New Puppy

Now this post has little to do with photography other than the fact that I took pictures of the puppy to show everyone. We got a new beagle puppy. Her name is Izabelle, Izzy for short. She is super cute but sure is a HANDFULL. We are working on housebreaking her and her nipping fetish. Wish us luck!

The Dad and the Bubbies

While this blog is not about my family, of course as a proud mother I am bound to take pictures of my gorgeous and amazing child. "And there's nuttin' you girls can do about it." I thought that the facial expressions of dad looking at the bubbies was priceless, though the picture isn't tack sharp. And I think it is really cute for them both to be lounging on the grass together. Also the two of the bubbies trying to pull dad up are fun. I was just experimenting with the color filters on my camera and these both happen to be black and white. I also wanted to try a unique orientation. It looked a lot better when I was shooting it. I think the orientation tends to detract from the photo in this case.

Bark Chips

The title is pretty self explanatory. These are some bark chips at the playground we frequent. While not necessarily a masterpiece, this photo is important in that it shows the camera's natural focal lenght. The foregound is slightly out of focus, as is the background. With this photo and others like it I can learn the ideal distance for my subject.

Blue Sky

I keep a close eye on the sunsets on our back deck. In case no one knew Idaho has some extremely unusual clouds. Once in a while the unusual clouds and the sunset combine into a breath taking view and my goal is to capture that with my camera. This is the same sunset with different camera filters on it or different orientation. Let me know which is your favorite. The bluer one at the bottom is my favorite

Lighting

We had this wicked thunderstorm on Sunday night (7/12/09). I have never seen so much lighting at once in my life. The pictures don't really do it justice. Just keep in mind I was hand holding the camera and the ISO was about 400. If I had had a tripod and my camera were able to use a shutter release I would have had more turn out. I took 339 photos. Only about 30 of them even had lighting in them (I just put it on continuous shoot) and of those 30 only 10 were even usable. Hey everyone, I submitted some of these photos to KPVI News Channel 6 and they used them in their broadcast. You can view the one they used on their website at www.kpvi.com under the weather tab at weathpics.

Mom's Roses

My mom had surgery on Monday, so I took a few days off to help her out. While I was out at her place, I decided to take some photos of the roses my dad got her. These are the best.

Run Down Bridge

I seriously almost died taking this photo. This is a bridge right under the peak of the Rockford Hill on Hwy 39. I made Trevor stop so I could take a picture. I had to run across two lanes of traffic and once I got to the otherside realized there wasn't enough room to stand between the bridge and the road. I had to balance on the cement embankment that the guard rail is on while cars drove past behind me. So, I don't know if I am posting this because it is a strong photo or more because of the tramatic experience of taking it. Overall, not a poor photo. A UV filter or a polarized filter would've helped a lot to lessen the reflections from the water. Also, I should've left more space between the bridge and the top of the photo. Still, it is a learning process.

Tree Bark

I was bored, so I took a super upclose photo of the tree bark. I like how the back ground is blurred but still recognizable. That is a hard effect to accomplish with a point and shoot sometimes. I just had to make sure to get enough of the tree in frame and at an angle the leaves were as far away as possible.

Radio Tower

One thing that can make a photo so boorring is to put your subject right smack dab in the middle of the photo. Most people reading this will think, well that can't be that hard. I dare you to try it next time. You will be so suprised to see how many of your photos have your subject right in the middle. I have about 5 of this same tower and only two not in the middle. I wasn't trying to put them in the middle.

Door

These are the same photos. The bottom one is uncropped, in the right side of the photo is the edge of a window. It creates what is called a tangent. While tangents are good in math, they are bad in both conversation and art. The top photo has been cropped and the window removed. There, isn't that better.

City Sidewalk

I have made a decision about my posts. I'm not going to just post my best work, although that is what I should do if I want to make you all think I am fairly decent as a photographer. I have decieded that I will also post photos that show my progress and what I am learning. For example in this photo we have some interesting colors that contrast. We have the brick red, it has a different temperature from the blue and and a different saturation than the hydrant.

Much Better

I took a bunch more photos today and they turned out a lot better. Yesterday I was really down because I had just finished reading 2 digital photography books by Scott Kelby. In those books I found that most, not all, pros doctor (he called it touch up) their photos in photo shop. That greatly offended me. I had this idea that great photographers actually took great photos. He basically said that they take photos that are easily touched up. Also, the camera I want (the Canon SX10 IS) isn't designed to use any of the cool filters or shutter cables or any other of the really cool camera accessories the pros use. I have decided that doesn't matter to me. I can still take really cool photos, it may take more time and more shots but they can still be good. Plus, my husband is a photo shop wiz and can probably teach me to cheat like the pros.

Not good enough

So much for posting everyday. The last week I have taken pictures everyday, and none of them have been good enough to post. I either need to a) Fire my editor b) take more pictures or c) just take better pictures. The answer may be a little of b and c. The weather has been crappy and I get sick of taking pictures of water pipes, my apartment complex, and my parents house. In order to have good photos I need good lighting. The best time for awesome outdoor lighting is either dawn or just before or dusk or just after. I can't get up at dawn, I'm not a morning person. Dusk doesn't work for me because it is bed time for my kid. Guess I'm not cut out for photography.

Water droplets

I went to lunch with my hubby the other day to Taco Bell and it was a kinda rainy, miserable, overcast day. We were sitting inside and my husband said, "Hey, you should take a picture of the water droplets on the handrail outside, the way they catch the light is really cool." Or at least something to that effect. So, I did. These ones weren't really catching any light, but I still thought that it looked cool.

Fluffy Cloud

I took this picture Saturday. The clouds were doing weird things Saturday so I got a really cool shot of the clouds. This photo actually doesn't do the cloud justice. I have noticed that my P and S camera does really well on close up photos and mid range photos, but it really suffers for long range. I have gotten some photography books from the library, and I have decided that the reason it doesn't do well with long range is because it is a wide angle lens. It would seem that with full zoom lens' and SLRs the more telephoto the lens is, the more narrow the view becomes. I don't know if this is correct, but this is my hypothesis.

Upsidaisy

I think this is a cute photo. I think it is interesting and I would hang this in my home. But I'm also a proud parent that likes to show off my kid. So, here it is.

Bubble Head

My kid in the bath. This is not child porn, I just think my daughter's cheesy grin is supper cute. Once in a while I can get her to smile, most of the time she just tries to grab the camera. The next 5 pictures in this sequence was me trying to fend her off.

Sunset

We were driving home from my parents house Memorial Day and I had to pull over to take a picture of the sunset. I just really like sunsets, but I really like how the sun was low enough behind the clouds that it basically hightlights the clouds.

Bubbles

I was giving my daughter a bath and really liked the way the bubbles looked. Not a strong photo, but I thought the bubbles looked cool.

Red Blossom

This is some sort of red blossom. I took this picture at the local zoo. We went as a family for Memorial Day.

Wood

Same fence as before, but different angel. I really like the wood texture.