Monday, January 31, 2011

day thirty one

As evidenced below, Liam is pretty much back to normal.  Unfortunately for him, mom had one of those days where she was in an '80's mood.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/200 sec, ISO 400

When Liam was attending daycare, I would often send him in Babylegs - friendly on the knees, easy to change a diaper in (since they don't cover the diaper), and (I feel) quite stylish!  Some people might disagree, but I was not to be dissuaded.  Liam has massive legs; he takes after his father, and thankfully didn't end up with my chicken legs, and these legs show off colorful leggings to their true potential.  In fact, his last day was Halloween, and his teachers dressed up in full-on '80's fashion, leggings and all, in what I like to think was a last hurrah for my son and his leg warmers.

Amazingly enough, I don't think I had much evidence of his fashion-forward attire, so, here it is.  Long-sleeved onesie, Aerosmith t-shirt (bought before Steven Tyler began judging Idol, tyvm), blue cloth diaper, some funky multicolored Babylegs, and his gray elephant foot Robeez socks... since I didn't want his feet to get cold.

And as you can see... he loves it!  Plus, this will make for a great future wedding slideshow photo!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

day thirty

Contrary to what one might think from looking at today's picture, Liam actually enjoyed his first trip to the zoo.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/400 sec, ISO 100

It's a bit of a deceiving picture.  He looks like he is asleep in his comfy stroller, even though he is being watched by a hungry goat.  In fact he was looking at another goat, and blinked in such a way that caused him to look asleep.  And this is what capturing motion at 1/400th of a second is!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

day twenty nine

What a wonderful day!  Today is one of the reasons we moved down south from NYC (I think they've gotten 40" of snow this year so far).  The weather was in the mid-sixties with not a cloud in sight, my son is on the mend from his month-long cold, and I finally finished my Amy Butler Swing Bag.  I love how it turned out!

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 20mm, manual mode, f/3.8, shutter speed 1/125 sec, ISO 400

Plus, this picture is almost SOOC.  I only did a little bit of sharpening out of habit - the lighting was really wonderful this afternoon.  We have grand plans to go to the zoo tomorrow, and I can't wait to bring my camera and my new handmade purse.  I may start searching around for a camera bag pattern, hmm!

Friday, January 28, 2011

day twenty eight

Okay, back on track.  Here's a second attempt at using a fill flash, indoors, hoping to avoid a picture that shows obvious harsh flash usage.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 38mm, manual mode, f/5, shutter speed 1/160 sec, ISO 400

Surprisingly, I had to increase the exposure on this picture up a smidge.  It wasn't particularly dark, but I wanted to capture how bright the room really felt at this time of day.  Thankfully, the flash managed to prevent shadowing on Liam's face, and it is only even somewhat noticeable (to me) in the slight shine on his ride on toy.  Not bad!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

day twenty seven

I have company over and it was a long day - my apologies, internet, for forgetting to use the fill flash.  However, here's this week's cake attempts - we are definitely improving!  Michelle's lovely chocolate cake is in pink, and my (boozy) champagne-raspberry cake is in green.  Next week we are on to gum paste and fondant sculpting!

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 55mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/60 sec, ISO 800

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

day twenty six

Today I can happily state that I have tried not one, but two new things with my camera!

First, on recommendation of my favorite photographer, I read this page to take away some of my confusion on using auto focus.   Huge help, and I recommend it as reading for any newbie with a DSLR.

Second, I am back on track with week three of the two peas course (skipping over week two for now, since I play around with RAW files when it comes to white balance).  I'm playing around with my onboard flash - oh boy.  This has never worked out for me in the past, but we'll give it a try anyway.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 55mm, manual mode, f/5.6, shutter speed 1/60 sec, ISO 800, using onboard flash.


Meiyu is one of the few non-sick and rather lazy beings in this house, so she had no problem waking up from her hourly nap to flash her pretty blue eyes for me.  As you can see on the wheel wells of the ride-on toy, the flash did indeed go off - however, I think it looks pretty good!  My focal length was at 55 in order to get this shot, since standing any closer would have resulted in the typical washed-out picture.  I'm rather proud, since taking pictures at this time, in this window, are usually disastrous.  Sure, I don't have pretty catchlights... but my picture required no tinkering whatsoever for exposure or color.

Also, auto-focus!  Granted, at f/5.6, I don't really get a great depth of field in this picture, but I am looking forward to testing it out tomorrow... hopefully on two gorgeous cakes!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

day twenty five

Liam is still attempting to hack up a lung periodically, but man is he taking it like a champ.  His one demand seems to be needing to cling to me for hugs, kisses, and nose-wiping, and that is totally doable, even though its a bit gross.  I really wanted to take a picture of him today, and it was challenging, due to the aforementioned clingy-ness. 

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/100 sec, ISO 800

See?  He's not doing too badly.  He even gave me a five minute break to share this picture with the internet, what a nice kid!  I took a lot of cute pics, however, I think choosing an ISO of 800 wasn't the best pic - even though it is fairly overcast outside, there were a lot of washed out highlights even with correct exposure.  I'll try 400 tomorrow.

Monday, January 24, 2011

day twenty four

Once again, my favorite subject is under the weather - in fact, he has RSV, though not as bad as some.  His pediatrician told me to keep him hydrated and well-rested, so I wasn't going to stick a camera in his face just for this blog.  Besides, I don't know if anyone out there really would like to see a snot-covered baby face.

In search of late-night photo subject, instead I present you with... our first anniversary gift to each other.  And yes, I waited till it was legitimately 10:30PM to take the picture!

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/600 sec, ISO 800


Here's hoping that Liam isn't coughing his lungs up tomorrow, I miss seeing him happy and healthy.  I also think I am ready to move on to the third lesson of the two peas course, so yay!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

day twenty three

So, my house is full of sickies (poor Liam will be off to the pediatrician tomorrow), and I spent 90% of my waking hours trying to plan a vacation and take care of my son.  Needless to day, this was not one of my better days.

My wonderful husband did make me a fire to relax by, so without further ado, I am off to my chaise, with laptop and probably a nice drink, to relax.... and probably continue to grumble about hotels.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/100 sec, ISO 1600

I couldn't find a satisfactory "correct" exposure, probably due to the lighting.  Oh well.  I'm hoping to get a nice outdoor shot tomorrow, if the weather improves and Liam naps.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

day twenty two

I hope future pictures of Liam will have him look more adorable, and less scruffy, because today he went for his first haircut!

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/60 sec, ISO 800

I'm not thrilled with how this version of this shot came out.  I felt I had to crop it a bit, which I did after doing the editing, and now it looks grainy.  I'll leave it be for now, but I'd love to know how to avoid this in the future.  Do I crop first, then edit?  Was it hopeless due to the noise anyway, and just more apparent because the crop zooms in?

Either way, he's still adorable, and can now see without bangs in front of his eyes.

Friday, January 21, 2011

day twenty one

Liam and I were enjoying a game of post-nap peekaboo when the sun decided to shine through the nursery window.  Like most of our house, the nursery isn't visited by Mr. Sun very often, so Nikon decided to join in the peekaboo fun.  It was interesting trying to get a shot, with myself, my camera, and Liam bobbing our heads up and down - I believe I took a total of sixty pictures.  Bill chose this one as his favorite, so here it is.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/60 sec, ISO 800

I didn't have to tweak anything except the sharpness slider in Camera Raw - I really liked how the colors worked out in this photo.  Peek a boo!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

day twenty

In preparation for our kids' birthdays, my best friend Michelle and I are teaching ourselves how to make, roll, and decorate using fondant and gum paste.  Today was our first lesson (who needs you, Wilton!), and for complete fondant newbies, I am rather impressed.  Plus, since it was marshmallow-based, it was pretty damn tasty as well.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/100 sec, ISO 800

This is my first food photograph, unfortunately in evening, artificial lighting again due to the timing of the cake decorating.  One thing I like about photographing food... it doesn't move, squint, and try to smudge my lens.  Oh, and it is filled with tasty Nutella buttercream.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

day nineteen

Yay, Liam is ten months old today!  I dutifully took many pictures today, and this was my favorite of them all - we were playing with a rubber toy that was given to me (yes, me, not him) by one of Bill's cousins back when we lived in New York.  Glad I packed and moved it several times, since Liam is fascinated by it!

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/100 sec, ISO 800

We're expecting tomorrow to be in the mid-sixties, temperature-wise, so I am looking forward to playing outside, with my baby and my camera :)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

day eighteen

Okay, so I put off taking a photo till nighttime, again.  And it pretty much encompasses what I have been doing all day.  I promise, will have something better tomorrow.

For those of you without small children, these are cloth diapers - not a pin nor rubber pants to be seen, and rather colorful.  I need to take more pictures of Liam wearing these for blackmail, err, posterity.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/60 sec, ISO 1600

Really need to avoid taking pictures past sundown.  However, he also really needed his diapers laundered.. he does make for a cute bare butt model, but the inevitable cleanup isn't pretty.

Monday, January 17, 2011

day seventeen

Today's entry will be short and sweet, since I only just got home and am eating my dinner at the keyboard.  I am not proud that I had to take a low-light picture without a tripod and pretty crappy lighting, and instead of worrying about being true to life... I may have had a bit of fun with the luminance slider in Camera Raw.  However, I am quite proud of my new pajama pants, created from the bolt of fabric I showcased here a few days ago.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/50 sec, ISO 1600

Good night all!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

day sixteen

A fairly nice, simple shot.  The angle was a bit off, since I would have rather not had my couch in the background, but I encountered a lot of lens flare if I adjusted my position.

So, here's Liam concentrating rather intently on his bee toy.  He was definitely quite focused, since normally he attempts to fingerprint my lens if I am within arms' length of him.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/60 sec, ISO 400

I had a hard time figuring how what to focus on.  I wasn't too fond of the shots in which I focused on his near eye, but as you can see here, if I focus on his far eye, part of Liam's face becomes a bit blurring.  So I vignetted a bit, which does double duty of darkening up the fabric bolt which I forgot to put away yesterday.  I think it works here.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

day fifteen

I was out of the house much of today, spending some time with one of my best friends, and plotting some baking adventures for the upcoming weeks.  We were told we were not awesome enough to take Wilton's fondant and gum paste class, so we decided to heck with the class, bought our own supplies, and are determined to figure this out on our own.

However, I am not baking tonight, so yummy (and hopefully pretty!) cake pictures are not on today's agenda.  Instead, here is the very beginning of a craft I hope to begin and complete on Monday night.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/20 sec, ISO 800

I am taking three sewing classes over the next two weeks, since I enjoyed a basic Sewing 101 class back in December.  I was even brave enough to sew a button that came off a pair of Bill's pants two days ago, and I think that button fell off over a year ago.  This is progress for me!

Anyway, this particular, inexpensive cotton fabric was acquired at Walmart for the low, low price of $3 per yard.  Nice!  I hope it will resemble comfy pajamas more than a bolt of fabric when I come home on Monday night.  Later on next week, I will show off some nicer and pricier fabric I ordered for my next class, which will take two sessions to complete. 

Back to photography - I feel much more comfortable with working in manual mode.  I'm very glad I went with Nikon, because the control seem pretty intuitive to me.  I've been steadily making my way through Understanding Exposure, now that I finished my annual Christmastime reading of all Harry Potter books, haha.   I may mix it up with some more of the photoshop for photographers book, as well.  One thing I changed up about this picture is toning down the vibrance, which I have never had cause to do.  Unfortunately, I had pretty poor lighting, and the fluorescent bulbs really hurt this picture.

Friday, January 14, 2011

day fourteen

We have a few trips ahead of us in the coming months, and one will be that I am bringing Liam to Disneyworld in April.  Bill will be remaining at home and possibly painting the house.  This may very well be much less exhausting than carting a toddler around the Magic Kingdom, and I suspect he doesn't envy me even one tiny bit.

I think Liam is looking forward to the trip, as much as an almost-ten-month-old infant could.  Here he is in his nursery, pulling up on his desk and smiling at the famous mouse garbed in his Fantasia robe and hat.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 20mm, manual mode, f/4, shutter speed 1/125 sec, ISO 800

Happy Friday all, I need to hop off the PC now since Liam is able and willing to climb our staircase.  I hope my first gray hair will not be a picture here in the near future.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

day thirteen

See food?

Sorry - that's my son, enjoying a mixture of hummus, pita, and gyro lamb meat at a local Greek restaurant.  We met a friend of mine and her two twin toddler boys for lunch today, and Liam.. well, he likes his Greek food.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/5.6, shutter speed 1/40 sec, ISO 400

I mean, sure I could have tried to photoshop out the bit of hummus on his chin, or the lamb on his tongue... but I think it adds to the picture :)

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

day twelve

Liam has a great time at his playdate today, yet while I remembered my camera... I totally forgot to reset my ISO to 800.  ISO being 200 = a bad thing indoors, though to be honest, I didn't get many wonderful shots.  Plus, I was too busy ogling my friend's camera lens.  Mmm f/1.8....

Anyway, so here's another picture of my cute kid, who did not nap when we got home, but instead chose to crawl around our entire bottom floor.  I caught this when he stopped to stare at the chandelier, which I am beginning to think is the main attraction on his route loop, now that the Christmas tree is gone.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/30 sec, ISO 800

I had a lot of fun editing this shot, which was incredibly orange SOOC.  It's not sharp, but it was as sharp as I was going to get tonight, unless I tried for a non-Liam shot.  I'm still focusing manually, so this could have been much worse, haha.  One of these days, I'll manage to get a beautiful picture of him sleeping, but today was not that day.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

day eleven

So, I'm not really liking shutter priority mode.  I don't like losing control of my aperture settings, and I don't think my photos come out nicely, at all.  So, on to manual mode - which is part two of the online course I mentioned anyway.

I finally got to fiddle around with all of my settings to see how they affected the exposure meter, and  even though Liam was a bit active today, I really like this shot I snapped of him.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, manual mode, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/25 sec, ISO 200

Aperture was my priority, and I adjusted my shutter speed until my camera deemed it to be correct exposure.  My only complaint is that it seems like my focus centered on Liam's left ear instead of his eyes.  Why is this?  One, he moves.  A lot.  Two, I'm still focusing manually.  Yes, I need to read my book on how to use auto focus.  I'll try and get to that this week - baby steps!

Monday, January 10, 2011

day ten

Cutting it a bit close here, but it was one of those days.  A generally dreary day, and we had an ice storm outside for the majority of it.  I couldn't get a decent picture indoors (cranky baby, and horrible lighting), and it was freezing rain outside... so ugh, I had to take this through our picture window.  Which could stand to be cleaned.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 55mm, Aperture Priority mode, f/5.6, ISO 200

This might night seem to be an unusual picture, but I live in the south, on the coast... so this is a rarity.  I hope it actually snows, even if it's just a little bit!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

day nine

Bill: How about you take a picture of something other than our son today?

Me: Sure, what?

Bill:  This!

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, Aperture Priority mode, f/3.5, ISO 800

Yes, yes, I did try to use shutter priority mode today.  However, Bill really wanted me to do a picture of Liam's toy blocks.  Not an easy or fun shot, completely due to the lack of natural light in his room, especially at that time of day.  However, with two cats and Liam roaming around, the chance of this tower sticking around long enough for ideal lighting was close to nil, so here it is.

I did try to take a few shots at 1/250 shutter speed, in shutter priority mode, and they came out incredibly dark - lesson learned there.  I'll try for some outside shots tomorrow.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

day eight

Okay, so I still shot in AP mode today.  However, in my defense I did not realize how hard it would be to get a decent shot at an indoor pool with many splashing toddlers, so I fell back and worked with what was familiar.  Maybe I'll have better luck next week, since I couldn't even get a great shot of Liam in the pool.

Here is a picture of him and Dad waiting for the class to start.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, Aperture Priority mode, f/3.5, ISO 800

This is SOOC, and I didn't feel like Camera Raw would do much for me here (I can't wait to look back on these early posts months from now and see if I would make the same decision).  I think it came out okay, and I did have fun walking around the pool in search of good lighting.  On a funny note, another mom was there with a Canon, and she shadowed me to get the good shots, haha. 

Hopefully I'll be able to post some swimming pictures next Saturday!

Friday, January 7, 2011

day seven

Good thing - I became an aunt for the first time today, to a not-so-little baby girl (8lbs, 6oz) named Flora.  Yay!

Unfortunate thing - I don't live anywhere near this baby, so I'll have to wait to take pictures of her *cue sad Awww since I will miss out on sleepy newborn shots*

So, everyone will get to meet another member of our household today - our second Ragdoll cat, Minerva.  She is a half-sister of Meiyu, but they don't look much alike.

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, Aperture Priority mode, f/3.5, ISO 800

Yay for a catchlight and for decent focusing and lack of camera shake, at least to my eye!  She was conveniently lying near Liam's rocking horse - which bears an uncanny resemblance to her.  Maybe she considers it to be a long-lost relative? I was literally flat on my belly for this shot, with my camera balancing on the floor and tilted upwards.

I've really been enjoying shooting at this low aperture.  This is probably due to my house still needing a lot of work, and some reorganizing... anything that will blur it out is preferable to the stark reality.  I'm sure I'll feel comfortable enough to play around with different settings soon.  I am taking part in a free online course and today concluded week one, so tomorrow's picture may have a different feel to it!  It should be a challenge regardless, since I have plans for a certain indoor shot I'd love to capture.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

day six

It was a nice, overcast day (read: no rain), so I decided to try out a few new (to me) photography tips.  Overcast skies make for good lighting, since you don't have direct sunshine in your subject's face, so outdoors we went!  The grass was still soggy, but fortunately we have a large screened-in porch that lent itself very well to the task at hand, provided Liam didn't get too excitable and decide to fall off his scooting toy onto the concrete surface.

Today I shot in RAW format, which can increase file size by about 1/3 over a great quality jpg, I believe.  Not a huge deal at the moment, since I delete pictures off my camera daily.  This format gave me a few more options in Camera Raw, plus it seemed as if the sliders were preset to certain values.  I'll be reading more about this tonight.  I also played around with my camera's white balance, and set it to Cloudy.  I hear that some pros choose to shoot all outdoor shots in Cloudy mode, I may give that a try.

Here's Liam with one of his "new" Christmas toys:

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, Aperture Priority mode, f/3.5, ISO 100

I am very pleased with how this turned out.  I mean, yes, I could have cropped out my feet, but I actually liked how they appear in this photo.  The floor looks slightly textured, but the focus is correctly on Liam's face, and I even caught some catchlights in there!  I also like how the colors pop - and I did very minimal tweaking in Camera Raw, mostly just a little increase in exposure, and a smidge of sharpening.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

day five

Today was a busy day!  It was rainy, but we spent our afternoon at a playdate with two lovely little girls for Liam to play with, two rather large and friendly puppies, and some tasty homemade treats made for and by the moms - though I think the babies enjoyed the banana bread, as well.

Since the weather wasn't letting much light into the house, I hemmed and hawed over how to capture a decent picture today.  Finally, I decided to just use the normal evening lighting in our dining room, and took a picture of the first ever scarf I crocheted and (finally) finished!

Using kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm, Aperture Priority mode, f/3.5, ISO 800

I was able to read up a bit yesterday on focal length, and decided I wanted to see how a picture would turn out at 18mm and a nice low f/stop.  From what I read, it lends itself to a whimsical sort of look, and gives a lot of dimension to your pictures - which I think I somewhat accomplished here.  I definitely wouldn't say this is a flat picture, and I think I managed to focus just right in order to capture the bright red stripe plus some of the yarn details.  Yay!  There is obviously some noise, but still - the lighting in my house is pretty horrible, so I think this picture is a definite success considering the circumstances.  There was only some light editing in Camera Raw, to brighten the picture up a bit.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

day four

Everyone is starting to feel better 'round these parts, but the weather is becoming chillier.  I didn't think it would be wise to venture outside today, but we had plenty of fun indoors, especially since Liam is becoming more confident in his crawling and pulling up abilities - as evidenced by the picture below.

Using kit lens 18-55mm, Aperture Priority mode, f/5, ISO 800


Liam loves windows.  He loves them to the point where he will pull himself up and over stacked boxes of hardwood flooring just to look outside.  This makes me happy, since we're not the type of people who watch much TV, and prefer to be outdoors.  I'm sure at some point in the near future I will have the opportunity to take a picture of him and both cats staring down our squirrel (yes, our squirrel - he likes to come up to the window and make fun of the cats).  I wasn't planning on taking a picture yet, since I was holding off to take a picture of my recent completed craft today, but he was having so much fun that I wanted to capture the moment.

I was reading up a bit on focal length yesterday, so today I tried taking a picture with my camera at approximately 24mm, and instead of zooming I moved myself in order to get the depth that I wanted.  I had read that a picture taken at 24mm is considered to be a wide-angle shot, and gives more depth perspective to the picture.  I'm not sure this angle lends itself to really showcase that idea, but I still think it looks nice.  I did some light photoshop work to reduce some noise and lighten up shadows.

Looking forward to tonight - I am expecting two books I purchased on Saturday to arrive, one focusing on photography, and one dealing with Photochop CS5 and how it is best used by photographers.  Yippee!

Monday, January 3, 2011

day three

We're still under the weather, but the sun decided to come out and play today, so we couldn't resist going outside.  I happily set my ISO to 100, and lugged my energetic son outside.

I tried a few different areas of my back and front yards, with different lighting. I have a little spot near my back porch that has moss-covered ground and dappled sunlight, but I don't know if I am able to take a good picture there - not for lack of trying!  There's a lot of filtered light, which can lead to odd shadows, but maybe I can figure something out over time, or post a picture I take and perhaps get some constructive criticism.  It's more of a "how do I angle this shot?" rather than camera settings.

Since it is winter and all of our leaves (FINALLY) finished falling, there was a lot of direct sunlight in the backyard, which doesn't seem to be great lighting either.  I know I don't like to be squinting in the sun, and neither does Liam, so that was a no-go. 

So, off to the front yard we trekked, accompanied by my outside cat, who I have yet to introduce in this blog.  She will be the bane of my outside shots, since she insists on rubbing up on my legs/arms, resulting in blurry pictures.  At one point (after I started to become frustrated), I tossed an acorn into the street, and while she bolted towards it, I quickly focused my lens and took a few shots.  This picture is SOOC (straight out of camera), since I didn't feel I could do much with it.

Using kit lens 18-55mm, Aperture Priority mode, f/5.6, ISO 100

I really liked this shot because Liam just looks so happy - which he was, so I feel I've captures the mood pretty well.  He was giggling madly, playing with leaves, crawling around (need to start up some laundry after this!), and I feel like I caught him in motion.  He actually paused for a moment, and I managed to catch this pose.  I feel like his arm and the leaf he is holding is in better focus than his face, but this was a tough shot to capture, so I am satisfied. 

Sunday, January 2, 2011

day two

On the second day of 2011, this year has brought to me~ 

Three restless kitties,
Two feverish parents,
... and a baby who won't go to sleep~

So it turns out that all three humans in our household are fighting off some nasty congestion, and I will probably have to bring Liam to the pediatrician tomorrow for some antibiotics.  As expected, our 9-month old is fighting this cold off like a champ, while myself and Bill are moping around the house with tissues stuffed up our nostrils (now, THAT would have been a good blog picture).

Even worse, the weather is still overcast and drizzling, so my hoped-for lighting is nonexistent today.  Therefore, it is time to introduce you to another member of our household - Meiyu, our first Ragdoll cat.  She was an obvious subject, since she spends most of her day next to our picture window, looking for squirrels.  If there is sunlight to be found, Meiyu will be the first one sitting in it.

Using kit lens 18-55mm, Aperture Priority mode, f/5.6, ISO 800

I'm pleased with the lighting of this shot, especially considering how overcast this day was - and I really didn't want to bring my camera out in the rain.  However, it still seems a bit noisy to me, and I wonder if this was due to user error (camera shake) or improper settings.  I did brighten and sharpen it up a bit in Camera Raw, but I obviously need to learn a bit more about CS5 to see if I can take away some noise while not ending up with a "soft" photo.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

day one

Happy 2011 all!  My husband and I spent our first NYE celebration with a baby at home, drinking homemade bellinis and cringing at NKOTB + BSB performing in Times Square.  I had some grand plans of taking pictures of our son in front of our soon-to-be-mulched Christmas tree this morning, but the overcast lighting made our normally dark house resemble a cave.  Not to be swayed, I stripped him down a la New Year's baby, and let him have fun on our bed.  I have some really cute shots, including one where he is completely face-planted into the sheets, with his derriere pointing straight up, but this looked more blog-appropriate.

Using kit lens 18-55mm, Aperture Priority mode, f/stop 5.6, ISO 800

I mentioned before that I would be fiddling around a bit with Camera Raw and Photoshop CS5, in general.  I figured out how to make a basic watermark, yay!  He is getting over a nasty cold as well, so I attempted the Spot Removal tool in Raw around his left nostril.   However, I am wondering if I am saving my files correctly as jpegs, after adding the watermark.  This image looks noticeably crisper in Bridge, and even as a preview in Windows 7, sigh.  Well, part of the reason I am writing this blog is to improve my skills and increase my knowledge base, so any and all constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated!