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