Help! I'm Stuck.

I need some help. I'm entering a contest for Detra's Creative Light Workshop and I don't know which picture to choose. I have already signed up for the workshop, but she is running this contest until August 28th for Clickin Mom's members (until August 26th for everyone else) and I wouldn't mind getting a bit of discount off the course! The theme is SUMMER. I know it will be really hard to compete. The past winners have all been A-MAZING, but I have to try, right? No harm in trying is what I always say. Anyway, I can't decide which one to enter. I'm stuck.

These are my top four. Which one do you think I should enter? I'm leaning toward the swinging storm picture, but I don't know if it goes with the theme.  I mean, she is wearing shorts and sandals, but the big black clouds in the background... it doesn't really scream summer, does it? What do you think? If you would all be so kind to leave a comment and let me know which one is your favorite, I'd love you forever and ever. Cross my heart!
Number 1:

Number 2:

Number 3:

Number 4:

Gracias!

So it's not "Art". Big Deal!

Life's a lot easier when we aren't aware of the way things "should be". I can never get enough of those moments when children do things that aren't exactly socially acceptable. Bella just talked to her Grandpa and Grandma Joyce on Skype today. With enthusiasm and pride in her voice, one of the first things that came out of her mouth was "Gampa! Gampa! Caca -toilel!!". It takes a while before we learn that talking freely about our bowel movements isn't going to win us any friends. But how could she know that bowel movement chit chat isn't "good"? She hasn't learned "The Rules" yet. Oh, and how sweet life is, when you don't know "The Rules", giving you leeway to break every one of them and be none the wiser.

I'm finding photography to be like that. I suppose all art is, really. Before I started learning about "The Rules" of photography, I thought I was taking some amazing photos. I'd flip through them, and gush a little at how beautiful some of them came out. Little by little, though, I started reading more and more about composition and all the technical criteria behind what makes a photo "good", and right before my very eyes, what I once thought was an incredible, life affirming image, transformed into a soggy piece of poo (in the "toilel").

I don't always take the perfect photograph (er.., ok, I never do). None of the photos I've posted today are technically correct. Maybe you look at the photo above and see it's flaws, because according to the technical rules of photography, it is full of them. Her fingers are cut off. There's something green that's distracting in the background. Her legs are chopped too closely to the knee. It is not a "good" photo. But to me, it screams perfection. To me it is a moment captured, that I'll never be able to relive. I look at this photo and I can feel the emotion and excitement that the storm brought. When I look at it, those rules don't mean a thing, because it doesn't need to be good to you. It only needs to be good to me.

There is a never-ending debate about what makes art - art. Some say rules must be strictly adhered to. Others argue that rules are meant to be broken. I think the wise ones are those that say that we do need rules. Knowing them is necessary. Knowing when to break them is essential.  Knowing when it really doesn't matter is the key.

Exposing Myself

(I wonder how many times that title has been used in reference to photography. I bet a BUNCH of times!)

Oh, Exposure, my clever foe. Why must you insist on wrecking havoc on my photos?

As I promised, I'm here to share with you a bit about what I'm learning. Have I mentioned that I'm working on exposure?  This is a difficult thing to share tips on because a). I obviously struggle with it and b). once you switch your DSLR into manual mode, this is initially the main difference between a point and shoot and a DSLR, meaning it's a HUGE topic (and if you don't understand why that's a problem, see point a.)

I shall do my best though! Here we go... 

SOOC Underexposed. ISO 160 SS 200, f/2.0

Properly exposed, after Lightroom.

We'll start off with SHUTTER SPEED today, so you don't get too overwhelmed, ok? Relax. If I can figure this stuff out, you can too. It just takes time and patience to get it right. Quietly set your camera to M for manual! (Now you can yell and jump around because Yay! you did it!), set your aperture to 5.6 (or a lower #  if you want and can), leave it there and go find some nice light (evening light or open shade. Stay away from direct sunlight.) Aight, on we go...


Shutter Speed.
These are your  numbers like 40, 60, 80, 100, 160, 200, 250 and up into 1000... etc. This is the speed of your shutter (revolutionary explanation, I know!). This is essentially what makes your photo tack sharp or completely blurry. The higher your numbers, the faster the shutter opens and closes - freezing the image in time. So, if you have very low numbers, you can easily get blurry photos if ANYTHING moves because you're allowing your shutter to capture motion just by having it open longer. (Does that make sense?). The longer it's open, the more motion it's going to capture resulting in a blurry image. Have I beaten this horse enough? I hope.


Things to keep in mind:

•  Use your meter  inside the camera's viewfinder!  That's the little line of itsy bitsy lines and a 0 in the middle. You want to be on the 0 to get correct exposure. It's super easy if you pay attention to this (but it doesn't necessarily mean you'll always have correct exposure. BELIEVE ME!)

•  Lots of Light use  High Numbers
  
  
• Less Light use Lower numbers. The numbers are actually fractions of a second. So 200 is really 1/200 and is faster than 40 (1/40), if that helps.
  
  
• The general rule is when photographing kids or anything that moves quickly and unexpectedly, don't go lower than 160 or you'll most likely get blurry images. I'd compensate with a lower aperture or higher ISO. More on that in the the weeks to come.
  
  
• When you're photographing kids (or anything that moves unexpectedly), keep your shutter speed at  160 or higher (you  don't want to go lower, or you'll probably get blurry images) Hmmm... didn't I just say this? This must be incredibly important. YES, it is!

And this is to show that practice does pay off. NEARLY perfect exposure TA DAH!! I'll keep working on it, and hope that someday Exposure and I will be able to co-exist peacefully.

This one is pretty close to proper exposure. ISO 160 SS 250 f/ 2.0

I upped the exposure not even a  half stop in Lightroom.

After RAW Class Number One

Though I'm still not the Photoshop master I thought I was going to be after this RAW class, I did learn some important things about white balance and exposure and all the fun toggles in Camera RAW (the program that is part of Photoshop and starts up immediately when you open up a RAW file).  I typically use Lightroom, but it's more or less the same. (and for those of you who don't know what the heck I'm talking about, it really doesn't mater that much...unless you really want to know. In that case I'll tell you... but only if you ask me ;-))
So, this is what I came up with after this class. Julietta still looks like an alien child to me. Her face is too bright, but I'm not sure how you lighten the face without making someone look like they're from another planet. I am really interested to see what next week holds.

Here is the newest edited photo:

Before Class:

Straight out of Camera (SOOC):

I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. The goal is to get it right IN CAMERA!!! I  swear, I was trying to work on getting good exposure, but sometimes you (or, I guess, 'I') just don't have time to change your (my) settings to get the shot. This was one of those moments. My girls were actually sitting down for a few seconds next to each other, so I ran like a maniac, got way down on the ground and started clicking away. It wasn't until about five shots into it that I realized I needed to lower my shutter speed quite a bit (or open up my aperture). RATS!

What have I learned from this whole lesson? That I really need to keep working on nailing exposure! So off I go...


Until next time, my friends, keep on clickin' on. Ha ha ha!

A Little Grain Never Hurt Anyone

I wanted to take pictures of Julietta in our living room, near the main window.  I set everything up while she was snoozing - moved all the coats that were hanging on the coat rack behind her, threw the the shoes underneath the love seat into a pile out of sight... etc. When she finally woke up it had clouded over and started to storm. I did snap a couple shots, but by this time, I had to crank my ISO up to 1,000 (I really hate using flash because I don't know how to use it right)!!! Despite these extreme measures, my photos were still under exposed. What happens when you use a high ISO without a professional camera? Noise noise noise! And what if you also underexpose your pictures?? You guessed it - noise that's more like grain. I mean, it's like newsprint.

"Who cares?" I say. "BRING IT ON!"  In my opinion ANY image is better than a blank piece of paper. It can serve to teach us what NOT to do next time, but it can also give us room to use our imagination and create something that we had not initially intended. I love the way this shot came out with some messing around in Photoshop (okay, okay, YES, I also used an action. You got me!).

Before and After

I LOVE before and afters. I like watching people get make-overs. I like seeing a dirty window right next to the one I just cleaned. It goes without saying, then, that Lightroom and Photoshop where made for me! Sometimes I wish I could erase my blemishes just like I do on photographs. Anyway, I do have a point to this if you stick with me. Before I got my DSLR, I thought using Photoshop was cheating and made pictures look fake. Then when I started using Photoshop (and making photos look really fake because I was so bad at it), I learned that nearly every. single. photographer. uses a photo editing program even if it's just to make minor corrections or enhancements. Actually, many photographers shoot in RAW and unlike shooting JPEGs, which are mildly processed by your camera, RAW images come out completely untouched leaving them a bit drab, so you basically have to process them yourself.

This Monday I have my very first RAW editing class with Damien Symonds. It's only two classes, but from the reviews I've read, it's well worth the price. Take a look at one of his before and after shots, then go back and look at all the others. His work is incredible. I'm so excited!

I thought it would be fun to post one of my before and after shots right NOW, before I take the class, then I'll post again once I've taken the class, and we can see if I've made any noticeable improvements. What do you think? Intriguing, right? How can you resist a before/after by yours truly?

Here's an underexposed shot I took earlier this week while, ironically, working on my exposure:

Now here it is with my edit (pre- first RAW class):

It's not a great shot, but whateva. The skin tones are still off, and it's overly saturated even though I tried to de-saturate it, but I did my best without spending hours hunched over the screen. We'll see what the guru has to say.

I'll re-edit it next week and post again.

Have a fabulous weekend! Take some pictures. I need to get off my computer and do that too!!

Jenny, Marty and Cameron do Spain.

Yes, it has been a few weeks since they were here, but now they are gone, and I'm lonely, and the only thing that remains are these photos I shot while they were here that I flip through every. single. night... boo hoo hoo.

Ok, I'm being a bit melodramatic. I just loved having my friends here with me. I loved getting to snuggle with The Cam Man. He just is just so hugable! Oh, and girl talk!! (No, not the game from the late 80s, but I'd certainly use exclamations for that too.) Being away for so long has made me forget about the bond that girlfriends have. Oh, how I miss that!


Anyway, I took about a million pictures for the Clickinmoms Scavanger Hunt , but not many real worthy photos. We did manage to do a photo shoot of Jenny and her sweet family while they were here. My photos didn't ROCK, by any means. I cut off toes and fingers and had a horrible time with exposure. BOO! I hate that. There were some great shots, but blow outs galore. So so sad. Luckily, there were some goodies out of the bunch (well, I did take like 500 pictures!).



I still blew out their hair in this one. It's something I really need to keep my eye on. I just love the expression on Jenny's face, though. It's so genuinely happy. And I love love love the light.



It made me realize that I MUST work on nailing my exposure, or I'm going to keep ending up with awesome photos full of terrible blow outs, and that's just not acceptable! ; )

Look at the three of them together! I have so many shots that I just adore. They just scream LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!! (well, they don't really. That would would be weird and a little bit scary... unless you were living in a Beatles cartoon.)

I thought this one was adorable, but see how I blew out Marty's face a bit? AARGH. I still don't understand how to get semi-correct exposure without blowing things out. Or maybe, the light was still too intense. I'll get to light in another post. Boy is it important!

I have been practicing on my girls (who else am I going to practice on?!), and I've decided that I'd just work on exposure, and forget about everything else. These are NOT examples of that. I'd bore you do death with those shots.


I could go on about so many things, but I feel it would all become a big jumble of words.
I think I'll wait and try to organize myself before I go on.

Oh, and what do you think of the watermarks? Which one do you like the best? I have learned SO MUCH about copyright laws and watermarking that I had NO IDEA about before. I'm obviously not a professional photographer, but after reading about personal photos turning up in billboards in other countries, I'm not going to risk it. I'd recommend it to everyone who posts any photos on the web. More on that in another post as well.

Ok, I'm done rambling. Time for bed!
Until next time, my friends!