Together

A pic of my two girls for Simplicity's "Together" photo challenge.




1/30, f/5/0, ISO 200

Black Eyed Susans

Another picture from my photo walk the other day



I'm linking this post up with Simplicity's "Flowers" photo challenge.

Week 4 Photography Class Assignments

This week was the final week of the photography class I'm taking, and we focused on white balance.

We had to take a photo in unnatural light with a bad white balance and then with a good white balance.

Bad white balance - SOOC


Good white balance - SOOC


Then we were assigned to take pictures in natural light with two different types of white balances.

First white balance - SOOC


Second white balance - SOOC


For our final assignment, we were to go on a photo walk and make a mosaic of some of the pictures we took while on our walk.

The leaves are really starting to change, and the colors are beautiful!

Week 2 Photography Class Assignments

I'm so sorry for the extended absence. This past week has just been extremely busy, and I just haven't had time to blog. In fact, I finally submitted my photos for my photography class assignments tonight, too.

This week our photography class focused on shutter speed. I'm actually pretty proud of myself because I shot 2 of the 5 photos for the class using completely manual settings. They may not be spectacular, but I'm especially proud that I was able to adjust the shutter speed and ISO so that the lighting wasn't too bad.

Here are all my shots SOOC (with the exception of the "watermark").

Moving Water
f5, 1/320, ISO 3200 (Shot completely manually)


f5, 1/10, ISO 100 (Shot completely manually)


Daylight action taken at slow shutter speed to show motion
1/30


Low light action taken at slow shutter speed to show motion
I actually shot this at night on a tripod with a 15 second exposure for the shutter speed.


"Shoot Where You Are"
f4.5, 1/200, ISO 3200 (Shot completely manually)


I spent more time this week taking pictures in my bathrooms than ever before, trying to catch drops of water on "film" (How do you change that saying for digital cameras? "On memory card???" Doesn't have the same ring to it.) and adjusting my camera settings so that the lighting wasn't too dark. All in the name of photography!

Week 1 Final Class Assignment

f/5.6


"Contemplate Your Shot" - I knew I wanted to take a pic of one of my kids outside for this shot, and the Youngest is one of the most cooperative. I didn't want a "Stand over there and I'll take your picture" shot though, so I had him bring his hat outside and had him pretend he was putting it on. However, he didn't just pretend, he kept putting it on and taking it off, teasing me and laughing. I think this keeper was the third shot I took. I did tweak the color, brightness, and contrast just a little bit in editing because the original looked a bit faded.

Photography Class Assignments

Remember when I mentioned that I'd signed up to take an online photography class this fall? Well the class has started! Hooray!

This week we are studying and experimenting with aperture and f-stops.

Below are this week's assignments that I've completed so far.

f/4


Same shot at f/11


See the difference in the backgrounds?

f/5.6 (optional assignment)


f/5


Same shot at f/16


I still have one more required assignment to complete before Monday and two more optional ones.

39 Years and Counting

Hubby's parents celebrated their 39th anniversary this summer. I took this photo of them after we finished a photo shoot with the whole family when we were all together in June.



For more pictures exemplifying the "Love" theme, visit Simplicity.

Happy to Be Four

The Youngest celebrated his fourth birthday at the beginning of this month. He was SO happy and excited to be turning four!

When asked before his birthday what kind of cake he wanted, he said, "Lellow." Frosting? "Lellow." Anything else on the cake? "No, just lellow." So a yellow cake with yellow frosting it was!


Notice he is wearing a yellow shirt. We even put yellow candles on the cake even though they're not in this picture. Bet you can't guess his favorite color! ;)

Today is Faith at Simplicity's birthday, and her photo challenge theme for the week is "Birthday." Be sure to head on over and wish her a happy birthday as well as check out all the other birthday pics.

The "Arches" in "Architecture"

Both Simplicity and Unique Exposure have black and white photo challenges this week. The second picture in this post is my submission for both challenges.

Last summer Hubby treated me to a night out to dinner downtown in the big city for our anniversary. I took my camera along and had to take a picture of a classy building with arches that we passed. Although the structure was beautiful, I was never really happy with the way the photo turned out. It just seemed blah, like it lacked something.




When I saw Unique Exposure's challenge for the week focused on architecture in black and white, I thought of this picture, thinking that it might just turn out nicely with the white arches contrasting against the dark windows.

After converting the image to black and white and bumping up the contrast a little, I love how it turned out! I think this tweaking was just what the photo needed. I think it gives the picture a vintage look and lets the pretty architecture stand out. When I look at it, I can visualize people from the 20's and 30's walking along the street in front of it and visiting in it's rooms. Why those decades? I don't know, but it's what comes to mind for me.




What do you think of this photo in black and white vs. the one in color?

Home From School

This week's photo challenge theme at Simplicity is "School."

My kiddos aren't back in school for another week and a half yet (Yikes! Can it really be that close already?!), but I took this shot last May. The Youngest and I were outside, and I was playing around with my camera when the bus pulled up to drop off the 4 oldest after school. Think the Youngest is excited to have them back home? :)

Splash Pad

The other week I took the kids over to our town's new splash pad and was able to capture some fun memories.

(My submission for another "Blue" theme, this time over at the Thursday Challenge)

(My submission for "Pure Joy" at Perceptive Perspective)
***UPDATED to say that I won this photo challenge!

I'm also submitting both of these pictures for Simplicity's "Summer" theme.

Mountain Goats

Simplicity's photo challenge this week is "White."

Nanny goat and kid at Logan Pass, Glacier National Park


Visit Simplicity to see more white-themed pictures.

Photography Class

I've been wanting to take a photography class for quite a while. I've looked at the class offerings at our local community college as well as our town's park and rec classes. Usually the photography classes weren't really what I wanted. Most of them had to do with learning how to upload your pictures onto your computer and email them or share them online with others. I already know how to do that. I want a photography class about composition, lighting, shutter speeds, f-stops, etc. Although I've read a number of photography books, I really want to take a class that tackles these topics.

Lo and behold, Faith at Simplicity: My Life in (Mostly) Photographs is offering a photography class this fall for SLR photographers that will teach how to use the manual settings on your SLR camera.

I'm so excited! I've already registered for the class and paid the extremely reasonable fee of $22. Be sure to click on the button above if you're interested in registering for the class or want more info.

Simplicity: Selfie

Hey! It's time for the Simplicity Photo Challenge! The theme this week is Self-Portrait. Do it any way you like, by yourself, with your kids or pets. It can be a quick snapshot or a carefully posed and edited image. Just please be sure to link back to my blog! The Challenge is open today & Wednesday. So post your pics ASAP!

I took this self portrait with the timer on my camera this past winter.



Visit Simplicity to see others' self portraits.