting here at a 1.8 with Heather's 50mm lens, and while it's great to get all this light flooding into the lens- as you can see, Heather is really not in focus.  But I still think it's a cool, dreamy, sexy photo of her. :)

Spring or Fall??

Taken this past weekend outside the zoo. These are left over Fall leaves!

La Alhambra, Granada, Spain