Shutter speed Sunday...

Sunday January 30, 2011

Okay, so now that I've cracked open the massive manual for my camera, I decided to study up on other things as well...I've messed around with aperture and shutter speed a little bit (basically just twirling the dial and taking a picture to see what happens), but I figured my user guide could probably give me more insight on just how to use those with my camera.

It's really interesting actually. Basically, aperture and shutter speed work together along with ISO to help you change up the exposure of your picture. Shutter speed is how long the shutter is open-the longer it's open, the more light can come in, but it also means that it can cause more blur b/c unless the subject is absolutely still, having the shutter open longer will catch movement. Aperture is the size of the opening in the lens when the pic is taken....the bigger the opening, the more light, the smaller the opening, the less light gets in. So, in low light settings, either a longer shutter speed or a larger aperture would be appropriate (if you're not wanting to use a flash). Aperture also effects depth of field...but that's another can of worms we'll save for later.

Shutter speed and aperture also work together when trying to take pictures of moving objects...depending on if you want to freeze the movement or if you want to try and capture the movement (like the blur of the water in a waterfall so you can get a sense of how fast the water is moving...)

That's a simplified gist of it at least....

So, last night and this afternoon I decided to mess around with shutter speed. With the "shutter speed priority setting", I can manually change the shutter speed and the camera will adjust the aperture for me. Nice! :)

I took this picture with a slower shutter speed of 2 seconds. Kyle and T-Bone were standing in front of me when I snapped the shot, but moved before the shutter closed leaving a ghostly blur of where they had been. Pretty sweet, huh?



In these below, I was pretty much just playing around to see how different speeds effected the amt of movement captured. The first picture was taken with a faster shutter speed (1/3) and my feet were still. In the 2nd shot, I used a slower shutter speed (1 sec) and I was moving both my feet and in the 3rd, I used a shutter speed of 2.5 and was moving just my left foot.





Mya wanted in on the action too...


In the manual, there a picture taken with super slow shutter speed (30 seconds), taken at night of a road with the cars speeding past and it looks so cool b/c it captures the movement of the cars and their headlights looks like long blurs of light on the highway. My next experiment with shutter speed is going to be an attempt to replicate that type of a shot...we'll see how it turns out. I'll post my efforts afterwards.....:) Wish me luck....

Monochrome

Saturday January 29, 2011

This morning I spent a little QT with the Nikon D90 user guide while Austin was coaching a rec basketball team...and I FINALLY learned who to shoot pictures in "monochrome" (AKA black and white and sephia). The cool thing is that I can also take "monochrome" pictures in other hues....such as red or blue green or red purple or Cyanotype (it's a blueish color...which I honestly don't know is that different from "blue", but whatever...it sounds cool). I can also now take pictures in "neutral", "standard" or "vivid" setting also, which I believe has to do with the processing of the picture...for example, vivid pics are "enhanced for vivid, photoprint effect and are best for pics that emphasize primary colors" while neutral is "minimal processing for natural results" and should be used for photographs that "will later be extensively processed or retouched". Umm hum.....yeah.

So, here are the results of me playing around with my new found knowledge....:)

Cyanotype

Sephia

Black and white

Red

Green

Red-purple

(ps. Austin took this sunset picture :))

Vivid

More black and white...and Austin took this picture of the football stadium as well :)

Once upon a time...

Friday January 28, 2011

When I was little, I was obsessed with Little House on the Prairie and, later, Anne of Green Gables. I remember my mother digging the books out of boxes in our basement- copies from her childhood. They were dusty, the book jackets ripped and fraying at the corners, and they smelled musty and old. But that only made them more intriguing...I think I felt what Sebastian, in The NeverEnding Story, must have felt when he discovered the old, hard bound book with the medallion on the cover, that would inevitably change his life. I would spend hours reading about the Ingalls' adventures in the Big Woods and on the prairie. I would pretend that the field behind our house was the prairie and in the woods, I would make "log cabins" out of fallen branches and imagine I was living in the old west. In junior high, I devoured the Green Gables series and was so absorbed in them, I got my best friend, Jill, hooked as well and she became the Diana to my Anne.



I still have the old, dusty, hard bound books. I display them in baskets on my living room bookshelf like some would display family heirlooms. I imagine that one day, I will pass them on to my daughter as my mother passed them on to me. I can't help but worry though, that with all the new stories about glittering vampires and epics surrounding lightening bolt scarred wizards, that Anne and Laura's stories will seem too old...or worse "boring". I remember seeing Ethan's face when I gave him one of my favorite childhood books, The Indian in the Cupboard, for Christmas. You would have thought he'd opened socks or underwear by the "enthusiastic" expression on his face. I am sure a toy Indian just does't compare to a Lightening Thief in his eyes...I wonder if that is how my child will feel about Little House or Green Gables. I suppose I'll just have to introduce the classics to my baby in utero...before she can be exposed to more modern adventures :)

P.S. Before anyone misreads this and believes I'm actually currently incubating a baby, let me state, for the record, that I am NOT currently pregnant...just pre-planning my child's reading list based on my own wistful memories :)

Frosty Thursday

Thursday January 27, 2011

Oh so Hip..stamatic

January 25-26, 2011

Hipstamatic is part of a "retro" trend in photography, which has seen a rise in the popularity of cheap and technically obsolete analog cameras (such as Lomography and Polaroid instant cameras) (thank you Wikipedia)...and it's also an app on the iphone now! You can take pictures that look "old school"...and super cool, if you ask me. You can choose what lens you want to use, what kind of film, and what flash...it's pretty sweet! :)

Below are some pictures taken with my new Hipstamatic iphone app!

Tuesday January 25, 2011













Wednesday January 26, 2011

Sunday Monday

Sunday January 23, 2011


The snow sculpture in our neighbor's yard...I think it looks like Stitch from Lilo and Stitch (the Disney alien surfing movie...classic)

Monday January 24, 2011


One of the photo blogs I read had a challenge entitled "Within 10 Yards". The point is that regardless of where you are, there is a photo within 10 yards of you. This is my "10 inches" challenge since I went to bed Monday night without taking a picture. As my head hit the pillow I realized my error, popped up, grabbed my phone (thank God for camera phones!) and snapped this picture from our headboard. :)

The Talented Mr. Reed

January 2011

My husband is an incredibly talented novice photographer. In fact, he worked as a photographer for a camp in New Mexico one summer. When he has the camera in hand, he is always looking for a unique shot or angle...something different that sheds new perspective into the scene. I love his eye and the way he sees a photo before he takes it. When I started this blog/project, I was excited b/c I knew that he loved taking pictures as much as I did. I figured it would be "our" project. But since Austin is pretty skeptical about most things that blend private life with the cyber world (facebook, for example..he just doesn't get the concept of socializing via the web), it really became more of my thing than "ours".

So, now that Austin has been showing more interest in this blog (A: "Hey, when you put of pictures that I take, you should give me credit or something" R: "I did, didn't I? I wrote under that one picture that you had taken it and I loved it" A: "Yeah, but not the pictures from the basketball game". R: "Oh, sorry, hun. I promise to credit your work in the future") :), I thought it would be nice to show case some of his work in order to give credit where credit is due...:) And I hope that in the future, he'll be more apt to take pictures for me to post :)

Photographs taken by the talented Mr. Reed :)
(please note, in my entry from the MU basketball game, the picture of the jerseys hanging from the ceiling and of the "Old Men" were taken by Austin :))

Little Susie Homemaker...

Friday January 21 and Saturday January 22, 2011

Snow day #2...I decided that even though we weren't in school, I could still be productive. So, I decided that today was the day I was finally going to put my sewing machine to good use....I made curtains! Yay! :)

So what if the woman at the material store smirked her way through my material purchase-

How many yards do you need?

Uh...I don't know. Here's how big my windows are. What do you suggest?

(Smirking) Well, do you want them lined? Do you want them gathered or just straight?

(Me giving her a blank stare) Uh, straight? (I'm picturing having to sew some sort of pleats to make these "gatherings" that she speaks of).

So, you just want them to hang there?

(Getting the idea that that is the wrong answer) Uh...no?

So you want them gathered...?

Sure.

Her teaching me how much to cut and what width my hems should be went pretty much the same way. I'm pretty sure she was equally amused by me and worried that I was just going to hack my would be curtains to pieces.

So what if it took me 3 hours to make one set of curtains because I had to attempt to make every hem exactly straight and equal measure (an obsession I quickly gave up for the 2nd set of curtains I constructed). The point is, I did it...and it only took me 2 hours on Saturday morning to do both the curtains AND a valance for the kitchen door!

Voila! My very first project!

Principal Fat Baby

Wednesday January 19, 2011

Fat Baby visits Rock Bridge and takes over the Principal's office :)

Snow Snow Go Away!

Thursday January 20, 2011

Snow snow, go away,

I want to get out of school before Memorial Day...



As much as I love snow days...I really don't want to have any more! We have used 4 now and if we don't have another one for the rest of the school year, we'll get out of school before Memorial Day...the earliest we've EVER gotten out of school! How awesome would that be!? Of course...if we're going to be out of school, I may as well take advantage of the vacation and go play! :)





After a morning of playing in the snow, Austin taught Fat Baby how to clean up all the snow that got tracked into the house :)

Puzzling...

Tuesday January 18, 2011

My grandma loves puzzles. I remember spending hours and hours during summer and holiday visits to the farm, helping her piece together intricate landscapes or pictures of animals or some famous piece of art. I haven't put together a puzzle since the last time I did one with my grandma...which has been far too long.

Fortunately, Lisa got Austin and me a 3D puzzle of New York for Christmas (I am going to send my grandma a picture b/c she will LOVE it!)...as cool as a 3D puzzle sounds, there is nothing to actually describe how awesome it actually is (does that make me sound like a total dork??). The neatest part about the puzzle is that you put it together in layers, ending with the buildings that go in by the year that they were built...it even expands into the future! They included the memorial buildings that will go where the Twin Towers once stood...it's pretty sweet. Austin LOVED it! We spent most of the night on Monday putting together layer #1 and then finished it all up on Tuesday night...



Next on the list is a 3D puzzle of DC! :)

Well oops...

So, the picture of Dora and Matt from my January 13th "Oh Dora..." post is gone. I accidentally deleted it in Photobucket (where I do my resizing and editing) which broke the link to the pic in the post. I took the pic on my phone so I figured I could just upload it again, but apparently I deleted it from my phone also. Oops...

I guess you'll just have to imagine Dora sprawled across Matt's chest, reaching to stoke his cheek with her paw as she seemingly tries to seduce him...haha.

Big Monday B-Ball

January 17, 2011

Sights from MU vs. K-State basketball!! :)






TIGERS WIN!!! And this guy hates his life....

Pics from the weekend

January 15-16, 2011

Saturday Jan. 15

I told Kyle and Deonna that "T-Bone" seems like kind of a tough nickname for a kid who likes to wear his great-grandma's pearls...:)



Sunday Jan 16

I was in bed all warm and cuddled up with my hubby when I remembered that I hadn't taken a picture yet today! Eikes...So, I literally throw back the covers (sorry Austin) and jump out of bed.

Of course, at this point, everything is shut down for the night...all the lights are off, I don't have my contacts in, Austin's wondering why I even need to bother with it...and I don't know what in the world I think I am going to take a picture of when I can't see anything (proud of being blind as a bat w/o my glasses)....but, I get my camera from the office, turn the dial to the automatic "night/low light" setting and creep out to the living room to figure something out. I stumble around and manage to switch on the light and there's Dora just hanging out. Sweet. So, I aim and snap the shot...it's blurry. Ergh. Apparently, the low light setting is not to be used with the lights on. So, I do the logical thing. I turn the lights back off (for some reason this seemed easier than changing the camera setting), squint through the view finder to see a sea of black and press the shutter release. Bam...there on my LCD screen is a pic of Dora. As clear as day. Pretty sweet.


Top...all blurry-taken using the low light setting with the lights on...
Bottom- taken with all the lights off using the low light setting.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to intentionally use my camera instead of just clicking around in the dark with my fingers crossed....

McSunrise

January 14, 2011

Sunrise on the way to work this morning...

Oh Dora...

January 13, 2011

This semester, Austin and I have been a small group marriage/Bible study on John Eldredge's Love and War video series with our friends, the Webels. This week's topic was Sex-the core message was really about the intimacy and trust that is paramount to a healthy marriage and how a man needs to be able to share his strength with his wife and a wife needs to be able to share her beauty.

The videos always start with couples being interviewed. This week the question was simple, "Do you talk about sex?"-it was so obvious from their reactions/responses how awkward the subject really is for most people...So, half way through the video, when Megan starts laughing, I'm thinking okay..nervous/awkward laughter maybe? But, I look over and Dora is spread out on Matt's chest, rubbing against him. At one point, she's stretched out, paw up on his shoulder, gazing at his face...it was so funny. All I could think to say was, "Matt,I'm so sorry my cat is trying to make out with you!" Which of course, just led to Megan and I laughing harder-I'm pretty sure Megan was crying at one point...I am seriously impressed with the men for staying focused on the video and not derailing...


Proud of Dora for not being afraid to share her beauty....

Just Sayin'....

T-Bone loves Chapstick too...Maybe even more than I do! :)


Picture from Monday January 10, 2011

Video

Wednesday Jan 12, 2011

I finally figured out how to shoot video on my camera! Unfortunately, it was so bright it was hard to see the screen so this video is just a tad out of focus...oops! :)

Austin made up a new "game"- the Run and Jump! Basically, who needs a sled when you can just run off the top of the hill and jump into the piles of snow below?? :) So, this video is Ethan and Austin doing the run and jump.

SNOW DAYS

Tuesday January 11 and Wednesday Jan 12, 2011

One of the best things about working for a school is that you still get snow days! Which of course means getting bundled up in a zillion layers and heading out for a morning of sledding and snowball fights!! And in Austin's case, getting buried in the snow :)

Tuesday Jan 11








Wednesday January 12, 2011
On the way to my parents' house to go play with the kiddos in the snow, we drive past what used to be the "west field". It was the field at the end of our dead end road growing up...now a road runs through it, connecting Heriford to Vandiver, but there are still vacant lots waiting to be developed. One of those "lots" is actually more like a giant dirt hill which doubles as a mini mountain when it snows! As we pass it, Austin says, "Why do we always end up walking around that building behind your parents' house when there's a whole prairie up here to play in?!". I'm not sure that it's a "whole prairie", but it was definitely way more fun :)

Trekking up the big hill...


And coming back down...