Wow...

I am so very excited today!  Tracey Clark from the Picture Summer class I was taking asked if I would like to be featured in a post for Shutter Sisters!  Holy cow, that is so stinking cool.  What a compliment! 

On a very different note, I have been messing around with my blog...not so good at HTML code!!!  I ended up just going for one of the free custome templates and am just going to leave it alone.  I really want to have those little page buttons under the header, but can't figure it out.  One day, maybe...

Here is a picture I took of Kya the other day, just something fun to look at...

Spinning Tutorial.

Here is an image that was taken this morning after a prompt from Tracey Clark's Picture Summer class over at BigPictureScrapbooking.com. She wanted us to take pictures that were spinning. To do this she said we needed a slow shutter speed and to turn the camera carefully as we take the shot. I am going to look a little more into other tips and techniques later today, but I thought I would go ahead and post a picture I took of my hubby with our daughter Isa.

Give Away From Paislee Press.

Here is a link to add a commet to win this really cute paper kit over at Paislee Press! Good Luck!
www.paisleepress.blogspot/2010/07/sneak-peek-wishing-jar.html

Shutter Sisters chose one of my pictures!!!!

Here is a link to Shutter Sisters who is displaying one of my pictures...too bad it isn't one of my favorites, but hey...I was selected.

www.shuttersisters.com/picturesummer/2010/7/28/day-27-jamiesolorio.html

Silhouettes.

Silhouettes can be magical and last night I tried with my tripod and my husband to create something special. Here are some of the tips that I found online that helped me create this.

1. Position your subject in front of the bright light source, for this image that would be the sun. But you can use anything. You don't have to have the sun/light source peaking out like I do here, It will be more silhouette like with the sun directly behind the subject.

2. Do not use Flash.

3. Early Morning or Sunset produce the best results, but this can be done at anytime.

4. Try to keep your subjects not too clustered or confusing. The more simple the better. Also, profiles of people are nice, since you can see more details. I tried to take some of my daughter earlier in the day and when she looked straight at me with her arms close to her sides...she just looked like a blob.

5. If you have the option to spot or use center weighted metering, meter off the brightest part of the sky. Then push your shutter half way down and take your shot with the subject. Be sure to already have the focus set the way you want for your final composition. This will help trick your camera into thinking that the most interesting part of the picture is the bright light.

6. Try bracketing the exposure when shooting. I tried 3 frames at 0.3 +/- each way.

7. I used ISO of 200 to 400 later as the sun got closer to the horizon. Set my white balance to cloudy.

8. It is recommended to use A higher f/stop, this way everything is in sharp focus. On the picture above I used a lower stop, f/3.5 and I did this because I wanted the weeds in the foreground to be in sharp focus while the silhouette of me and my hubby to be a little soft. I did this because I thought it would look cool.

9. Best silhouette occur when the sun is closest to the horizon, and right after the sun sets.

10. Keep subject large enough so it doesn't get lost in the picture also.

I think that is all of what I gathered yesterday. If anybody happens to actually read this and you have other tips, please post them in the comments so I can add it to the tutorial.

This really was fun to experiment with what I researched last night, and I am in love with this picture. A sucessful experiment!!!! ")

Here is another sihouette tutorial I found today that is very useful!
 http://www.clickinmoms.com/blog/?p=671

Triptych

Triptych, such a strange word.  It is pronounced TRIP-tic, and I think I am in love with this type of photography(art) composition.  Tri-means three and ptych-means folds, like panels.  I was told by Tracey Clark from Picture Summer that the three photos should tell a story.  In the above image I think it is clear that this about the bond between a mother and her daughter.

Some triptych tips that I found out there on line.

1. Make sure the lighting matches through out all three photos.

2. If there is a horizon, try to have it connect through all three photos.

3.  If you feature people, try to make them all the same size.

4.  The two outer photos need to turn in towards the middle one.  The reason for this is the eye will want to follow the photo off the page instead toward the middle photograph.  That is why I have both end photos turned in sorta diagonal towards the middle picture.

5.  I also read that you can have a triptych photo from one photo, which looks really cool too.

6.  I know this photo hardly has a boarder, but I think a wider boarder will look much nicer.  I will add that to the bottom of this post so you can see for yourself.

Shot of the Day...

Shadows in the parking lot...