Coffee Time...

It's hard to believe that another month is over.  This month was filled with lots of family time, photo classes, a Scavenger Hunt, and coffee with friends.  Here's hoping for a fabulous May!

I Clicked it Up a Notch!

A typical weekend!

What a typical weekend looks like for us.  No, not the weekend that Halloween falls on but this weekend...

I love these kids.

Day or night?

I came across this article on Improve Photography and wanted to try the shot that extremely underexposes the background while exposing the person. Guess who was my model? You guessed it!!

 

 

I don’t think that it came out too badly, even if it looks like it was taken in the night and not a studio shot, and this photo was relatively easy to get. What I forgot to get was a shot that showed that we were actually in light. Not extreme daylight but evening light. I’ll try to do this again as soon as I can convince D to let me photography him again.

 

How did I do this? Simple. 

 

You want to underexpose and how you do that is to let as little light in as possible. Fast shutter speed. Small aperture. Low ISO.

 

Set your camera to Manual.

Set your ISO to the lowest possible – for me that is 100

Close down your aperture - meaning as big of a number as you can go. For this lens that was f22.

 

The last piece of the triangle is shutter speed. Remember that you want to underexpose so that the background is black but your subject is exposed. To do that you need to use your flash. Now, when using an external flash you can your set your shutter speed so fast – flash sync. For my camera that’s a flash speed of 200.

 

ISO 100, f22, with a shutter speed of 200!! And it’s that easy!

Quick Pic Thursday!!

These were taken a couple of weekends ago.  I love how he looks like he's going to charge on this one:

New lens!!

I did it. I took the plunge and brought a new lens. A very expensive lens… With Darrell’s support of course – he truly is the best and I’m one very lucky lady! 

When debating what I wanted there were a number of factors that played into my decision but something that I knew from the start was that I wanted to purchase the best that I could. Most likely meaning an L series. Why? Because I’ve purchased things in the past that weren’t the best with the intention of upgrading and in the end I ended up spending more than if I had got what I wanted from the start. Plus, lenses don’t depreciate like say, your camera body. 

I spent the weekend photographing everything I could and I’m not 100% sure what I think yet. The lens I got, 24-70mm 2.8f, is really heavy, 2.09 lbs, and doesn’t have IS. Some of my images weren’t sharp when I think they should’ve been. I’m hoping that it’s because of the weight of the lens and after I get used to it most of the photos I take with it will have no signs of camera shake.

These are some images from Dallas Road that I think turned out ok:

Painting.

We finally started something that I’ve been talking about since moving into our current house. Painting!! Our most hated of all home improvement projects. It’s not that we hate painting, it’s all the detailed work that we hate – we SUCK at it. Really suck. But we’re tired of the dark walls so it had to get done.

Owen wanted to help and Darrell managed to keep him occupied by peeling off the painters tape for us. As he sat on the foot stool the light came in from the small window and created interesting light and shadows on Owen that I had to capture. Down goes the paint brush and up comes the camera.

Someday Owen will appreciate these photos as much as I do.

Jell-O

A childhood staple and one desert that I don’t mind giving Owen.  He used to hate it but now thinks it’s FUN to eat.  Just look at that silly face…

 

We spent one day last weekend doing nothing but eating Jell-O, acting silly, and taking in some of the beautiful weather that we’re starting to get.  Summer is just around the corner and I’m so excited for it to start.  This is going to be a great summer for the Sparkes family!!

Photography scavenger hunt…yes please!!

When a Groupon for this came into my inbox a few weeks ago from Clock Tower Images I immediately knew I wanted to go.  Photography + opportunity to learn and practice + me day = I’m in. 

I went with Ashley and we had a great day!  The weather was beautiful, there were lots of photographers of all levels, and the clues were challenging.  It was fabulous!  Seriously, can you think of a better way to spend a Sunday?

This was the second annual scavenger hunt hosted by Clock Tower Images and this year the theme was Urban Fabrics.  You could register for on one of two days, we chose to go on Sunday, with all percipients from both days being eligible to win some fantastic prizes.  A Canon T2i, Queen Victoria Hotel package, wellness package, photo field trips, photography workshops, LowePro camera bag, etc.

This is how our day played out:

·         At 8:30 we arrived at the Marriott Harbour Hotel

·         9:00 Mike from Clock Tower Images held a 2 hour presentation on photography basics; IOS, aperture, shutter speed, etc.

·         From 11:00 to 11:30 Mike went over the rules of the hunt.  Basically, this was meant to be a fun day and the only real rule was that no photo editing was allowed.  This was to help ensure that everyone remained on the same playing field. 

·         Then everyone had the remainder of the day, until 4:00 pm, to capture photos that solved each of the 10 challenges.

·         At the end of the day we upload one image for each of the challenges (I got 9 out of the 10) and then, once the photos have been placed in online galleries, each precipitant votes on our favorite from each category. 

The challenges were harder than I thought.  It was all about composition and it forced me to see Downtown Victoria and photography in a way that I don’t usually view either.  When I take photos I usually (always!!) prefer to photograph people.  There’s something about photographing people that draws me in…I don’t get the same feeling or desire when asked to capture images of urban material that excludes life; a brick wall, a alley way, Zen fitness…

This uncomfortable feeling was good though as it forced me to look at things differently and try composing shots in such a way that I would never have done otherwise.  This is a great way to train your eye in seeing vs. viewing.  It’s also something that anyone can easily do anytime by themselves!

Some of my favorite images from the day are:

Sync in Lightroom

Ever wonder how to edit images that were all shot in the same session, under the same lighting conditions simultaneously?  Me too…   

This was one of the editing processes that would take the longest for me.  I'd edit one photo from a session and then, one by one, apply the same general edits to other similar photos so that they all flowed.  That was until I was wondering around on Clickin Moms blog and found a post on Syncing!!

This extraordinary little button is guaranteed to speed up my workflow!  I'm beyond excited that I found this. 

This is how it works.  Start by editing an image in a series where all the photos were shot under the same lighting conditions.  Edit one of the photos in the series until you're happy with it.  Now you can sync the processing you've done on that photo to the other photos in the series by selecting all the images you want to sync.  

To do this use the command button to select images that are next to each other or shift if they are not in order.  Once you select the photos you want to sync you'll notice that, in the Develop Module, on the bottom right, the 'previous' button changes to 'sync'.  

Click that and a dialog box will pop up.  Click Synchronize!!  

It's that easy - all the changes you've made to the first image will apply to the other photos you selected.  Lightroom will do this automatically but it's always best to make sure that Local Adjustments, Spot Removal, and Crop are not selected in the Synchronize dialog box. 

Now you can continue editing specific photos for little touch-ups but other than that you're done!  Wow, tell me this isn't the best tool!!

It took me WAY less time to edit these images yesterday using sync than it would have otherwise.

Dog beds...

Apparently Owen finds Barkleys bed comfy.  This is how I found him a few days ago watching tv.

Hoppy Easter!!

This was the first holiday that I can truly say Owen was excited for.   I mean EXCITED!!  The week before Easter we had our usual egg hunt for Owen and Kait at Saxe Point and this is where I think it clicked in for Owen.  Easter + bunny = candy!! 

Easter morning Owen asked for the bunny the moment he opened his eyes and bounced, literally bounced, down stairs putting eggs in his basked along the way.  Then, when he noticed the Woody toy he sang while doing a happy dance.  It was cute beyond words!!

These are some photos from the Saxe Point egg hunt:

Owen and Kait looking for the Eater bunny!!

What does this photo say to you?

Every once in awhile we all snap a picture that reminds us why we love photography, and this is one of those photos for me.  This IS Owen in the truest since, a sweet little boy with a completely silly side that sneaks out when you least expect it.  Not everyone will notice this but behind the just waking up, serious, still sleepy look you can see the start of a smirk.  This smirk is the beginning of small giggles to be followed by mom tickles, more giggles, and then a full out tickle fest.  Oh, how I LOVE this face.   



A System...and tubing!

I didn’t get to watch all 3 days of the Lightroom class on creativeLIVE. I actually only sat in on the first day and it was all about the Library panel. While it would have been great to learn a little about developing I’m glad that I got to see how to correctly import into Lightroom, how to add keywords, copyright, etc.

We took the kids tubing on Saturday and everyone had a blast. Owen and Kait loved it and I enjoyed a jammed packed family day. Every family should commit to a complete day where you do something that the kids will love. No errands, no shipping, no cleaning, no work. Just play!!

With the exception of Saturday I’ve spent the last couple of days importing, arranging, adding keywords, reviewing/deleting and even edited some of the over 500 photos I took this month. Holy cow, that was a lot. Totally worth it though. I now have a system! A system that will hopefully, make life easier and add some flow to how I manage our family’s photos.

It’s a good start and something that will continue to grow and evolve. Yippee for progress!!

Two of my favorite pictures from March: