Catchlights

Catchlights make me giddy. It tells me I did something right with getting the focus in the eye. It also lets me know I did ok with the use of natural light, which is often not my friend.

Here is a pic of my daughter. Look in those eyes. I see ME, camera in hand. I have to work on the image that appears in the catchlights, but I love them.



Here is a closer look. Not a 100% crop. I need to learn how to do that.

Shooting the moon!

I am just giddy. I knew my new lens had some nice features, but I never guessed I could get detail in the moon. It is not a full moon, but the first clear night with a bright moon in eons around here. I cannot wait for a full moon on a clear night. I will definitely try this again.

New Canon 55-250mm lens!

these are the first few images I have taken with my new Canon 55-250mm lens. I have a learning curve to deal with as I have been using my 50 mm prime lens almost exclusively. I am really liking what I am seeing with this new lens. I have to get used to the zooming and the slower lens, but I like the sharpness. These images were cropped and tweaked in Camera RAW and then converted to jpeg. No major post processing. I can't wait to keep learning how to use this lens. Worth the money IMO.

My favorite very recent photos of my daughter. I am just starting to learn how to edit. I would LOVE for someone to take these and run an edit with a canvas or soft type of effect so that I can see what can be done with them. If yo are willing to try it, please let me know. I welcome the help with these. It will encourage me to learn my PSE and one day DIY.

More focus

I may have over edited this one. Still working on getting the focus right. Eyes look really sharp.



Same photo with less editing. Not sure what I like better. I thought I would post both, then down the road I can look again and decide. I need a better editing eye.

Working on focus

I went back to the basics and plan to work with them for awhile. I was just working on focus here. I love the eyes. I see catchlights. I also see her Daddy in those catchlights. Pretty cool!

Trying to get back at it

I have been on a long hiatus because of the not so wonderful weather and that I have been at work way more than I really want to. Now that spring is here, I just want to be outside with the camera. I just need to grab some inspiration for interesting subjects, and start shooting again.

Here was my fun photo of the weekend:



I was outside playing with soap bubbles with my kids, and I noticed the perfect reflection of the yard, myself, and my son in the bubble. This was the only shot I got before the bubble popped. How fun! I like how it came out despite the hurried shot. I am actually looking forward to trying this again to see if I can get a more perfect exposure.

My baby is 18 months old today

Took the 50 outside today

I went to the park with my 50 mm lens in tow today. I have not shot outdoors since...ummm...October. I hate winter! I am well aware that the Nifty 50 is not the optimal lens for outdoor nature shots, and a good telephoto lens would be a wiser choice. I decided I wanted to take the 50 out and see what I could do with it. Imagine my surprise when I found this woodpecker pimping for the camera! I was after good bokeh more than anything today, but now after having a good look at these, I think I need to stop down to widen the area in focus. I see lots of soft focus where I would rather have sharp definition. Birds are so fast, and hard to capture a great shot in manual mode. I resisted temptation, and all of these shots are in manual. I edited to crop them. I must read up and learn more about the art of photographing birds. I CAN get better at this.

So, I give you my bird friends...

My little photography student

Brooks and Brenna

My girl!

Brooks

IMG_6441, originally uploaded by learning2snap.

This is Brooks, our boxer-hound mix. He is always a willing model, knowing that there is a dog treat waiting at the end of the shoot.

50mm f3.2 iso400 1/125s. Edited to crop, adjust exposure, sharpen.

Love my doggy!

Photos of how my night went

Yep, it's a glass of wine kind of night around here. I am trying to learn my new Speedlite, and decided to photograph my sidekick for the evening: my glass of wine. I played with the settings because I am struggling to get great pics in AV mode with the flash on. I am discovering that manual mode may be what I need to use when I plan to use flash. It was super easy and they just looked better SOOC. The pic I took without flash was plain garbage, so I love my flash. All of the Speedlite pics were taken with flash bounced at 90 degrees off the white ceiling. I think I need to watch myself when editing. Some are slightly overedited, but the pics were much better with the Speedlite. I must continue to play with it and get it mastered.

With Speedlite and oversaturation

I liked this one. 50mm 1.8 lens, ISO 400, f/1.8, 1/200. Manual mode. Edited to crop, oversaturate, and sharpen. I like the bokeh.






IMG_6374, originally uploaded by learning2snap.

With Speedlite and some editing

I was going for some bokeh here. Settings: 50 mm 1.8 lens, ISO 400, f/1.8, shutter 1/200, Flash on, EV 0, Manual mode. Edited to sharpen, crop, and oversaturated slightly.





IMG_6373, originally uploaded by learning2snap.

With Speedlite

Please note: I have only had my Speedlite a few days. I am LEARNING. :::disclaimer over:::

I like this one. The detail is great. I edited a little. Over sharpened and cropped. I like the detail I got.

Settings....Canon xsi, 50 mm 1.8 lens, ISO 200, f/5.6, shutter 1/60, Speedlite on, -1EV.





IMG_6362, originally uploaded by learning2snap.

Low light, no flash

Taken with natural lighting. No flash. 50mm 1.8 lens, AV mode. ISO 800, f/1.8, shutter speed 1/250. Not good. Lots of shadowing, yellowish cast, poor detail. I tried to edit, but no program is good enough to save this.




IMG_6351, originally uploaded by learning2snap.

So I slacked on the blogging, but not the snapping

These pics are SOOC. I had so many issues setting up this blog that editing was out of the question. So I give you three days of pics.


January 3.

My wonderful son on his nineteenth birthday. He looks so thrilled to have his pic taken.




This one was also January 3. This is my stepson and my daughter. He loved the snuggles.



January 2

I know this one looks odd. It was part of a project put together for the family of Anissa Mayhew, a young mother who just suffered her second major stroke. The point of the project was to photograph an inspirational word written on your hands. For more info about Anissa, here is her family's blog. http://www.hope4peyton.org/



January 1, 2010. Brenna coloring with her Daddy. This is her EWWWW face. She did not like markers on her hands. The look was priceless.



These pics need some editing. I know that. I have a new speedlite that I am trying out, and I have lots of work to do. I love my speedlite. It opened many horizons for me as far as indoor pics go. I much prefer to shoot outdoors, but, I live in Ohio, so those opportunities are limited for 5 months each year.

I love it...My first post completed. I cannot wait to compare my pics next December. I fully plan to have photos that are not even on the same level at that point. I am learning!

Introduction

I am a mom of two. My son is 19 (today) and my daughter is 17 months old. I am a hobbyist when it comes to photography, and my goal is simple. I just want to be the best I can be at this thing I love. I created this blog as a way to document my learning process. A place to post new photos, along with an explanation of what I am trying to achieve, settings, whatever tinkering I happened to do that day. Initially, I was hoping to make it a 365 blog, posting photos taken each day, but I realize that as a lofty goal based on how nuts my life can get. So, my goal is to shoot and post at least twice a week, and more as time allows.

My hope is that I will see dramatic improvements in the photos I post in December 2010 as compared to those posted today. You will notice very quickly that my family and our pets are my favorite subjects. I have a fairly willing little model in my daughter, who has grown quite used to having a camera aimed at her. I also want to branch out a bit, and learn to take good scenic landscape shots, and I am really intrigued with urban photography as well.

Sooo....here I go!