Skywatch Friday ~ Sunrise

Today I'm sharing my favorite shots of this beautiful sunrise. I think I'm getting better at using manual mode....it's been fun practicing! ***(click on picture to enlarge) I love the bird flying over the cloud!

Canon Rebel XSi, Focal length 250.0 mm, Manual mode, Aperture f/22 + Shutter speed 1/500 + ISO 200

Aperture f/22, + Shutter sp 1/800 + ISO 200

Aperture f/22 + Shutter sp 1/3200 + ISO 200

Aperture f/22 + Shutter sp 1/4000 + ISO 100

Please hop on over to SkyWatch Friday and take a look at more beautiful skies all over the world.

More Sunrise Pics!

These are just some more of my favorites! Oh and by the way, I forgot to mention in my previous post that these pics are straight out of the camera and have not been edited in photo shop.

Aperture f/22 + Shutter speed 1/200 + ISO 100 I love this shot!

I know I already posted a pic similar to this one, but I think the composition in this one is a little better. There were 2 jets that ruined a couple of my pictures that morning. (click picture to enlarge)

Sunrise Sneak Preview!

This is just a sneak preview of some of the sunrise pics I took Nov. 14th. I really didn't want to post them until this Friday for SkyWatch friday, but I just couldn't stand it, so I decided to post some now. Don't worry, I saved the best ones for SWF, so sorry you have to wait to see them!

***click on the pictures to enlarge!

I love how this jet ruined my picture! (click on picture to enlarge)

Worship and Praise Sunday ~ One Life To Love

***(don't forget to pause my music player in the right sidebar, before playing the video)

Today I'm sharing One Life To Love by 33 Miles!

This isn't exactly a worship song, but it's one of my favorites and it has a strong message that I think all of us need to be reminded of. "You only get just one time around, You only get one shot at this, Once chance to find out, The one thing that you don't wanna miss!" I always get choked up when I listen to this song because of the man who is dying and the woman who leaves her children.....it just breaks my heart. We only get "One ride, One try, One life.....to LOVE!"

Please hop on over to my friend Brittany's blog at SweetNothings, where she is hosting Worship and Praise Sunday and you can listen to more great songs. There you will also find instructions, if you would like to link up, to add your song/video.

If you would like to listen to all of the Worship and Praise videos I have shared thus far......scroll down to LABELS in my right sidebar and simply click on Worship and Praise Sunday or just click here.

Skywatch Friday ~ A Drive On The Beach!

I've wanted to join SkyWatch Friday for some time now and I decided that today is the day! I'm not exactly sure if I'm supposed to post more than one picture or not, so please someone correct me, if I should only post one.

My husband and I took a drive on the beach recently and it was so beautiful that I just had to stop and take some pictures. The sky was lovely and the clouds were so cool in the last photo.

Please hop on over to SkyWatch Friday and take a look at beautiful skies all over the world.

Jumpin' Grasshoppers!

We had hundreds of these grasshoppers jumpin' all over our yard this past summer, so of course you know, I just had to get some pics of them!
Love those little "bug eyes!"
They're fast little creatures, so it was a challenge to get some good shots. Unfortunately, they're just not into photo shoots!
But the biggest problem was this here "Camouflage Kitty" hiding out in the weeds. Do you see her? She looks like a sweet kitty doesn't she? HA! I think those poor little grasshoppers felt like they were in a Godzilla movie or something. Here they were....minding their own business.....and then.....Giant Godzilla Kitty would pounce on them and have them for lunch! Made it very difficult to take pictures....just as I would point my camera toward one, she would jump on it. I tell you, I felt like an accomplice to murder. It was so sad! *sniffle* Just so you know, I tried to fight off Godzilla Kitty the best I could and I saved many of their little lives. Hooray! Godzilla Kitty has been conquered!!!

Worship and Praise Sunday ~ I'd Need A Savior

***(don't forget to pause my music player in the right sidebar, before playing the video)

Today I am sharing I'd Need A Savior by Among the Thirsty!

I hope that you will listen to this song all the way through because it is awesome! I will be singing it in church in the morning for the first time and I'm excited! However I do have a bit of a sore throat and feel as if I'm getting sick, so I'm just praying that my voice will hold out, until after I'm finished singing because I don't want anything to hinder the message of the song.

Please hop on over to my friend Brittany's blog at SweetNothings, where she is hosting Worship and Praise Sunday and you can listen to more great songs. There you will also find instructions, if you would like to link up, to add your song/video.

If you would like to listen to all of the Worship and Praise videos I have shared thus far......scroll down to LABELS in my right sidebar and simply click on Worship and Praise Sunday.

Stump Plant

Manual mode
Aperture 2.8
Shutter Speed 1/320
ISO 800
Focal Length 50.0 mm
Canon Rebel XSi

This was taken at 5:31 pm in a shaded area, so I had to choose an open aperture, plus increase the ISO to let in enough light in order to get the correct exposure. This little plant growing out of the old stump caught my eye!

At Sunset!

This is one of my favorite pictures....I just love it! Andy and I were driving home and decided to stop at one of my favorite little spots, so I could take some pictures. It was so peaceful and relaxing. I'm finally remembering to bring my camera along most of the time now.
Manual mode, f/22, shutter speed 1/12, ISO 200
Do you see that weird little glare in the clouds? I asked my teacher about it and this was her reply... It's sunflare. That is when light come directly into your camera...it happens a lot with sunsets and sunrises because your are pointing your camera to the sun. It's a reflection of light on the glass in your lens.

If you use a lens hood, or even hold your hand slightly above the camera in the direction of the light you can block it.

Everything else in the image looks great! Do you have elements or photoshop? You can clone it out!
Manual mode, f/22 + 1/100 + ISO 400
The clouds were so cool!
Manual mode, f/22 + 1/12 + ISO 200
I love the clouds in this picture also and the sun setting behind the clouds was gorgeous! One thing I should mention to those of you who are learning as I am.....I should have had a shutter speed of at least 1/60 to prevent camera shake, since I was hand holding. I was sitting indian style and propping my elbows on my knees to keep my camera steady and I just got lucky. It's best to use a tripod if you're going to use a shutter speed less than 1/60. What I should have done was increased my ISO to 400, so I could have increased my shutter speed like I did in the photo above this one. Another note: If you increase your ISO that lets more light in and your picture will be lighter, so you will need to underexpose a bit to get it true to color and not lose those beautiful colors of the sunset. When you are metering....just play around with the exposure and try -1 or somewhere between -1 and -2 and you will see what I mean.

Lesson 6 : Composition ~ Hannah!

Lesson 6: Composition

Canon Rebel XSi, Focal Length 50.0 mm, Manual mode, f/4.0, Shutter Speed 1/320, ISO 400, Composition- Leading Lines.
The leading lines of the Pigeon steps lead you directly to my subject, while the line of the cement wall also creates a straight line to my subject. (I think I could have tilted my camera a little more.) I also tried to place her eye line across the top third line of the photograph!

*** Here are mine and my teacher's comments...
deje34 [Oct 19, 2009 at 03:47 AM]
This wasn't the best time of day to take this photo (4:00 PM), while the sun was still out, but I waited several days for a break from the rain and was lucky enough to get an hour where the sun came out. By the time I picked up my friend's daughter I had about 20 minutes to get some shots of her. This was a shady spot, but I'm not happy with how bright the right side of her face is. When I tried lowering the ISO, it created shadow on the left side of her face.....what could I have done about this?

candice*stringham [Nov 03, 2009 at 11:42 PM]
Debra- I think the lighting on her face is wonderful. She has great catchlights in her eyes, and the shadows fall softly on the right side. I don't think the left side is too bright at all- the shadows add depth so that she doesn't end up looking like a cardboard cutout. The overall composition shows a great use of leading lines, from the curving wall on the left to the tracks on the right. Very nice portrait.

deje34 [Nov 04, 2009 at 07:08 AM]
Candice thank you again for your comment! I'm still learning what a good portrait is supposed to look like and what lighting is good or bad. I still have a lot more to learn, but I'm getting there. I'm so glad that I got the composition right and I'm glad I captured a good portrait. Yay!!!

Lesson 5 ~ Owen Hillard....isn't he a cutie pie?

Lesson 5: Indoor Lighting

Canon Rebel XSi, Manual, Aperture 1.8, Shutter Speed 1/50, ISO 400, AWB, Focal Length 50.0 mm
(I'm finally getting this picture uploaded....I had to swipe it off of the class gallery because my computer died with all of my pictures on it. I hated having to do it this way because every time you save a picture, you lose some of the quality, but I didn't have a choice and it still looks pretty good.)
***Here are mine and my teacher's comments:
deje34
Ok, well this isn't as sharp as I wanted it to be...for some reason now I'm thinking I remember someone saying to use f 5.6 for portraits, but not sure. I had trouble holding the camera still, so most of the shots were a little blurry. I took this at church this morning and had to use Auto White Balance because Tungsten turned the photo blue.

Candice, as you can see by my settings, I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to taking portraits, hence why I will be taking your portrait class! I locked the focal point on his right eye and I'm very disappointed that his whole face wasn't more in focus. What was I thinkin' choosing f/1.8? Ugh! Should I have chosen f/2.8 or even 4.0 ? I tend to choose a low aperture because I love the look of a blurred background, plus I wanted to let in more light, so I could lower the ISO for this photo. I do LOVE how I'm drawn right to his gorgeous eyes though! Is it ever ok to choose f/1.8 for closeups and is this pic still good?

candice*stringham [Oct 25, 2009 at 08:59 PM]
You are definitely on the right track Debra! You have beautiful catchlights in his eyes which adds "sparkle" to this photo. The settings you used are fine for portraits, but this also depends on what you are trying to accomplish. When you focus on an area you have a certain amount in front of and behind that point, known as the focal plane. The focal plane runs from side to side, so anything in that same plane will be in focus. When you use an open aperture, the depth of field (the area in front and behind the focal plane) is VERY small, sometimes less than an inch.

It looks like the sharpest area is on his sleeve and his eyes are slightly behind this area of focus. With the open aperture the depth of field is very small so the eyes are a tad less sharp than the sleeve. Notice how his forearm and ears are blurred- this is because they are either too far in front or behind that focal plane. When you use a more narrow aperture such as 4.0-5.6 you have a greater depth of field, meaning you have more room in front and in back of the focal plane. Next time try increasing the ISO indoors so that you can increase the exposure some without sacrificing the shutter speed, but remember you will need to use an open aperture since there is not much light in most rooms.

deje34
Candice, thank you for answering my question and continuing to teach me! I love that you explain things in a way that I totally understand and I GET IT! Thank you so much, for taking the time to help me!

Free Jessica Sprague Class! YAY!

***(Click to enlarge!)
If you have Photoshop or Elements 7......I would highly recommend signing up for this free class. I will be signing up for it, even though my computer isn't fixed yet. Jessica's classes are usually self paced, and once you register you will have the lessons and videos forever, so if you're too busy at the moment you can still do the projects. Registration begins November 2nd, so Check it out....you won't be sorry! JessicaSprague.com

MIA because my computer died!

Just thought I should mention why I have been MIA lately....it's because my computer died. Still don't know if it can be fixed yet! I'm just hoping that I haven't lost all of my pictures. Somehow I had a feeling this was going to happen and I even mentioned to my husband, that I needed to back up my photos, but just didn't get it done in time. *sob sob* Ok, I'm not really crying....well at least not yet! Now if I lose all of my pictures....trust me I will be crying for real!!!

Hopefully, my computer will be fixed soon and I will be online and uploading pics to my blog again. This is driving me crazy!

Until then...

What Do You See?

AV mode, f/5.6, Shutter Speed 1/25, ISO 200, Focal Length 250.0 mm

When you look at this photo, what do you see? I see an Olympic Swimmer getting ready to push off the wall and begin a race! Seriously, doesn't that look like a stick figure to you? This is a cool tree that I look at, every time I'm in my hot tub. The top was destroyed by hurricane winds a couple of years ago and I'm impressed that it's still standing, since about 50 other trees around it were either snapped off at the trunk or uprooted. While I was squatting down and zooming in on it from my back deck last night, the wind was blowing so hard I thought I was going to fall over. We are having a bit of stormy weather for sure!

Yesterday morning while I was in the hot tub doing my exercises, the wind dragged two of my lounge chairs across the deck and literally picked another chair up and tossed it in the yard and then picked up my terry cloth robe off a chair and tossed it into the hot tub with me. I love being in the hot tub when it's stormy out like that...it was quite fun!

I submitted this photo, into my class gallery, as one of my creative assignments!

Sunrise ~ October 11, 2009

Manual mode, f/22, shutter sp 0.5 sec, ISO 400, Focal Length 70.0 mm

f/22, shutter sp 0.3 sec, ISO 400, Focal Length 55.0 mm

f/22, shutter sp 0.3 sec, ISO 400, Focal Length 55.0 mm

I was running late Sunday morning, but couldn't help myself and just had to take some pics of the sunrise....the sky was so beautiful. I didn't have time to grab my tripod, so these aren't as sharp as they could have been, but I still think they turned out pretty good for my first attempt at getting a sunrise on manual mode. I had to underexpose when I metered to get the sky true to color.

Moon Practice!

Last night I was determined to get a good pic of the moon on manual mode, while it had this beautiful glowing ring around it, but I just couldn't figure it out and I was so disappointed because these first two pics would have been spectacular. Can you imagine if these would have shown the detail in the moon?

I put this one on here just to show the glowy ring, even though you can't see the moon at all!

After writing in to my class forum and getting help from my teacher, I went out and practiced some more and finally, got a decent shot that shows the detail in the moon. When I zoom in on the pic I can even see the craters! Unfortunately, by this time the glowy ring was gone, plus it wasn't a full moon either, but that's ok....at least I finally figured it out. Woo hoo! Can't wait for the next harvest moon!

Here are my settings for the last picture...

Manual mode

Aperture f/11

Shutter Speed 1/40

ISO 100

(Also, when I metered, I had to underexpose to -2)

Lesson 4 : Focus ~ Ling Ling

***Click on the picture to enlarge!
Canon Rebel XSi
Manual mode
Aperture 2.8
Shutter Speed 1/30
ISO 100
Focal Length 50.0 mm

This week we are learning about focal modes and focal points....basically all about focusing! In this photo I used the right focal point and focused in on Lingling's eye. I chose an open aperture because I wanted to blur everything in the photo that was not within the focal point and I am very happy with the result. :)

***Here is the comment from my teacher...

candice*stringham
[Oct 05, 2009 at 04:03 PM]
I love the effect the open aperture has on this photo too! It looks as if we are peeking over the trunk and planning a sneak attack on her! You did a really fine job locking focus on the eye, as this can be challenging when you want your subject to sit still for a moment. The exposure is great too. Nice work!

deje34
[Oct 05, 2009 at 06:37 PM]
Thank you, Candice! I feel like I'm actually getting the hang of this and I'm lovin' it!

Lesson 3 : MANUAL ~ My Cat Cheetoh!

***You can click on the picture to enlarge!

Camera: canon rebel xsi
Focal length: 50 mm
Aperture 1.8
Shutter speed: 1/13
ISO: 100

I started with f 2.8+1/6, but I wanted more blur in the background, so I chose f 1.8+1/13. It was 7:13 p.m., after the sun had already set and it was getting dark quickly, so I needed to let in more light with the aperture I chose. I'm getting better at hand holding because it seems I never have my tripod with me when I need it, therefore I'm getting lots of practice, without it! Lol

Wow, this was a big week and my head is still spinning from everything I learned and put into practice! We were in Manual Mode.....in other words.....no more auto modes! It was a little challenging at first because there was so much to think about, but now I have a better understanding of how the Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO work together to get a correct exposure.

In this lesson I learned how to meter, how to use exposure rulers and how to read and use histograms. I can't believe it....I now know how to get the perfect exposure! I'm so excited about this because I have so many photos that are under or over exposed or have blown out spots.

I absolutely LOVE being in control of the controls on my camera! I'm learning so much and I'm learning even more, in our forum and weekly chats, where we can ask the teacher and other students questions. This class is fantastic and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in photography and learning how to use your camera!!! Here is a link to the next class I will be taking: Portrait Photography with Candice Stringham

***Here are mine and my teacher's comments...

deje34
[Sep 28, 2009 at 01:21 AM]
Candice, now I'm wondering if I should have increased my ISO, so I could have had a little faster shutter speed, to freeze motion in the event that my cat Cheetoh would have moved while I was taking the pic. I didn't have motion blur or camera shake, so is this slow shutter speed ok?

candice*stringham
[Oct 12, 2009 at 10:13 PM]
Debra! This is beautiful! Seriously lovely! The lighting, the color and the exposure are all great as well as your very majestic cat! But you were right in your comment, it would be best next time to use a higher ISO so you can get a faster shutter speed. You were so steady, and very lucky at 1/13th not to have any camra shake. I'm quite amazed! But next time just to be safe move the ISO up until you can get at least 1/6oth. Really great work on this though. It is wonderful.

deje34
[Oct 13, 2009 at 04:25 AM]
Wow! Thank you Candice! I'm so ecstatic that you like my photo and that I got the lighting and the exposure just right. Woo Hoo....I'm on cloud nine right now! I will try to remember that I need a shutter speed of at least 1/60th when using such an open aperture.

Tonight's Sunset

I was able to capture a couple of pictures of the sun setting tonight and even though, the sky wasn't orange or red, it was still beautiful to me. I love how every sunset is different! I do wish I would have used my tripod, so this first picture wouldn't have been crooked, but I can actually straighten the horizon in photoshop. I didn't follow the rule of thirds in this pic either *tisk, tisk*, but I still like it and maybe I'll just crop it later anyway.

This pic is actually my favorite and I DID follow the rule of thirds on this one. It was actually nice to just take some pics for fun and not have to focus on an assignment, which I still don't have done for this week, by the way. lol I'm hoping to get it done tomorrow though!

Lesson 2 ~ Apertures

Ok, so this weeks lesson was on Apertures and Depth of Field. I tried to come up with something creative to illustrate my assignment, in case you're wondering what's up with the marbles and the mirror, in my side yard? LOL I must say it was a bit challenging, with the wind and my cat Cheetoh putting his paws up on the mirror, to see what I was up to. Not to mention the three cars that came flying up the driveway leaving a cloud of dust floating my way, after I worked so hard, cleaning every little speck off of that mirror! *sniff, sniff* Oh well, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out anyway and I can't wait, til my instructor critiques me. I will add her comments to the bottom of my post, as soon as she gets to my photos, which will be sometime this coming week.....she has hundreds of photos to go through and critique each week!

If you're wondering......YES, the second photo is supposed to be blurry, except for the marbles that I was focusing on! Can you tell which one I was focusing on? I'll give you a hint....it's the one that is sharp and in focus! :)

Lesson 2: Apertures

Closed Aperture

Shutter Speed ~ 1/250
Aperture ~ f/22.0
ISO ~ 800
Focal Length ~ 50.0 mm

***click on the picture to enlarge!

Open Aperture

Shutter Speed ~ 1/4000
Aperture ~ f/1.8
ISO ~ 100
Focal Length ~ 50.0 mm

***Here is the comment from my teacher...

candice*stringham
[Sep 30, 2009 at 08:11 PM]
I love the use of the mirror! Coupled with the open aperture, the photo has the feel that the marbles are floating. Great job obstacles and all!

deje34
[Oct 02, 2009 at 04:08 AM]
Thank you Candice.....I look so forward to your critique, to see if I actually got it right. This assignment was a fun challenge for me and I feel like I was able to get a little creative with it, which by the way, it doesn't come natural for me to think outside the box, but I'm workin' on it! Thank you, for your comment....I am so happy right now!!!