Saturday, April 18, 2009

SPS with flare

I absolutely love all of the portraits I've been seeing lately that utilize flare. I know you can add it after the fact in PhotoShop, but I really am striving to get my shots right in camera. I'd much rather be behind the camera than behind the computer!

Anyway, here's my latest attempt. Still not quite where I want it, but a fun photo none the less.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Boots

I know it's been a week since I posted last, but I haven't forgotten you! Offline life trumps online sometimes.

Jumping right in with today's prompt though:



Ahhhhh Spring! I'm so glad we were finally able to switch to rubber boots from winter ones, despite the snow on Monday. Oh yes, we had a white Easter!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Easter Memories

Easter is coming? Who knew?

Just kidding! We know, we've just taken a very laid back approach this weekend. Our girls have asked that they be allowed to share a room again, and we've taken the move as an opportunity to paint. As a consequence, we haven't done much Easter prep in the way of decorations and the like in the rest of the house. Today was the big prep day, tomorrow the painting, and then we'll see what magic happens in the rest of the house. Our bunny doesn't come until Monday, so we've a little time, though we really like to observe Easter Sunday. No cleaning! Still, you never know what might happen at Easter time!

While I'm sanding and taping, here's one of my favourite photos from last year's Easter.

Happy Easter to you!
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Thursday, April 9, 2009

Wildlife Photography is for the BIRDS

This morning I woke up to birdsong. I did my morning routine with a smile on my face, for my lawn (which I can mostly see now) was host to some kind of robin convention. I fed the kids and came to the computer to do my usual routine. I checked in with HSMSHS to see the prompt for the day: BIRD.

PIECE OF CAKE!

I smiled to myself, looking out the window at all those robins. Then I picked up the camera, walked to the door....and they all flew away. I wasn't worried though. It was still early, and I had all day to photograph just one bird.

The joke was on me though, for every time I picked up the camera, they all flew away. I swear it was not a robin convention on the lawn, it was a robin conspiracy. Those birds are serious about their privacy!

All day I tried, and all day they mocked me, flitting merrily about when I watched from the windows, but making themselves scare the second I picked up the camera.

Obviously, wildlife photography is not my niche.

But then, a call from the kids: "Mama! The deer are here!"

I did the fastest lense change ever and ran to the kitchen windows. We hadn't seen our deer pals yet since fall, and I had no idea whether or not they'd be in cahoots with the birds. They weren't. They were actually quite pleased to have their photos taken.

Hubby arrived from work just after I'd snapped the first few photos, and I was sure the car would have them running for the woods, but they carried on as if he wasn't there.

Inspired by my success, I went out to see if I could track down a bird. No luck. Perhaps it was because of my assistant:

Did you say bird? Let me help!

I finally managed to ditch my assistant and tramped around, following the sounds of birdsong and peering into the trees. What I ended up with was a whole lot of this:

I eventually found a robin way up in the top of the tree and managed to tiptoe under it for this shot:

But WOW! Those birds really made me work for it!

Next time I'm photographing the Boy's Webkinz.

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Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Twilight

One of my favourite times of day, yet a rather exhaustive search of my photos reveals that I almost never take photos during this time. I was going to take one today just for the prompt, but got wound up in Parent-Teacher interviews and didn't get out until full dark. I don't want to fall behind again, so here's one I actually took the other day as I realized that I didn't have any photos for my Project 365.

The neighbour kid on his ATV. A sure sign of spring (last week it was his snowmobile!).
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Packet and Path

Monday's HSMSHS prompt was "packet". Here's mine:

...along with a story about why it's late. This packet was put in the mail LAST Monday. Can you read the print? It's only supposed to take 2 days to arrive. So the sender and I were waiting anxiously. And waiting, and waiting. And maybe worrying a little (ok, a lot). So Monday morning, when I saw the packet prompt, I thought it must be a sign and waited and watched all day for the little flag to go up on my mailbox. It never went up. Tuesday, between running a billion errands, I took a peek in the mailbox...and it was there! Phew! That was one packet I was happy to see! And since it was too early for Tuesday delivery, it must have been put in on Monday and the flag not put up. Crazy postal adventures! But it's here, and my sender may even get her money back due to the lateness.

And then there was Tuesday's prompt of path. This one is used by snowmobilers and ATV enthusiasts mostly, and actually borders our property in the back. It's a bit rutted for walking and we rarely go on it. I passed it several times yesterday without remembering to stop and take a photo. Finally on the way home from picking up Hubby I yelled at him to STOP! And then jumped out to snap this quick pic:

My Hubby is such a good sport!

P.S. I've not looked yet to see what today's post is. I'm pretending it's still Tuesday. Now that I've posted though, I might just wander over and see what's happening! :)

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Monday, April 6, 2009

SOS After the rain...

I had this all ready to go yesterday and then Picasa and Blogger banded together to give me fits. So I'm posting it first thing this morning and pretending that it's still Sunday. :)
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Saturday, April 4, 2009

SPS Saturday--In monochrome!



Just playing around with my nifty fifty (I have serious love for that lens) and my girls. I had opened up the aperture and was practicing my close portraits when Princess popped up over Sweetpea's shoulder. I love the result.

Today's challenge is for a monochrome portrait, so I used the high contrast B&W preset in Lightroom and then adjusted the curves until it was just the way I liked it. In fact, I like it so much I think I'm going to have to order some prints...
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Friday, April 3, 2009

Uncurl

Actually, on Wednesday my friend and photography mentor emailed me to let me know that she and her family had accepted a fantastic job offer and are moving home to California. In two weeks. So yesterday's HSMSHS prompt was curl, and let me tell you, curl I did. Right into a little ball of self pity. I'm slowly coming out of it again, being happy for her and her awesome family. So today I'm ready for a different sort of curl.

This "curl" is carved into our piano. You can see how old and loved our piano is. Yes, it needs refinishing. Right now the money is being used for lessons though. Someone should know how to play it if we're to truly appreciate it! But I love the detail and care that went into building these old monsters.

Today's prompt is "fluffy", which I keep thinking is fuzzy. Maybe because my brain is? Anyway, here's my fluffy:

And my Princess wanted to play too. I gave her lesson on how to hold my camera (with the 70-300 on it! Good girl!) and think she actually got the better photo:

Great composition girlie! I didn't even mention rule of thirds to her, but look at that! All I did was sharpen it for her in post production. No cropping!
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Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Be it ever so humble...

...there's no place like home!


My girlies arriving after a long day at school and the daily race for the door (today they finally worked out a deal and held hands).
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