A Photo Shoot - The Many Faces of Yahoo.

I think I got burned on taking photos a while back but after I got some camera advice from a friend of mine, ordering some filters and taking football pictures I've been finding more and more reasons to break out the camera. Last week Yahoo and I were outside on one of our many glorious SW Kansas days and, surprisingly, she was hamming it up for the camera. Most days she runs and hides when she sees me shooting. I'm sure most of you won't care one bit about this post and that's fine; these pics are mostly for grandmas, grandpa and numerous aunts and uncles anyway :) 

Pretending to be asleep. 

She spends more time swinging on this hammock than actually laying down. Good thing they are sturdy. 

Her Princess Face....

...and her Tiger Face! 

..again..

...and again!

I was playing around a lot on editing these and I'm really happy how they turned out. Since she was born I've been trying to get a photo showing the accurate color of her eyes. I think I'm pretty close here! 

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 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. 

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. 

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. 

Weeks 18 & 19 - Icy and Flexuous

Last week was crazy busy for me and I totally spaced the fact I needed to shoot my 52 week project for Week 18, Ice and didn't get a post up. So I'm playing catch up today by posting Weeks 18 and 19 together. 

I wasn't quite sure what would be a good way to approach it so I just tossed some ice on my driveway one evening. I did go back over and edit all these photos quite a bit. I decreased the brightness and increased the contrast to really make the colors of the driveway pop out. I definitely overexposed the ice and probably should have reshot but I didn't get a good look at the photos until evening. Snow and Ice are still things that are tricky for me to shoot. 

1/320 sec., f5.6, ISO 1600

1/320 sec., f5.6, ISO 1600

1/320 sec., f5.6, ISO 1600

Week 19 - Flexuous

Although I had an idea of what flexuous meant I still decided to look it up. flexuous: Full of bends or curves; sinuous.

I thought my pea plants fit this week's theme very well! I love how the plants are getting all tangled together...a good sign of a healthy pea plant. 

1/125 sec., f10, ISO 1600 

1/125 sec., f10, ISO 1600 

1/100 sec., f10, ISO 1600 

I like this one the best. 

Week 20, wow 20 already?

Week 20 - Black 

The Mad Little Sister

I took my kids out early Saturday morning to the park with the only goal of taking pictures and HOPING to get ONE where all three of them are smiling and happy and a good individual shot of each of my kids. I know, I know...a huge expectation on my part wasn't it? But really, 4 great pictures was all I was asking for! 


I have to hand it to my boys, they were great and happy and getting photos of them was quick, easy and painless! 


Yahoo on the other hand.....




....well, I'll just let a couple of photos speak for themselves. 

Hee, hee!! Yip and Yap were trying sooo hard to get her to smile and help me out but all Yahoo wanted to do was leave to play on the swings. 

Finally, we agreed to take a photo on the swings but I had to do it quick. It's not the greatest photo and I'll have to do some editing but at least they are all smiling, toothless and all! Thank goodness!

Week 16 - Clean

Week 16 theme is clean. I was doing dishes and wanted to try shooting bubbles. This first one originally was very bright and I had to do a lot of editing to get the stream of water and details of the bubbles to show up. 

f7.1, 1/13 sec, ISO 1600

f7.1, 1/10 sec., ISO 1600

The second was a bit better but I still ended up tweaking the contrast some. This one is my favorite though with the shallow depth and the blue reflected on top of the faucet. 

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

Next week....Fire. That could be fun. 

Week 15 - Plinth

 A plinth is the base or platform upon which a column, pedestal, statue, monument or structure rests. (Wikipedia)

A plinth huh? I had to look up what it even was! But heck, once I knew what a plinth was I still wasn't sure how I was going to take a photo of one. It's not like I'm super close to some grand museum with plinths and statues. 

I got to thinking of something that was "monumental" or something "on a pedestal" I could shoot. 

Then I walked by this. Yep, laundry is monumental and I'm always throwing baskets up on top. 

Now, to shoot it in an interesting way! 

1/100 sec., f5.3, ISO 1600

1/250, f4, ISO 1600

Next Week - Clean 

Week 14 - Music

Sorry, I'm a bit late :) 

Week 14 - Music. Honestly, I've been occupied with other things this week and hadn't given any thought on how to shoot music. I mentioned yesterday to Amy Morrow, the missionary who's been a guest in our town the past few days that I needed to shoot Music and she pulled out an African thumb piano for me to shoot! Luckily I had some wonderful sunshine coming in the window just at that moment. 

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

a bit of editing 

1/40sec., f5.6, ISO 1600

Next week, Week 15 is Plinth.

Do you know what a plinth is? 

I admit I had to look it up!