Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Shot of the Day...



Here is a neat shot that I took on my daughter's field trip to Old Shasta in a general store from the late 1800's. Natural light was pouring into this building and I couldn't resist. Yes, I was the crazy mom crouched down by some old barrels taking pictures. I did have to use a very high ISO for this shot. I did one in the warm colors and the same photo again in black and white.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Cranking up the ISO...


Here are a couple of pictures of my poor sick little girl. Poor baby has been coughing with the croup, and these shots were when she was actually asleep in the living room. I cranked up the ISO to 1250 to even get a shot without camera shake. However, now that I have looked at the property details on these shots, I see I shot at -0.7 EV by mistake. That is something that I need to remember about my camera. It recalls the last settings for me, which is nice...except I was shooting in the dark pretty much. Oh! Well! To go back to default settings on the D90 there are two green buttons on the camera body, and you just have to hold them down together at the same time. DARN! Should of done that.
My favorite shot is the horizontal picture, except it could be in better focus. There aren't as many harsh shadows, which I like. Plus, the photo is taken from a unique angle. The vertical picture is nice, but too dark and muddy.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Day 3 Challenge Over at Jessica Sprage.com



This is actually a 12x12 page with a bunch of white space. Not too sure if it is going to show up on the blog or not as an entire page. Supplies used: list at Jessica Sprague's Challenge gallery. My battery is yet again almost about to die!!!!

Day 2 May Challenge over at Jessica Sprague's Site...


Digital Kit used by KatieF Crooked Creek use for everything but the following:
Fonts used: JailbirdJena, Century Gothic, and Highland Perk
Smart Frame by LivE of Jessica Sprague
Twill tag by Jessica Sprague

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Jessica Sprague's weekly Challenge...


Here is today's entry...a day later. Oooppss! I think I will try to actually complete today's on time. We shall see.
Here are my supplies used:
Digital Kit by R Penn Express Yourself
Papers used from kit were papers 1 and 7, along with all the flowers
Fonts used: JailbirdJena and Century Schoolbook
Brushes used:Doodle Flowers by Brush Portfolio
Not sure if anybody would want to use this technique, but in the center of the page near the focal photo I used my elliptical marquee tool with 150 pxl feather and filled with pink with the paint bucket, then used soft light to create that effect of a little glow and lastly lowered the opacity. Just thought I would share. Did you like that crazy long run-on sentence? I did!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Shot of the Day X's 2...




Well, here are my shots for yesterday and today. I am not in love with them. The one of my daughter at the park is neat since it has diagonals going both directions, which I like, along with the angle of the photo...however she is not in crisp focus. I was trying to use manual focus the entire time to get better at it. The reason I want to be really good at manual focus is that my camera allows me to click the shutter button way faster if I do the focusing. When the camera does it for me, I notice a huge delay and miss shots. So, most of my shots were not crisp...but I am not giving up yet.

The other photo was zoomed in, and is just okay too. I think it would of been better for me to have had my daughter hold it closer to her light colored shirt, since the turtle was dark. That way the turtle would of been easier to distinguish from the dark background. But, I do like the composition of the photo with her hand filling the frame at a slight angle.

I really like doing this each day for several reasons. First, I feel like it is an assignment and I have to actually get my camera out and take some pictures each and every day. Doing this is going to make me a better photographer. I am learning how to focus manually, which like I said earlier will help me shoot faster. Also, I am working on my composition constantly. Lastly, even though I am not getting the perfect shot each time, I am able to look at my photos and critique them and only learn from my mistakes. Which there are plenty of!!! There is only one way to get good, and that is to get out there and actually use that camera! :) As my good friend Kelly would say, "DO IT!"

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Latest layout...



The place where I escape life...my tub!
Boy, this was a real challenge for me...barely made it! I can now wipe the bead of sweat from my brow. ;) Today at Jessica Sprague's website, she had a 30 min layout challenge and this was my entry.

Supplies used were:
JS Grand Intentions Digital kit
Papers: J Crowley Brown Solid, JS Yellow Solid, JS Blue Dot, Js Blue Green Mega flower, and JS Green Type all from Grand Intentions Kit. Eva Kipler half tones 6 (brown dotted paper).
Brush: J Crowley circle brush from Grand Intentions kit
Fonts: Adler and Gill Sans CT Condensed
Grunge Frame: JS Grunge Frame 1