Day 5: High Angle

For day 5 I was to take a shot from a high angle. Well, I did take photos today, but mostly of life as it happens and nothing too artistic. There was just too much laundry, grocery shopping, and preparing my family room for a whole wall of built in cabinets and shelves today.

f 2.8, 1/1250, ISO 800

Anyway, here's the highest angle shot I did get. That's a cicada on my youngest son's hand. They are ugly but harmless bugs that "sing" a loud buzzing tone that you almost feel more than hear. They are the sound of summer, and fascinating to little boys.

Day 4: Something Green

Day 4 of my 30 Day Photography Challenge is "something green".

f 2.2, 1/1250, ISO 100

My son's amazing green eyes (I took this after having to give him a talking to about not doing what he was told. He has a such a tender heart.)

I did do a bit of touch-up on this. I lightened it a bit and used Coffeeshop Blog's EyeBright to bring out the green. Here is what it looks like straight from the camera.

Day 3: Sky

For day 3 of my challenge I was supposed to photograph clouds. Well, I haven't seen a cloud in a week. Clear skies and intense sun are the norm for late June down here on the border, so once again I took artistic license and took a photo of the sky. But of course it couldn't be only sky, because that would be boring, so here are a couple sky plus something else shots I took this morning.

f 1.8, 1/2000, ISO 100

f 3.5, 1/2000, ISO 100

Day 2: what my camera wore today

This is day 2 of my self-initiated photography challenge, using this 30 Day Challenge chart posted on the Life, Love, and Photographs blog last spring. Today was supposed to be "what you wore today", but honestly I didn't find that very motivating at all. Today was a loosey-goosey, old holey skirt, comfy but horribly stained T-shirt, and pony tail day. Sorry, folks, there was no way under heaven y'all are getting a photo of that.

However, I did spend time sewing today, and made myself a comfortably padded and pretty cover for my camera neck strap. I used this tutorial as a base, but went off on my own with it (which is pretty much par for the course for me when it comes to sewing).

So, you all can at least see what my camera wore today, and pretty much everyday I will be carrying it. I also made a plain black neck strap cover for hubby to use, because for some reason he says he won't wear a strap with flowers and ruche (the technical term for that that gathered bit of blue fabric). Go figure.

As with yesterday's photo, the first is straight out of the camera and the second is with just a tiny bit of post-production. In fact, today it was a very tiny bit of "fixing"; just a small curves adjustment as I found it to be a bit cool straight from the camera. Hmmmm, is it the camera? It could be my monitor too. I think I need to investigate this further.

f 2.2, 1/100, ISO 1600

I'm still loving that shallow depth of field. I wonder how long it'll take for that to get old, if ever.

I got a new camera!

 

My new baby, a Canon Rebel T3i, plus my lenses, 50mm f/1.8 II and 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II.

I consider myself an amateur photographer, always striving to take the best photos I can with the equipment I have. For years that has been a simple Kodak point-in-shoot, but even with it I have been able go beyond just pointing and shooting and have learned to compose my shots, look for great lighting, and much more.

To the left is a shot I particularly love from that Kodak, straight-from-the-camera without post-production adjustments. Her skin is so nice and creamy because of the light from an open door the right of the camera, and I love the perspective.

However, for some time now I have been feeling as if I had outgrown my Kodak, and I have even felt my desire to take photographs waning because it. Just this week I have been blessed to finally upgrade to a DSLR camera, and after months of research and waiting, I opted for a Canon Rebel T3i . If my experience with my Kodak is any indication, it will be many, many years before I outgrow this camera.

Instead of purchasing the camera with lens kit, I opted to order the camera body and the lens I actually wanted separately. It meant I couldn't take my camera home the day I bought it (I had to wait a week for it to come in), but the price was actually $10 or so cheaper. Why bother? Well, do you love those portrait shots with the subject in perfect focus but the background blurred and dreamy? I do, and it's the lens that makes that happen. Well, specifically it's the f-stop of the lens. The Rebel kit lens' lowest f-stop is 3.5 and you need at least a 2.8 or so to get that nice blurry background. The 50mm lens I purchased has an f-stop down to 1.8!

Anyway, to help me quickly master this camera, I have decided to follow the 30 Day Photography Challenge that Life, Love, and Photographs hosted last June. I am taking some artistic license, however, as mastering the camera is my goal. So, for example, today I will post a portrait, not a self-portrait (and you can see how my lens blurred my background so nicely).

This was shot in manual mode, with an ISO of 800, f-stop of 2.8, and shutter speed of 1/160. There is a large window directly behind the camera, but it is tinted so it is a subdued light. This photo is straight out of the camera.

This is the same shot cropped and with a bit of post-production adjustment in Photoshop Elements (less than 3 minutes of work). That dreamy, blurred background makes me so happy! (Especially since those bookshelves are particularly messy and dusty right now ;).