Trying Out My New Nikon Lens … and Some Editing Coolness

 

This is a picture I took of our dog, Maggie, using my new 24-70mm f/2.8 Nikon lens.  I’m just getting used to the lens; it takes some beautiful pictures, but it is so heavy that I’m having a difficult time getting a good focus.  I’m going to have to implore use of my Manfrotto Monopod, no matter how silly I feel using it if I ever want to get a nice clear shot!

Of course, I edited this photo a little bit.  I lightened it using a new technique that is a “healthier” way to lighten your photos according to Amanda at Everyday Elements.  (Go read this tutorial to find out how…its so simple!)  I did a little bit of spot healing to remove the super gross chunks of doggie eye goober from her eyes (ruined the entire photo….really), cropped it and then I applied Amanda’s new “White Sands” Action that she is giving away for free until January 4th.   It is a really pretty action that just adds a little bit of haze…or glow to your pictures.  What I really love about this action is that I don’t generally like “artsy” actions.  I really want my photos to look like what I see.  This seems to simply enhance the photo to make it more beautiful!

Here is my “Before and After” of this picture….Maggie’s photo straight out of the camera, and her beautified photo:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Past, Meet Christmas Present

 

I have a collection of ornaments that I received annually from my mom and my grandma, I haven’t opened the box in years.  This year we decorated a “family tree” in the basement and I pulled them out to add to the chaos decorations.

Why, in 1981 would they have gotten this brown haired, brown eyed girl an ornament emblazoned with a little blonde girl with long hair?

Because 30 years later my beautiful blonde 4yo would pick it up and exclaim “You saved this your whole life, just for me?”

Why yes.  Yes I did.

Because you are a piece of my heart and have been with me all along.

 

This picture was taken on my iPhone 4s and processed on Instagram.

 

Indecision

I went GeekTastic last weekend taking pictures up in Nebraska.  I took a bunch of pictures at my Grandparents’ house … things that are interesting to me.  What I struggle with is editing.  I want my pictures to look like what I see.  I don’t want to have to edit them.  Unfortunately, I am not talented enough at this point to get magnificent pictures, so edit I must.

I did two edits of one of my favorite pictures, both had to be lightened but other than that, they are drastically different.  I like the one that looks the most like what I saw, obviously, but I get hung up when I play around and then I kind of like the artsy colorizations, too.

Leave me a comment and tell me which one you like best.

 

 

 

 

Family

 

What a beautiful day for Thanksgiving in Nebraska!  We had so much family come together and had such a great time.  I had so much fun taking pictures and playing with my new speedlight flash.  Right before sunset we decided we would grab those last rays of light and take a family picture outside.  I set up my tripod and my schmancy new flash.  We set the self timer, I jumped in the picture and….. voila!

I took this picture with my Nikon D3100, an 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, my SB700 flash and the self timer.  (Let it be known that I use my 50mm f/1.8 so often that I was struggling for a minute with zoom and focus!!)  I set the white balance to “cloudy” which made the really rich, warm colors of fall stand out.  I cropped the photo a bit and used Pioneer Woman’s Color Boost in post-edit.

 

Cloud Factory

 

SuperGirl: “Mom, you know what that is?  It’s where they make clouds and blow them up into the sky.”

34 years ago another little girl riding down the highway with her Mom had an awe inspiring revelation and exclaimed: “So THAT’S where they make the clouds!!”

Like mother, like daughter.

Pictures of MoM(e)

I’m becoming so engrossed in my new photography obsession.  I LOVE taking pictures, exploring and learning about the way light works…. I definitely have found a new view of the world through the lens of my camera.

One thing I am NOT good about is having my own picture taken.

Outside the realm of my discoveries in photography I am, like most most moms, always behind the camera during family events, play dates…. in daily life.  I don’t end up in the pictures; and most of the time that is fine by me.  What inevitably ends up happening is that if I DO end up in the photos I am:

• At my kids’ birthday party and I’ve been baking/cleaning/wrapping presents all day and forgot didn’t have time to shower. I slapped on some make-up and did a do-over on my hair.  And it shows.
• Haggard.  I’ve been wrangling the family to birthday parties/family holidays/events and/or preparing for the same said events and I am sleep deprived.  Oh, and I forgot didn’t have time to shower, slapped on some make-up and did a do-over on my hair.  And it shows.
• Post Partum.  The largest number of photos of me that exist (outside of the plethora of pictures of my butt on my kids’ iPods) are at the hospital as I am or have just delivered my children.  I am both haggard and didn’t have time, energy or an ounce of care about showering.  Or putting on make-up.  Or doing my hair.  And I’m pale.  And fat.
• Wearing clothes that don’t fit.  Between pregnancy, breastfeeding and my normal struggles with a healthy diet I rarely have nice clothes that fit well.  My clothes aren’t appealing because they don’t fit right or if they do… they are in every picture I’m in because I’ve worn them to death.

There are times when I think about what my children will have to look at when I’m old and I cringe.  I have pictures of my grandma from when she was younger and she is beautiful.  Flawless.  And those pictures are in the days of pre-post-editing.  I have almost no pictures of my own mother and this makes me sad.  I want my kids to have pictures that remind them not only of what we did in our lives….but of me enjoying our life.

What’s a girl to do?

Oh, wait.  I have all of these amazing friends who take amazing photographs.

Last weekend I worked with 4 blogger friends who I adore, trust and with whom I can generate amazing ideas and content.

After re-tweeting a “Before and After” photo shoot on Twitter the other night, Sandie came to us and said:  I need to practice my portraiture and I want to try out something new.  I need guinea pigs and you all are it.

So along with writing, learning, and sharing over the weekend….we had some photos taken.  In clothes that fit. Fully showered.  Make-up and hair that was done with purpose and skill. (Did I mention there are no kids on this trip?)

The catch?  We were doing “Before” and “After” pics like the ones in the links above.

I was terrified.

But I made the conscious decision to let that go.  I was with people I love and trust.  The pictures aren’t going to be risque … they are meant to be beautiful.

There is no reason that I shouldn’t love having some pictures of myself.  So I  committed to loving them.

And love them I did.

There are many pictures from the shoot…and from pictures my friend Kristen took of Sandie taking pictures of me…that I love just as much because they remind me of how much fun we had.

And I’m going to post them.  Soon. (Along with pics of the beautiful B & B we stayed in …)

Promise.

 

 

 

 

Reflective Afternoon

 

 

I have decided its time to start sharing a few more of my photos here, I’m never going to learn without subjecting myself to constructive criticism.  As I’m experimenting I’m going to start putting the pics up here and there …. if for no other reason than to make myself; to overcome my own criticisms.

Saturday afternoon I went outside and sat and took pictures of this seating at this pond….for about 45 minutes.  I played with the settings on my camera: white balance, pictures settings, aperture, shutter speed, ISO… I’m trying to learn more specifically how each step, each little change, affects my pictures. 50 pictures later, this is the one I liked the best.

This picture has a little bit of editing I did in Picnic: I straightened the image, cropped just a tad off of the edge and added a bit of a vignette to darken the edges.  I shot this with my Nikon and a 50mm f/1.8 at around 3:30pm.

Apple of My Eye

 

I love taking pictures.  Any kind of pictures, really.  I’m still such a novice and such a geek that I will take hundreds of pictures of the mundane, just to experiment with the different capabilities of my camera and light.  I’m often disappointed that I can’t make my pictures look like what I see … or more accurately I have difficulty making my pictures convey the same emotions I feel when I’m taking them.

So I practice.

Yesterday I was cutting up apples for applesauce, which I intend to turn into apple butter, and thought “Oh! I should take a picture of the apples because they are so pretty and red … and maybe someday I’ll write a post about the applesauce/butter.”

So I proceeded to spend over an hour taking photos of a basket of apples.

Not gold apples.

Not apples emblazoned with the face of Jesus Christ.

Just apples.  In a basket.

It was fairly dark outside due to the rainy weather and I’m still struggling to never use a flash (detest flash) so I broke out the tripod and my remote shutter release (which I’ve never used) and geeked away.

I had no one to share this adventure with.  I posted on Facebook so that a few folks would get a giggle; but that was it.

Then SuperBoy entered the room and asked why my camera was on that thing with legs.

I talked with him a little about shutter speed and focus, aperture and light.  He really enjoys taking pictures and the little bits I’ve explained to him over time he soaks up like a sponge. (He always checks to see where his light source is when he is taking pictures so he doesn’t get “back lighting”!)

He thought that was pretty cool and wanted to try out the remote.  I showed him how to work it.  He took a picture and thought it was cool.  He adjusted his view with the tripod and thought that was cool.  I showed him the light meter and we talked about how it worked; he figured out how to change his point of focus and experimented with that a few times.

 

It was SO MUCH FUN watching him play and discover…and he wanted me to tell him all about it (be still my heart).  He looked adorable standing there directing the tripod around.

Then he said to me: “Mom.  You know what I love about this picture?”

 

 

No sweetie, what?

“I love the way the apples are so red.  And smooth.  I like that they are smooth and the basket is not.  I like the way there is a shadow over here and how that makes this apple look.”

 

*Jaw Drops Open*

Maybe I do have someone to share my photo obsessions with after all.

 

SuperBoy, 5,  shot these pictures on my Nikon D3100 with a 50mm f/1.8