Sat., Apr. 30--Third Photoclass-Composition

My plan was to photograph some interesting old buildings, barns, railroad tracks, etc. by Richmond where I live...and have either my husband or daughter pose at a key point to be framed or "pointed out" in the picture. Plans have to change sometimes! My daughter came down with a nasty stomach flu while her husband was out of town, and my husband and I rushed to help her and tend her 10-month old baby. Because of that, we were indoors all day, but we got great pictures to commemorate Dawson's 10th month!

I felt like the window sill drew a line to the baby...

(I realized later I should have my F-stop at 2.8 for people.)

S1/500 F1.8 ISO400

I was trying to decide if the water bottle helped the picture or caused a distraction..?  It makes a lot of interesting colors and its lines bring you up to the baby's face.  One reason I liked it in the picture was to show the size of the baby. 
(A little motion blur in this picture...he was fast!  Tricky not to get more blur and cut-offs!)

S1/250 F2.8 ISO400

We have a lot of yellow in our lives...which can cause color cast in our pictures...But it always can warm things up...Again I have the use of the lines of the crib and the pattern the slats make...plus COLOR!  (Complimentary blue and yellow...)  Is there a white balance setting that helps when you have too much color?

S1/80 F2.8 ISO400

It was so much color, we thought the pictures in that room would make great black and white pics....

S1/50 f2.8 ISO400

 Simon didn't want to feel left out, and plopped in the middle of the photoshoot!  If you wonder where his feet are...they are in the other dozen of pictures I took of the baby...with the baby reaching out and grabbing just a kitty foot (nothing else of the cat in those pictures...)

S1/60 F1.8 ISO400



Sat., April 23 - More Seagulls

I always take a LOT more pictures for my class than we are allowed to post...Seagulls can be quite beautiful--even if they are showing an ornery temperment!

OK, I know some of these are geese (or ducks)!

Sat., April 23-Second Assignment Photo Basics--Seagulls!!

Okay it seems silly to post pictures of seagulls, but I didn't have better subjects this week!  We went to  First Dam and the seagulls were particularly active--being bullies really...flapping their wings to scare other birds from the bread we were throwing.  I got a lot of action shots, and had a hard time choosing just one... (Blurred action...)


"Walking on Water"                    S1/100 F20 ISO 200



And after all their scrabbling and sqawking...I thought how very serene this one looks.... (frozen action)

"Serenity"              S1/1000 F4,2 ISO 200

 I panned a couple of passing vehicles just for the practice, and this is the picture I am turning in.  I really wanted to get a panned picture of my Black Lab, so later I tried that.  I include that picture as a "blooper" pic.  : )

Panning           S1/40  F36 ISO 200

The difficulty in panning living images, compared to vehicles, is that in addition to their forward movement, they have up and down movement.  Our sweet, mild Jada opening her mouth wider in hopes of getting the frisbee--during the slow shutter--created a nightmare-looking dog with the distortion of the teeth and mouth.  We really laughed.

                                            "Nightmare"  S1/50 F22 200 ISO

"Pink water"    S1/4000   F2.8

  I just bought a new 50 mm lens...Why did it turn my water pink???  (It's interesting, though...)  OH...Now that I post the stats...I notice my aperature was wide open....too much sun???

Sat., April 16 - Push up your Bumbleshoot!!

Sat., April 16-First Assignment Photo Basics

                                    These are my "Who Cares" or "Sweet Spot" efforts, so the second picture should be most technically correct.  It had been a drizzley day, so when a little sun peeked through, I tried to get some pictures.  Unfortunately the umbrella made metering a little difficult...I can see I wasn't perfect, and need to practice metering more...





F4.5  Exp. 1/1000  ISO 200  Focal length 32 mm

   


F8   exp. 1/500  ISO 200  Focal 32 mm



F22  Exp. 1/60  ISO 200  Focal 32 mm

This group is my storytelling pictures...I really like the scene and that the path disappears around the curve, leaving open all possibilities...I worry my metering may have had too much sky in it...again something to practice!  The first picture's aperture fits the "storytelling" attempt.

F22  Exp. 1/250  ISO 200  Focal 22 mm

F11  Exp. 1/1000  ISO 200  Focal 22 mm

F5.6  Exp. 1/4000  ISO 200  Focal 22 mm

                            This picture series is prompted by my great desire for Spring!!
The colors really attracted my eye in this neighbor's yard...I was trying for the Singular theme, and did get blur in the picture.  I almost like the second attempt better, though, because it separates the colors a little better.

F4  Exp. 1/1250   ISO 200  Focal 26 mm

F8  Exp. 1/1250  ISO 200  Focal 26 mm

F22  Exp. 1/30  ISO 200  Focal 26 mm

I had a question about whether the focal lengths of the lens will affect the pictures--the metering...do you need more light depending on which focal length you use?

All in all, I was relatively happy with the pictures, but had to restrain myself from opening them in Photoshop to tweak the light a little.  I will keep practicing metering!!!  (I assumed we weren't supposed to photoshop...)

Sat., April 9--Baby Animal Days = MUD

All three days of Baby  Animal Days at the Heritage Farm was horrible weather...We kept hoping for a clearing, so we ended up on a Saturday, when it was either "go or forget it" for the year.  The snow stopped for a bit, so Papa and I ran and got Hudson.  The closer we drove to Wellsville, the harder it snowed.  I can live with snow...BUT THE MUD!  Oh my, we felt so sorry for young mothers we saw struggling with toddlers in hand, and pushing babies in the strollers which were mired in mud.  Because of my small town upbringing with having baby chicks, baby pigs, etc....I want my grandchildren to experience baby animals.  I would like to say despite the bad weather it was worth it, but I just can't.  It is because of the cost, added to almost an hour and a half wait in line, to seeing baby animals that had all been moved into one barn to keep warm, for TEN MINUTES.  No, Mandy was right.  It was not worth it, although we did have moments of enjoyment.

"Grandma, get in with me!_

We all got pretty wet, even with an umbrella

(which we only had access to because I keep it routinely in my trunk).

The lines were horrendous, and they advised us not to walk to the barn--but to ride in their wagons-- because the mud was so bad--instead Papa had Hudson travel on top, and we made the walk to try to get there a little quicker.  The mud seemed "bad" but was nothing compared to when we got to the barn--it was so deep there you could lose your shoes in it--and they had the lines going right through it.  (Note the pictures of the gunfight and see what we were standing in for the long wait.)

(I think at one point they had put down wood chips, but they were useless--straw would have been better.)

The happy moments.....

The draw that brought in the millions of people in line (seemed like it) were the baby bears...we weren't allowed to get very close, but they were fun to watch...

For part of the long wait in line, I took Hudson to the mercantile to try to stay dry and left Papa out in the mud in line. 

We had just left the mercantile when two desperados came in and robbed it!! 

 I was just outside and helped the people yell for the sheriff.

This was a little scary for Hudson, and he didn't understand it was just a play...it was the main thing he told his mom about when he got home.  There was a lot of shooting, and cordite smell and smoke hung in the air and enveloped us...

We were happy to make the long walk to head home!