Day 18 and 19...

So sorry about not posting yesterday.. No excuse, just that it was a crazy weekend. I have two photos to post from today.. nothing to exciting, with the rain could not go outside with the baby to shoot. Crossing my fingers that "the sun will come out tomorrow!" These were shot again with my external flash, F1.8 shutter 200. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Day 17

Sorry followers, unfortunately you are only going to get one shot today. My 2 month old had her 2 month check up and got 4 shots today. She is really having a night, so with that said, I didn't want to miss a day, here is one shot of some marbles. I shot these with an external flash, F2 around 200. More to come tomorrow we are going to the Arboretum, in Mesa, to get some fantastic flower photography, and wildlife. I am suppose to shoot pictures with awesome color for my next photography class Tuesday. Can't wait! Crossing my fingers it doesn't rain and my little one feels a lot better :(

Day 16..

Well, I didn't get to venture out today I had a lot of catch up house work to do. Here are a couple of portraits I captured of our little one. All were taken with my external flash, aperture was 1.8 and shutter around 60. Kelly Ryden is one of my favorite baby photographers, her photos are amazing, so in the future I will have to try some of her baby poses. The second I tried to pose my little one she woke up and was kicking all over the place. I played around with the one black and white in photo shop and changed the color of her eyes to blue. It's a really neat element. For those of you who are interested in photography, photoshop and light room are a must. Anyway, tomorrow should present new photo opportunities. If you get a chance check out Kelly's website, her photos are pretty cool. http://kellyryden.com/

Day 15 part 2

OK.. maybe I should have waited so I could add some of these great photos I took tonight. I love photography, and those of you who really know me, I take my camera everywhere and don't put it down. Here are a couple more shots I took, for these to really capture great lighting I used my external flash. I love them. I am so excited about portrait photography this month, but these again tie into February and the theme love. I attached two adorable pictures of my husband sleeping with our new daughter Cameron, I love this shot its intimate, and the lighting is great. I also attached two pictures of our dog Mouse. These shots were taking at an F2 and shutter was around 200 again with external flash.

Day 15...

So I am posting my portraits of the day early. We spent the afternoon at my sisters dental office not necessarily fun I know. But she is an excellent hygienist so it makes the visit painless. The lighting in her office was yellow so I had to mess around a bit with the white balance. But she is so pretty it was easy to get some beautiful shots of her.

This shot was taken at an F2 and a shutter of 200.

Who knows what the rest of the day might present, if any opportunities come I'll add them to day 15.. If not tomorrow is another day.

Day 14 the 2 week mark

So I am getting an early start to my theme in March, which is going to be portrait photography.Portrait photography is something I have been wanting to become extremely Strong in, but know I need some work. I took the first shot of the love of my life, my husband around 530pm with my backdrop outside, with the sun behind him. My aperture was set at an F2 with a shutter speed of around 1200. Again, lighting is key, especially in portrait photography... I am still trying to figure it all out. The second one I shot of my son Jake, this one I took inside with my umbrella light up close at a 45 from his left cheek. My aperture setting was an F1.8 with a shutter of 200, this was taken at night in my house with my backdrop. The last one was of our daughter Hannah this was taken outside no back drop, F1.80 shutter 1250. This is just the beginning of my portraits, I intend to master this. Anyway, this still ties in with this months theme love, obviously my family radiates nothing but love.

Day 13

Well today's shot was suppose to be an assignment for my photography class tomorrow night, and I was suppose to shoot at the "golden hour" which is 10 minutes after sunset or sunrise. Usually in Arizona this time is amazing, the sky is usually a radiant purple orange pink color. Today it was a little difficult, as the weather in Arizona has been rainy and the sky was substantially dark. I have had this vision of shooting these satellite dishes with the horizon in the back, but didn't realize the security restrictions around these structures. I worked with what I had and here are some of the shots. I defiantly want to try this again in the future, when the weather is a little better. I shot this with my long lens, aperture was set at a 5.6 with a shutter speeds ranging from 400 to 225, it changed as the sun went down. Next time I will have to find some open land, with nothing but the mountains in the horizon. Anyway here is what I came up with.

Day 12

Today was a lot of fun. I set up my backdrop and played around with my lighting. I had to put some things over my windows to block the natural light from coming in, right now what is considered to be my "studio" aka our front room. I used my umbrella lights and white back drop. Again this is my first attempt to use my new equipment and first time trying to create the studio type environment. I set my umbrella lights at each side of my subject, at a 45 degree angle to try to resist casting any shadows on my subjects face. I think I did an Ok job, but this is defiantly something I am going to have to work at in order to create more professional looking photos. My aperture setting was at 1.8 and I used my fixed focus lens. I set my shutter speed around 320. Defiantly need more practice, and hoping to add some soft box lights to my photography wish list. I attached more of a fun shot, my husband bought me a "green screen" for Xmas, I shot a photo of him, cut him out in photo shop and pasted him into a digital background of the Eiffel tower. Really was just for fun, but totally neat. This again first attempt for any of this. I am hoping there is no rain tomorrow, as I have to shot at the "Golden hour" for my photography class Tuesday night. Wish me luck!! Happy shooting :) !

Day 11

This was such a challenging project. I shot this in manual mode with my fixed lens. Set my shutter speed at 1000, and my aperture at 1.8. I had my husband drop the strawberry into a bowl of milk and started snapping the photo the second he released. All and all I think the end result was pretty neat. I really love the color contrast of the white milk and the red strawberries. A lady in my photography class did this as her photo of the week, and I have been dying to try it ever since. I had to set my camera up on my tripod and had both of my umbrella lights with my 135 w bulbs in them to get the right lighting. Lighting was challenging in this one, and we had to move things around a lot to get rid of the shadows the umbrella was casting. Again, all and all I think this shot was pretty neat.

Day 10 part 2 happy Friday!!

Part two..

DAY 10 part 1 Happy Friday

Today was a fun filled day. We spent some time at the park, in which I shot some pictures of strangers and some good scenery. The weather was awesome which again with the sun made my pictures look great. I am still struggling some with lighting, but think I am starting to get a handle on it. We also had dinner with our best friends and there kids tonight at Barrow's pizza in which I was able to take some more pictures. I shot these with my fixed focus lens. I really had the lighting working against me here, as it really put off a yellow hue. I tried to adjust it somewhat in lightroom and photoshot. The pictures at the park were taken with my long lens. Shot so many pictures again had to have a part one and two

Day 9..

So today I attempted to pan. Something I am learning about in my photography class. Although it sounds easy it defiantly isn't and the yellow car is the best photo I walked away with. I need to practice focusing more on the subject and I think it would look much cooler with a way more contrasted dynamic background. Its is definatley a task that requires quick camera driving and being able to grab a good focus on the moving subject quickly. An example would be the Tempe light rail when its in movement. I will defiantly be working on this as it is not one of my strong points. I love that spring is coming and everything is starting to bloom. Allows me to get some great pictures of even the smallest flowers. I used my long lens for the panning shot at a shutter speed of 1/10. I was having a hard time with adjusting to get a higher shutter speed and maintain light and a good aperture. The flower photos were taken with my fixed lens.

Day 8

Today was ducktastic.. Cameron and I managed to attract some ducks and were able to get some neat shots. Although these shots were taking around 1pm we were still able to capture some good lighting in the shade.. I used my long lens to take these photos.

Day 6 and 7...

So sorry to have not posted yesterday, our 7 week old has a cold and that requires a lot of time without the camera. I went ahead and took a couple pictures today of some photos I have to present to my photography class tonight. We are working on shutter speed. I took a picture of some of the water falls around my house, and slowed the shutter way down which created the blur effect in the photos. For whatever reason I was having a hard time adjusting my shutter and finding a good aperture. Something I defiantly need to work on. I also had to take some photos at a fast shutter speed which I did in order to capture the drip from our sink. Not the best photos today but more of an exercise. Tomorrow is another day :)