January 27, 28, 29, and 30! Looks like I missed a few days!!

Oh man I'm behind! Oh well, here we go!

January 27th:

 

January 28th:

January 29th:

January 30th: *technically* from last night ;) Shhhh don't tell!!

January 26th: Macro Loving!

I'm renting the 105mm from www.Rentglass.com! It just showed up today so this is the first share of photos! Here are my top 4!

 

January 25th: A Cop-out

Tonight I was skyping with my sister when I realized I didn't have a photo for today... Hence my "Make a funny face" photo here: (I'm in the corner with a camera.. that is NOT me making the monkey face :D)

January 24th: The Night shoot!

I went out to get some night shots, was disappointed with most of the, but loved this blur motion of this HUUUUGE flag!! Feast your eyes on this beauty:

January 23rd: The prairie!

My husband and I went to the gun range, then stopped by the Prairie that is on our way home. I was shooting nature and then we were leaving and I asked DH to wait so I could get some shots of a backlit palm tree, and when I was done I saw him looking like this and HAD to snap some photos!!!

January 22nd: Construction

Today my husband and I installed an attic ladder! I don't recommend trying this at home, ladies, if you can't handle being on a ladder holding up 50lb's above your head!!! I barely held them up for a minute! My arms were killing me! Anyway, this was after the first hoisting and securing:

January 21st: Outback again!

Tonight DH and I went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse, and this was the result:

I'm not TOO crazy about this picture, it just... is.... :)

January 20th: Duck Pond!

So downtown Gainesville has a really nice historic district, in the middle of which is the "Duck Pond" area. Well, there is an actual duck pond! Complete with ducks and geese! I met up with a fellow bumpie to take some photos and she helped me get the geese to move so I could get this shot!

January 19th: I'm 30 minutes late!! *gasp*

Ok, so I had my photo all ready early this afternoon and forgot to post it!!! Well here it is!! Homemade guacamole! I'm dabbling into the foods now... :)

January 18th: Getting Crafty!

So, guess what I did today!!! I was looking at this: http://shootsac.com/shootsaclensbag.aspx (which runs for $180). And from that I made this:

::3 pockets, lined with cotton padding::

January 17th: Learning the hard way...

So today's post isn't a pleasant one... I'm posting a photo that I'm really not happy with... Here's the backstory:

A friend of mine is loaning me his 50mm f/1.8 (Manual focus with my D3000). I love it to PIECES!!! However, there's a downside... I've been so obsessed with the f/1.8 that I haven't really upped the aperture. So I've been shooting with it purely at 1.8. This presents problems. This photo is the prime example.

 

I really hate the back portion of this bowl of grits. The focal point is too small. I just absolutely hate that I ruined a picture of these amazing grits. I am really upset with myself and I've definitely learned my lesson. Less obsession is more... More better!! :P 

So here's to breaking bad habits and getting over the honeymoon phase with this lens!! On to the dedicated and loyal portion of our relationship!

January 16th: Play time!

Today I had my husband help me by throwing Coby's toy towards me so that he came running at me and I could get some great motion shots!

::stop motion::

::panning motion::

Metering with Nikon D3000

Ok it's education time! Warning: This will get fairly wordy, but there's some illustrations too! This is a great tool for lesson 2 of the 2 Peas 12 week course!

Ok here's what you have to do for adjusting your shutter speed. There *might* be another way, but this is how I do it with my D3000.

 Go to the "A" mode, and pick your aperture with the dial. Then switch to the "M" mode and adjust accordingly!

If your picture for the stop-motion comes out too dark, try putting your aperture as low (3.5, etc) as it will go. Now put it back in "M".

Ok, this is the tough part to explain. When you're looking through your viewfinder at your subject, on the bottom you will see something similar to this.

Your Meter:
This means your shutter speed is too fast and the image will come out dark. 

This is the other extreme:
This means that your shutter speed is WAY too slow and your image will come out white because it will let in too much light.

This means your picture is going to be slightly more exposed.

And this is the ideal.

Ok the other factors:
Aperture. The more open your aperture (low numbers, like 3.5, 1.8, etc.), the more light will be let in quicker. So if you want to take a quick shot to stop motion, you want your aperture set low so that you can capture more light in a quick shot and stop the motion.

If you want to blur the motion, you want to set your aperture higher, and close the opening. This way you can slow your shutter speed without flooding your camera with too much light.

ISO. If you're working with a really bright outdoors setting, you want a lower aperture. This will affect how exposed the photo will be. You will increase your ISO for darker settings. Generally speaking, 400 is a good number to stick around. When indoors in slightly less well-lit areas, and 400 doesn't work, try 800.

Ok, wow now I get why afwells post are always so wordy!!! This is such a long explanation. I hope it helps you!!!!

January 15th: A lesson in ISO & Shutter Speed

Today I will go over week 2 of the 12 week course. Yesterday I took pictures of a fountain as images for stop-motion and blur-motion. Well, these fit quite nicely into the ISO/Shutter Speed lesson that I decided to look at today! It's no kitchen sink, but I like the effect a lot better!!! I know, I know, these are technically photos from yesterday, but I swear I'll take some today just to keep!! Let me know what you think! (Disclaimer: The ISO on the stop motion shot is really too high, I just forgot to turn it back down. This was one of the first shots I took at the park that had more lighting, so I forgot to put my ISO back to 400, which is a great medium for any fairly lit areas.)

 ::Stop motion::

Settings:  ISO: 800 | Zoom: 55mm | f/4.5 | SS: 1/3200sec

 

::Blur motion::

Settings:  ISO: 400 | Zoom: 50mm | f/36 | SS: 1/25sec

January 14th: Some class shots!

These are a few (slightly) edited shots that I took for my class!!

January 13th: Class and Excursions

So today in my photography we covered white balance and metering. And oh my goodness my world is so much better now that I understand metering!!!! Hooray for a smart camera!!! Here are a few (only slightly) edited photos, one from class, one showing blur motion (for class), and one showing a great depth of field (for class as well).

::teacher-approved playtime::

 

::a motion-blurred semi-truck::

::the horse that went on to stand up and pose for me::

January 12th: Cheap Tricks...

Well, today I really wanted a cute photo of Coby, so I pulled a cheap trick... I said "Daddy's here!" And he perked up!!! This is him looking at the door to the garage waiting for Daddy to walk through!!!

January 11th: Stopping off on the roadside

I have a new hobby: pulling off on the country roads by my house to take pictures! I got this beauty today!!

January 10th: My sweet Buttons!

Buttons is my best friend's Shih-tzu and she is absolutely precious! She looks like a little Ewok from Star Wars!! I played today with her and my best friend's roses that her husband gave her. Here are my edited results!

January 9th: Gun Trader Gun Show

"Wait, what? No cameras allowed?? But there weren't any signs!"

Those were the thoughts that rang through my head after I got fussed at for going to take a close-up of an awesome rack of shotguns. I swear that I looked everywhere for any sign saying anything about photography and there were NONE. Fortunately I snapped this baby well before anyone said anything! And thanks to my handy dandy friend Lightroom I was able to make it look decent!!

January 8th: Road Tripping!

So tonight we went down to Hudson, FL to a concert that brother-in-law was playing in, and this was the sunset on our way down. First is the SOOC (straight out of camera) and the second is a result of lots of playtime Lightroom!! I LOVE lightroom!!!!!! Post-processing is my new best friend!!! I admit, this one is REALLY processed, but I just wanted to see how far I could push it! I'm sure I pushed it too far in some people's minds, but I love the creative colors in it!

January 7th: Anyone hungry?

Today I had to run a LOT of errands, and while waiting for my car to be done with it's oil change I saw this beauty!!

January 6th: Late, but great!!

I forgot to upload yesterday!! But here it is! This is most DEFINITELY my favorite photo so far.

January 5th: Aperture- Winter "Foliage"

So today I tackled lesson one of the 12 week: two peas course! I decided to take things outside today, and barely got some shots before the winds started blowing and the rain came down! Fortunately we have a great porch cover and I was able to shoot while it was sprinkling (I'll take pictures of it when it's not raining). We have some great woods right behind our house, and the focal point for all of these photos is my Silverleaf Maple Tree. I used my 55-200mm for these shots.

Settings: 

• ISO-100
• Focal: 86mm

~ f/4.2 ~ Exposure- 1/13 sec ~

~ f/8 ~ Exposure- 1/5 sec ~

~ f/16 ~ Exposure- 0.77 sec ~

~ f/25 ~ Exposure- 1.6 sec ~

~ f/8 ~ Exposure- 1/4 sec ~

~ f/16 ~ Exposure- 0.77 sec ~

~ f/25 ~ Exposure- 1.6 sec ~