Location, location, location.

Today I was on a mission. I was scouting out areas where I could take pictures where the light was usually consistently good. I would like a place that I can just run out and take pictures and know that the lighting is going to be nice. Here is a sampling of some demo shots. I haven't adjusted for color, brightness or anything like that, I just wanted to see how different areas photographed within the same camera settings. Today was a partly cloudy, mostly overcast day. Not bad shooting conditions, but here in TN it's mostly what I get day in and day out!

The porch on the outside of our garage and potting shed is nice. I could paint the whole area white so I'd have nice bright white bouncing all around.

Trouble here is that there is a big shrub right in front of the place!




Same spot, just from a different angle. Trouble again is that I'd have to keep the potting shed picked up. Not happening any time soon I'm afraid.



Out on the lawn is nice, but the shade is sporadic and inconsistant.





I thought for sure that the inside of the garage would be perfect. Actually it was a little dark.





Here I moved Amanda away from the door and more into the center. It may have worked out better had she been facing toward the light.




I think this area has potential too, this is the stair well in our garage that goes up to the garage attic. I like this window and the baluster. The stair well is narrow too, so it's easy to get everything in. It would need some paint on the stairs.

Then we head back outside. Here Amanda is leaning on the frame of the garage door opening. This area is shaded all the time except early morning. There is a gravel drive, so the white gravel reflects a nice true spectrum of light.

Same area, only this garage door is closed.

Then we head over to the stacked stone chimney. This is north facing and is in the shade 100% of the time. Once again, light is reflected from the gravel driveway.

And in conclusion....

I finally learned how to use the remote for my camera!

W00T!

Birding

Well, so lately I've been hearing the birds singing and having a great time outside, that I decided that maybe it would be fun to go photograph a few of them. I mean how fun would that be? Stalking little birds and practicing my telephoto photograph taking techniques?

Well it was the most boring thing EVER! OK, I thought fishing could get boring, but not as boring as waiting for some little bird to decide to come over and get near enough that I could even SEE it to take it's picture.

So, not being the most patient person, I just started taking pictures of things to occupy myself until I did see a bird.

I found these LadyBugs on the climbing rose by the front porch. Can I just say that I'm SO over the cuteness of LadyBugs now? They will be cute again to me when I see them munching on aphids.

Things turning to rust are always fun to photograph....and readily available.

This pine tree in our front yard makes me laugh. About 30 feet up you'll find this. I think it looks like an alien thing. It's also like one of those trick pictures where you have to decide if you see an old woman or a beautiful young girl. Or like 2 faces looking toward each other, or a vase. Because this alien looks could be looking right at you with a snail eye thing, or looking toward the left with a big ear sticking out like Shrek.

More riding toys on our front porch.

Hey look birds! It's a house! By our front door! Let me take your picture!

Oh wait, here comes a bird. A sparrow. Kinda boring.

A bluebird! Spring IS arriving!

Another bird. He looks hungry.

And so do these guys.

Guess I shouldn't have such high expectations that birds will land close enough to photograph with these guys watching.

How Fun!

Look, it's my first Photography showing!

Not really. It's just this fun little website that puts your pictures in their own frame things!

http://www.dumpr.net/museumr.php

Fun way t0 waste a rainy Saturday afternoon though!

Behind the Scenes

For Amanda's portraits I didn't use any lighting other than the sun.
The pictures with the black background I took while Amanda stood in my front doorway. I used a piece of black fleece as the background letting it spill out over the front stoop. Next time I do one of these shoots I will put a white sheet or something in front of the door as I have a sisal rug there now and it reflected a subtle tan tone onto everything.

Here is a sample of what many of the pictures looked like right out of the camera.




In order to crop the picture clean with just the black background, I used the clone tool brush in my Paint Shop Pro photo editing software to extend the black back ground area.



Then I was able to crop the photo to an 8" X 10" size with plenty of dark area in the margins.



Isn't digital photography amazing??

The Birthday Girl

We had occasion for a pink birthday cake this week.




Amanda turned 5!




Her birthday party consisted of 8 boys....her 4 brothers and their friends from the neighborhood.

Although we have celebrated a few of her birthdays with enough snow on the ground to sled in, this year it was warm enough for her to put on a princess dress and let me take some pictures.

She insisted on wearing her red boots. At first I said no, but figured that it was her birthday pictures and if she wanted red boots, then so be it.

Which resulted in my favorite picture of the group!

A Look Back At The Old Days

Gee, I'm so old...because now I'm part of the generation who remembers the rotary phone!

As he says, we're in an amazing time in history, but still no one is happy.

Sugar On Top

We made it through February with out a scratch!

Our first February here in Tennessee in 2007, our house caught fire. The next February, 2008, would bring a tornado our front door. So this year we held our breath for the surprises that this February would bring. It was a quiet month for us.

Then at midnight, the closing of February, it started snowing. It was like God telling us, "Your faith has brought you through and to mark the occasion, I'm sending you the sugar on the top."



There is nothing more beautiful than the sun shine on fresh snow.



Or the way the snow transforms things from the ordinary to the extraordinary...




....some things we need to put away for a while....



....but the once so familiar place we know becomes new to us and we want to explore it again.




Much like the way God's love feels to our souls.



So for now it looks like blue skies!



P.S. Counting my blessings that it isn't Leap Year!