POTD FEb 29

I'm not sure yet how I feel about this one. It's not quite what I had in mind, but still maybe not too bad. We got our new Wacom tablet today, so I am looking forward to having a play with that over the weekend.

POTD Feb 27th

I didn't get a chance to take any photos today so I decided to go back at have a look at some fromt he other day. The photos from when I took this particular shot were not great, so I decided to use it to play in PS. This was taken at too high an ISO and was terribly out of focus so I converted it to black and white and added exagerated the lack of focus by adding extra noise. I wont be printing this one, but it's something a bit different. I like how it kind of looks like a drawing.

POTD Feb 26

I needed to take a new headshot today for one of my design teams, and michael was at work, so I went the self portrait option. Kyan decided he would like to be the one pressing the button and did pretty well (the camera was on a tripod after all). He decided he also wanted in, and so we did a few silly ones together, then we got Cameron in on the action too. We ended up with a lot of rubbish of course, but this one I quite like. So, on topic for the week, this is me interacting with my newborn as shot by my 3 year old.

POTD Feb 25th

Something different today. I 'm not sure what I was really trying to accomplish with this flower shot, but I am pretty happy with it. I really NEED a macro lens. I would love to have been able to get in a bit closer, but in the meantime, this will do.


Meanwhile, my husband... the one of us who actually has some photographic knowledge, headed out with our new lens on the weekend. Have a look at his efforts and let him know what you think: http://michaeljbarry.blogspot.com/

POTD Feb 24th

A couple of people yesterday asked about where these shots were taken. It's in Brooklyn and the fence is in the front of a brownstone on my street. Obviously this place is full of them, so I'll have to go out some time and find some more interesting ones to photograph.

We've had a heao of snow here lately, but with sick kids, today was the first time I could get out. I didn't find much worth taking. All the snow is disturbed now, I wanted to get some hanging on leaves, that sort of thing, but didn't have any luck. Also ran out of light since Michael had been out with the gear taking shot of the city today.

Anyway, here are some tree photos from the park. I converted them to emphasise the silhouetted shapes against the snow. Not sure they are much good, but I think they are interesting.

POTD Feb 23rd

I'f feeling a bit better now, thanks to those that asked, but the kids are both sick, so even though it snowed and snowed yesterday and Kyan really wanted to play, we stayed inside where it was nice and warm. That meant that the only snow photos I could get were from the window, so I have nothing spectacular to show. The first is just the view from my window. I do like the contrast between the snow and the branches. The second is the fence across the road. It's not a great photo, but I liked the shapes in it.

POTD Feb 21

Well like many people on the 2peas board, we decided to try to get some eclipse shots last night. We have pretty decent gear now, so we hoped for a good outcome. We were still limited though and think this is probably the best we could do with the equipment we have.
One of the good things about living in a brownstone, is that we could climb up onto the roof which was nice and flat and set up the tripod away from any street lights. It was ridiculously cold. It was a joint effort by my husband and I. I'm sure he will leave a comment here claiming all the credit... and yes perhaps he did do all the settings, but I was the one who pressed the buton.

Anyway, its not real clear, but I kinda like that it looks like the moon has a glow rather than just being totally out of focus. We might look at getting an extender and might do better next time.

POTD Feb 20

I've been feeling unwell today, so no photos even though our new wide angle L lens arrived today. This is another one from the weekend. Off topic again. I really like texture in the timber and the perspective fo the shot. I had a play with DOF too.

POTD Feb19

I didn't have time to take any new photos today so this is one I took yesterday, just playing around. It's not a great photo and I've done nothing to it. I knew at the time it could be better but right in the middle, Kyan smacked his head on the lounge and got upset, so the photo shoot was over.

By the way, thanks for your concern for Kyan after yesterday, He has a nice bruise on his head, but he's fine. He had already been warned not to do it and did it anyway, so I'm afraid he didn't get too much sympathy from me.

POTD Feb 18

Now that I know that the theme for the week is shape I thought this one might suit. It's another one from my little adventure yesterday. I just wanted to see what it would look like if I used the fence to frame the boat shed. I wouldn't mind having another go at positioning the boat shed through the fence, but other than that I'm happy with the shot. This is as it was shot.

The shape factor is obviously the shapes created by the pailings of the fence.

POTD Feb 17

Today I left Michael and the babies at home, at headed up to the park by myself, just to see what I could come up with. I have 17 shots that I have saved to have a play with. I can't remember how many I took, I think it was about 100. Alot of them simply didn't work. Some of them I know why, some I don't. Shutter speed seems to be my problem today. I can look at a photo and know why it didn't work most of the time, but knowing exactly how to fix it is something I am still working on. One thing at a time.



On yesterdays post, a few people asked about focus. The main thing I learned was the correlation between focal length and shutter speed, but like I said, I'm not really sure how to fix that yet. I'll get there though. Sara, I'm not sure about the things you mentioned, but I'll check out the FAQ thread, thanks.



Here's my favourite so far. This is more or less as shot. Just played with the contrast a little.

ISO 100 f/8.0 1/30

This is a set of stone stairs to the left of the waterfall.

ISO 200 f/16.0 1/25

I took this one with reflection in mind. I liked how the tree reflected in the water but was broken up by the sheets of thin ice. I wanted to include the leaf as a point of interest. I did play with the histogram for this one a little in PS to get better brightness and contrast. Not sure I am done with it. Michael thinks it needs to be cropped in a bit tighter on the leaf.He might be right. It gets a little lost, but I don't want to lose the reflection. It does look better when the whole thing is larger though.

ISO100 f14.0 1/13

Thanks for all the comments.

POTD Feb 16

Thanks for all the welcoming comments yesterday. I already feel like I am learning lots.

This is one I took of Kyan the other day. The background is actually the inside of our fire place, and I really like the way it looks. Unfortunately as with many of my shots, the focus is a little off. Michael has since explained to me what I did wrong, so hopefully tomorrow I might try to have another go at it. Meanwhile, I quite like the composition and Kyan's beautiful blue eyes. I haven't altered this photo at all.

POTD Feb 15

This is for the POTD challenge at 2peas. It is not on the set topic, but some I'm really happy with. I have to credit one of the other 2peas ladies for the set up idea. I saw a similar shot on her blog and loved it, and thought it would be a great shot for Cameron. Remember that I am no photographer and I am just strating to learn how to use the camera properly, so there is probably a lot wrong with the photos, but I'm very happy.

PWAC Black and white

This is for the black and white challenge at 2peas.