POTD - 3-12-2007

My two favorite colors are in this picture. Any shade of red and baby blue are my favorites. I'm going to try and get back in the swing of things.

Feb 27, 2007 - POTD

Here is my 5 year anniversary ring my dh got for me. I had a safety cone at work that I put my ring on. I work in an area that I see a lot of safety cones daily.

Feb 17, 2007 - POTD

Here is my stepsons colorful shoes that his grandpa got him for Christmas. He really likes superman and his shoes prove it. I like how colorful they are.

Feb 14, 2007 - POTD

Finally took some pictures today. This is my 14 year old troll doll that my dh got me our first valentines day. He's so ugly he's cute. :) Long story short my friends and I laughed until we cried when we saw this troll doll.

Jan 10, 2007 - POTD

No botanicals again today. Sorry. I just can't get in the botanical mood with 6 inches of snow on the ground. I'm pretty happy with this shot. I know it's not all technically correct but I think it's pretty neat. Matt is no 22. He is going up for the shot. I did not use a flash on my camera but the newspaper guy that was sitting 1 row up and a few feet away I guess was using a flash and we must have clicked at the same time so I got this shadow of the players in my pic. I think it looks pretty cool. Ran image through noiseware and adjusted levels. ISO 1600, P mode on camera.

Feb 8, 2007 - POTD

Another picture from yesterday. Not very exciting but we sure had a good time playing in the snow :).

Feb 7, 2007 - POTD

No botanicals today because I'm just so glad I got a few shots of my stepson. He is 16 and does not want to take his picture very often. It snowed a lot last night so we walked to the bottom of the hill and I asked him to lean against my great grandmother's old house. He had his toboggan on and the old painted wood looked great with this look I think. I didn't get any cath lights in his eyes(not sure how to do this outside with lots of snow???Do I need a reflector of some kind? Anyways I cropped and ran some conversions on the pics. Which do you prefer?

Feb 6, 2007 - POTD try #2

Thanks everyone for the comments on the first shot. I've adjusted some settings and I'm trying again. Manual-(First Time ever!!!) ISO-400, f-stop - 7.1, Shutter Speed 1/15 sec What do you think? Is it any better? I had to take the compensation tab -2 to get rid of the highlights on the histogram too. I used the flash too. My house is just extremely dark and I used photoshop to try to get rid of the edges of the foam board.

Feb 6, 2007 - POTD

Here is a picture of my little primitive tree and one of my raggedy ann dolls. I somehow have a collection of rag dolls now. I just love them and anything primitive looking. This picture is blown out just like the last one but I like that the background looks seamless. In the pictures that didn't look blown out I could see the crease where my two foam board pieces came together. Is there a trick on getting it too look seamless without letting too much light on. I probably used a flash on this one. Here are my settings from photoshop: iso 1600, f-stop 4.0, shutter 1/60sec

Feb 5, 2007 - POTD

Couldn't make myself get out in the cold today to take pictures of dreary looking trees. So I decided to play with a toboggan I found for Natalie the other day for Valentines Day. I used white foam board backdrop. ISO: 1600, f-stop: 5.0, Shutter speed: 1/8sec, Used Aly_sBW action from action central and used lasso to color in letters of love. What do you think? In a very low light situation indoors what settings should I be using? I tried several other tries, well as many as she would let me and this is the one I liked the best but I know it could be much much better. Any suggestions and CC welcomed!!!!

Feb 4, 2007 - POTD

Here is Matt at Friday nights game. They won by two points. Very exciting! ISO 800, AV Mode, ran through noiseware.

Feb 3, 2007 - POTD

I snapped a picture of the die hard fans. They dress up everygame and come and stand up the whole game. Really adds the school spirit. I love the basketball hat the one guy always wears. ISO 800, f-stop 5.0, ran through noiseware, on AV mode.

Feb 2, 2007 - POTD

Snapped a picture of Matt's basketball coach during the game. ISO 800, f-stop 4.0, on AV mode, ran through noiseware afterwards.

Noiseware Try

I read on the message boards that if you kick you iso up to 1600 you should run noiseware in order to take away some of the fuzziness so of course I had to try it. I ran noiseware on this picture and did some other edits in photoshop. I can tell a big difference when I double click on this picture and then double click on the same pic a few posts back and make them bigger. Still not great but getting less pixelated. I love learning stuff like this. Thanks for all you all out there that share your techniques.

I've Been Tagged by Shannon(soontobemrsfergus)

Thanks Shannon...I didn't know how weird I was until this! :) LOL

6 Weird things about me

1.) I like to sit on the couch like Mork from Ork and watch T.V.
2.) I like to break out in song and dance when cooking. I use the spatula, spoon, etc for my microphone. This is how I entertain Natalie while I'm cooking.
3.) Don't talk to me while I'm watching T.V. I zone everything out when I'm really into a show or movie. I've been told I shake my head and agree with the characters and really get into ballgames by clapping and yelling for the teams(My mom told me if I wanted to go into labor just watch a ballgame-guess what I was doing when my water broke? Yep watching a ballgame on T.V.)
4.) I enjoy walking in the snow barefoot.
5.) Whenever I eat candy that has different color candies in the bag(like m&m's, skittles, sweetarts). I do not eat the same color twice. I eat them in sequence and at the end there must be one of each color left to eat. I always leave red or orange for last.
6.) I make up my own words to songs when I can't understand what their saying or can't remember how it goes. This really got on my sisters nerves when we were younger so I continued doing it over the years. LOL For instance right now there is a song that my stepson listens to that I've been told says Lamborghini Galato and I always say Mitsibushi Galato. hehe

Jan 31, 2007 - POTD

I played around with the settings last night at the game but it didn't turn out so well. So I will be trying more settings next time. I did learn one new trick though that I've very happy about. Most of you probably already know this but if you press the shutter halfway down to focus and leave it halfway down until you want to take the shot and then press it down all the way. It makes it much easier to get the action shots.

Jan 30, 2007 - POTD

Just a picture of the basket at the game last night. I like the reflection of the basketball in the glass.

Jan 29, 2007 - POTD

I should have plenty sports pictures to share this week. Since it's basketball season and it seems we are going to basketball games every other night. I'm getting a little better shooting in the gym since the beginning of the season. I always up my iso to 1600 and I use my 70-300mm lense to zoom in. I've had better success sitting under some type of light source and sit close to courtside as possible. I usually use P or AV mode when shooting in the gyms since I haven't got the nerve to go Manual yet. I've tried to sports mode but all my pictures turn out very fuzzy. I wish I could anticipate the action better but I guess that will come with time. Here is my stepson Matt coming down the court calling a play. I sort of like how the home crowd is in the background and the ball looks like it's moving in this picture. Another thing I like to do is sit on the visitor side so I get the home crowd in the shots instead of the other school fans.

Jan 28, 2007 - POTD

This is where I work. I have taken a picture from the front before but all the trees, bushes, and parked cars make it difficult to get a good shot. We were on the only side of the river today and I was able to get an unobstructed view so I rushed to get my camera out and took a picture from the car window. I thought it turned out pretty good to be a drive by.

Jan 27, 2007 - POTD

Natalie and I went on a walk down our hill and her little footprints made a path. I know not too inspired but I did take a pic.

Jan 26, 2007 - POTD

Here is a picture of the side of the house that my great great grandparents lived in. They probably built that back portion on later on in life. My grandmother grew up in this house along with her 7 brothers and sisters. It's hard to imagine 11 to 12 people living in this tiny house. I wonder where everyone slept? I'm going to have to ask my great aunt that is still alive. I would have taken a picture of the front but there were too many distractions on the porch. Maybe when I figure out the black and white conversion I will take a picture of the front. I do think I will take some pictures of Natalie or Matt by the side of this house. The texture on the wood seems like it would be a nice back drop.

Jan 25, 2007 - POTD

Here is a picture of my dd, Natalie. She wanted to make snow angels so bad but it just hasn't snowed enough yet so we took a walk. I finally got a rare moment where she stood still, didn't put her hands over her face, and smiled for my camera. She doesn't like to be my model anymore. I have to bribe her sometimes but not for this shot. I think the cold had stunned her so she wasn't thinking straight. lol Notice the scarf around her neck. She asked Santa to bring her a scarf for Christmas. When she got it she told my mom that Santa's mom had knitted that scarf for her. I don't know where she comes up with this stuff. ISO - 100, F-stop - 5.6, shutter speed - 1/60

Jan 24, 2007 - POTD

This is just for fun. I took a picture of a mudhole in front of my mom's house. That mudhole has always been there. They try to fill it in with gravel and it always comes back. I remember when I was in middle school an my twin brothers were in grade school they both got me and threw me in this mudhole. They were bigger than me at the time even though I was 5 years older than them. They love to tell that story to everyone that will listen and at holidays, etc. So to everyone else it's just a mudhole but to me it's a lasting memory. One that I would just assume not have. :)

Jan 23, 2007 - POTD

Couldn't get a shot that looked decent yesterday so here is a pic I took of a swamp last summer. I think it looks pretty cool. It was at a summer camp location. Natalie had a good time throwing rocks into it.

Jan 22, 2007 - POTD #2

I think I finally found the shutter speed. I again shot these in RAW so I'm not sure what settings I used. I think I used ISO 400, f-stop 5.6 and I kept adjusting what I think was the shutter speed. Can anyone confirm that this is what would happen to the water at different shutter speeds? You can click the picture to make it bigger so you can see the detail of the water better.

Jan 22, 2007 - POTD

I went on a nature walk at lunchtime and found this right below my house. Sure I had to climb down a hill to get to it but it was worth almost falling down the hillside. LOL. I changed my settings on my camera to RAW format before going on the walk. It's the first time I have ever tried to shoot in RAW. I have no idea what my settings are on this photo or how I can find out. I had just figured out how to go to file info in adobe and see the settings but these photos wouldn't open with adobe. I downloaded another program to manipulate the RAW format but couldn't figure out how to get iso, etc.. I'm pretty sure I changed the ISO to 200 for most of the shots I took today. On another note can anyone please tell me how to change my shutter speed and f-stop on my cannon digital eos? I am desperate. I have been through several canon tutorials but can not find this info. I do not have a manual to look through. I figured out how to change iso and white balance and formats but that's about it. Every time I try to take a manual shot I get a complete white screen so I'm assuming my shutter speed is all messed up. Thanks!

Jan 21, 2007 - POTD

Found this fire hydrant when walking around the neighborhood and it caught my eye.

Here are the settings I found by using photoshop. I appreciate any cc. I want to get better. Thanks Mar for suggesting I put my settings here:

f-stop: 5.6, ISO: 250 shutter speed: 1/50 sec

Jan 20, 2007 - POTD

Here is the local grade school. This is where I went to grade school. There have been a lot of additions made since then. This is where we go play on the playground in the summer. I remember jumping a lot of rope and cheering on this playground. Go Mustangs!

Jan 19, 2007 - POTD

Here is the welcome sign to my little town. It got a little sunny today so I went back out to look around and found this. I really never noticed it before.

Jan 18, 2007 - POTD

This is the view from my front porch. I just love that big rock. Natalie and I like to climb on it and have picnics there. I would like to get a better picture of it but I'm not sure where to place it to make it look more interesting. I took a few closeups of it but they were less interesting than this shot. Any ideas?

Jan 17, 2007 - POTD

I live in a town called Alum Creek. So I thought it would be appropriate to take a picture of the actual creek to introduce you to my hometown. This is the section of the creek behind my grandfathers house. There have been many a day in my life that I have played in this creek. I've been caught wading in it, searching for rocks, building dams, fishing, and occasionally I would just jump in it. I've had a lot of good times and memories in this little portion of the creek over the years.

Jan 16, 2007 - POTD #2

YES your right. This is not of my hometown. This is my second pic for today because I was so excited to get this shot last night. I read where someone uses white foam board to take their pictures. So I saw Michaels had foam board on sale this week for $1.00 so I went after work and bought a couple of them. I took so many pictures yesterday with that foam board. It has been so much fun experimenting with different settings. Thanks for whoever gave this tip. Look at the great shot I got of my Diet Pepsi. This is the pop of my choice. I ask restaurants if they have coke or pepsi products because I only like Diet Pepsi. If it's coke products I ask for Water. What do you think? The background came out seamless.

Jan 16, 2007 - POTD

What can I say? My hometown is very small. It's more of a community than a town. We have a few local stores but nothing too fancy but it's where I grew up and where I've lived most of my life. Here is a picture of the cluster of mailboxes of all my neighbors. I know all my neighbors and they have lived their all my life too. I built a house up on a hill close to my moms, grandparents, and great aunts house. I love to live here. I love that I know all my neighbors names. I love to feel like part of the neighborhood. It's not a subdivision by any stretch of the imagination but it is a place where we call home. A place you can play in the creek, run around in the woods, and take nature walks anytime you please. Whenever i drive up the hill to my house it just feels right.

Jan 15, 2007 - POTD

I had a great time today driving around our little town taking pictures. This is a picture of a monument/welcome sign that they just installed in 2006. This is a monument honoring Chuck Yeager which was born in Lincoln County, WV. He came to a ceremony that honored him and they renamed the highway Yeager highway. As you can see our flags are still flying at half staff for the former president. I used my automatic setting for overcast on my canon rebel. It started to rain so I didn't get out. I hope to get up close pictures of this later in the week when the weather permits.

Jan 14, 2007 - POTD

Here is my precious daughter Natalie. She always tells me we are best friends. I hope she always thinks this.

Jan 13, 2007 - POTD

Love the song by Brad Paisley called She is everything to me. I modified it for my dh-Eric.

He's a brown pair of steel toed shoes

A holey pair of underwear

He looks great in mismatched sweat suits

He looks great in anything

He's I want to get a good deal

he's a Suburban with a faulty gas gauge

With his brown hair so curly

He's a soft place to land

He's a warm conversation

That I wouldn't miss for nothing

he's a arguer when he's challenged

And he's a lover when he's loving

And he's everything I ever wanted

And everything I need

I talk about him, I go on and on and on

'Cause he's everything to me

He's a Saturday out on the town

And a sleep in on Sunday

He's a basketball in his hand

and a cuss word 'cause its Monday

He's a needer of a haircut

He's a vacuuming machine

He's the mower I wish I could be

And the stealer of the covers

He's a picture in my wallet

He's a father to his children

He's a person I admire

He's the hand that I'm holding

When I'm on my knees and praying

He's the answer to my prayer

And he's the song that I'm playing

He's the voice I love to hear

Someday when I'm ninety

He's that wooden rocking chair

I want rocking right beside me

Everyday that passes

I only love him more

Yeah, he's the one

That I'd lay down my own life for

And he's everything I ever wanted

And everything I need

he's everything to me

Yeah he's everything to me!

Jan 12, 2007 - POTD

I stitched this pillow and christmas ornament. I like to sew, do rustic stitcheries, and make christmas ornaments. It is something I really enjoy. I really love the primitive style decorating. I already have a sort of rustic theme in many rooms in my home. I'm thinking of re doing all of the rooms in this kind of feel. It just feels like home to me and there is always something to look at.

Jan 11, 2007 - POTD

Hello World! Here is my attempt at a self portrait. It's very fuzzy. I turned it to b&w and tried to sharpen it but it didn't help much.

Jan 10, 2007 - POTD

In the past year I have found a new love. Jewelry. Not the high end kind. The kind you can buy just about anywhere with all the colored beads and stones. I almost always wear a beaded necklace of some kind. I love to find my jewelry at Kohl's. They have a great selection. Instead of taking a picture of all my necklaces I decided to just take a picture of my newest necklace. I took several that the whole necklace was in focus but this one with just a few beads turned out to be my favorite for some reason. I really like that you can see some of the details in the beads near the front of the picture.

Jan 9, 2007 - POTD

I am a sports fan! Basketball is my favorite mostly because my husband’s family is so involved with it. My father in law has been a basketball coach for the last 35 years or so. My husband played college basketball and I cheered for him. His little brother played college basketball and now my stepson is in high school and I have cheered him through 12 years of basketball so far. My father in law coached Jason Williams in High School so he is one of our favorites. When he first went into the league we went and watched Sacramento play the Indiana Pacers and met Vladej and Chris Webber. You wouldn’t believe how big these guys are until you stand right beside of them. So tonight at the game I thought it would be appropriate to take a picture of the crowd standing in overtime cheering on the home team as I have many times in the past. GO DOTS!!!!!

Jan 8, 2007 - POTD

Starting off the week I thought I would take a self portrait. Well that didn't turn out too well so I changed to a picture of my hands. This picture of my hands tells me many things. First of all it shows I'm married with the wedding set that Eric and I bought on our 5 year anniversary. The story goes like this....Eric went and picked me out an engagement ring and gave it to me. The engagement ring just happened to be a anniversary ring but he got a good deal and it had more than one diamond so he was happy with it. He gave it to me and for 5 years I wore an engagement ring on my ring finger with my wedding ring. On our second anniversary he gave me the solitaire ring. He got a good deal on it too. Me and my husband love a good deal! LOL. So then on our 5 year anniversary we went and I picked out this wedding set and moved my anniversary band and real wedding ring to my other hand. I didn't want a fancy wedding set just a plain wedding set that felt like me. When I found this set I knew it was the one. Simple but timeless. The two other things my hands tell me is I should stop biting my fingernails and I need a tan. I used a Canon Rebel with natural light on Manual. I still don't know how I can tell what settings I used. I do not have a manual because we got a really good deal on the camera at the auction. LOL Ya gotta love those deals!

Jan 7, 2007 - POTD

Natalie and I played school today. She learned how to write an A and the number 1. I bought her some "teacher" stuff for Christmas so we got it out and made a desk, etc. Not a great picture but I will probably use for a scrapbook page anyways. Natalie loves to pretend so I thought we might as well pretend to learn her ABC's before school.

Jan 6, 2007 - POTD

I will admit it. I still have my tree up. It's been busy around here and everyone has been sick so I plan on taking it down tomorrow. I thought I might as well play around taking pictures of some of my favorite ornaments. Here is the ornament I got Natalie the first year we went to the beach. I played with the settings and eventually went with manual with a flash. I used my Canon Rebel with the 18-55mm lense.