Droplets #photoadayApril Day 5

I have been trying to think about how I would capture "tiny" as a subject in a photograph.  I guess this is where creativity meets individuality.  I woke up this morning to the words snow again thinking my husband was joking because it is April and a few days before Easter my mind thought well maybe I could practice slower shutter speed and capture and individual snowflake.  But when I looked outside I saw just slush on the grass so that ideas was tossed out.

Ah.. look around you what is tiny?  Then it occurred to me that on every blade of grass or plant that I have in my yard there is a few tiny droplets of water.  Okay there's the idea that is what i will shoot. I choose to use my big lens and mess with the focus and aperture setting again. I am practicing from the few articles I have read and recently blogged about.

This picture is a little bit darker than I would have liked but it is early in the morning when I took this photo. I might try again later today.

Let me know what you think.. POST A COMMENT...

Happiness is in a Smile! #photoadayApril

Day four flew by (yesterday sorry this post is late, worked late, got home late and went to bed).  There are several people that make me happy for various reasons. BUT my favorite people that make me the happiest are my husband and two boys.

This guy right here is my best friend and husband! I am practicing blurring out the backgrounds and kind of accomplished this if you looked at the tree to the left.  So this is one of the three people that makes me the most happy! Looking forward to day 5 subject "Tiny."

A Tip or Two.

Introduction

I have been spending a few free and I mean a very few free moments doing research on beginner photography tips. I am teaching myself about my camera that I have had now for three years. I have a few lenses and things and just feel compelled to be a better photographer. I am tapping into my creative side in a variety of ways, crafting, DIY projects, completing challenges, organizing, and planning events/parties.  Pinterest is an addiction for sure.

The Power of the Internet

I stumbled upon iheartfaces.com and am loving the articles I have read.  It is funny how reading something on a .com or a blog brings you to "pinteresting" places.  One read has a link, you click and stumble across someone's fantastic blog which then has another blog link or article link and so on and so forth.  The POWER of the internet. I might add that it is amazing the differences in ideas that are presented out there as well as how interconnected we all seem to be.

#photoadayApril

As you know, if  you have been following the blog postings recently, I am enjoying the #photoadayApril challenge by Fat Mum Slim .  It has been fun and I am sure going to become more challenging but I am up for it.  The challenge is not only around taking a photograph of the daily subject but threefold for me.

It is a challenge for me to become more proficient and educated around my camera usage

It is a challenge for me to continue to find balance being a working mother and enjoying my own things.

It is the challenge of blogging and taking a photograph of the daily subject.

I am feeling compelled to share what I have learned but feeling pretty vulnerable as well. Isn't life just like that. It is a good thing that I have thick skin and can put myself out there, try almost anything and come away  with the notion that I am more confident in my abilities. I sometimes  surprise myself.    So this morning I found iheartfaces.com as I have previously stated and stumbled upon two articles that I actually had time to read. I will probably re-read them just for better understanding (and of course have my camera by my side). 

The first article was titled: Advice for Aspiring Professional Photographers by Jill Sloffer Photography.  Now I really don't consider myself a professional photographer by any means, I have had no formal training, but I do know that I love taking photos, I love great looking and intricate photos and I WANT to get better. So nothing lost by reading this article.  Take a look it reminded me to stay true to myself, feel no pressure, that I am an individual and need not compare myself to others and that practice will only make me better (of course it is good to have a plan!).  By the way I loved the photos that were used in this article.  So I took a look at jillsloffer.com WOW I am in awe.  

The second article was titled Photo Composition Tips by Susan Keller of  Susan Keller Photography out of Orange County, California.  I should remember to tell my good friend about this photographer since she lives in Orange County, CA.   This article focused primarily on using ordinary things as frames for your actual subject. For example when I had my wedding photo's taken almost 8 years ago now, the photographer shot pictures through the grape vines in the vineyard framing my husband and I.  Super cute.  Love the tips.  I will be practicing this tip for the next few photographs for the #photoadayApril.  

What tip(s) have you found and what have you learned that you can share with me and our readers?  Leave a comment and share.

A Gem or Two!

Magnets. I promised a post about DIY magnets. I have completed a first set to share and a couple of tips for sure. I set out last week to complete a DIY project but had many others (still do) to complete so this project took a bit of a back seat. I think we call that prioritization. 

 

I am so proud of these cute little country looking magnets.  I made a few sets of different colors. Now I am good to go to make my own DIY magnet board to post.  Thinking of making a command center for the house. You know a place where when we walk in with the mail we can put that (instead of on the counter where it sits for a few days) and a place where messages can be posted or reminders about appointments. I saw something about a cookie sheet magnet board but I am thinking that might be too small for me.. So I have a few other ideas I will share soon enough.  

So for this particular project you will need the following items.

•  E-600 Adhesive, 
• paper or stickers (we used both), 
• glass gems (can find anywhere but the cheapest place is the dollar store), 
• scissors & pencil
• some magnets
• Modge Podge

The first thing you need to do is pick out the paper or sticker and decoration that you want to see through the gem. 

Once you have that trace around each individual gem separately as they are all different shapes and sizes. 

Then use the Modge Podge and paint it onto the design (paper, sticker drawing etc.) Place the appropriate glass gem on top and press making sure that the bubbles and glue of the Modge Podge spreads evenly.  Let this dry for a while.

Once dry pick the glass Gem up and paint Modge Podge on the back  to seal the design onto the gem. Let dry. Repeat the process three times.

When the item is dry take your E-6000 adhesive (found at local hardware stores, Bi-Mart for about $4.99) and put a small dab on the back of the gem, placing the magnet on the back and let dry for an hour. Wallah you have a DIY easy and cute magnet for your refrigerator or command center.

My son decided to make a set of Cars (the movie) magnets for our fridge. They are cute. He enjoyed this project with the exception of having to wait for things to dry. Thus is the life of a four year old! But he is really proud of his creation.

Mail? Snail Mail or Email?

Ah the mail a wonderful daily routine of walking to the box across the street with our number on it.  I like snail mail though most of it is just advertising or "junk mail".  It is rare that we receive an old fashioned letter. Though today my kids did from their Aunt! So exciting for them.  We read it together.  Email seems to be where it is at these days. My husband and I love and hate email.  We just had a conversation about emails on our way to work yesterday about how many emails we both would return to since we were off for a week. He beat me with over 300 emails and I was happy with my 55 (didn't break 100). There is definitely an efficiency about email but most often as with the over 300 emails people either reply all when not necessary, or they use it like a Twitter or Facebook, providing everyone their status update at work which is not really a good use of their time or anyone else's.  So I vote for both email and snail mail but I fear the latter will continue to slowly disappear.

Mail #1

Day three of #photoadayApril! The subject is Mail.  I pondered this quickly this morning and made sure to grab my camera to take to work (Spring Break is over and I'm back to the grind!).  Today was a gloriously warm (65 degrees) and sunny moderately cloudy day. I spent a lot of my time looking out of my huge office windows at the office today. I forced myself to go get a cup of coffee or really just take a drive for a moment to enjoy the change in weather.  It felt GREAT!

Mail #2

I took my camera out of the bag and put around my neck (you never know when you will find that special shot) and off I began to drive.  I pass by two different postal offices in small towns and had  few ideas about what I might take a shot at.  I was reading about Aperture last night and thought I would practice using that setting and different ISO settings as well. See what I came up with. But wouldn't you know it...... I left my memory card (sandisk) in my computer at home.

Mail #3

So pictures would have to wait.  I thought about using my camera phone but the android (though I have loved my phone) is no where near the new iPhone and I was not satisfied with my last picture that I posted yesterday check out that posting.. #photoadayApril Color. 

Mail #4

I arrived home and had a few minutes to walk across the street to pick up the mail. My mind set was to not take a picture of something so literal as the "actual" mail. But I resorted to doing just that.  Here are four shots of the 50 that I took.  These were the best. I was using the aperture setting, playing around with flash vs no flash and was using my Nikon DX 18-55mm lens for this particular series of shots.

Let me know what you think post a comment. 

Subject: Colour #photoadayApril

Day 2 of April is a photograph capturing colour.  I never understood the reason for the spelling difference between color and colour. Maybe it had something to do with the origin of the word?  During these dreary, wet, wet, wet, days.. I mean build an ark wet days, there is hardly color to capture. Flowers that should have been blooming are not vibrant but rather wilted and dilapidated. The sun is rarely shining long enough to snap a picture. Maybe you might be able to find and capture a picture of a rainbow but haven't found that one yet. So I planned to create my own colour.

As we are entering the Holy week, the end of the week being Easter, is steadily approaching.  What a great time for COLOR. Immediately I think of dying Easter Eggs, colorful Easter baskets, vibrant candies (jelly beans), flowers and more.  A time of celebration though, none of those things above is the real reason we celebrate Easter that is the commercial version. The religious version for many like myself is that Jesus is Risen!

So what could I capture with my camera this time that would describe the colour that I see through my lenses? How about glitter pens! Not as bright as I would of liked. I tried this with my camera phone instead of my Nikon DSLR... good for an android.  iPhone next I think!

First Photo.. No Not an April Fools! #photoadayApril

Okay, okay, so I have spent some time trying to figure out how to improve my photography. I have a great Nikon D90 DSLR camera and a few lenses and would love to have better photographs.  I have dedeicated my month of April to something new... a photograph a day by joining Fat Mum Slim's : April Challenge!

Check out my page tab at the top of this website for each daily description of what I will be photographing. 

 Or click HERE

Because I am not intentional about my photographs or at least know how to be intentional with my camera, I thought I would re-read my book about my camera for some pointers.  I also thought I would take a look at other blogs and internet research. I found a few great things.  My brother-in-law gave me a book (I have skimmed, but thinking this time of seriously reading it) titled Nikon D90 Digital Field Guide by J. Dennis Thomas.  I hope to glean pointers from this reading. So far it is pretty user friendly and I am learning lots about my own camera.  Certainly is a lesson in vocabulary and I find that I read with my camera and camera bag handy..

Oh by the way I love the ephiphanie camera bags.  I have entered to win won.  Please, please, please pick me (though I don't have much luck with winning things)!

I also have been reading (really made it through the basic instructions) KevinandAmanda's  blog. She has posted several easy to read articles that outlines both Cannon and Nikon DSLR cameras. Check it out by clicking the links.

Day 1:  "your reflection"

This can be construed in so many ways  but I took my camera with me to the Carousel with my son and tried it out.  Here's what I came up with.  I think it is pretty good.  I took a few but liked this one the most! Leave a comment and let me know what you think too.

Self Reflection # 1

Self Reflection # 2 Different Light

Self Reflection # 3

Self Reflection # 4 with mirror shown

Self Reflection # 5 (I like what my son is doing LOL)

Self Relection #6

So there are several self reflections photos for #photoadayApril. Tell me which ones you like! Leave a comment below by hitting the comment button and typing your comment. Would love to hear from you.