Landscapes...

are beyond me!!!

Here are two....
this is the original:
This is an edited version. The shot above was over exposed. I really wanted the clouds to stand out more, as well as the leaf colors. What do you think of the edit I made? I am still at the very beginning of learning photoshop. So I played with the brighten/ darken & sharpen. I think it is hard to see the color of the leaves at this resolution (I shrink them down a LOT in case someone steals them).

And lastly... a silhouette shot that I think turned out kind of neat. And all on auto still with the Canon Powershot A610.

Trying to get more creative with portrait posing

... But here I am still using Auto... please forgive the grain-i-ness.I know I should have used the rule of thirds a lot better in the top photo, but I was limited by where the crib rails would let me go ;-0




I really hate how over-blown the window on the left is, but I am not sure what to do (in camera) to fix it. I guess I could play around w/ the levels in PS, but wouldn't that make it seem fake?

What do you think? What can I do better with posing?

Fall fun

Some photos from last fall (again, before I was "trying" on manual setting)
The first, a poor example of silhouette, but I think it turned out cool b/c I can sort of see the shape of the sun behind the leaves. If you have suggestions as to how I could have done this better.... please leave a comment!


Second, I wanted to capture the beauty of all the leaves that had just fallen. I really wished I had included the tops of the trees. Again, please comment & let me know what I could do better. I don't know a thing about different lenses (I am assuming a wide angle could have helped me here). Please elaborate!

My first "try" with a point & shoot & on board flash.

So, Here I was trying to get a decent picture to create a birth announcement, here is how it went (again, before I was "trying, so here I was using my point & shoot w/ the on-board flash):Nope, bad angle, bad flash shadows, next:

Too much background and a funny look on his face, next:

Better, but the flash shadow isn't good & the "pose" is too straight on, next:

This is the one I used ;-)
Tell me what you think.......

Learning photoshop

So... here is another "early" photo that was shot before I "tried".
Here are two versions... an un-edited one and one edited with the guidance of PS elements 7.
Which one looks better? Well, obviously, I fixed the red eye, but I adjusted levels to correct for exposure & skin tone. Can you tell? I STILL have not calibrated my monitor, so realize that all monitors will give slightly different colors..... fun huh? ;-)
Still learning.....

Decisions & Timing

How do I pick which photo to start with? I don't know... so I just picked one!

This is a picture of my husband & son 4 days after my son was born. This was taken w/ a Canon Powershot A610 on auto. This is before I decided to pursue photographic creativity. So... consider this a starting point ;-)

My inspiration....

Have you ever seen an amazing photo that just speaks to you: "WOW, that is so cool"? I have. I see them... all the time. I love, love, LOVE photos. Any photos, all photos, but mostly artsy photos. I see amazing photography opportunities ALL the time. I wish I could put onto digital media what I see in my head. But, it isn't that easy & it takes time ( a lot of time) to learn.

I guess photography is an obsession that I have inherited. My Mom loved photography, my Dad loved photography (and even did a lot of his own developing). I love photography. I can't even begin to explain it. But when I see a photo done well, it is like all is right with the world (kind of like the feeling you get when the house is clean & all the chores are done)... just right. I began learning as a little girl in 4-H (yup, I am from the Midwest). My Mom had a great old school Canon camera, I can't even tell you the model number b/c it was stolen when I was in high school and that is long before I paid attention to that kind of thing. I cried when that camera was gone. So we got a newfangled model called a Canon "Rebel"; it had all these strange settings. I was too busy doing high school stuff to ever bother learning these strange settings. I am an old school girl, you set your own F-stop and shutter speed.

Ironically, I have really forgotten what I learned when I was younger. Mind you, I was never very good, but I had an idea of what I was doing. I have never taken a photography class ever. I just read.

When my son was born last year, I had the sudden urge to capture those moments, those perfect pictures I could see in my head. All my husband and I had was a Canon Powershot A610, which is really not a bad point and shoot. It even let me set the shutterspeed & F-stop as well as some ISO & white balance settings. It was a good place to start learning, after all, I knew NOTHING about digital photography. I learned on film, I was sure it was a whole new ball game.

I was wrong. The basic principles are all the same. What did change is AWESOME! No longer do I have to carry a notebook w/ me recording what settings I did to what number photograph. It is all embeded in the image. What did change for me was the element of "processing" the photos. I never did any of my own film developing, so this is a whole new realm to me. Photoshop... here I come. In my "spare" time (as a full time working mom, I don't have much "spare" time) I try to #1) learn more about the basic principles of good photography & #2) learn how the heck to do anything in photoshop. To be honest, #2 has really been the hold up in my learning. It just takes so much time to learn photoshop. So I tell myself, that is just another reason to get the shot right to begin with. But there are so many neat things that photoshop can do.

So thus I begin my blog of my picture project. In the next few days I hope to post a few pictures of what I started out with (I'd love to put up so photos I took when I was younger, but I just don't have the time or desire to fight with the scanner) and where I am now (with my SHINY new Nikon D90 camera, thank you tax return!). It takes a little time: 1) to decide on the photo, 2) to resize the image, 3) to watermark the image so some creep doesn't steal my photo. It doesn't seem like it would take long, but I always go off on tangents, so 2 hours later, I only have 2 or those 3 things done b/c I looked up a link to do something like writing a macro or whatever.

This project is directly inspired by my husband letting me spend way too much money on a new "real" camera. My new baby, the Nikon D90 which is a mid-range DSLR. I only have my 2 kit lenses and a generic flash, no speedlight, no backdrops, not really even a trustworthy tripod. It is amazing how much photography equipment stuff costs. I am saving up. Seeing as how my husband & I are graduate students (and parents to boot) money is tight, very tight. I felt very evil even contemplating getting a camera, there are so many other things we should spend the money on (like paying off those lovely student loans!). I hope someday to be able to make a living from the camera (or at least have it contribute a little to our income). I have a lot of learning to do...................

A change from a 365 project... to a picture project!

So I realized how hard it is for me to post one picture a day. I mean, look at this... it has been over a month since I even have posted. :-( And still no pictures. I envision this will be my forum to document my learning of photography as well as attempting to share a bit of my life.
Wish me luck... It is HARD being a full time working Mom and finding time to do "me" things.