POTD #25

Another old one. The smoky effect in the lower left corner is a reflection of the clouds. Cool or distracting? The jury is out. ISO of 100, 1/125 at f/5.6.

POTD #24

Here is an old favorite of my niece, Hayley. 1/250 at f/5.6, at ISO of 800. Why do I set the ISO so high all the time?

POTD #23

Another old one. Used the Orton technique again. Love the reflection, especially the orange in the water. 1/200 at f/7.1, 800 ISO.

POTD #22

Here is another old one at a local Nature Center. Looks like fun, no? ISO of 400, 1/400 at f/5.6.

POTD #21

Another old one (obviously, since I'm in Michigan), and I did absolutely NO altering in photoshop on this picture. And that, my friends, I am proud of. ISO of 100 (wow, I really got that right!), 1/500 at f/5.6

POTD #20

This is an old photo and I tried the Orton technique again/ Too busy last week to do any good pics, so I'm hunting down some oldies. When I took this picture I was disappointed because Jenna was so dark. Probably because of the light in the background. But love how the tulips turned out! ISO of 800 (no idea why I had it that high) 1/250 at f/8.

POTD #19

Totally cheating, but loved this picture of the elephants from today. Same specs as the other circus shot. (Clown.)

POTD #18

Crazy busy lately. But here's one I got today at the circus. We had great seats, but I'm really happy with the quality of this photo given how far away I was without flash. Used my Tamron 50-300, and shot in Program mode, 1/200 at F/5.6.

POTD #17

Little Miss High Maintenance. With MY IPod, her sunglasses, her cell phone, and purse was acting up a storm last night. Makes me worry about the teen years, if you know what I mean. Hate the color cast on the photo. ISO of 800, f 5/6, 1/10 s.

POTD #16

Here's my little cowgirl. Taken in manual, ISO of 400, f/5.6, 1/100 s.

POTD #15

Well, we got a snow day today, and my girl has already been outside playing. Took this photo this morning. And with all of the snow, I kept getting streaks in the pictures. FRUSTRATING. Also, they were very dark and grainy again.

Settings: Manual, Tamron 55-300, ISO 200, f/22, 1/50 s.

POTD #14

Well, this is not a new photo, but I just learned a new conversion for Elements, and have been playing with it all morning. See the thread that explains The Orton Technique.

I shot this photo in the fall at a local nature center. I may have overdone the technique, but I love the look! I'll learn it, eventually!

I think it qualifies as a photography technique! How about you?

POTD #13

My sister gave my dd a vase of tulips today, so I had to snap a pic. Kit lens, 1/5 sec, ISO 100, f/10. Did not use a tripod, so image has noise. HATE THAT. I did alter it a bit in Elements to make the colors pop.

POTD #12

Here is a pic of my guy, out for a shoot. He is a competitive shooter, and is on a pistol league as well as a blackpowder league, where they dress in period and shoot. Yesterday was his first match, and he won first place! I desaturated the photo in Elements. Wish I had an action that would give it more of an old-time feel!

Shot in manual, no flash, under flourescent lights. 1600 ISO, f/5.6, 1/40 sec.

POTD #11

Here is another photo that I am just getting around to uploading. I will be caught up. I am taking pictures, but the whole getting them on the computer is taking me a while.

Too much shadow on her right side. Used levels to try to bring that up a bit. Kit lens, ISO 400, shot in manual, 1/15 at f/5.6. CC appreciated.

POTD #10

So here is another picture I took last week and am just getting around to uploading. It's my girl and my other furbaby. I was laying on the ground to take it. No altering, and hate the bright light on the left side of the photo where it bounced off the kitty's fur.

Kit lens, shot in manual, no flash. 1/8 s at f 4.5, ISO 1600. Help with fixing photo would be appreciated!

POTD #9

Another picture of kitty #2. I need to get a pic of the other one before she gets jealous! Laid on the floor, and set the camera down. Then composed the shot. Manual, 1600 ISO, 1/6 s at f/5.6.

Went to my first photography class. Nothing new, yet. But still, it's action toward learning this camera. Best piece of advice I got was to get a rider on my homeowner's insurance for my equipment. Low cost, low deductible. So that's next!

POTD #8

I had one of those weeks. One where there isn't enough time to do anything. But here is one photo I took this week at Jen's dance class. Shooting in manual. All are blurry. Have I mentioned how badly I want a focused picture? Manual, 1600 ISO, 1/30 at f/4.5. Tamron 75-300 lens.

POTD #7

When my dd plays, she arranges her toys just so on the table. I snapped a photo of these miniature horses she is so crazy about, and like the effect. I was lazy and shot in auto to get a read for the best settings in manual. It was using my Tamron lens, at 1/60 s at f/5. ISO of 400.

I start my photography class tomorrow!!!!! Yipee!!!!

POTD #6

Here is one of my furbabies. She was peeking between the wall and the stairway. I used my Tamron 75-300, shooting in manual. ISO of 1600, and exposure 1/20 at f/4.5. Focal length of 136 mm.

I did have to perform a levels adjustment to cut some of the yellow-cast from not using a flash.

Gentle constructive criticism appreciated. I'm in the learning phase, and I'm not ready for too much honesty! LOL!

POTD #5

OK, here is the photo du jour. I took this photo of my oldest dd and her friends for a project they decided to undertake. They are all sophomores in college, and home for break. They wanted a serious, dramatic photo, with none of them smiling. I took it in my living room, and no matter how high the ISO, how fast the shutter speed, or how wide open the aperature, I HAD to use flash to keep them all in focus. I don't have a tripod, or that may have worked. Anyhoo, here is the shot.

Then my daughter photoshoped the image into a "pop art" type of image in black and white. Next, they printed it out, and made a tote with their image on the front. They used the black parts of the image as a mask, and painted the rest white. The idea was not an original, it was from a book on making cool purses. I thought it turned out so cool!!!

POTD #4

Here is one NOT of a person. Imagine that! ;) I spent some time messing around with the ISO - Shutter - Aperature stuff. I think I have a basic (and I mean seriously BASIC) idea of this trio. Where I run into major problems is when I am shooting a living, moving object. But dangit, I will learn this!

This pic is from a mini tree that belongs to my oldest DD, that I suspect will be up until sometime this summer. She's a college student. I used my 50 mm f/1.8 lens, shooting in manual. ISO was 400, and exposure was 1/5 s at f/4. Absolutely no photo editing.

A very special thank you to Amanda who is trying to help me out with my issues. (Good luck, Amanda! LOL!)

POTD #3

What a shocker, another soft picture.

Thanks everyone for all of the advice. Let me summarize what I've heard. I am having two major issues. One, the pics I take are NOT sharp. Not at all. Two, the images are MUCH darker on the computer than they appear on the LCD. Possible reasons include maybe I'm pulling the camera away too soon (focus). (VERY possible because I get anxious to see the result on screen, and I'm MONDO frustrated right now.) ISO is too high, so I'm shooting lower now. Too slow of a shutter speed. (When I tried for 1/250, the images were DARK.) I should set the camera to underexpose the image, or turn down the brightness of the LCD. And it makes sense to me to try one of these things, then experiment, rather than all of them at one. What do you think first. Adjusting the exposure on the camera? Or the brightness of the LCD? I'm so lost.

Camera specs - Manual, using 1.8 50 mm fixed lens. ISO of 400, shutter speed of 1/25. When I went any higher, it got DARK. What up with that?

POTD #2

Here is another one. AGAIN with the "soft" effect when I'm going for SHARP. I cannot for the life of me tell what the heck I'm doing wrong. And again, the exposures that look right on the screen are dark when I load them to the camera. I'm going to check the manual and figure out how to tell the camera to overexpose one setting, like Sherry suggested.

Also, called the photo store and signed up for a class. I'm just too frustrated.

Here's my pic du jour. Had my Tamron 75-300 lens. Shooting in manual. Exposure 1/80, ISO 200, f/5.0.

I'll get this. Eventually!

January 1 POTD

OK. So here are my issues with photography. I don't know enough about shooting in manual. I don't know all of the photography jargon. I oftentimes deal with fuzzy, unfocused pictures. The pictures I take look properly lighted on the camera, but when I load them onto the computer, they are dark. Therefore when I got to edit them they are grainy. And I set the camera on 1600 ISO way too often, to get the proper focus. In short, I suck. But I will get better. That's what this blog/challenge is for. A place for me to get my photographic act together. Wish me luck!

I photograph people. Period. I'm sure I'll try some things with this challenge, but people are my main focus.

Played with the camera today. Jen decided to play dress-up. What a high maintenance gal! Then we played outside. Here are my two favorites (and I can post two if I want to, right?)

The first is using a 50mm f1.8 lens (and I have no idea if I'm giving that stat in the correct order. I'm that dumb). Shooting in manual, next to an open window, overcast day. ISO 800, 1/250 exposure. WHat I like? The focus on her eyes, everything else fading away. What I don't like? Color cast (seems yellow), and sharpness of focal point. I assume I am not supposed to Photoshop (and I use Elements 4.0) so this is it.

Second photo is outdoors. Same overcast day. I used a kit lens (DRebel). Shooting in manual, ISO of 800, exposure 1/50, focal length of 55 mm, f/5.6. And BTW, I'm getting all of this info from Photoshop.