Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Friday's Assignment
Can't take claim for this photo of little C. He is so all boy- baseball, football, soccer, basketball and he's only 2. His dad had taken him to an indoor arena football game and took this shot as C was screaming for the home team. Have no idea what he was saying- probably just caught up in the moment. We are going to another game in June- this one will be a benefit for the two kids. Can't wait to see him in action.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Thursday's Assignment
Make a black and white photograph today.
Decided to try and figure out my macro lens. I was given this bleeding heart plant a few years ago for my shade garden. It was given to me by one of my co-workers. My daughter-in-law had recently died and she was looking for something that would be memorable. But she didn't call the plant a bleeding heart- it was more "mother's" something. When I googled it I could only come up with bleeding heart. It is different from my other plants as it is an early bloomer and has light green leaves. Popped the macro lens onto my 35 mm lens. I finally realized that the camera just has to be super close to whatever I am shooting. Then and only then does the auto focus kind of work. I know I should have found something to prop the camera on before I took this picture. I really wanted my depth of field to be shallow but it started to rain and I was in a hurry. So I took this and probably have camera shake. I am going to have to really practice with these macro lenses. If I used all three I could probably pick up the smallest of small. Can't wait to see what the summer will bring!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Wednesday's Assignment
Not a lot of things in my suburb made of concrete- unless you count curbs, driveways and sidewalks. Of course, most of the sidewalks and driveways in my subdivision are horribly cracked. We keep crossing our fingers that our street will be resurfaced, but funds seem to be desperately low. We hope that if and when the street is resurfaced the apron on our driveway will also be fixed. Over the years it has sunk as a result of the direction of the old sewer lines. Shoveling snow from our driveway by hand is nearly impossible. Sliding the shovel across the concrete jars your body as you hit the chasms in the concrete. But I digress.... I was walking around the neighborhood trying to find something interesting with concrete when I ran across this puddle. So much rain has fallen and even though it is overcast the tree does cast a nice shadow in the water. Hence my photograph with a concrete surface!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Tuesday's Assignment
Not entirely sure what I wanted to do today. I almost got up the nerve to take my camera to the grocery store to take some photographs. But what would they say to me if I did? Would they deny me the opportunity? Is it against any rules? I don't have the courage to try- guess that's why I'm just a beginner. I don't want to have any one come up to me to confront me as to why I am photographing their merchandise. Maybe that's the difference between those that do and those who wish they did. So, instead I took a picture of a box of crayons. Used the lighting in the kitchen but as I'm looking at the picture I see quite a bit of yellow. Is it the cast from the florescent lighting? I had set the camera to A and chose a lower speed, but even when I did auto fix in Photoshop, the lighting still seemed off. I suppose I could have moved the crayons around and had a bigger variety of colors- maybe I will try that if I ever do this shot again.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monday's Assignment
Gosh there were lots of things that I could take pictures of today. Because I had time today I decided to experiment with the multitude of lenses that I have. I really wanted to get a closeup of something that was circular. Unfortunately, my new macro filters are not being friendly. They are suppose to be auto focus but don't seem to work that way with my Nikon lens. I can manually focus but am trying to avoid that when I can. I took several pictures today- trying to be creative of course. But then I saw my box of buttons. Who doesn't have a collection of those? Funny how we get extras when we don't need them but often a button will fall off and I have no match for it. Almost like losing one of my pair of socks. Where the heck does it go? I think some of these buttons even belonged to my mom who has been gone for years now. I guess I am hanging onto them as I never know when I might need one!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Sunday's Assignment
Happy Easter to one and all. It's hard to believe it is already April. Of course, April means it's almost May, and then summer vacation begins in June!!! Took a trip over to Lake Katherine this morning. I knew that I wanted to scope out whatever I could that might show converging lines. Dh and I were discussing what that actually means. He kind of referred to wires connecting to a telephone pole and I actually thought it would be diagonal lines coming to a point. The examples that I looked at seemed to be taken with the focus more on the center of the object. Even still, I think this photo shows converging lines. I have in my head that your eye is drawn naturally to the center- but maybe there's a better way of shooting it so that the center is more pronounced. Ended up shooting most everything in automatic as I can't see the LCD panel once I'm out in the daylight. Not sure why that is.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Saturday's Assignment
Changing a color photo to black and white feels like I am cheating. But when I looked at examples on the dailyshoot site, that's what seems to be the popular choice. This photo actually was a decent one for low contrast except for the sky. If it hadn't been cloudless I think I could have kept it the way that it was. Even still, the lightness of the sky probably detracts from little contrast that there was. Light brown trees in the foreground against dead straw-like grass in the background. In the distance is a train but even that seem to blend in. Darn sky!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Friday's Assignment
I've always been amazed when kids can hold their camera up in front of their own face for a self portrait. I never can get myself in the center of the viewfinder. And holding up a 35 mm is nearly impossible. But I just so happen to have a box sitting on my kitchen table that I can set the camera on. Arming myself with a glass of ice water, I positioned my head where I thought I needed to and "snap!" Nice try the first time around so I wasn't going to take any more. Unfortunately, I've discovered it's not my best side- and by the way, when did I start getting those wrinkles and baggy skin??? Us "photographers" will do anything for a picture I guess.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Wednesday's Assignment
Why or why can't I find a smiley face when I want to find a smiley face. This photo of the dog is not exactly what I wanted to take. I wanted to get a photo of a big old smiley, either one painted on a water tower or one painted on a garage door. You know what? They don't exist anymore. Drove around a couple of suburbs looking for anything resembling a smile. Would have settled for a big hunking smile on top of a dentist office. Couldn't find that either. So the dog became my next victim and after making him sit and smile I took a quick picture. Unfortunately, the flash seems to pick up his filmy cataracts. I tried to fix it in photoshop but it was a no go. Want to bet I see a couple of smiley faces the next time I'm not looking for them?
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tuesday's Assignment
Found this dream catcher under a pile of junk on my dresser. I don't know how it got there or how it got in my possession. I am thinking it was my sister-in-law who gave it to my younger son years ago. I suppose she thought it would catch the bad dreams that he was having. Don't know if it ever worked. I looked at other pictures today to see what ideas I could come up for "connection." There were several showing spider webs so I guess this dream catcher works just as well. The lines intersect with each other, connecting to complete the design.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Monday's Assignment
Spent quite a bit of time walking around the house today, trying to find something interesting that was also moving. As hard as I tried I couldn't get the dog to stand still AND wag his tail. Jumping on me and wagging his tail seem to go hand and hand. Unfortunately I can't take a picture and push him off at the same time. Boiling water and water running from the faucet seemed too boring. I could have walked up to the high school to photograph the track or soccer girls but it was too cold out. Then I remembered the day when Deb and I went to Lake Katherine. There was an assortment of fowl swimming around in the lake. Quick- take a picture before they fly or swim away! So this is about as motion filled as I could find.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Sunday's Assignment
From what I can figure out by looking at the examples, a low key photograph seems to include something black and lighting from the side. So to get that effect, I headed for my darkroom. Darkroom, you might ask? I realize I have now become my father, although I don't know if he started his journey in the bathroom. Looking for the darkest room in the house so that I wouldn't have to wait until nighttime, I headed for the bathroom. Found some black poster board and taped it to the bathroom door. Luckily, I had a small lamp that I could bring in with me. Now, this bathroom is pretty small to begin with. So it's me, my tripod, the lamp, camera and cup. In addition to those items, I found some empty boxes to place the cup on. Sitting on the toilet (which I am pretty sure my dad didn't do or have to do) I aimed the lamp for the side of the cup and clicked the shutter. Using P, I turned the dial as far to the right as possible- would you say this is too underexposed? When I looked at the photo in photoshop the outline of the cup was a little more pronounced. Here it seems almost too dark. Perhaps I underexposed it too much. Don't know- I'm still learning.
As a side note, one of the photos on the dailyshoot site showed a key lying on the ground- low key, get it? Funny!
As a side note, one of the photos on the dailyshoot site showed a key lying on the ground- low key, get it? Funny!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Saturday's Assignment
Meet Maddux. Named after the former Cub's pitcher of course. We've been dog sitting for the last seven days and I can't wait for him to go back to his owners. He's not a bad dog- just an over zealous dog. I don't think he's quite 2 yet and is full of energy and somewhat untrained. By himself he's doable- with our dog it's overwhelming. He wants and needs so much attention. I dread coming home after work as I know I won't be able to sit down and relax. Play with me...feed me...walk me. He doesn't look like it but he must weigh a 100 pounds- all muscle and no fat. I can't take him for a walk as he pulls so much. I don't have the stamina nor the strength to deal with him. Our dog is a pussycat compared to him but then again Jax is so much older. I decided to take this picture as I often have my hands in his mouth- so far he hasn't taken off any of my fingers.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Friday's Assignment
Power cords and USB cords everywhere. I have cords for my camera and my iPod. There are cords for my cell phone and iPad. My laptop and e-book have cords. I am so into technology that I think they must be reproducing in the dark- there are so many. It's gotten to the point that I have to label the cords so that I can figure out what they belong to. I wish there was a way to organize these cords so that they would be at my fingertips in seconds. Wind them up and immediately they unwind themselves. Wrap a rubberband around the cord and then it's not quite accessible. If I had my way I'd invent a box with segments- where each little division would hold their own cord. Kind of like a box for ornaments I suppose. Guess it's time to look for a solution to this disorganized mess.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Thursday's Assignment
I'm all about photographing food right now. I knew that's what I wanted to focus on for this picture but not quite sure what exactly to choose. Took a run over to the grocery store after work and decided on a bag of cookies. Of course, they had to be the kind that I'd like to eat. I love Maurice Lenell cookies but our store doesn't carry them anymore. So decided to go with these Pepperidge Farm mint cookies. Do you know how difficult it is to get them to stand without falling over? I wished I had a square glass bowl that I could have propped them up in. But for whatever reason I did get them to stand all by themselves. Of course, I had to eat the few that didn't quite fit in the repeating pattern. No great loss there- they were delicious.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Wednesday's Assignment
Took this one yesterday when I was working on the picture with texture. The baby had a lot of texture type toys so I knew I'd have something to work with. Placed these items on a fairly dark table (walnut I think) but not as dark as it turned out. I tried shooting it in P but didn't quite like the final product. So then I chose one of the automatic choices- I'm thinking it was the flower selection with flash and for whatever reason it turned the background black. I like the way it turned out but I wish I had an explanation for it. I decided to use this picture for today's assignment when I saw that someone else had used a rubix cube. Figured this was as high a contrast as that one.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Tuesday's Assignment
Found a glass jar on the counter filled with dried noodles. Would that be considered a kind of texture? I'm not sure so I even went so far as to Google "egg noodles" and "texture". Lots of things popped up but I'm not sure if it was just focusing on the noodle part. I really couldn't find anything else worth photographing. Well, I did find some toys and took a picture of that. Used the flower icon on the dial and it blacked out the background. Liked the way that looked- plus it helps that the items were pretty colorful. Maybe I'll save that for another day. So I put the jar on the table and aimed down into the jar. I happen to notice later that there were some flecks of food on the glass. Maybe I should have cleaned the top of the jar before taking the picture. I used P again but I noticed that the ? keeps flashing in the lower left hand corner. When I clicked on it the message tells me to change the meter. No matter what I change it to- center weighted, spot or matrix that ? kept flashing. I don't understand what it is telling me to do. So for that reason I ignored it and did the best that I could!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Monday's Assignment
Decided to choose this rocking chair as it is somewhat memorable for me. It belong to my elderly aunt who passed away a few years ago. When I say elderly I mean she died a month shy of 98 years. This rocking chair had been in her possession for eons. She had always lived in a studio apartment so there wasn't much to dispose of once she died. It was the only thing that I decided to hang on to. I can imagine her sitting in this chair listening to her classical music. She wasn't one for television shows- often found them noisy and distracting. But she did love to listen to her dvds and classical radio stations, and once her eyesight went so did her music as she couldn't figure out the necessary dials. I always thought that perhaps this chair might be handed down to my boys when they had babies. It may not be the most comfortable chair but most babies do like to be rocked. Happily I can say that it's been around and is now sitting in Madelyn's home.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Saturday's Assignment
Waiting for the storms to hit the western suburbs tonight. I am doing several days of babysitting and luckily there are lots of new things to photograph here. For one thing, there's this cute little baby I can take pictures of. I've discovered that she often sticks her hand over the side of her highchair, waiting for the dog to pick up a morsel or to give a quick lick to her fingers. She's beginning to find humor in things and will often giggle at the dog. I know that quick lick grosses out her mother but when you've lived with dogs your entire life it's not such a big deal. I guess I should be more concerned about the germs in a dog's mouth. For some reason it's never been an issue with me. But look at those tiny fingers. Just ten months ago she was a newborn and in a month and a half she'll be one years old. My how time flies!
Friday, April 8, 2011
Friday's Assignment
So, where's my Majhong board? Where's my chess board? Where's that metal strainer? Where are these perfect items that I can use for this photo shoot? Why or why did I get rid of those items over the years? Didn't I realize that the bug to become a photographer would eventually rear its ugly head? So I ended up with this grid of Fannie May candies. It's been sitting in my cupboard (unopened) for awhile but thought I'd have this perfect grid. Not so likely. Not every mint is formed the same, much to my demise. Trying to get these misformed items to sit straight in a row was nearly impossible. So I've done the best as I could with the least that I have. Didn't have a lot of time to take this shot so I used the automatic feature. Wasn't too sure what to set the box on and now that I'm looking back at it the color seems too washed out. Hmmmmmm......
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Thursday's Assignment
Make a low contrast photograph today.
I really don't get what low contrast is. Should I have fooled around in Photoshop to change the contrast of the picture? Or is there something within the camera that I could have used for low contrast? Is it the exposure? Tried to figure it out via the dailyshoot website but there was such an assortment of photos. Should I just have gone with black and white? I get the fact that this picture has similar colors- or at least there isn't a lot of contrast. But that's because the exposure is low. Is that what makes it low contrast? Nothing on the internet helped me out with this one. Maybe if I get some comments it might give me an idea as to what I need to do or maybe I do get the idea. Doubt it!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Tuesday's Assignment
Where would a librarian be without her books? As usual, I have quite a few young adult books that have been taking up space on my bookshelf at home. I know in my heart that they should be displayed on our library shelves waiting for someone to check them out. I just feel like I am going to get to them eventually, but if they are in our school library I may never check them out again. Every time I get a new supply of books I want to take them all home- there's nothing like holding a brand new book in your hands. One that hasn't been spilled on or written in. For some reason these photo assignments seem to be repeating themselves as I am pretty sure I've already taken a picture of my pile of books. I probably have the same books sitting on my bookshelves. I tried taking pictures of other things in my house but nothing seem interesting enough. Unfortunately, this daily shoot assignment is eating up a lot of my time. I should just go back to spending a few minutes on it instead of an hour. It's already 5:00 and I haven't begun to get dinner ready. On the other hand, maybe I should just pick up one of my books and read. Hmmmmm......
Monday, April 4, 2011
Monday's Assignment
Just spent an hour trying to get the right photo with the right lens. Probably should have taken a picture of all of my lenses spread out. Too stressful which is why I probably have eyestrain now. Trying to get the right lighting with the right lens. Close up, far away, can't focus right, macro lens doesn't auto focus. Then I'm not sure if this picture fits the assignment. So I tried something else but kept coming back to this one. I guess the unusual point of view is the fact that I don't have my hand in the jar of jelly beans. I bought these for E as she was spending the weekend. She wasn't too interested in them but figured out it must have been because she wasn't feeling well. The little guy could have eaten them all- takes after this side of the family I guess. I think I ended up using the 18-55 mm although I lost track of which one I was using as I changed them so much. Thank goodness Flickr offers a way to see the camera settings!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Sunday's Assignment
Will have to find some different backgrounds soon. So far it's either black, brown or white. Guess that's what I get for having drab colors in my house. I do have purple walls in E's room- a stretch for me but it's her favorite color (besides pink). This butterfly belongs to one of her dolls. I couldn't figure out what else I had that was symmetrical and I didn't feel like walking around my subdivision. Just wish my imagination would stretch farther when it comes to the background. I'm kind of boring myself. I tried using one of my macro tube filters but still experimenting with that as it doesn't seem to lend itself well to my other lenses. It's suppose to work with the auto focus but I can't seem to get that to work yet. So I went back to the tried and true lens- the 35 mm. Can't believe how little used that lens was as I use it all of the time now. Thanks Deb for reminding me of the benefits of that particular lens!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Saturday's Assignment
Today is all about remembering Cari; a sister, daughter, wife, mother, and friend. Dearly missed each and every day. We will never forget you.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Friday's Assignment
This was kind of a difficult assignment today. I really wanted to focus on a magnet and it's attraction properties. But then dh and I bantered back and forth on what else attraction could mean. I even went so far as to fill up my bird feeder knowing that our birds would be attracted to it eventually. Unfortunately, it takes them a day or so to realize that I finally filled it up. Haven't been too good about doing that lately. I'm sure the birds have moved on to more bird friendly feeders. Even went so far as to buying a balloon figuring the static electricity would be a form of attraction. Not an easy shot to do so I reverted to my original idea. An added plus is that our garage floor is loaded with screws and bolts etc. Ended up taking this shot outside with my 35 mm lens but it was oh so cold out. Where or where is spring?
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