Crisis averted

OK, not so much luck with the grey card yesterday. It was pretty sunny when I went to take these pictures, and maybe that was why. But several were blown way out. Need to remember the Sunny 16 rule and try it next time. Lots of blur, probably because the focus went on the hat. Need to work on that. But here are my fave three. I know the details are a bit blown on the B&W and sepia, but it's all about the eyes for me. HCC appreciated!!

Wendy - the hat is from Gymboree, the outlet. I'm always on the lookout for cheap hats to add interest to photos. Hope that helps!

Another grey card experiment

Both are SOOC. First with manual settings, second metering off grey card. What a huge difference! I know some people like the darker images but I want creamy skin. That is what I appreciate in a photo. I hate "muddy" photos. I think I'm onto something!

I THINK I GET IT!

OK, tried out the metering with the grey card from Kelby's book using the midtone grey. Problem #1 . . . I can't focus (auto focus) on the card. So I set to manual focus to get as close as possible. Set the camera. Then had her put down card and shoot.Is this correct?

Both pics are SOOC. First without grey, second with. What do you think?

On my monitor I see a big difference. But looking at my pics on another monitor last night, the colors were off. So perhaps my monitor is wacky? But they print the same as on my monitor, so I thought that meant the monitor is OK. Is that true?

Strange Fruit

This is a group from Australia, and they are so cool! Here is a website that describes what they do. Basically they are up on poles, and performing to music. Two nights ago we drove by the Center for the Arts and they were in the air. It was an eery sight!

Here are some of my pics. I did have a polarizing filter because it was so bright.

Another Example of DARK

Granted, I was shooting in shade. With a polarizing filter because I was taking sky pics, which I will post tomorrow. But here is another example of DARKNESS. I'm enlisting the power of the Peas, and I know I'll figure this out! (She says, hopefully!) I changed the exposure, then applied an Itty Bitty Action. Also corrected a blue tint from the shade.

A few more from yesterday

Here are a few more faves from last night. Ran some actions on them. Still playing. Still learning. Hate this lens. Hate it!

One thing I'm noticing is how DARK my photos are out of my camera. How do you fix this? Look below at my last three posts. I am experimenting with actions, and posted examples of my originals, SOOC. Any suggestions?

Camera MALFUNCTION

I am SO MAD. I took Jenna and Em to Dow Gardens tonight, and there were these performers outside of the Center for the Arts that were AMAZING. They were on these tall polls, and weaved to and fro, totally defying gravity. I think I got some great shots. Then I came home, went to upload them, and I got errors for a bunch of pictures. To the point where Adobe Bridge shut down every time I tried to view one of them. ARGH! Maybe it was a problem with my card? I didn't choose to delete after upload, so maybe I can salvage them somehow.

I did get 115 (of the 190) photos to load. Here is one I rescued with Itty Bitty Actions. Here are the before and after. What do you think?

Edited to add: The first had too much green/yellow. How is the last one?

Another Itty Bitty Example

Another example of the new actions. I'm practicing this series so I see what it can do. Then I'll move onto another one. I spent the money, now I'm going to use them!

Itty Bitty Actions

OK. When I get bored, I spend money. I admit it. It's a sickness, really. And one of the things I am addicted to at this moment is actions for Photoshop. So I broke down and bought these from Itty Bitty Actions. What I know about actions? You cannot save a good shot with actions. If it was poorly exposed, actions won't help so much. So my quest to understand exposure continues. For now, I'm playing with the actions, seeing what I can do.

This is Jenna at the zoo. She looks like an angel, no?

We went to the zoo last weekend, since we have season passes. It's a small zoo, but Jenna loves it every time we go. Here are a few pics from the trip.