Day 031

35mm lens, 1/200 sec., f/2.5, ISO 400, flash w/ Lightscoop

Not sure about the focus is this...

Day 030

35mm lens, 1/200 sec., f/2.5, ISO 400, flash w/ Lightscoop

Day 029

35mm lens, 1/200 sec., f/2.5, ISO 400, flash w/ Lightscoop

Monitor does not work like the iPod touch!

Day 028

35mm lens, 1/200 sec., f/2.2, ISO 400, flash w/ Lightscoop

Day 027

35mm lens, 1/200 sec., f/2, ISO 400, flash w/ Lightscoop

Super Seth to the rescue!

Day 026

35mm lens, 1/160 sec., f/2.8, ISO 800, no flash

Why don't they make maternity clothes that fit until the end of one's pregnancy?  Only 30 weeks here!!  White balance is off in the bedroom, but seems okay in the bathroom.  Hm.

Day 025

35mm lens, 1/200 sec., f/2.8, ISO 200, flash w/ Lightscoop

Definitely just a snapshot-- had to get it quick before he moved!

Day 024

35mm lens, 1/200 sec., f/2.8, ISO 200, flash w/ Lightscooop

Day 023

(35mm lens, 1/50 sec., f/2.2, ISO 200, no flash)

Day 022

The Valentine's photo shoot heart sucker, one week later.

(I should have just ripped some more foil for a better effect.  But I didn't want to waste it!)

35mm lens, 1/320 sec., f/1.8, ISO 200, no flash

(oh, and I wanted to mention that this is week 3 of 12 Weeks to Better Photos and it is on white balance.  I don't have pics to post of the challenge, but I've done it.  I've been playing a lot with white balance and using a custom WB whenever I can).

Day 021

Our dishwasher is broken so we now have to wash all our dishes by hand.  Paul is pretty good about doing it but he's been out of town a lot.  So our sink gets filled up before I begin to do them. 

35mm lens, 1/100 sec., f/4.5, ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop

Day 020

Another sleeping photo!  It was DARK in Seth's room.  It was like 10pm, but you'd never know!  Love the lightscoop.  This would have been a very different pic had I just used the on-board flash.  The composition is not great, but what do you expect when I only have one chance and it was really dark? (he was starting to stir because of the autofocus light on him).  He didn't wake up, though!

(35mm lens, 1/200 sec., f/2.5, ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop)

Day 019

So the little flash-y thing that lights up so the lens is able to auto-focus when it's not super bright was apparently bothering Seth ;)  Both pics: 35mm lens, 1/125 sec., f/2.8, ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop)

(I wish there were catchlights in those eyes).

Day 018

(35mm lens, 1/100 sec., f/2.5, ISO 400, flash with Lightscoop)
I guess he was tired after a big Martin Luther King, Jr. Day :)  I love his eyes.  LOVE!  I wish Daddy was better in focus, but that's not what I was working on here (it was Seth's eyes).

(35mm lens, 1/200 sec., f/1.8, ISO 400, flash with Lightscoop)
Christmas in a box!  We finally packed everything up :)

Day 017

We played Wii as a family today.  Seth like it... he especially liked holding the controller.  The following pics are all the same settings but have different components I like.  I wish I had a combo of all three! (35mm lens, 1/200 sec., f/2.8, ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop).  First photo: I like the lights in Seth's eyes the best.  Second photo: best facial expression (on Seth). Third photo: Best focus of both of them.  Guess I should practice more so I can get all those things in one shot!

Day 016

"Daddy, get off the computer and play with me!"

All pics: 35mm lens, 1/160 sec., f/1.8, ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop

Day 015

Valentine's Day photo shoot!

I got a lot of cute ones and a lot of bad ones.  I took over 150 shots.  Some were cute but not what I was looking for technically.  Hopefully I can get some to their full potential in PSE7 when my sister sends it to me :)  So, these have not been edited.  At the very least I will be blurring out the edge out of the glass with the background and also the few wrinkles in the background.  I plan to print one as part of our V-Day decorations :) 

(35mm lens, 1/160 sec., f/1.8, ISO 400, no flash)
I chopped his hand off in a funny spot, unfortunately.  But I love the face.  Maybe I will crop it so it doesn't look so awkwardly chopped...

(35mm lens, 1/100 sec., f/2.2, ISO 400, no flash)
Not quite as sharp as I would have liked.

(35mm lens, 1/200 sec., f/4, ISO 400, flash with Lightscoop)
Not only am I hand chopper, but I'm also a toe & slight head chopper!  This was (obviously) later in the day and I was fixing dinner.  I guess Seth didn't want to wait because he grabbed this can and the can opener all by himself and went to town.  He was unsuccessful in his attempts at opening, though.  Apparently he did not notice the pull-top ;)

Day 014

My technology child!  Kid loves the iPod.  What can I say? 

The exposure and composition are okay.  I like the colors.

(35mm lens, 1/160 sec., f/2, ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop)

Day 013

I have been taking pics every day, but have been slow about actually posting them!  Oops... Anyway, here's the catch up :)

My little man sleeping.  We have SO FEW sleeping pics because his sleep has always been pretty bad and I've been afraid to do anything that might disturb it.  But I decided to live dangerously today ;)  I don't think the focus is fantastic, but I like the composition and the bokeh.  The lightscoop was definitely necessary for this one.

(35mm lens, 1/160 sec., f/2, ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop)

Day 012

Today I did Week 2 of 12 Weeks to Better Photos.  It was on shutter speed.  The camera said my exposure was all wrong for the second pic, but I didn't want to use the flash and in order to get comparable pics, it was just the way it had to be.  Hey, they said to use shutter priority mode! :)  In some ways, I like the exposure better of number 2, anyway.  I'm trying to learn how my camera sees exposure and if it routinely makes photos too light or too dark.  All in good time!

(35mm lens, 1/80 sec., f/3.5, ISO 200, no flash)
Water in motion.  And, I think, overexposed.

(35mm lens, 1/1000 sec., f/1.8, ISO 200, no flash)
Water mostly frozen.  And better exposed.

Day 011

(35mm lens, 1/200 sec., f/2.2., ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop)
I loved that piece of hair sticking up and wanted to get that in focus.  I think the picture is pretty creatively interesting with his face out of focus and not the hair, though others would disagree.  It was what I was trying for, though!  I do wish the high chair pattern wasn't so in focus, though.

Day 010

This is what happens when you wait until 8pm to take your pictures for the day.

(35mm lens, 1/40 sec., f/1.8, ISO 200, no flash)
Could be a better composition, especially creatively.  But it's still nice.

Day 009

Lazy Saturday!

(35mm lens, Exposure time: 1/50 sec., f/3.5, ISO 400, no flash)
Don't worry, I gave him a haircut the next day :)  Not an exciting composition and a little off, what with the diagonal cabinet tops in the background.

(35mm lens, Exposure time: 1/50 sec., f/2.2, ISO 400, no flash)
Love the peanut butter in focus.  The end.

(35mm lens, Exposure time: 1/80 sec., f/2.2, ISO 400, no flash)
White balance is off, I think, which is on my list of things to learn.  It's a cute pic.  I like how his face is not centered.

Day 008

Snow in Georgia!  It's really cold outside so I did not spend much time trying to get things right, so the pictures probably aren't the best, but I like them all the same :)  The kicker is-- wait for it-- this got school cancelled today!  Can you believe it??  A dusting that's not even on the roads cancelled school.  I guess there is the real fear of ice and the fact that no one native to GA knows how to drive when there may be ice, but still... anyway, these were all taken in my front yard.  I do not know much about metering and thus did not meter for snow, which is probably pretty noticable.  But that's okay... for now ;)

(35mm lens, exposure time: 1/800 sec., f/1.8, ISO 200, no flash)
Love the one centered bush surrounded by blurriness.  Not so fond of how bright the snow is compared to the bush, which could have been fixed with metering, but I don't know how yet.

(35mm lens, exposure time: 1/800 sec., f/1.8, ISO 200, no flash)
I like the bokeh.  I meant to focus on the brown leaf but as you can see, did not quite get it right.  Oops!  It was too cold to try again (you know, if I had known prior to looking at this on the computer).  But I do like just the little bit of in-focus bush/snow and the rest blurry winteriness.

(35mm lens, exposure time: 1/800 sec., f/1.8, ISO 200, no flash)
This picture is probably the one that could have benefited most from metering, since the snow was so bright but still looks sort of grey, if that makes sense.  Part of that is shadows and how the sun was shining, but part of it is not.

Day 007

I took a bunch of pics today and most of them were crap.  I was using the Lightscoop in Seth's room and apparently when I think it looks okay on the LCD screen, it is most definitely not-- it is WAY overexposed.  I should have upped my aperature (meaning, make the f-stop number larger) because my shutter speed would not go over 1/200 (I just got my 35mm/1.8 lens and I haven't read its little info packet yet... I guess that's it's parameters?) and I knew they were a little light/overexposed, I just didn't know quite how much.  Bummer because I could have gotten some good shots.  I definitely needed the Lightscoop, though, because it was really dark in Seth's room.  It's tricky to figure our your settings when you can't trust the camera's meter because you're using a flash & diffuser-type-deal!  I need to work on it.

(35mm/1.8 lens, Exposure time: 1/200 sec., f/1.8, ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop)

Nice exposure I think, I like the blurriness of the crib in the front.  Not much else to say...

(35mm/1.8 lens, Exposure time: 1/125 sec., f/2.2, ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop)

I like this one.  I like the pose, I like the composition, I like the exposure itself.  I am not sure about the blurriness of the hand holding the crib slat, though.  And it would be cool if his whole name was in the photo, but you can't win them all.

Day 006

We went to the mall for playgroup today-- they have a play area and a carousel.  I thought it would make for some great shots.  It would have, if the lighting was better.  Or if my 35mm/1.8 lens had showed up beforehand.  Oh, well.  I managed a few cute shots.  The lighting kept changing on the carousel depending on where it was in its rotation, which made things interesting. 

(18-55mm lens at 18mm, Exposure time: 1/60 sec., f/3.5, ISO 800, no flash)

I think this one is really cute!  If I had photo editing software or was a Photoshop whiz or something, I would love to get rid of the people behind Seth's head.  I love how the horses behind are sort of blurry.  I think exposure is pretty good, given my limitations of my lens and the lighting.  And the fact that the carousel was moving!  Sure does make you dizzy when you're trying to take photos and change settings and whatnot.  I'm glad I captured the memory, though.  It was Seth's first time on a carousel :)  I think the photo is much better than what it would have been had I used auto mode (which would have undoubtedly told the flash to go off).

Day 005

So today I did the weekly challenge for week one of Twelve Weeks to Better Photos.  This week was basic aperature.  I think I already understood it pretty well, but taking more pictures and playing around with settings more can only help :)  I do wish that my new 35mm lens had come in the mail already since it goes down to f/1.8 wheras my kit lens that came with my Nikon D60 (18-55mm) only goes down to f/3.5, and only at an 18mm focal length.  The longer your focal length, the higher number/smaller the aperature.  So it made the exercise hard.  But I worked with what I had and still managed to convey the point and learn from the lesson, I think. 



(35mm focal length, f/22, exposure time 2.5 sec., ISO 800, no flash)


(35mm focal length, f/8, exposure time 1/4 sec., ISO 800, no flash)


(35mm focal length, f/5.3, exposure time 1/8 sec., ISO 800, no flash)

I like the detail and the lighting and the colors in all the pics, I think :)  I wish that ugly chair had not been there, though.  I guess there's only so much room in my house.

Day 004

Breakfast time!  Best way to ensure you take a photo every day?  Do it in the morning ;)

Just in case anyone is reading this-- none of the pics I've posted or will post in the near future have been edited.  I don't have an editing program yet and right now I'm going to focus on learning to take pics well before I figure out how to edit to improve them.  I think (hope?) this will make me a better photographer.  But recommendations for editing programs for the future are very welcome!

(18-55mm lens at 24mm, f/4.2, SS 1/80 sec., ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop)

I like the picture, I like the bokeh of the fridge.  I think Seth's skin is light so it's easy to overexpose.  I need to work on that.

(18-55mm lens at 18mm, f/3.5, SS 1/50 sec., ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop)

Cute picture :)  Same comments as to one above, I think.

(18-55mm lens at 48mm, f/5.6, SS 1/50 sec., ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop)

I like this one.  I like how spiderman is not focused on the spoon, and the high chair pattern isn't focused either.  I love Seth's little hands!  I wonder if it's a bit underexposed.  Obviously I need to work on exposure.

(18-55mm lens at 18mm, f/3.5, SS 1/50 sec., ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop)

I like this.  I like what's in focus and what's not. The white-ness is not great so I'll need to work on metering this year, too.

(18-55mm lens at 18mm, f/3.5, SS 1/50 sec., ISO 200, flash with Lightscoop)

Same whiteness/metering, exposure issue as above. I think I like the composition, though.  Maybe if the orange was in focus, too....

Day 003

I learned today that the photos I take with an ISO of 800 or greater look way too grainy.  I didn't think intense graininess started until ISO 1600, but apparently my 800 photos capture it all too well.  Live and learn.  At least I know, and now I can learn more about it and improve.

I used the Lightscoop for these pictures too and am surprised it worked as well as it did (it was pretty dark in this room), since our ceilings are, like, at least 15 feet high.  I think that the slower shutter speed had something to do with it, but I'm still new at this, so I don't know.  I'll have to experiment with it more :)

(18-55mm lens at 35mm, f/5.3, SS 1/30 sec., ISO 800, flash with Lightscoop)

Not great composition (what with the couch and whatnot not centered in the background), but it is a snapshot type photo.  I need to work on my composition period, but especially in snapshot type photos.

(18-55mm lens at 26mm, f/5, SS 1/30 sec., ISO 800, flash with Lightscoop)

Composition is no bueno.  Maybe a bit overexposed.

(18-55mm lens at 18mm, f/5, SS 1/30 sec., ISO 800, flash with Lightscoop)

Watch out train city!  Composition is better, considering it's a snapshot without a perfect background.  I think it's a fairly good photo, considering I'm new to all this.