Summertime Sweets
4 weeks ago
Friday, December 18, 2009
I am loading PSE 8
I am soooooooooooooo excited. School is over and now I have time to use my early Christmas gift. I have seriously been going through withdraws!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Should have known better
Today was my niece J's baptism. She wore the same baptismal dress my aunt, my mother, my sister, and I wore at our baptism. My mom was very delighted that J wore the dress. Close family members including babies, toddlers, ornery boys, grandpa's, grandma's, great, and great-greats, too along with aunts, uncles, and cousins gathered together to share the moment and a brunch. For November, it was an unseasonably warmer day.
Many images to record, but no click, click, or flash, flash for me because neither of my two camera batteries were charged! I tried to get another battery, but noooooooooo the few places I could get one in the one horse town didn't have any. As soon as I got home I ordered a car charger for the en el9 battery. I plan to carry it in my purse, or I will get two and put them in both of the cars for the just in case moments. I may even get another battery, so I can have 3. It feels a little excessive though kinda like buying two chargers for the cars.
I guess it's just been a little hectic and I haven't really been taking as many photo's as I would like. I never even used the trial version of PSE8 and it has already expired.
Many images to record, but no click, click, or flash, flash for me because neither of my two camera batteries were charged! I tried to get another battery, but noooooooooo the few places I could get one in the one horse town didn't have any. As soon as I got home I ordered a car charger for the en el9 battery. I plan to carry it in my purse, or I will get two and put them in both of the cars for the just in case moments. I may even get another battery, so I can have 3. It feels a little excessive though kinda like buying two chargers for the cars.
I guess it's just been a little hectic and I haven't really been taking as many photo's as I would like. I never even used the trial version of PSE8 and it has already expired.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Photoshop Elements 8
Well looks like Adobe is releasing Photoshop Elements 8. I am in process of downloading the trial version from Adobe!!!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Doing cartwheels, round-offs, and having photoshop withdraws
I am holing on to tonight because the weather is just relaxing. I did cartwheels and round-offs with the neighbor girls. Let me just say that I felt the round-off just a little in my upper thigh.
About the photoshop withdraw...I got a new computer. My vintage 2001 Dell with 2gb of operating memory (1gb of which I had to install) and 34gb hard drive space was just not working so well. Especially when I was using RAW format.
I will admit that I do like the thought of RAW and I was able to edit a few photos, but I'm really not at the point that I know what I am doing. I think for now I will use JPEG and work on learning the proper techniques including aperture, shutter speed, ISO, lighting, and composition. Understanding Exposure, Understanding Shutter Speed,Learning to See Creatively, Understanding Close up Photography, and Understanding Photography Field Guide by Brian Peterson are amazingly easy to read and understand.
Anyway with the new computer I do not have photoshop and I am having withdraws. I do edit some using PSE, but mainly to crop or use some of the actions from CoffeeShop. Since I still have so many picture in RAW format, I can not access them unless I use something like Microsoft Live Picture viewer or something and that is just to much work.
CoffeeShop has a tutorial on how to create watermarks, and I am interested in working on making one. I am reluctant to get PSE7 because I have a feeling as soon as I do, Adobe will release PSE8 or something. Apparently you can download one PSE7 license on two computers, but for some reason it does not like my serial number.
Next weekend my sister wants me to take some family pics with her husband and baby j. My other niece baby K is having her 1st birthday, so I'm going to take pics there, too. I'm sure I'll figure something out with photoshop.
About the photoshop withdraw...I got a new computer. My vintage 2001 Dell with 2gb of operating memory (1gb of which I had to install) and 34gb hard drive space was just not working so well. Especially when I was using RAW format.
I will admit that I do like the thought of RAW and I was able to edit a few photos, but I'm really not at the point that I know what I am doing. I think for now I will use JPEG and work on learning the proper techniques including aperture, shutter speed, ISO, lighting, and composition. Understanding Exposure, Understanding Shutter Speed,Learning to See Creatively, Understanding Close up Photography, and Understanding Photography Field Guide by Brian Peterson are amazingly easy to read and understand.
Anyway with the new computer I do not have photoshop and I am having withdraws. I do edit some using PSE, but mainly to crop or use some of the actions from CoffeeShop. Since I still have so many picture in RAW format, I can not access them unless I use something like Microsoft Live Picture viewer or something and that is just to much work.
CoffeeShop has a tutorial on how to create watermarks, and I am interested in working on making one. I am reluctant to get PSE7 because I have a feeling as soon as I do, Adobe will release PSE8 or something. Apparently you can download one PSE7 license on two computers, but for some reason it does not like my serial number.
Next weekend my sister wants me to take some family pics with her husband and baby j. My other niece baby K is having her 1st birthday, so I'm going to take pics there, too. I'm sure I'll figure something out with photoshop.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Glad I did it!
Well Photography class is over. I am majoring in Business Administration and realistically should have used the the 4 credits towards accumulating 21 credit hours of accounting. Sometimes it is hard to be impractical, but I am so glad I decided to take photography rather than extra accounting classes.
I decided that in Spring, I will be taking Photography II. I chose to take it in the Spring rather than next summer, because I will have 5 months and a couple of seasons rather than 2 months to find things to photograph.
It was a challenge trying to balance the principles of photography and stretching for creativity. For example I really like the creative use of depth of field. Like when a flower is in focus but the back ground is thrown out of focus. The professor really didn't want to see much of that kinda of stuff at this point. He wanted sharp focus and proper depth of field.
So basically I made it harder than it needed to be because I was really searching for things that I could photograph. The best assignment that really made it things start to click was the lighting assignment.
For the assignment we had to choose one thing to photograph during different times of the day. So if you are looking for somewhere to start I would suggest doing just so.
I chose a set of railroad tracks near my house. One of the 5 or so times I went to the tracks, it was 8 am or so and lightly raining. Later on in the same day it was wet from the rain but sunny. I also thought the closer I got to the bridge that was over the tracks, the better the pictures would be. The professor actually liked the bridge from afar and I agree.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
The click of the shutter release or rather lightbulb!
Some things are finally clicking! Initially my attempts to find some interesting things to take pictures were thwarted by the thick vegetation, which just makes a messy picture. I think it looks ok, but certainly not what the professor is looking for.
So I decided to one of two parks I thought I'd be able to find something interesting...like maybe the rose garden. The roses are in some serious need of someone with a green thumb. I headed to the other park I had in mind.
I decided the bridge over the pond would be a good place to start and took a couple of photos. There is a "waterfall" or rather little spillway from an elevated part of the pond into the lower part. I just couldn't get the "waterfall" to have the softness. I went home to look at one of my photography books to determine which shutter speed would achieve the image I wanted.
I headed back to the park at 7:30 or so. With the light a was less harsh, I set my shutter speed of 1/4 and I was able to achieve the effect.
Here is were it's starting to click....I changed positions away from the water and as I was focusing the camera and filling the frame, a little girl came and sat down in front of the bridge. It was too cute, until I reviewed the pictures at home. She is blurry in all the other pictures, because I captured her movement using the slow shutter speed at 1/4th. REMEMBER TO CHANGE SHUTTER SPEED.
I am hoping that maybe a few of the film pictures with the little girl will be decent. A few more kids walked through at one point. Maybe I will be surprised with the way they turn out.
So I decided to one of two parks I thought I'd be able to find something interesting...like maybe the rose garden. The roses are in some serious need of someone with a green thumb. I headed to the other park I had in mind.
I decided the bridge over the pond would be a good place to start and took a couple of photos. There is a "waterfall" or rather little spillway from an elevated part of the pond into the lower part. I just couldn't get the "waterfall" to have the softness. I went home to look at one of my photography books to determine which shutter speed would achieve the image I wanted.
I headed back to the park at 7:30 or so. With the light a was less harsh, I set my shutter speed of 1/4 and I was able to achieve the effect.
Here is were it's starting to click....I changed positions away from the water and as I was focusing the camera and filling the frame, a little girl came and sat down in front of the bridge. It was too cute, until I reviewed the pictures at home. She is blurry in all the other pictures, because I captured her movement using the slow shutter speed at 1/4th. REMEMBER TO CHANGE SHUTTER SPEED.
I am hoping that maybe a few of the film pictures with the little girl will be decent. A few more kids walked through at one point. Maybe I will be surprised with the way they turn out.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Converting RAW images to JPEG
My first RAW to JPEG conversion! The professor wants us to shoot in RAW, but I was getting a little concerned that I would not be able to get the pictures I have taken in RAW format converted to JPEG. I didn't do a whole lot of research on RAW to JPEG conversion, but it works now and I am glad.
If you have PSE and are finding that you need to shoot in RAW format but can not view your photos go to Adobe web page here http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4365 and scroll down the page and find the info on how to install the plug-in.
Or if you do not have PSE 6 you can at least view your RAW images by going to Windows Live Photo Gallery. You are asked to create an account. I was trying to find a stand alone program because at the time I didn't realize I would be able to get PSE 6 to open and then convert the RAW image to a JPEG image.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
5 Film Cameras Later
Film camera recap:
1. Messed up the focusing screen on my dad's Sears film camera
2. Bought replacement and returned it to dad
3. Purchase Nikon EM
-Based on list of film camera's the Professor recommended
-First day of class discover it had an automatic shutter speed and will not work for class
4. Professor issues Nikon FM with nice lens
- Took one picture and film will not advance
-Need newly issued camera for school
-Resort to using the EM so I will have film to develop in class
-Load film wrong=no film to develop
5. Professor issues Nikon FG
5 Film Cameras Later, 5 trips downtown, and 2 attempts to develop film; I chose to process this print of a shoe rack outside the shoe store during the farmers market. The professor said that it was more than adequate for the first assignment and I could use it for one of my final 15 prints. He said to work on it just a bit by trying a lower number filter to see if I could get a few of the darker areas just a tad bit lighter. It should be interesting trying to do so as this was my first print. It is a scanned image of the original so it may appear to be darker than it really is.
I did not realize when I took the picture that there is only one shoe in each of the boxes. Very clever technique to get patrons into the store in addition to thwart any potential thievery!
1. Messed up the focusing screen on my dad's Sears film camera
2. Bought replacement and returned it to dad
3. Purchase Nikon EM
-Based on list of film camera's the Professor recommended
-First day of class discover it had an automatic shutter speed and will not work for class
4. Professor issues Nikon FM with nice lens
- Took one picture and film will not advance
-Need newly issued camera for school
-Resort to using the EM so I will have film to develop in class
-Load film wrong=no film to develop
5. Professor issues Nikon FG
5 Film Cameras Later, 5 trips downtown, and 2 attempts to develop film; I chose to process this print of a shoe rack outside the shoe store during the farmers market. The professor said that it was more than adequate for the first assignment and I could use it for one of my final 15 prints. He said to work on it just a bit by trying a lower number filter to see if I could get a few of the darker areas just a tad bit lighter. It should be interesting trying to do so as this was my first print. It is a scanned image of the original so it may appear to be darker than it really is.
I did not realize when I took the picture that there is only one shoe in each of the boxes. Very clever technique to get patrons into the store in addition to thwart any potential thievery!
Ahoy Mate
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Class and Outing
My first photography class was pretty good despite the fact that the second film camera I got will not be suitable for the class. I discovered that the camera does not allow manipulation of the shutter priority. After class I brought it to the Professors attention. He was pretty cool and set me up with a Nikon instead of the Cannons he assigned to the class members who did not have their own cameras. Not only did he provide me with a Nikon but the lens that just happened to be on the camera is a 28 to 70mm zoom with a macro attachment. I can still use my 50 mm lens, the other lens, and flash with my assigned camera.
Although the class is primarily emphasizes film photography, we will get to use digital SLR's as well. I grabbed my D60 before I left work, but it was pretty rainy all day. I did not get to go out at lunch time. After work it started to clear up, so I went downtown. Upon my first few minutes of getting set up and figuring out a few meter readings and applying them, I was approached by a man who needed my financial assistance in sending him back to where he came from. Seriously???? I expected I would encounter an undesirable situation, so to avoid anymore situations where I'd be alone I call my boyfriend Z to come be my bodyguard/assistant.
Despite the fact that we were only downtown for an hour and half we were approached 3 more times for a total of 4 encounters by panhandlers who may possibly be homeless. The solicitors were distracting, but I was able to get a few shots where I believe my meter readings and corresponding photos turned out ok. There are a few where the composition was off but the light was pretty good and others where the composition was creative but the lighting was less than desirable.
Although the class is primarily emphasizes film photography, we will get to use digital SLR's as well. I grabbed my D60 before I left work, but it was pretty rainy all day. I did not get to go out at lunch time. After work it started to clear up, so I went downtown. Upon my first few minutes of getting set up and figuring out a few meter readings and applying them, I was approached by a man who needed my financial assistance in sending him back to where he came from. Seriously???? I expected I would encounter an undesirable situation, so to avoid anymore situations where I'd be alone I call my boyfriend Z to come be my bodyguard/assistant.
Despite the fact that we were only downtown for an hour and half we were approached 3 more times for a total of 4 encounters by panhandlers who may possibly be homeless. The solicitors were distracting, but I was able to get a few shots where I believe my meter readings and corresponding photos turned out ok. There are a few where the composition was off but the light was pretty good and others where the composition was creative but the lighting was less than desirable.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Photography Class Tomorrow
Tomorrow evening my photography class starts! I'm excited for it. My head is already starting to spin. Hopefully the professor keeps a steady and smooth pace.
One of my biggest problems is just taking pictures. The assignment for Thursday's class is to take 24 exposures of a very visual scene-one where there are many sensory impressions. I have an idea, but it will take up my lunch hour as there is a farmers market within waking distance from my workplace. The other semi issue is the lighting. I can take lunch anywhere from 11:30 to 12-30 so if the sun is out it will be really harsh. On the other hand it may rain or even be somewhat of an overcast. The overcast day would be ideal. If the farmers market idea falls through I may go to the park after work on Wednesday. Either way I'm sure I will find a scene filled with visual elements to capture.
One of my biggest problems is just taking pictures. The assignment for Thursday's class is to take 24 exposures of a very visual scene-one where there are many sensory impressions. I have an idea, but it will take up my lunch hour as there is a farmers market within waking distance from my workplace. The other semi issue is the lighting. I can take lunch anywhere from 11:30 to 12-30 so if the sun is out it will be really harsh. On the other hand it may rain or even be somewhat of an overcast. The overcast day would be ideal. If the farmers market idea falls through I may go to the park after work on Wednesday. Either way I'm sure I will find a scene filled with visual elements to capture.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Tree
So my second Flowering Dogwood tree unfortunately did not survive. The tree was out in the middle of the front yard, unable to withstand the exposure to sun, wind, and rain despite all my efforts. It should have never been planted, but I wanted a Flowering Dogwood so bad!
All is not lost, as the Kwanzaa Cherry is the Dogwood's replacement. I think in a way the lack of survival of both Dogwood's is rather symbolic for me right now. I am not discouraged and next spring I will be able to enjoy and take pictures of the new blossoms.
12 days until I start my film photography course. Again I am really looking forward to this class. I have been reading other peoples blogs about photography and I have found a lot of different resources in addition to some of the books about photography that I have been reading. I have really been drawn to they way other photographers portray their subjects and objects with composition and creative uses of depth of field. Now, I really need to dig in and start applying the things I have read about depth of field!
All is not lost, as the Kwanzaa Cherry is the Dogwood's replacement. I think in a way the lack of survival of both Dogwood's is rather symbolic for me right now. I am not discouraged and next spring I will be able to enjoy and take pictures of the new blossoms.
12 days until I start my film photography course. Again I am really looking forward to this class. I have been reading other peoples blogs about photography and I have found a lot of different resources in addition to some of the books about photography that I have been reading. I have really been drawn to they way other photographers portray their subjects and objects with composition and creative uses of depth of field. Now, I really need to dig in and start applying the things I have read about depth of field!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
MCPActions Photo Contest
I am entering this photo in the MCP Actions/Color Inc. Win a Gallery Wrap Canvas Photo Contest at http://mcpactions.com/blog. I certify that I took this photo and give both parties permission to use this photograph on their blogs/sites.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Cleaning a "vintage" SLR flim camera
Well a couple evenings ago I started to clean up my dad's Sears KS Super 35 mm SLR film camera that he let me borrow for a photography course I will be taking in the summer. I learned that you should not ever:
The focusing screen and the mirror inside the camera body are very sensitive and can be easily scratched or smudged. If the mirror damper or rather the strip of black padding becomes dry rotted due to age, it can cause real problems once disrupted with the slightest touch as the residue could fall onto the focusing screen. The residue is sticky and will become a permanent reminder of your cleaning experience.
Some other camera models may be easier to clean but use caution when searching the Internet for solutions for your problem.
touch with finger, lens paper, air, or brush the inside of the camera body
(unless you know what you are doing, which of course I had not a clue)
(unless you know what you are doing, which of course I had not a clue)
The focusing screen and the mirror inside the camera body are very sensitive and can be easily scratched or smudged. If the mirror damper or rather the strip of black padding becomes dry rotted due to age, it can cause real problems once disrupted with the slightest touch as the residue could fall onto the focusing screen. The residue is sticky and will become a permanent reminder of your cleaning experience.
Some other camera models may be easier to clean but use caution when searching the Internet for solutions for your problem.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
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