Happy Birthday, Jamie!

It's hard to believe he is 20.  Seems like he should still be under 10.  Time passes too quickly.  We celebrated with pizza, cake, and presents tonight, and will go out to dinner another night when everyone is healthy and he doesn't have class.

There will be no Jan 2 post.  I owe my thanks to a nasty stomach virus which made getting off the sofa to snap a photo the last thing I wanted to do.  I am still not sure what my plan is for this blog yet.  I may do several times a week, once a week, or just when I have extra time to update.  Life is too crazy here to commit to daily photos.  I also haven't decided to include a narrative, or none.  I am going to play with different things for a bit, until I find my way.

Day 1

Just photos of ornaments from our tree. The only thing Christmas that is still up in our home.

Pretty and sparkly.  It took a wide aperture for lighting.  Not feeling the out of focus parts.

Brenna's Mickey and Minnie ornament.

Jamie's Eagles ornament.

Happy New Year! 2011!

Here we are, 2011 already! I did not do so well with blogging my photos in 2010. I am trying to start a new trend for myself and get in here more often to post photos. I am leaving in my old 2010 photos. I have come quite a way with my camera since I posted those, and they will be my inspiration to keep on posting. I can see that a year of learning and experience does show in my newer photos, and I plan to use this blog to document my little successes and challenges.

I spent a part of last year learning to use my Photoshop Elements 8 program for editing, and also learning my new Speedlite 430EX II. I plan to keep learning new things for PSE8, including adding some actions and using them, but my big focus will be on composition and lighting in my photos for 2011. I have finally realized that you can mess around all day in PSE, and if the composition does not rock your socks, the photo will not do it no matter how much you edit. So, I have the goal in mind to further develop my creative eye. I want great photos straight from the camera, to trust myself and mu skills, snap fewer photos in a shoot, and let editing be my enhancement, not a fix. Soooo....here we go.

Here are a few recent favorites as I have not snapped an image yet today.

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.