Day 31

I didn't get much of a chance to take pictures today. For the short bit that I could, we set up our new backdrop to see what it would look like with just the indoor lighting. I had to have such a high ISO, and wide aperture, as well as a slow shutter speed, it just did not work. I used the toy alligator in the picture to lure Jackson over. It worked, but he still didn't stay put.  Besides the fact that it's quite underexposed, you can see how the lighting significantly effects the way the color of the background looks, by comparing it with the previous post. It looks much prettier in the natural light.

Day 30: Photo... Shoot!

This was again, an attempt at a photo shoot type set up.  It would have been perfect if the little man wasn't constantly on the move. He just would not stay still enough for me to catch him, unless there was some sort of toy in his mouth, which would block most of his face! Anyway, I was proud of my "set" since I made it myself. I found this DIY project on one of the photography forums I'm a member on. I picked everything up at Home Depot for about $50.  The "wall" and "floor" are a 4x8 foot piece of paneling cut in half. I just painted the one half with a sample size Behr paint, and liquid nailed the base board, which I also painted, to the bottom. I am proud of the outcome. Now if I could just get Jackson to look at the camera, stay still, and smile...

Day 29

I'm playing catch-up here. And Jackson, he was playing in the cupboard!

Day 28

Day 27

Just a quick shot of the little man today. I used a high ISO, 1600. And today I learned that when using a high ISO you should ETTR (Expose to the Right) or overexpose by a stop or two. It helps prevent noise with the larger ISO. I learned this after taking the pic, but I will be trying it the next time I find myself bumping up the ISO.

Day 26: Snowfest?

I'm day behind in posting, but yesterday we attempted to go to Snowfest. As it turns out, none of the sculptures were finished. In fact, most were just getting started.  No pictures of the snow carvings :( But, Jackson officially became 9 months old, so I had to get at least a picture of him. He was all bundled up to stay warm.

Day 25: Nature Walk

Today was the perfect day to take some outdoor shots. Lizzy and I went for a walk through the woods on the property I grew up on. It turns out that there really isn't any color these days and I really had to look to find some. The Birch trees were my best subjects today. Well Lizzy was too, as she rested her tired little self by the fire.

 

Day 24: The Return of One-Eyed Jack

It may be just one eye but it looks pretty darn good. It seems when I use custom white balance and I get the eyes in sharp focus, they always look bluer. And better!

Day 23: Focus Baby!

I spent today trying to get some head shots of the little man, both with the background and while he was fastened in his high chair. Still, it was terribly hard to work on all the aspects of photography that I've been practicing with a boy who refuses to stay still.  So our goal today: Getting the eyes in sharp focus! I did still work with Custom White Balance, but pretty much ignored my RGB histogram for the most part.  In this photo I nailed the focus, the cost was a slight head chop. For those eyes, it was worth it.

50mm f/2.5 ss 1/125 ISO 200

Day 22: Just Tired

Since Jackson will be nine months old on Wednesday, and I was intending on doing a "formal" shoot, today I was going to practice. I have never tried something like this, and I don't have the right equipment. I was going to practice when Jack fell asleep, by putting in front of my backdrop and getting some shots. I figured sleeping = not moving. Well, as soon as I set him down he woke up and was not happy. I still got some practice shots, they are just heartbreaking is all. I tried some photo editing, using iphoto so it's far from good, to enhance it.  I always thought the tear-stained face shots looked classic in black and white.  Someday, when I have actual editing software, I will be able to make stunning B&W. Until then...

Day 21: Snow... & Jack

I got this picture of the snow this morning. It's actually the shadows from the trees on the snow, but it looks like a white canvas with blue painted across it.

50mm f/5.6 ss 1/400 ISO 100

I was able to get some cute shots of Jackson today, too. I thought I would share. Please excuse the distracting chair on the left. He has just learned to pull himself up, and was standing for me.

50mm f/3.2 ss 1/160 ISO 400.... Love the Catchlights!

Day 20: Custom White Balance & Histogram

I worked some more on Custom White Balance for the 2 Peas course and while doing so, kept in mind my histogram and not clipping colors. This was more difficult because in this picture, most of the red tone comes from his skin. Clipping the color in skin is something you really want to avoid. Of course this time I made sure to keep the photo with the preset WB to show the difference in Custom and presets (Tungsten in this case).

50mm f/2.5 ss-1/100 ISO-800 WB-Tungsten

Now with the Custom set using a coffee filter since I don't have a calibration target yet.

50mm f/2.5 ss-1/60 ISO-400 

Importance of Exposure & Using it Creatively

The moon looks cool tonight, so I thought I would take a shot of it.  I put my settings at what would be a proper exposure according to the camera, when metering just to the side of the moon on the sky.  These would have been better if I had a zoom lens to make the moon really big.  My settings were

50mm f/1.4 ss 1/80 ISO 1600

Now, here is the same shot but with the exposure upped quite a bit.

50mm f/1.4 ss 1/30 ISO 6400

It looks almost like it's daylight. I like this, but it's a little too much.

So, I dropped the exposure a bit. It is still really overexposed around the moon, but I like it better since it doesn't look like noon instead of night.

50mm f/1.4 ss 1/25 ISO 1600

As with these examples, in my opinion, the "correct" exposure, may not be the best one. And sometimes you need to have a little bit of a blown area to get a creatively good exposure. :)

Day 19: Custom WB

Since I share this blog with friends and family, I was really trying today to get a good picture of Jackson.  However, now that he can crawl really well, and pull himself up on to things, it is close to impossible to get him to stay still enough for me to capture him with the lighting I have. So, I apologize for another non-Jack post to anyone hoping to see a photo of him.

I decided to do some practice with Custom White Balance, since that is the lesson we are on in the 2 Peas course. I should have saved the other photos with the preset white balances, but they were so icky I deleted them.  With the custom I think it turned out great.

Also, I didn't blow out the histogram, or clip any colors. Yay!

Day 18: More Histogram

I tried the same thing as I did yesterday, but with Elisabeth this time.  Not only is this photo funny, I didn't clip or blow anything out!

Day 17: Using the RGB Histogram

A couple of days ago, I joined a new photography forum (Clickin' Moms) that I just LOVE.  I was a little unsure about it at first because it's a private board and has an annual fee.  However, in just the past 48 hours of being a member, I have learned so much that it is already worth every penny.  Today, I thought that I would work on something I had learned on this awesome forum.  The Histogram, and more specifically the sRGB part of the histogram.  As it turns out I may get a good exposure most of the time according the the luminosity histogram (which is really as far as my knowledge went until two days ago), but I would be clipping the colors (mostly red).  I used Jackson's sippy, because, let's face it, the kid moves too much for me to use him. Plus, this cup has a lot of red so I knew that I would have to work a bit harder to not clip the reds.  I used a custom WB as that makes a huge difference when trying to keep from clipping colors.

SOOC 50mm f/2.0, ss 1/50, ISO 800

According to the histogram, I could have upped the exposure a bit on this.  However, according the the sRGB histo, if I had I would have clipped, or overexposed, the reds.

I honestly can't wait to learn more!

Day 16: Shutter Speed Slow Down

Day 15

Day 14

Okay, so I'm cheating a little.  Technically, I took pictures everyday. However, I didn't have the time to post everyday.  So today, I am backing up and posting the pictures from the past few days.

Day 13: Snow Day

We went out to try some snow pictures.  I had good focus on most of the pictures I kept, but not on this one. I just love his expression!

Day 12

This photo was slightly edited because it was quite underexposed SOOC.  Now it is a bit grainy.  And I was trying to get them both in focus so I shot it at f/4.5, but doing that caused me to have way to slow a shutter speed.  So, they are both blurry regardless.  Tomorrow I will attempt again at sharper focus.  I keep failing with the lack of good light.  I can't wait until it gets warmer out!

 

Day 11: Depth of Field Play Day!

I have been able to keep up so far with a picture a day for the Challenge, but I'm going to have to have other subject matter from time to time besides my little man.  Today, I played with DoF while he napped. The rattle says his name; and the book is his favorite that has Chad's voice recorded on it.

Day 10

These are shots I took while doing the Two Peas Course with the Bump ladies today.  It's lame, but I didn't have much of a chance to do anything else.  This week we were working on aperture, but Jackson came in and ambushed my set up, nommed on a pear, and then fled the scene with bits of fruit stuck on his face.

Day 9

Well, today was our last day with Chad until July.  I already miss him so much, but thankfully I got a few pictures to help get me through the next 6+ months.  So, here are what will likely be the last pictures with him in them until the summer.  In case you read this Chad, we love you!

 

Day 8

Taking a nap with Daddy makes for some good pics on day eight.  How sweet is that!

Day 7

So, these are from yesterday, which was Day 7. I just didn't get a chance to post them.  Jackson is crawling really well now.  If your not right behind him, he will get into something!  Jackson got to play with Grandpa yesterday when he came for a visit.

Day 6

I spent some time outside today.  I'm still not sure how to make the snow look completely white and not gray.  The birdhouse is a cute one that Jacob made for my Mom a few years ago, and it made for a good subject.

With this one I was trying to focus on the small poof of snow on the leaf, but it looks like I got more of the branch instead.

I like the DoF in the last one, though the blur in the closest post seems to be a bit distracting.

Day 5

We got off to a good start today!  By taking the shots early, when there was a ton of natural light, I was able to get some great Fill Frame type photos of Jackson.  So, it takes until Day 5 for me to be happy to share my Challenge photos.  I can't wait until it is warmer out and natural light will be easier to take advantage of. Anyway, here are a few of my favorites.

And for the Finally, my absolute favorite!

Oh and for fun :) ...