Angles and lighting...

Yesterday I opened Arielle's window and used some natural light to get these pics of her in her crib (the background will look better once I paint and decorate the rest of her room but it does show her cute crib and bedding - not to mention the ADORABLE BABY!!).












































































































This one was too dark but I edited it in my photo impact and even though it's more grainy - now it's not too dark.
































































This shot is dark because I turned the "auto" off and was experimenting with my camera settings - obviously I needed to adjust something and bring in more light but... I like how Arielle is slightly in the background and I try to photograph happy and... not so happy moments . My mom did this and I actually crack up at the pictures of me crying when I was little.

Point and shoot

Some shots with my point and shoot camera....

More learning...

Learning some basic things:

1. To get up close or "fill the frame".

2. Lighting - to control the light with a reflector, diffuser or flash.

3. More lighting - to be aware of the back light, shadows and such.

4. Shooting in RAW files instead of JPG.

5. To have an acceptable background.

Liked this one:

Backgrounds and textures

I am learning from studying beautiful photos (including those of children, families and maternity photo ops) - that a huge part of what makes the picture "pop" is the background and texture as well as colors in the picture. Many children/people are sitting in a chair with a neat pattern/colors and sometimes it's a plain black or white background or it's out in a field or on a porch - but in any case it's an ideal place to set a child and take a photo. Many of the baby photos are taken with baby laying on a fluffy colorful rug or blanket - making colorful textured background for the photo. I can't wait to try out these new found ideas - but for now - housework awaits.

More from Memorial Day...Outside at the park

Arielle and her Auntie




















Scott took some pictures as well of me, the kids and a flower. I got some pics of him and Nathanael chasing him (because he took his rubber ducky cow). Many of the action shots (despite higher shutter speed and plenty of light) are still blurry at least in some areas.

















Arielle wasn't too thrilled with the grass. I got a few pictures before she lost her balance and thought the fall did not hurt her on the soft grass it did scare her because she is not used to the texture and feel of it.

Memorial Day Pictures

The pictures below - I would rather have had a better background - but it was cold and overcast and the kids were in tank tops. I'll be planning a shoot for them on a nice sunny warm day soon. And I hope some of the next pics will turn out clearer when I figure out this camera! Notice the slight blurring in a few of the below pics. :(

Happy Memorial Day

A few pictures I took today for Memorial Day...

"tv" setting to change shutter speed

forget what it stands for but figured out that if I go to that setting I can then use a turn switch to adjust the shutter speed - but faster shutter speed means I need more LIGHT and even at the highest ISO setting (I think my camera only goes up to 1600) it is pretty dark inside with no flash. So I thought - no problem I'll just turn on the flash - problem is that as soon as the flash is on my camera will automatically turn back the shutter speed to 200 which is not fast enough to get a non-blurry picture. Seems I need to read more about my camera and see if I can adjust this problem.

Blur

Notice the sand in the above post pictures (Nathanael playing in the sand) was blurred :(. Here are a few more examples of "action shots" that became out-of-focus blurs. I'll be trying to figure out how to better "still" the shot... and saving for a faster lens as well as a faster and longer lens to catch things from farther away. And - yes - our backyard is a disaster - we haven't tackled the backyard yet... but at least we are starting to clear away the boxes.