Lesson 3: 12 weeks to better photos

is it all ready Monday again?? whew! that week went fast!  I have noticed that I am carrying my camera around with me a little bit more and am taking more and more pictures the more comfortable I get.  I have been shooting in M, and while challenging at times, I think I can see a difference in my pictures!!  what about you! 

so this week is all about light.  and I am super excited to have my friend tiffeny, a amazingly talented wedding photographer here to help us with today's lesson.

here is the content link, go check it out, and meet back here in a few! ready, break!! {again, thanks for the fab two peas in a bucket for sharing this awesome course}

Alrighty, my friends.. meet.tiffeny!

so, tell us a little about yourself?
About me – uh . . . I cannot spell – I am mother of three, wife to one and an only child – (booo for me)!!  I am a self-proclaimed geek.  I HATE to clean and I like to make messes – and start lots of projects that sometimes I never find the time to finish, but you probably want to know about why I am relevant to giving you advice in the photography realm.  Because it makes me sound fancy, I will start with - I have a degree in photography.  Yes – there is an actual degree in an accredited college for photography – but after reading the twelve weeks to better photos lessons I kinda feel like I got ripped off!  The lessons are really awesome.  I wish I would have known about them back in my “Elementary Photography” Days! So... I started taking pictures in 4-H and I am going to leave it at that, because I would rather talk more about the subject than me – because I am not that cool and light is – or it can be hot – but anyway . . .


what's your favorite shoot? 
 I like to shoot weddings.  I love weddings – I love brides – I love happy couples – I love people in love – I love to make images of people in love – and my most FAVORITE is to create images of people that think they are not “photogenic” and show them how wonderfully beautiful they are in my light! 

 any advice to us newbies who are just using a dslr for the first time and just want to take better pictures of our kids? families? for our blogs?

Advise for newbie’s – I think I will let you in on the biggest secret my favorite college professor told me . . . wait for it . . . shoot, shoot, shoot, and then shoot some more.  The real awesomeness of taking pictures is in light, so you wont be able to completely learn it in one lesson – especially with white balance included.  Back when I was learning the fundamentals of photography (and dinosaurs roamed the Earth),  white balance wasn’t a big issue – which would be a totally different lesson – the point is with digital images it is harder to get color correct images because you have to factor in white balance.  In film days a lab technician did all that fun stuff for you.
give us your take on the lesson: the color of light?

Shooting lots and lots of images will teach you so much, which is one way digital has an advantage over film – you can see instantly what different light or white balance has on your image.   My best suggestion would be to shoot lots.  Good photographers know light and how to use it in different ways to capture the feeling they want the image to portray.  If you learn how to read light versus what the green square tells you – you can create some really awesome images.  Green square has a great purpose but you need to know how to use it.  I believe it is super, ubber important to know the rules before you break them.  Even Helen Keller could happen onto a good image if she poked the button enough times!  The real secret to making better images is knowing how to look at light and use it to your advantage.

thanks, tiffeny for the great advice!!  so on that note, I think I will grab my camera and SHOOT.  take lots and lots of pictures.  I have some really fun little outings coming up and am thinking I may just stumble upon many photo ops!  but for today, I am sorry to say, that I offer you pictures of blue mason jars.  yes, I did my light experiment for today's lesson with blue mason jars.  but let me say, on a side note, I am stoked about these jars.  I have been looking for blue ones and I have something really awesome planned for them. so to me, blue mason jars can be exciting.

ok here is my take!!!

{all of these I shot on AV with f/stop at 3.5 and ISO at 1600... only difference is the light setting...}

subtle differences.. I think you would be able to tell a little bit better if your subject was a person, although mine does not sit still long enough, so it's blue mason jars.  play with the light setting on your camera when your indoors this week.  it's kind of fun!!

next week, flash: friend or foe? 

until next time lovelies...

what's on my heart... presley jane

she's getting big... growing so fast.

she can count to 10 {kind of}

knows her ears, eyes, mouth, nose, hair, fingers, toes, knees, and my favorite, belly button

she speaks in sentences

lover of milk

she loves to take a shower

loves to play in mommie's make up

she loves shoes

loves Dora!

she finally is getting longer hair and I can even put it in a pony-tail

loves to give kisses!

she is bossy

lover of the outdoors, and would always prefer to be outside

she just learned to cast {with help} her dora fishing pole
lover of the water and the swimming pool
she loves her daddee and mommy...

and we love you too baby!

{just stop growing so fast}

what's on your heart

my right now... kitchen.

linking up with the lovely gussy for week 2 of the inspiration workshop

this week's prompt:  kitchen

this topic comes at the right time for me...  my husband and I used to think a big house full of nice "stuff" was what would make us happy.  well, after having our daughter, we are finding that the important "stuff" is shifting a bit in our minds.  what used to be a priority, {a new couch, big screen TVs, a new king sized bed} is no longer.  instead, we are finding that a college savings, swim lessons, dance class,  and diapers are actually way more important, and actually make us happier.  a once well-kept house with nice stuff is now a lot a little bit messy and full of baby dolls and riding toys, and we are happy with that. 

with that being said, we are kicking around the idea of selling our house and moving into a older, less pricey home.  as we look around at the local real-estate, instead of thinking of this as a downgrade, I am trying to look at the full potential of each place.  "I just want a small home that's big on charm that we can make our own(!)"

this week's inspiration workshop allowed me to do some {soul} searching and justified even more that having a different house can still make for a happy home, and with all of the extra money to put where it really counts. and right now that includes giving our daughter the ability to have every opportunity she may want to have and to pay off our debt.  2 big goals, tough, yes! impossible, no!

in my search for {kitchen's}, I could not find just one picture that captured all I would want.  instead I found that searching for the {accessories} was how the charm  was incorporated.  that is how you transform a small, everyday space to your own!

so, here is my right now kitchen!!!

{source 1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  13  }

I {heart} this aqua + orange color combo, especially for a kitchen, so bright and happy!!  with inspiration like this, I can take any ordinary kitchen, {big or small, old or new} and add the handmade charm that I am looking for!!

now, onto putting my house on the market... wish me luck!

something.lovely.

I may have mentioned before?? I have a fabric addiction obsession {Hi, name is Elizabeth...} we have been patiently {or not so patiently} waiting for a lovely little package of my newest fabric selections.  I would literally jump, skip, and hop to the mailbox everyday {all 4 of them}, and when it hadn't come would walk back to my house like a lost puppy... {sad story I know}

I KNEW today would be the day.  Presley and I may have just played outside while waiting for the mail.woman to come.. and sure enough...  it did!



patiently waiting...




yay!!! to lovely fabric!!!

 so many projects to come from this stash, and I can't wait... 
let's see...

5 birthday outfits
several dresses
a birthday party
a baby shower
a bunting trial
a quilt {trial}
hair accessories
some more earrings and necklaces
hoop art...
and whatever else my little handmade mind may come up with...

oh, and these pics... all shot in {M}.. how are you all doing with your camera's?  want to join in learning your camera?  start here  I am so very, estatically, excited beyond words at the guest photog's and mommyographers lined up to guest post!!! yay...

12 weeks to better photos: Lesson 2

hello.there.

how'd you all do this week?? did you stay away from green square??  I am proud to report that I did {for the most part.}  yes, one time this week, I did shoot in green square, at a wedding reception.  {hey, it was candlelit and I could not figure it out, and I needed some sweet shots of my daughter bustin' a move}

ok, if your just stopping by for the first time this week, you can still join in on the fun, check out lesson 1 here and feel free to catch up or follow along at your own pace!! 

so, here is the content for  lesson 2.  a huge thanks to two peas in a bucket for this awesome introductory photog class... I am also super excited to say that today, my lovely friend, molly, from willow brandt photography, is here to help us out with today's lesson.

meet.molly.as.she.tells.all...
tell us a little about yourself??
let's see. i'm a mom to two littles and one on the way. met my husband on a blind date, we've been married 7 years. i moonlight as a labor and delivery nurse with miss elizabeth. when my first little was born i took lots of awful pictures, truly awful. shaky, blurry and the like. when he was almost a year old i decided i needed some photo album worthy pics and bought my first slr......and that's where my story starts. 

what inspired you to learn about photography  and what keeps you inspired??
hands down, i was inspired by my first little to want to learn about photography. from there i watched others, did lots of on-line research and took hundreds more blurry and shaky pics to get to what i know now. keeping myself inspired comes easy with my own littles, lots of friends with littles, and all that creativity on the web doesn't hurt either. what i definitely know is that photography is something i'll never stop learning about and the opportunity for growth is endless.

so...tell me, why should I shoot in {M} instead of {green square}??
shooting in {M} lets you get the most out of your camera. it allows you to tell it what to do, down to the finest details that help get those great shots. you know, the ones with the blurry background, the crisp focal point and the right exposure. your camera lets you set all of these things when you use the functions that are available to you while shooting in {M}. when you use the auto mode where your camera tells you what the picture will look like, you have no control over how that image will turn out. it might be blurry, it might be too dark or too bright, or worse yet, you'll miss a great shot waiting for that flash to warm up. it takes a little bit of work, but after you get the basics down it's well worth every minute spent, promise!
I will admit, I was a lot intimidated by this lesson.  but, after practicing for a few days, I feel a little bit better and I bet by next week will feel tons better {I hope}

I did the kitchen sink test, just like the lesson instructed me too. here's my take.

ok, so I did the pictures, now what does that mean for me??
when you look at the first picture in comparison to the last picture you can see a huge difference. the faster your shutter speed, the faster the image is taken. in the first picture, there's not much to look at. the water running off the canister is hard to see. when you look at the water running off the canister in the last picture, you can see the bubbles coming from the faucet and the bubbles on the side. much more detail. if you're feeling brave, when you're done with the lesson all together, go back and take the sink challenge again. try once on auto and once controlling all you know in {M} mode and see what you think. you'll be impressed, i'm sure!!

for the second part of the lesson, I shot in M {I feel like such a big girl, yay} and here are some of the shots I took.  {my Lilly's really bloomed over the last week.  aren't they prettyful?}

 
so, how'd I do??
you did great! the colors are bright and vibrant, and the detail is perfect.


any advice for those of us that just bought our very first SLR camera and are trying to learn to take better photos??
the best advice that i can give to anyone is to practice and play around. take a day and photograph everything. keep it in manual, and don't worry about what the end result will be. it wasn't very long ago i read through these tutorials, took lots of not so great pictures, and in that mix found a few good ones that i got excited about....and the rest is history! just play and learn. take pics of your littles, take pics of your surroundings, take pics of still things, moving things and silly stuff in-between. have lots of fun, be patient with yourself and just enjoy it. somewhere in the midst of all this, you'll have captured the small things in life that matter in the end.

alrighty, thanks to molly for guest blogging today, and good luck shooting in M this week...
we can do it!  yay!!

oh, and one more tidbit.  I have been eyeing this oven mitt tutorial for a while now, and finally had a reason to use it.  who wouldn't love this wedding gift?  what, with the pioneer woman's cookbook, some cutesie kitchen towels that I made up and coordinating oven mitt.  LOVE.. getting married soon?? you may be getting this as your gift!!

 

have a lovely week friends!!!