April Showers

while taking these, i was thinking of that "pitter patter" song on bambi. does anyone know what i'm talking about? anyway, while the rest of your suckas get snow, this is what we're gettin' down here in the desert! i love it.

{{sweet spring}}

Happy Fall!

Flower Photo GIVEAWAY!

Okay, so I've been receiving lots of sweet comments on my spring blossom photos! those comments seriously make my day! well...i know i've been absent on this blog for far too long, and i'm sorry. 


SO...i've decided to see who's still here.

I'm doing a give-a-way! Because I love Spring, photography & you, I am giving away THREE 8x10s of YOUR favorite photo on this post. yes, so that means THREE of you will win!  

what you need to do to enter:

-tell me your favorite thing about Springtime!

(and also tell me which photo is your fave!)

you must leave the comment on this blog...not facebook. I know that's hard because facebook is much more easy and convenient. 

-i will draw THREE winners on March 31st!




SO HERE THEY ARE:

(1)

2)

3)

4)

 

5)

              K GO!

SNOW::

Snow is a foreign substance to us here in the desert.

So, I had to basically pick my jaw up off of the ground when we drove up Cedar Mountain today.

Gorgeous. Peaceful. Amazing.

Since I am inspired almost daily by the Pioneer Woman, and because I am in a good mood,

I am going to attempt to explain to you how THIS is done:

First:

Find some snow.

Find a toddler.

Preferably a hyper one who will be willing to throw snow at your lens.

I have one.

Second:

Have him throw snow at your lens.

But before you have him do that,

make sure you are doing the following:

-Shoot into backlight. Pretty, afternoon backlight.

-Don't use your flash. I don't know much about flash, but what i do know (i think), is that flash freezes action, and we don't want that.

-Change your settings. Shoot in manual mode. if you're like me, you shoot with your aperture wide open to create the greatest depth of field at all times. Now is not the time for that. Up your aperture to say f11, or f13.

-Your ISO should be higher than 100, but not too high. Experiment. You need it to be high enough that your subject is well lit, but not blown out. I think for this particular shot, my ISO was 400?

Lastly:

If your toddler is still there, and hasn't moved on to the next subject of interest,  point, focus and shoot away. 

Don't take one shot, take lots. Right after another. Unless you're shooting film, then shoot wisely.

Have your toddler do weird , crazy things. This will most likely come natural to them. Keep shooting.

Tell them to throw snow at your lens and keep shooting. If your lens gets ruined, don't blame me though.

Maybe you didn't care how to get these shots.

Or maybe you already knew a way.

Or maybe this didn't make a whole lot of sense.

But I hope you enjoyed looking at these photos ! :)

Happy shooting & Happy Holidays!

the house.

i've been taking an online photoshop 101 class. One of our assignments this week was to choose one of our photos and give it a pleasing looking crop.


before:




after:




which do you like more?


I was SO happy because my teacher said I did a perfect job with it. I've never taken any classes so I've never had any feedback from a teacher really. It was so awesome!

I just had to share that.

I'll probably be posting some of my homework on here because basically I get over excited and need to share it! Taking classes is SO fun!

smoke & cows.