Spooky - Week 43

This week's photo theme was Spooky. We had a great moon the other night. I din't have time to drive around for a good view; I was just able to take a shot out my front door. I didn't even have time to set up my tripod. I knew it was going to be grainy and probably out of focus but I was hoping I'd get something to work with at least. 

Here's the shot straight from the camera. 

ISO 1600, f 5.6, 1/5 sec.

And then I did a lot of editing. Burning, playing with curves, increasing contrast, desaturating, adding a border. 

Nothing great, gut I'm happy with it. 

Next week's theme is Abstract. 

Week 42 - Windows

The window in my garage. 

1/250 sec., f18, ISO 1600

Week 43 - Scary!! 

Looks like I'll have to tote my camera along while I'm trick or treating :) 

Photo Thursday - I'm White Rabbit Late on 52 Weeks.

I am so late. 

Like the White Rabbit Late. 

You know running around like crazy screaming, "I'm late, I'm late." 

How does this happen? I'm so good at keeping my kids on myself on schedule for school, football, dinner, bedtime...but I can never keep myself on a schedule for my own projects. They just seem to fit into the few spare moments I have, if any, in a day. 

I'm something like five weeks late on my 52 Week Photo project. Where does the time go? I had every intention of getting these done but before I knew another week had come and gone...and another...and another. I even took a day last week to take a photo walk around town and catch up...and then accidentally deleted most of the photos that I took, which was okay because I didn't like most of them anyway. 

Today I put my foot down. I passed the laundry and dishes that were desperately calling out for my attention. I left my daughter playing Play Dough unsupervised, though she did come help me out with some shots later on, to go to the garage and catch up on my 52 Weeks. I was determined that I could find inspiration right in my back yard and that I would only shoot ONE photo per theme. 

And I did. And, I think, they turned out pretty darn good. 

So here you go, straight from the camera, no edits....

...my very very late photographs. 

Week 32 - Intromit (to allow in)

1/60sec., F8, ISO 1600

Week 36 - No

I am ALWAYS hollering at her to get down and leave my clothespins alone! 

1/250 sec., F8, ISO 200

Week 39 - Tools 

Shot in Black and White but I think I'd like it just as much in color

1/80 sec., F8, ISO 1600 with flash

I've been really afraid to use a flash for a long time but recently I've started to get the hang of it. I still feel a little uncertain using it though. 

Week 40 - Bent

1/100 sec., F7.1, ISO 1600 with flash

Week 41 - Blue

1/100 sec., F8, ISO 1600 with flash 

Next week, if I'm not behind again, theme is Windows. 

Weeks 37 and 38...and the wagon is....

Whoops! I'm out of order...I forgot Week 36 was NO...I'll come back to that I guess. This 52 Week Photo post is short and sweet...I've been too busy to think much about my weekly themes. 

An OLD Grain Elevator...I'm not sure if it's even used anymore. 

1/320, f16, ISO 800 

A NEW Sunset. 

1/320 sec., f10, ISO 1600 

And if you are stopping by for the answer to yesterday's post. This wagon was used to haul water out to the steam engine on the farm....well, duh!!! 

Week 35 - Luscious

Have you ever heard that phrase, 

"Cowboy butts drive me nuts!"

I got to see plenty of cowboy butts last weekend so I decided to focus on those for my Luscious theme! Maybe I'm stretching it a bit here but I sure had a good time ogling form the stands. These aren't Luke Bryan or Jason Aldean. I think they are better, REAL cowboy BUTTS! 

And some of them weren't too bad at all! 

Sorry, I don't have info to post on these shots; I'm posting in a hurry tonight. 

I will tell you these were shot in bright afternoon sun with an ISO of 800 I believe. The only editing I've done to these is cropping and adding a bit of sharpness. 

 Week 36 NO

Week 37 Old

Week 38 New

I've been thinking that I might do this project again next year and compare one year to the other. 

Photo Project, Weeks 33 and 34

I'm not behind really I'm not! I HAVE been shooting my 52 week themes I just haven't had the time to post on them! 

I take that back. I did skip one week's theme, Week 32 Intromit, because I just have not thought of or come across something that I think would fit. That might be the one week I come back to. 

Week 33 was Air and I focused on air while we were in Colorado. Both of these were taken at the top of Pike's Peak. 

1/2000 sec., f14, ISO 1600

1/400 sec., f9, ISO 100 (edited the brightness and cropped slightly)

I know my ISO's are way different. The top was taken from inside a train so I had my ISO high and didn't have time to readjust before taken the shot of the rocky hill. The second was outside on top of the mountain and it was SO bright that even at 1/400 sec. I felt it was too overexposed so I edited it a bit. 

Week 34 - Miniscule

This was one of those weeks that I wish I had a macro lens. But in this case I got in as close as I could to my subject and then cropped when I needed to. 

1/50 sec., f5.6, ISO 1600

1/30 sec., f7.1, ISO 1600

Then I cropped this one tightly

An Eggplant Leaf

1/20 sec., f7.1, ISO 1600

These were shot near sunset so I was losing light quickly. Not bad for a slow shutter speed and being hand held. I'm not sure how I feel about the graininess. I kind of like it, though I wasn't planning on it. Is that okay? 

Next Week - Luscious

Either I need to work on my food photography or I need to find a really sexy cowboy to shoot some shirtless photos of! Any volunteers? 

Week 31 - Down

Week 31 theme is DOWN. 

We went to visit Boot Hill and the Old Front Street in Dodge City the other day where I took these photos. None of these have been edited, just straight out of the camera. 

1/320 sec., f14, ISO 1600

1/320 sec., f25, ISO 1600

1/250 sec., f14, ISO 1600

Week 32 - Intromit

Oh goodness, that's a word I'm going to have to look up. 

Week 30 - UP

For this week's theme I chose to shoot UP more than showing an object that was UP. Hope you like them; I'm rather pleased with them. 

1/500 sec., F20, ISO 400

1/640 sec., F7.1, ISO 400

1/400 sec., F22, ISO 400 

All these were shot from the roadside...just weeds in a ditch. But kind of pretty weeds wouldn't you say? 

Week 31 - DOWN 

Week 28/29 - Weapon and Edge

I'm behind....again...

I wish I were one of those organized people always knowing what needs done when and having a plan to get it all done. The reality is I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants most of the time :) 

Weapon

This one was fun to shoot though I didn't get many good photos. My boys and about four other boys have had a water battle at the pool a couple days in a row...it was pretty intense! 

1/400 sec., f14, ISO 400

Edge

I'm not too cracked on how the weapon photo turned out but I'm much happier with edge. Yip was waiting on the edge of the pool anxiously listening for the lifeguard whistle signaling the okay to jump in after the break. 

1/400 sec., f13, ISO 400 

This one is cropped way in and edited quite a bit, changing the brightness, contrast and saturation levels. 

Then with a vintage filter and more color saturation. 

Week 30, next week is UP. 

Week 27 - Eyes

Yahoo is always getting complements on our beautiful her eyes are....much to the chagrin of her father DR. He's afraid she's going to grow up to be a teenage girl with beautiful eyes :) 

This week's theme is Eyes and I've tried for a long time to get a good photo of her eyes, she doesn't always cooperate. But just the other night we were in the bathroom, she was sitting on the counter and the light was coming in the window just right, and she was in a good mood, and I was able to snap a couple pretty quickly. 

Original; 1/60 sec., f5.6, ISO 1600 

Edited; closer and a little color boost. 

Geez, I'm jealous of those eyes. 

This one is out of focus but I love it anyway, blurry and all because, I think, it  shows off Yahoo's personality. 

Original; f5.6, 1/50 sec., ISO 1600 

Edited slightly with more contrast and a little more color saturation. 

Next week's theme is Weapon! 

Oh, there's sooo many ways I could shoot that!!

Week 26 - EAT

I'm a week behind but hopefully I can get caught up by Saturday. 

So Week 26, halfway through..can you believe it? 

This photo was taken a couple weeks ago but I love it so much I thought I'd include it today. Not that I took a fabulous photo but I love the way Yahoo's hands are so carefully cradling her watermelon. That girl LOVES her watermelon! 

1/100 sec., f9, ISO 1600

1/60 sec., f5.6, ISO 1600 with flash 

I've found that one of the hardest things about using my camera is using my flash and still getting, what I think, is a nice photo. This morning Yip was sitting on the couch eating an apple and reading, his normal breakfast position, with the light coming in through the window. It was a nice gold light but just not enough to expose his left side but when I turned on the flash it was just perfect. 

Next week, or maybe Saturday if I can catch up...that's the plan anyway, is EYES!! 

Week 25 - COLOR

I'm a wee bit later posting my weekly photo than usual, but not behind! 

Still on track, and can you believe it, next week I'll be halfway through this project? This has been so much fun, I think I want to do another 52 week project next year, who's with me? 

Anyway, this week's theme was COLOR and I decided that I wanted to look for one color and how it popped out in a scene. 

Earlier this week when Yip was painting his sign to sell his Captain America Shields I loved how the early morning light was coming through the lattice blocks but the red paint wasn't completely washed out. 

(He's still selling his shields by the way. He's made $15, enough to buy a real Captain America Shield off Amazon.) 

1/100 sec., f10, ISO 1600

I did overexpose this shot so I did tweak the brightness on this one slightly. 

And look, Yip again. It's not often that he's the subject of my photos. Yap and Yahoo are usually my camera hams. 

1/100 sec., f9, ISO 1600

More red. 

They don't mind getting their pictures taken but they don't usually want to sit still for very long or in a certain place to get a picture taken. 

My kids are not good "posers". I wish they were. 

Next week; 

Week 26 - Eat! 

Maybe one of my goals next week is to shoot someone eating other than my own children, hmmm, we'll have to see how that one works out. 

Weeks 23 and 24 (I'm caught up!)

I went out yesterday morning determined to get all my photos for 52 Weeks caught up. I've been running around like crazy this summer and my photo homework has slipped my mind :P But I'm caught up now!! 

Week 23 - Coil 

I 

1/50 sec., f6.3, ISO 1600 

I did a little editing to this one to give it a subtle vintage quality. 

1/100 sec., f11, ISO 1600

Obvious editing on this one :) 

I love this sign, my grandmother gave it to me a couple years after I became a mom.  

Week 24 - Stop

On these following two I only increased the contrast slightly. 

1/100 sec., f10, ISO 800

1/100 sec., f11, ISO 800

Yip has been making tons of these paper plate Captain America shields. (More on that later:) But I just thought it was cute how Yahoo was playing with one and pretending to stop the bad guys. (Yes, we are big Avenger fans!) I liked the stop sign behind her as though the bad guys needed another reminder! 

Next week, 25, is COLOR!! 

Weeks 21 and 22; Rest and Architecture

Vacation put me a bit behind on my 52 week project. I think this week is actually week 23. I'll get caught up eventually :) For the themes Rest and Architecture I took some photos during vacation. 

Week 22 - Architecture 

1/3 sec, f9, ISO 1600

This one was taken in the Mad Anthony Brewing Company in Warsaw, Indiana during a date with my husband. I LOVE their SCOTCH EGGS and Harry Baals Irish Stout! I slowed my shutter speed way down to get the fans to blur and then I desaturated the color of the beams and increased the vibrance of the lights themselves. I really like all the lines and angles in this photo that direct your eye to the lights. 

Week 21 - Rest 

1/200 sec, f14, ISO 800

After a very busy couple of days Yahoo fell asleep in a wagon at the zoo. Even in the bright sunshine being hauled over some bumpy paths she found some rest. I wish I could have joined her for her nap :) 

I've been trying to shoot at an high ISO at all times lately (800,1600) even outside after I read an article about combining a high ISO with a fast shutter speed to create sharper images. I think it worked well to make Yahoo sharp but maybe I should have lowered my f-stop to 6.3 or so to make it out of focus in the background. Rest and sharpness don't really go together. 

Next week I'll try to have Week 23 - Coil and Week 24 - Stop posted. Hopefully that should get me caught up and back on schedule. 

Week 21 - Black

This week's theme is Black. (Whoops, I'm a few days behind :) 

My FB friend, you would know her in my comments as Jester6, who I am doing this photo theme with did the coolest thing for Black. 

What my friend had to say about her photo, "I had a late night grocery trip this evening and while putting groceries away I spotted the glow sticks on the top shelf. It was late. It was dark. I decided, WHY NOT!! :-)

I didn't take the time to grab the tripod. The picture is completely grainy. Who cares? It was fun. :-)

 "

 

It was fun!! That's the point of photography right? To enjoy ourselves and have fun. I'm so glad my Jester6 has such a fun laid back attitude towards photography. Although we both want to improve our photo taking skills what's the point if we are ALWAYS stressing about fstops and tripods and getting "the perfect photo"?! 

I've been packing this week for our vacation to Indiana and decided to take a page from Jester6 and not stress over BLACK. When the right moment came to shoot, I'd know. 

And I did. DR and I were in the living room reading and working on the computer as the sun slowly set. Only when it was dark in the house did I realize this would be a perfect time to shoot! 

All of these are hand held, no tripod...just holding my breath and trying to stay as still as possible. 

These were fun and were all shot at 1/6sec, F5, ISO 1600

I'm on vacation right now and am not sure when I'll get to shoot the next couple weeks themes so I'll keep on eye out for both of them. 

Week 21 - Rest and Week 22 - Architecture