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!

one photo.

sometimes i think it's lots of fun to play around with one photo. you can get so many different looks with just one!

so photographers- i told you i would try to post tips every now and then.

here is a tip:

if you are totally bored with a certain photo, and it's just not doing it for you,

play with it!

process it differently..

 

crop it differently!

change the dimensions!

add textures!

i'm sure there are at least 50 different things i could do with this single photo!

and you would probably do 50 totally different things with this photo!

there are no rules!

and that's what i love most.

p.s. photo was taken in San Diego at La Jolla Beach.

Good to know

Hey, all of you lovely friends and fans who are getting started or are interested in photography, I saw this on Pioneer Woman's site, and thought how incredibly useful it was to me when I read it for the first time.

If you are trying to understand manual mode, she will break down almost all the key ingredients for doing so.

The Pioneer Woman is one of my heros. I love her! If you don't read her regularly, you are missing out.

Even if you aren't huge into Photography, she has other AWESOME stuff that she's amazing at, like: Gardening, Cooking, Homeschooling, and just being funny and interesting in general.

To go to her photography page, go here.

To just go to her home page, go here.

You won't be sorry you did. You'll love her!

I can't believe my eyes!

So, out of boredom and curiosity (yes, that IS how you spell that word, I spellchecked!), I took a quick scroll down my photography page. I continuously kept clicking "older posts", until there were no more older posts. I got to the very end of my photos, which is really the very first of my photos. At first I felt embarassed and sad for my pathetic-ness. When I started out, I was awful, and it's sad to me because I thought I was somewhat good. But once I got over that, I felt happy, proud, accomplished. I feel like I've come so far, and that feels so good!



This is a photo taken on the very DAY I got my Canon Rebel XS (still what i use)
I took pictures of my cute cousins for my Aunt.

HO-LY COW.



Um. Where do I even start? Everything about this photo except the cute girl and the funny face is driving me nuts.

-the light isn't the worst, but it's not good.
-i was shooting in auto mode. auto mode=bad news. by shooting in auto, I couldn't control shutter speed, ISO, aperture, exposure.
-my shutter speed looks a little slow..
-where were my focus points? definitely not on her eyes like they should have been.
-did I edit? at all?

Eeew. eew. eew. I wish I could go back and change it. I would know what to do now!

And this is TODAY . (Ok well last week.)

Again, where to start?

-the first and most important thing: I now ONLY shoot in manual mode. bye-bye auto, forever. shooting in manual lets me control the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, & exposure.

-I am using a different lens. This lens is my favorite. 50mm 1.8 lens. Great for individuals.

-I understand light (for the most part)

-I know how to edit now. I edit a lot. EVERY picture.

-I have more confidence, and am somewhat comfortable behind the camera.

-I understand composition a lot better.

-I have a dang cute kid at home with me all day to catch in adorable moments.

I don't mean to have a brag session. I just want to say a few things.

Thanks to everyone who let me take your picture (even when I sucked.)

Thanks to those who have given me confidence & encouragement by believing in me & giving compliments.

Thanks to these people:

-The Pioneer Woman & her "what the heck is an aperture?" series

-Jessica Kettle Photography

-Crickett Photography

They have all helped me TONS. I have recieved personal advice from Crickett and Jessica Kettle. The Pioneer Woman is responsible for teaching me manual mode. (Seriously, read her site if you haven't already!)

If you are starting out in photography, or just want to take better photos, hopefully this will give you hope! You saw where I started! Just don't give up!

Ok. This wasn't meant to sound like an inspirational speech. It suddenly got real cheesy.

This next year I will start posting photo tips. All kinds of them. People have been asking, "How do you take good photos?" That is so very nice to hear, and I will try to help answer questions & hopefully make things understandable. I am all self-taught, so what makes sense in my brain, might be hard to get out in words so that others can understand. I will try though!

I am by no means a pro at this. I am not a teacher either. I make my own rules, and learn new things almost every day. Just so ya know.

Thanks for reading! :)