Just Another Girl with a Camera

Another set of Senior Photos

2012-01-24T22:24:00.000-06:00

I really don't intend to neglect my blog.... It has been one hectic school year!!

As I mentioned previously, I was hired by a former student to do her photos. I am very pleased with the way they turned out!!

Here are a few:

It was SO windy and cold that day. We had trouble keeping her hair out of her face. It is nice to have such a photogenic subject though!!! She made it lots of fun.

Here are a couple where I tried to get a more "dreamy" feel to the photos:

It was a great time and I learned so much!! I learned to quit looking for the perfect background - if you pull in tight to the subject and pay attention, you can make several different backgrounds look nice! Mostly, it was nice to get excited about taking pictures! :)

Have a blessed day!

Tiffany

Frustration with Auto-Focus

2011-10-11T22:39:00.000-05:00

It seems like forever since I have posted on the blog, but it's actually only been 2 and a half weeks. In the intervening time, I have still been working at trying to get Senior Portraits for my son.

We went back to the garden near the lake near sunset this time. Here are a couple of the shots I got.

In both of these photos, I see that his shirt is in perfect focus, but when I zoom in to do some minor touch-ups, I find that his eyes are still not focused. I could have sworn that I auto-focused with the little dot blinking over his eye, but the pictures come back with fuzzy looking eyes! So frustrating!!! Of course, the perfectionist in me is still not satisfied!!!

On the bright side, after posting these on facebook, I had a former student call me up and ask me to take her photos. :) That should be a lot of fun!

More later!

Tiffany

Mommy - Take My Picture!!

2011-09-25T10:01:00.000-05:00

We love this little bridge at the park. My issue is this - I want to get the bridge in the shot, but I prefer my portraits to be much more "up close" or cropped in.

Hrm... I will be revisiting this bridge often!

I love just about anything with stonework!

So here - the tree is in focus, but she is not. *sigh*

I seem to be having focus issues....

That's better

I wonder what she was looking at...

Hope your day is filled with wonder!

Tiffany

Teeter-Totter with the Daughter (hehe... it rhymes!)

2011-09-23T21:15:00.000-05:00

UP!

DOWN!

UP!!

DOWN!

(at this point, I noticed the wonderful sun when she is "UP")

Hey! Look at Mommy!!

Smile!!

Umm..... Not like that - a REAL smile!!

OK - Nevermind. Just look normal.

At a Girl!! :)

Have a great day!!

Tiffany

The Violin Lesson

2011-09-21T16:10:00.000-05:00

My youngest is taking violin lessons again this year. Because her previous teacher retired, she has moved to a Suzuki teacher. Therefore, she has not only a private lesson every week, but also a group lesson.

I enjoy the view from the back of the room while she fiddles away. I think to myself, "If I ever get the chance to set up my own studio, I'm going to use a lot of these ideas."

I totally love the way she set up the music room! :)

I have always loved these clocks. I want one! :)

She has these little vases in the windows all around the studio.

I love music too!!!

Mine is the one in the red shirt.

Amen, and Amen!

Have you practiced today??? :)

Have a great one!

Tiffany

Capturing Butterflies - but NOT

2011-09-18T10:29:00.000-05:00

Earlier this past week, I went to a park with my daughter. The butterflies were out and it was a beautiful time of night.

So - I tried to capture some of the butterflies. HA! That was a big FAIL. I felt kinda "looser-ish"....

I have a new found respect for wildlife photographers - especially those who can capture flying creatures!

Here are my attempts.

Not that it's a particularly BAD picture, it's just difficult to see the butterfly.

At least it's in focus in this one, but hidden behind a flower....

It flew away. I think that might be the edge of a wing on the right side.

Again, it moved. I kinda like all the blur in the picture though. :)

Finding the butterfly is a little like "Where's Waldo". I'm not sure it's even there.

So, I will return sometime this next week and try again. :)

Good luck to any of you who attempt to capture these evasive little beauties.

Have a great week!
Tiffany

Summer Trip to Worlds of Fun

2011-09-11T20:58:00.000-05:00

We went to Worlds of Fun again this year for the girls' birthdays. Grandma and Grandpa took them and Daddy and I tagged along.

Here are a few shots we got that day. It was a lot easier with the new lens!

Riding with Daddy

A Friend came with us this time. They had a blast.

Getting SO tall!

Snoopy!!! The kids area has really grown!

Grandma and Grandpa

Time to sit down for a bit.... it was a lot of walking!

Picture showing movement!! Bumper Cars!

On the Carousel

Peek-a-boo!

A Quasi-self-portrait...

Have a great week everyone!

*Hugs*

Tiffany

Sunset Panorama Fail

2011-08-24T18:30:00.000-05:00

So I tried to do a big panoramic shot of the most gorgeous sunset the other night.... It was something like this:

Except it was over at least half of the sky. I tried to do a panoramic, but it ended up looking striped....

As I panned around the sky, I got different exposures... Point made! I need to set the shutter speed to be the same all the way around the sky. The next time I see amazing colors, I'll try it and let you know the results! :)

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I am also excited to report that the first week of school is completed! While I'm still behind, I did survive and think this school year shouldn't be too bad. :)

I hope you have a great rest of the week!

Much Love,
Tiffany

Variations on a Theme

2011-08-14T10:13:00.000-05:00

I took this photo from the passenger's seat of the car. (No, I wasn't driving...)

Original Shot - SOOC

It's sort of "blah", but I knew what I was going after.

Cropped Image

That's a little more like it! But while I had PS Elements open, I decided to play around a bit. I really liked the way the clouds were swirling and I wanted to try to bring that out. Here are a few things I came up with.

Adjusted Color Curves for Backlighting, and Mid-Tone Contrast

Here I really pumped up the Saturation and the Contrast - I love the warm hues

Then I chose "Solarize" in the Color Curves menu. This was kind of cool! I like the colors

Hey, what if I combine them into one??

Not too bad! Maybe not museum quality, but for about 30 minutes of playing around, it's kinda cool.

Have fun out there! :)

Much Love!

Tiffany

Relaxing - yet busy

2011-08-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if busy is the right word for teachers going back to school. More like "on hold", or "hurry-up-and-wait".... You see, we have much to do to prepare for students, but we also have training to attend. This is how we make sure we are up to date on the latest research, discuss methods that are proven to work (or proven not to!), and how we keep our licenses current.

My wonderful Principal who was introducing our presenter.

While it is very important, it can also be very frustrating - because in the back of your mind (or in some cases, on the paper in front of you,) is a growing list of things that need to be accomplished before the students arrive! The longer you sit in training, the longer the list grows... The longer you sit in training, the less time is left to get everything finished!

However, this week, our training was very good and I truly did enjoy it. Even so, my own list is growing!!

If you know a teacher who is going back to school, give them support in the next few weeks. Let them know that you appreciate everything they do for all or our children. They are training tomorrow!

Much Love,

Tiffany

Buisness Cards

2011-08-10T07:21:00.000-05:00

My daughter decided she wanted to get some business cards for baby sitting. :)

We decided it would be a good idea if her picture was on the card, so parents could remember which teenager we were talking about. So, off we went into the yard for some pictures.

I think the vertical turned out better than the horizontal since there's more light on her face.

Enjoy your day!

Tiffany

Just in Time

2011-08-04T08:54:00.000-05:00

Rain! Lovely, cool rain and some lower temperatures.

So Thankful! :)

Tiffany

C is for Clock

2011-08-03T10:37:00.000-05:00

Today for ABC Wednesday I'm posting a local clock. I took this photo yesterday.

No, I didn't tamper with it, photoshop, anything. That is really what it said yesterday.

WOW!

Keep Cool!!!

Tiffany

Visit other's C entries here:

Enjoying my

Look What I Just Found!!!

2011-08-02T09:08:00.000-05:00

Why am I just now figuring this out??!? I am so slow sometimes.... *sigh*

If you can't see it very well, it is a screen shot from Photoshop Elements. I went to File; New; Photomerge Panorama. I can make a panorama and keep the high quality of the photo in the process!! The problem I had with autostitch that I used previously was that it reduced the resolution of the image. If you tried to enlarge it, you got all blur....

So today, I turned these:

Into this:

And it was EASY!!!! Hooray!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!!

Tiffany :)

August Break

2011-08-01T11:35:00.000-05:00

Because August is when school starts back up around here and I always get overwhelmingly busy, I am going to try participating in the August Break this year. I think I started doing this part way through August last year....

Anyway, just a few lines and a photo or two each day. I'm not going to stress out about getting posts while I figure out where to fit blogging into my new school schedule. :)

Last night we took this daughter out to eat for her birthday. She is now officially a teenager! Happy Birthday Sweetheart!! Love you! :)

She and dad always play VERY competitive games. This one she calls Squares, but I don't know what it's official name is..... It looks like this.

They work hard to WIN! It's very serious business! haha!

If you would like to join the August Break, Click here:

Have a great Monday!

Tiffany

FMTSO - Pink!!

2011-07-29T15:42:00.000-05:00

As I read the theme for this week's shoot-out, I knew exactly where I would go!

The them this week is pink, and there is a building in town that I personally think qualifies!

Check this out:

Check out those windows! They sure look pink to me.

I also went for a drive with my daughter in the Potwin area of Topeka. In this neighborhood, there are wonderful old Victorian homes that have been restored and look beautiful. I thought we might find pink there.

So Lovely! How amazing are those?!? I have always loved Victorian homes. :)

Then, as we were driving, my daughter (the one with a birthday this weekend) grabbed the camera and shot these pink things.

I wasn't as convinced as she was that the truck is actually pink, but she wanted to get it anyway. We were driving so it's a little blurry....

Then, before we headed home, we had to take advantage of one of my favorite things - Happy Hour at Sonic. As we were in the drive through, we spotted this sign.

Perfect end to a relaxing afternoon outing! To see the PINK in other towns around the world, check out the shoot out page!

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We are enjoying the overcast skies today - our high is only expected to get up to 91 degrees this afternoon. What a relief!! It is so surprising to me what a 10 degree difference makes!

Have a wonderful Friday!

Much Love,

Tiffany

B is for Bokeh

2011-07-28T09:04:00.000-05:00

Obviously, I wasn't able to post yesterday, but I don't want to miss out on the ABC Wednesday!! This week is the letter B, so I am choosing Bokeh.

In photography, the word bokeh is used to describe the blurred portion of the photo. Remember last week when we learned that Aperture produces a difference in Depth of Field? Bokeh is the term we use for the area of the photo that is out of focus.

Here are some examples from my own photography. Sometimes the bokeh is supposed to be pleasing to the eye, and sometimes there's something important going on there. :)

I would really like to get better at finding opportunities for beautiful bokeh in my photographs.

I like how you can see the silo in the background if you look closely.

Some of my favorite bokeh - Christmas lights!

If you'd like to see more, I posted this one for Friday My Town Shoot Out a couple weeks ago: The Letter B!

Go see all the other great ABC Wednesday posts here:

Much Love!

Tiffany

Crochet Project

2011-07-26T11:04:00.000-05:00

I've been feeling "crafty" lately and wondering what to do. While looking around the internet for various things, I found a great pattern for a sweater! I had some yarn at the house, so I dove in!

My daughter generously took these photos of my hands. She crawled up behind me on the couch and took the pictures over my shoulder. It would be an excellent way to create a tutorial!

One motif finished!

After several of the motifs are finished and linked together to make the upper part of the sweater, work starts on the lower half.

Here's what the finished project is supposed to look like along with a link to the pattern (in case anyone is interested.)

Click on the photo to go to the pattern

Have a fabulous Tuesday! :)

Tiffany

Found It!!!

2011-07-23T15:53:00.000-05:00

I've been hearing this bird in our yard for a while, but yesterday I finally found him! He was sitting on the line and chirping his song.

Now if I can just get him to come a little closer. All of these shots were at 200mm.

If I try to enlarge the bird by cropping the shot, this is what I get:

I'll keep trying - I think I will go out and sprinkle the yard with bird seed the night before. I always see the birds early in the morning.

Have a wonderful Weekend!

Tiffany

FMTSO - Fresh

2011-07-22T18:14:00.000-05:00

Today's theme for the Friday Shootout is FRESH!!! I was worried I wouldn't find anything, but my step-dad rescued me last night and didn't even know it!

When they came to town to see the show last night, mom and my step-dad brought cucumbers and tomatoes straight out of the garden!!! YUM!

Gorgeous and Delicious!!

We HAD to have BLTs for dinner!

Thank you!!!

Go check out everyone's Friday Freshness here:

Much Love,

Tiffany

Aperture Part 2 - Why should I care??

2011-07-21T15:04:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I attempted to explain exactly what the aperture is and how it is measured. I even showed you how to find it on your camera, if you are so inclined.

Here's a quick review:

Set camera mode to Aperture priority

Scroll to the preferred aperture setting

Most importantly, remember that the number you see is the bottom number of a fraction. If I recall my mathematics correctly, that means that the bigger the number, the smaller the opening. Correct??

Is everyone sufficiently confused?? GOOD! :)

Now comes the fun part - How does it affect my photos and why should I pay attention to it?

(for these examples, I took a couple of quick shots of my sofa. It is old and needs recovered, so don't laugh!)

Photo taken with a smaller aperture (larger number - 11)

Photo taken with a larger aperture (smaller number - 4.5)

The aperture affects the "depth of field" of your photo. In other words, it affects which things are in focus. Notice that in the upper photo with the smaller aperture, the photo is nearly in focus all the way from front to back (the stuff close to me and the stuff far away from me.) In the lower photo, the things closest to me and the lamp that is the furthest away are thrown out of focus. They have a nice blur and the only area in focus is the area of the sofa where I focused.

So, why would this be important to know? When would you want things out of focus??

Depth of field mimics the way our eyes naturally work, especially when looking at small things or things that are very close. I actually remember noticing this at a very young age. I remember laying on my grandmother's bed when I was supposed to be napping - but wasn't. I would look at the bracelet on my wrist and notice that the curtains were blurry. Then I would look at the curtains across the room and notice that my wrist and bracelet were blurry. Have you ever done that??

I was discussing this with my father a couple of months ago, when he commented about how he preferred that all things in a photo be in crisp, clear focus. While I agree with him to an extent, there are times when you might want the background to be out of focus.

Here are some examples:

If the background were in focus, you would have trouble seeing the spider's web.

If the flowers were in focus, we might not notice the bubbling water fountain.

It can negate a distracting or unattractive background


It can also pull your attention to what you want to emphasize most! (ps - you can barely see the overhead powerline because of this!)

Again, this post is getting too long! You can talk a lot about aperture and still have so much left to say. I can see why all the photography sites talk about it so much! All of my pictures today have dealt with a large aperture which produced a shallow depth of field. Maybe tomorrow I will work to show you shots with a smaller aperture.

Have a great Thursday!

Tiffany

Aperture - What on earth is it???

2011-07-20T17:18:00.000-05:00

I decided to talk about the APERTURE today since ABC Wednesday is starting the alphabet anew! :)

Go visit everyone else to see what their letter A was for today!

Click on the picture! :)

If you are like me and visit lots of photography sites, you are eventually going to start reading and hearing people talk about the aperture. What is it, and why is it important to me??

If you stay in the auto areas of your camera, or if you have a point and shoot, your camera will adjust the aperture for the light available and your point of focus. BUT - if you are starting to be brave with your camera and want to use the manual controls of your camera, you need to know what Aperture is, what it does, and how to adjust it.

Here goes! This is my VERY basic aperture tutorial. (Remember, part of the reason I explain these things is so I can learn! If you already know, or think of it differently, that's totally cool with me!) :)

1. First of all, the aperture is a piece of your camera that controls how much light gets to the sensor when you open the shutter. It looks something like this:

I got the above image from this web site - which has a very detailed description of aperture in photography!!

As you can see, it works a lot like the iris and pupil of your eye. When it is closed, not much light gets in. When it is wide open, it lets in lots of light. Makes perfect sense!

2. The next thing to know is this "f" thing. The aperture number is measuring the opening that the light is passing through. How big is the opening??? You also might notice that it is written as a fraction with "f" being the top number. I prefer to think of it this way - instead of "f", I think of it as being a "1". So the biggest opening (in the above diagram) is 1/2, the smallest is 1/16.

Make sense so far??? Boy I hope so!

Also, it is helpful to know that sometimes people refer to this setting as the "f stop".

The problem comes when you look at your camera to read the number, it only gives the bottom number. So if you have your f-stop at 16, it means that your aperture is open to "f/16" or 1/16.

Examples: (taken with the cell phone)

First, set the camera to Aperture priority (why is there a "v"?? I haven't figured that out yet...)

Here you can see that the Aperture is set at f/29 (or 1/29) which is almost as small as my camera will go.

Here the Aperture is set to f/4 (or 1/4) this is about as open as my camera will go.

Since this is getting long, tomorrow I will show you WHY you might want to control the aperture. It really is pretty great - come back and see! :)

Happy Wednesday,

Tiffany

Is Everything a Lie??

2011-07-19T12:31:00.001-05:00

To my great disappointment, I think my video card is on the fritz again....

The good news? I just bought it a month ago - so if it is the video card going bad again, it should be under warranty.

The bad news?? It might be my monitor instead... Oh the horror!!

So - in order to figure out what the true problem is, I have changed out monitors. I took the monitor from my husband's now dead computer (long story involving a lightning storm..... actually, not that long, but it involves a lightning storm.)

As I turned on the computer and looked at my desktop, the internet, and my photos with the different monitor, my heart sank!!

These are not the pictures I have taken and created. I have poured my soul into many of these, my favorite, photos and now they don't look anything like what I remember!! Has my monitor been lying to me all these months? Did I think I was creating deep, vibrant, jewel-toned colors only to find that they AREN'T?!??

AAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!! I'm melting, melting!!!! *imagine wicked witch of the west* Actually, it's too hot here, I probably am melting!!!

All that aside, it does bring up an interesting thing - calibrating your monitor. I remember reading about it last year in one of the dozens of books I picked up at the library. I remember that it was supremely important to make sure the colors on your monitor were actually true to the colors intended. If not, you might think you are creating a wonderful portrait, only to print them off and find that everyone's skin is a lovely alien green/gray!

My problem? I read this in one of many books over a year ago, and I can't remember how to do it! Not only that, this isn't my monitor.... Is my hubby going to flip if I change up things on his monitor? (He's kinda possessive about his belongings...)

Well, while I let my computer run long enough to have problems, I'll leave you with the "green" photo of children....

Original:

What it looked like when I had it printed at Wal-Mart: :(

Sad - so sad....

Lessons learned!!!

1. NEVER go to Wal-Mart to have your photos printed!!!

2. Make sure your monitor is calibrated, so you aren't living a lie!!!!

Tiffany

PS - yes, it's a touch dramatic today, but it is SO frustrating (and it's very hot)!!! I can't do anything except take more pictures. Posting them or editing is pretty much out of the question at the moment...

*sigh*

Guest Photographer - MY DAUGHTER!!

2011-07-16T14:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Elayna wanted to take pictures, so she borrowed my camera.

She has a good eye and is also learning how to use the camera. Here are some of her shots from out in front of the house. Pretty good - says I!!! :)

Elayna really seems to be drawn to textures. I LOVE them!!

What great macros!

Feather

BUNNY!!!

Thistle - I wonder where she found this.... I didn't know there were thistles in the yard!

I love that my children are such artists - each in their own way! I'm sure Elayna also says "Hi!" to her friends in Texas! :)

Have a great weekend!

Tiffany

FMTSO - The Letter B

2011-07-15T10:44:00.000-05:00

Today's Shoot Out theme is the Letter B.

Every time I think about the letter B.....

Things like Old Barns

Or Bunnies

Lonely Benches

Even Barbed-Wire...

Boots made into Birdhouses

Or Birthdays

And Branding might come to mind.

But more than Books

or Bands

Beads

and Buses

Even more than Butterflies...

or Blooms.

More than anything else, the Letter B makes me think of


BUBBLES!!!

Bubble, Bubble, Bubble!

Probably because I can never think of "B is for..." without hearing this song in my head.

Check out all the different B posts for today's shoot-out!

Blogger's Block

2011-07-14T11:52:00.002-05:00

I seem to have ~~Writer's~~ Blogger's Block. I'm not sure what to write about today.

So - I'm going to talk about Pioneer Woman's current photography assignment. It is a toughy for me. The theme is photos taken with your cell phone!

Well, I don't have a fancy cell phone. I don't even have a fairly current cell phone! I have had my phone since 2005 (I think....) It is an LG EnV - not the EnV touch, or the EnV 3 that they are selling now. Nope - it is the original. I don't have any apps or even internet access. The camera on the phone was fabulous when I first got it (a whole 2 megapixels! At the time that was amazing!) Now, with the iPhones and many others that are keeping up with the same technology, it's really no big deal.

BUT - it is a cell phone. It sends and receives calls and texts. It covers the bases for me! I would like something newer, of course, but I don't need it. There are many other things I'd rather spend my money on!

So - here are some of the photos I have taken over the years with my cell phone. They are not works of art. They were taken before I learned how to really use a camera and compose a shot. But they chronicled my life before I got a DSLR camera. It still comes in handy when I want to take a shot and don't have my camera!!!

What can your phone do?? Do you think I should upgrade?

My friend, Julie, in "Irving Berlin's White Christmas"

Youngest Daughter

Family!


It's a little hard to see, but I was driving through McDonalds for coffee one morning, and this truck was in front of me. He had hay bales and lit-up Jack-O-Lanterns in the bed of his truck for Halloween! :)

At my daughter's school this past winter. Remember the 3 feet of snow in the Northeast?? Well, we didn't get that much, but we had our fair share! The teachers decided to update these pieces of art!

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Our show at Topeka Civic Theater, "Peter Pan", opens tomorrow. Tonight is our last dress rehearsal and we will have an audience of family and friends. It is so much fun, but tiring! I think I will take the kids to the pool for some relaxing this afternoon before we dress up for the show!

Have a great Thursday everyone!!

Shooting from the Hip

2011-07-12T11:35:00.000-05:00

I have just started following a blog by Street Photographer Eric Kim. He is one of the bravest people I've seen (or maybe just a little bit crazy!) :)

For one of his posts, he attached a small video camera to his regular camera and took us with him as he went out for a walk to take pictures. The video is about 6 minutes long, but you can get a sense of how he works by watching the first few minutes. It's interesting to see the photos at the end of the post that he took during the video. View it here!

I was impressed by something Eric said, or mentioned, or something... anyway, at some point he talked about shooting from the hip. When my husband and I went to the local Art Walk a couple of weeks ago, I decided to try that concept. (I'm not quite as brave as Eric, yet!)

This is what I mean by shooting from the hip. (These two photos were generously taken by my daughter.)

Me carrying the camera

Me - taking a picture of the picture taker

Notice that my finger is on the button the whole time. I took her picture while she was taking this shot. She heard the shutter noise, so she knew - but most of the time, especially in a crowd, people don't notice.

Here are a few shots I got (straight out of the camera - SOOC) from the Art Walk a few weeks ago. I opened the lens to wide angle (18mm) and just clicked as I was walking by.

I also turned the flash off... so some of the after dark shots are a little blurry. Having the wide angle helps gather more light, though!

So, while they aren't the most amazing pictures, if I had drug out a tripod and set up the shot, the people in the shots would have vanished, or at least not looked natural.

Try shooting from the hip! I'm going to do it more often! It's fun getting home and looking through the shots to see what you got! :)

Don't forget to check out my 31 in July over at my photo project blog! :)

Happy Tuesday!

Tiffany

What's in my Camera Bag?

2011-07-11T12:14:00.002-05:00

I have done a lot of searching on the internet for "well-known" photographers. I want to see their work, read their biographies, see the answers they post in their FAQ's and generally find out what makes them tick. For me this also helps give me a frame of reference for "what I want my photos to look like". (Or sometimes, what I DON'T want my photos to look like!)

As I explore these sites and the people associated with them, one of the strangest questions keeps popping up. "What's in your camera bag?" People seem so interested in what's there. As I click on the answers, I find it's actually more about what kind of camera equipment they have.

So I thought I'd list what's in my bag. Not only for your interest, but it's a good idea for insurance purposes in case anything happens to it! I should have a list on hand, and now I'll have one on the internet!

I don't have a lot of equipment at this time since I'm just beginning, but every shot I've posted on my blog (with the exception of the first few posts and the ones from my phone) has come from this equipment.

Obviously this wasn't taken with the camera! I used my phone for this photo!

First off, we have the camera itself. It is a Canon EOS Rebel XT - which you can see by the handy pocket guide which I always keep in my case. Sometimes, I carry it in my back pocket. I've almost got everything down that is in that little guide, but until I know it VERY well and no longer get confused about which mode is Aperture Priority and which is Shutter Priority, it will stay close!

I also have a 4GB memory card and you can see the battery and its charger. First things on my wish list at this point are duplicates of each of these. That way, when I get home from taking photos (or just at the end of the day), I can switch them out and always have freshly charged batteries and a full 4GB of memory available!

Next is the lens that I got with the camera. It is so useful in almost ANY situation! Also a Canon, as you can see, it is an 18-55mm lens. I also got the next lens with the camera. My husband got a package deal on Amazon.com and most of this was included with that.

The macro lens screws on to the end of the regular lens. I've used it several times with photographing flowers, bugs, and other things that are very small. It really allows you to get a great focus an those details.

Then there's my new lens that I'm so excited to have! I posted about it here, if you didn't see it. It is a 55-250mm lens with image stabilizer..... Let me tell you how much I LOVE the image stabilizer! WOW!

Next up are my lens filters. They also came with the camera when it was purchase, but I didn't use them at first. I've learned to put the UV filter on whatever lens I'm using all the time! It is the best way to protect the lens from being scratched. I have started using the polarizing filter when I'm shooting in the bright sunlight.

I still haven't used the FLD filter. It is my understanding that its purpose is to correct the lighting for florescent lights. Since you can do that by correcting the white balance, there really isn't much need for it. It just sits in my case for now.

One filter I do NOT have that I would like is a graduated ND filter for taking shots of sunsets! :)

Of course we have the actual bag itself - along with the ever-essential, never-leave-home-without-them hair ties!!! I would like to - eventually - get a bag to carry with me that is carried more like a back-pack. I think it will be less clumsy and awkward.

Now we are down to the strange and interesting - as well as the sometimes essential items!

Cleaner and cleaning cloths for the lenses.

Small notebook and pen, just in case.

Hand sanitizer and a screwdriver (with both fillips and flat-head)

Seriously, you'd be surprised how many times I've been someplace and needed a screwdriver!

Card Reader

OK - the card reader is in there for lots of reasons and STAYS THERE! I'll have to do another post about that. This one is getting long!

I'm beginning to see the reason for this curiosity about what's it peoples' camera bags. You can learn a lot about a person (or about yourself!) by seeing what's important enough to carry around. Maybe we should do a "What's in my purse?" post.

Maybe not.... It might be too frightening!!! LOL

Have a great day everyone!

Tiffany

The Bunny Dance

2011-07-10T11:21:00.000-05:00

We have rabbits. Lots of rabbits!

Not as pets, mind you, but they just hang around our yard. Behind our lot is a creek with a park on the other side which seems to lend to lots of furry creatures. The rabbits have multiplied mightily this year - as rabbits do - and they seem to know that we won't harm them.

The other night, as I was coming home, one was in our front yard VERY close to the front deck. I ran inside for the camera and the tripod and he (she??) was still there when I came back. Then the rabbit did something I haven't seen before. It did a strange little dance.

It hopped forward, jumped back, spun in a circle, looked left, looked right.... all kinds of things!

Have a restful and relaxing Sunday!

Tiffany

Scavenger Hunt - Small, Medium, Large

2011-07-08T22:05:00.000-05:00

Today, for FMTSO, there is a scavenger hunt suggested by Kerry! I LOVE scavenger hunts!!!!

Here are the guidelines as posted on the Shoot Out page.

Guide Lines:
* straight out of the camera, no editing
* one photo per word
* three words for each hunt
* add a fourth photo if you can find all three hunt words in one (or just post this one photo)
* hunt area includes your town, surrounding areas, surrounding countryside

Easy-peasy this week: (in her words)

Something small.
Something medium.
Something large.

I'm also going to push myself a little and try to not use any photos in my archives, but take these shots today!

Off I go! Be back to finish the post in a little bit.

___________________________________________________________

All Right!! Here we go! I found these while we were at the swimming pool this afternoon! As you can suspect, I had to heavily rely on my Auto-Focus for these shots! :)

Small - daughter's glasses

Medium - My glasses

Large - My sunglasses which fit completely over my regular glasses

All 3 at once! :)

Be sure to check out all the other Small, Medium, and Large shots!!

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Tiffany (in Topeka)

PS - go visit my 31 in July page!!

Focus Question....

2011-07-07T13:57:00.001-05:00

OK, as I was testing my ISO - Shutter Speed, etc. before attempting to shoot fireworks the other night, I took several test shots that look like this.


Aperture	f/4.0
Focal Length	55 mm
ISO Speed	1600

Exposure was 0.3 (sorry!)

So can anyone tell me why the moon has a strange little reflection?? As nearly as I can tell, things seem to be focused. I feel like I need my glasses on while I'm looking at the moon.

Any ideas???

New TOY!!!!

2011-07-06T13:43:00.000-05:00

I am so excited! My husband and I were at the store and walked by this. It was on sale for 1/2 price!!

For those of you who want the specs - it is a 55-250 mm 1: 4-5.6 with image stabilizer. I've been wanting this lens, but it was always a little too pricey for me.

I was looking at it and the salesman asked if I wanted to see it - he took it out of the cabinet and that's when we noticed that the displayed sale price actually said through July 2nd. (oops!)

Since the advertised price was still displayed, even though the price had expired, they HAD to sell it to us at the displayed price. My husband and I knew that as soon as we walked away from the counter, the price would disappear!!! So we snatched it right up!!!! :)

I am SO excited!!!

Here are a few of the shots I caught on Independence Day with my new lens! (all of them are SOOC) I can't wait to show you more in the days to come! :)

Don't forget to check out my Photo Project Blog! I'm currently doing a photo a day in July, then planning to do a photo a week (with maybe a few added in) starting in August!

Sweet Friend!

Husband and Assistant Grill-man

Neighbor Dude and the evening's Grill-Meister

Lovely neighbor and friend!

Youngest daughter - spotted me taking the photos

I'm so disappointed that this is blurry... I caught her as she was walking past me. The look on her face is priceless!! :)

Watching people light fireworks

Older daughter - beautiful young lady!

I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday weekend! :)

Happy Wednesday!

The Eyes Have It...

2011-07-04T11:30:00.000-05:00

While we were at the picnic on Saturday, I noticed how my daughter's eyes just sparkled in the light. I'm thankful she let me take pictures of her! :)

I love eyes this color! Mine are brown and boring, hers have such a variety of colors!

They reflect the world around her so sometimes they are blue and sometimes they are green, or gray!

Look at those lashes!! (Those come from Daddy) You are beautiful my dear!

Picnic at the Theater

2011-07-03T17:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, my daughters, husband, and I all went to the theater to help with the picnic and watch the show. They were putting on a Bearenstain Bear production for their Theater for Young Audiences series.

Between the early show and the matinee performance, there was a picnic on the lawn.

Setting up the lawn beforhand


The girls help lay out blankets for people to sit on

Showing the meat to the heat

Volunteers serving up lunch

Yum!

It was quite a crowd even though it was very HOT outside!

Although the heat was bearable if you had shade...

The cast members came out to talk to the guests - in full costume!

It was very cool for the kids

I can't imagine how hot it must have been for them! It was over 100 degrees (37.5 C) here!!

Youngest daughter talking to the bears...

I think we all had a good time!

I hope you also had an enjoyable weekend! For those of you in the USA, have a safe holiday tomorrow! And those of you from Canada - I hope you also had an enjoyable holiday weekend! :)

Cheers!

Tiffany

Why I Couldn't Decide

2011-07-02T17:19:00.000-05:00

Warning: This post has absolutely NO photos, but is worth reading! :)

_________________________________________________________________

I had decided quite a while back that I wanted to do a photo project, but I KNEW I couldn't keep up with a 365. There are certain points of the year when a teacher is busy, and certain times of the year when musicians tend to have a lot of business. When you put the two together - there are times when I meet myself coming and going! Add to that occasional health issues which cause massive amounts of fatigue, and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up. So the decision was made to do a picture a week project instead.

As I searched for a project theme, I was constantly drawn to the 365 projects. Then, I came across a blog talking about an interesting set of photos.... It bowled me over! I was mesmerized! I couldn't stop reading and then looking!

The blog post that took me there (and brought tears to my eyes): Mental Floss Blog - A Polaroid a Day

The site/project: Some Photographs of That Day

For those of you who don't want to follow the rabbit trail, I will attempt a short summary:

The photographer, Jamie Livingston, began taking Polaroid pictures while in a film class. At some point, he realized he had been taking about a photo each day for the past 30 days and decided he was going to continue the trend.

Sometimes the photos are beautiful! There's a gorgeous shot of cherry blossoms in the spring of the 80's. Sometimes the shots are complete duds - there are a few shots that are nothing but blur. This grabbed me because I would have a problem with that if it were my project, but not him. That was his shot for the day and if it didn't turn out, oh well, he would take one tomorrow.

Mostly, the photos are about his every day life. A shot of his friend, a picture of his bowl of spaghetti-ohs, a shot of his toothbrush with a line of toothpaste on it, new shoes, a staircase, friends buried in the sand at the beach....

That's when I began to remember - the reason I began to take photos in the first place and the reason I loved taking pictures wasn't because I was eager to get a beautiful, perfect photo, but because I wanted to document my life and the lives of my children and of those around me.

As we get into the middle of 1997, there are photos that tell you all is not well. It is obvious that Jamie is sick - one photo shows a line of stitches down his skull. As I go on through seeing him with no hair, going on vacations, continuing with everyday life, I am struck when I arrive at the photo of his child as she is learning to crawl. It strikes me partly because I know what is coming.

We go on to see lot of photos in the hospital and photos of pills mixed in among the every day occurrences. One even has an arrow pointing to a single pill that has been circled - beside it reads "$26.89". Talk about being able to relate!!

I was also struck by the photo dated 8-31-97 which has the newspaper headline "DIANA IS DEAD". Sadly, I remember that day.

As we get into October, there is a picture of an ambulance. The remaining 5 photos are taken in a hospital room where you see Jamie surrounded by family and friends....

Some time after his death, his friends organized his photos and put together a public exhibit of the polariods. They weren't necessarily meant to be viewed online, but they are there and have drawn some attention.

________________________________________________________________

These photos have inspired me yet, at the same time, haunted me. I can't get them out of my head. I feel almost as if I know this person even though we've never met and never will. If the purpose of photography is to speak to people, then these photos have succeeded! Even if they are of mundane subjects, even if they aren't always exhibit quality, even if they are occasionally silly, they have spoken. When looked at as a collection, these photos tell the story of one man's adult life!

What kind of legacy am I leaving behind??

FMTSO - Simplicity / Negative Space

2011-07-01T12:45:00.000-05:00

As I read Doreen's post about Simplicity, I was reminded of the importance of negative space in a photo. You know, the area of a shot that isn't the main focus. There are many compelling shots out there with an excellent use of negative space.

They look so "simple", but they are by no means easy to create in an effective and emotional way!!

Here are my attempts at using negative space in a compelling way. Not sure they are all the actual definition of negative space, but here goes!:

Also, for those of you who follow my blog regularly - the decision has been made!! I have begun a photo blog for my Project. I have decided to do a daily challenge for myself during the summer, and a weekly photo once the school year begins. It seemed to be the most reasonable idea for me. Please visit my new site Tiffany in Topeka! I hope you enjoy it! :)

Happy Friday! Be sure to check out everyone's Simplicity posts here:

Much Love,

Tiffany

White Balance - VERY IMPORTANT!

2011-06-30T09:55:00.000-05:00

My husband was in another play this past month, so when time came for the photo call, I was SO there!!

The show was The Boys Next Door and it was so enjoyable. Here are a couple of shots from that evening:

What does that have to do with White Balance you ask?? Nothing yet! But here's where it happened. I noticed that the photos of people who were in a spot light were very washed out... Here's one of my husband.

You see that it seems somewhat over exposed right on him. So, I flipped over to manual so I could adjust the white balance, changed it to florescent lighting and snapped another shot.

Here's the difference (although I like the composition of the above shot better, I think):

Much Better!!!! So I patted myself on the back for being so clever! :)

However - there's more to the story....

The next morning I went out very early (sunrise!) to try my hand at taking some Senior Pictures of my son. What I didn't realize until I happened to glance at the LCD screen was that the White Balance was still set for florescent lighting. OOPS!

Here's how I knew something was hinky....

Blue-Faced Child....

The white of his sleeves (and his face) have a bluish hue...

Once I fixed the white balance problem (this is un-edited!)

So, um, ya.... if you decide to be clever and change the white balance setting on your camera, don't forget to change it back!!

Much Love to ya on this beautiful Thursday!!

Tiffany

Quick Question for those who visit my site...

2011-06-29T17:10:00.000-05:00

I tend to put up lots of pictures... DUH! It's a photography blog and I <3 pictures.

The question is, does this cause my page to take forever loading??? I don't want people to give up on my site because it doesn't load properly!!!

Please, please, PLEASE tell me! IF my page takes too long to load or to see a post, I will cut down the number of photos in each post to make it a little smoother! :)

Thanks for your input!
Tiffany

Looking for Inspiration...

2011-06-29T10:52:00.000-05:00

2 things about me for today:

1 - I am inspired, humbled, and occasionally frustrated when I see the AMAZING photos that are out there in the world!

2 - I want to do some kind of photo project to help me improve my photography.

About viewing photos - first of all, I have been introduced to the website 500px and I don't think my life and my attitude about photography will ever be the same... seriously, my world view, photographically speaking, has just been adjusted. I joined the site in order to browse, but I think it will be a long time before I post anything there! It was beautiful, extraordinary, and down-right intimidating! WOW!

About my own photography - I have been pushing myself for the past year and it shows. If I go back and look at my photos from a year ago and the most recent shots I've taken, there is definite improvement.

Slightly over a year ago... April of 2010

Last week... June 2011

Last Summer

This Summer - so far...

I'm stuck in a strange place - I'm both encouraged and frustrated by my photography! I see improvement and I like it. Yet I see where I want to be and I'm SO FAR from it. I guess it's something like your Freshman year of college (university). They say the first year is so you will know how much you don't know.... or something like that. Well, I'm there! I have SO far to go!

In my constant effort to improve, I have decided that I definitely want to try a 52 week project. The idea would be that I would post a photo once a week. The question I now have is how do I want to do this?? I've seen projects like this where the person takes a self-portrait every week - which does intrigue me.... I've also seen places where there is a list and each week you take or create the next photo that is on the list. That really sounds about my speed at the moment.

I want to push myself, but I want to be realistic. I want something that will challenge me, yet not so much of a challenge to set myself up for failure (which is why I will NOT do a 365 at this time in my life! haha!)

So - do any of you have suggestions?? Have you done a project 52 or a 365 that you enjoyed?? I'm looking for things that will drive my creativity and really make me think. Do you know of lists or photo challenges out there to participate in?

Thank in advance for any suggestions or advice!!! :)

Much love!
Tiffany

1, 2, 3, SMILE!!!

2011-06-27T11:53:00.000-05:00

I tried to take photos of my children and create a Father's Day gift for my husband and both of our fathers. What a challenge! I have taken pictures of each of the kids in the last year and they are pretty good models. However, (!!!) trying to get all three of them to look at me and smile with a genuine smile was SO difficult! If I think I might want to be a photographer some day, I need to work on my getting-people-to-smile skills!!

The resulting shots are actually somewhat amusing (at least to me.) So much so, that I submitted one of them to Pioneer Woman's Funny Face contest. She didn't choose my shots, but that's okay - there are SO MANY wonderful shots submitted. You should check out her page if you don't already!

Here are some of the ... um... interesting shots that I got from the session.

Unfortunately, this is the best picture of the youngest one... I wish my photoshop skills were good enough to merge the faces on one photo...

*sigh*.....................

In the end, I wound up using the very first shot I took. How nuts is that?? Here is the finished product as it is at the moment. I edited it on Picnik which is a good site to use in a pinch.

Have a happy (and funny faced) Monday!

Tiffany

Playing in the Dirt

2011-06-26T08:44:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you just have to get down and dirty. When we went to see the horses a week or so ago (wow, has it been that long already?) my daughter made a little friend. They were getting bored at one point so they started drawing pictures in the dirt.

Do you remember drawing pictures in the dirt when you were little?? (or maybe still?) What kind of pictures did you draw? I remember drawing stick figures - my sister was the real artist!

Doors!!

2011-06-25T10:58:00.000-05:00

For some reason, I have recently become obsessed with doors. Not just any doors, mind you, but doors with character!

Not more than a mile or two from my home is an old down-town area that is in the process of being renovated and turned into an arts district. There are still many run-down buildings, but the progress is fabulous. Especially because those who are doing the renovating really seem to appreciate the original architecture and preserve as much of it as possible.

Here are some shots from a quick outing I took a couple of weeks ago. It was only 8:30 am, but that was already pretty late as far as the sunlight went. It's summer here so I would have to get up pretty darn early to catch that lovely first light of morning. We'll see about doing that within the next month - maybe. I'm not really a morning person.....

This old bank building is now a jewelers. Perfect use of an old vault if you ask me! They do wonderful work. I had to have my wedding ring repaired and they had it finish within 48 hours and it's perfect!

I love that you can still read the name "Sage Grocery" on the side of the building. (Plus, I love Dr. Pepper!)

Not that this is super amazing, but it was screaming for an asymmetrical shot.

The same way that this building was shouting out for a symmetrical shot!

I have no idea why, but this building called to me. I love the reflective glass and rich colors.

The corner cafe. My daughter and I went in and tried it out. Yummy breakfast!

OK - I LOVE this door!!! Who wouldn't!?

Another asymmetrical shot. The door is pretty awesome. I'll have to shoot it again when there isn't a ghastly shadow messing it up!

Just plain old AWESOME! Spanish style building in the middle of a business district in Kansas. Yup! Take a look at the wrought iron on the second story window - just perfect!

Any cool architecture where you live? You better believe I've got my eye out for those awesome doorways now!

Hats, Hats, Hats and MORE Hats!

2011-06-24T12:40:00.000-05:00

When I first read the theme for today's Friday My Town Shoot Out, I thought "Hats?!? I hope I can find some pictures of hats!"

Well - was I surprised when I started sorting through my photos! I have hats galore! I hope you don't get bored as I post so many hats it will make your head swim! (haha!)

Be sure to check out everyone's hat posts here

Part of the reason I have so many hats on file, is my work with theater - you'll see in a moment. I also have quite a few from parades since my children are involved in marching band. Of course, there are a few from Halloween.... So I began to wonder if I had any hats from everyday life.

Never fear! There are hats! :)

Let me begin with hats in the every day life of those around me.

Fellow photographer, Mark, who wears a hat on occasion.


My step-dad, Lyle, who always wears a hat when working outdoors.

Fellow dart player - I don't think I've ever seen him without a hat....

My step-dad again along with my nephew. Hats are essential in the cold!

One of my favorite hats on my husband. I've tried to steal it a few times - unsuccessfully....

A student of mine who happened to have this on the day I brought my camera to school.

Photographer at a wedding. I don't think he expected to have his photo taken that day.

Father of the Bride at the same wedding. Lovely man!

Now, of course, you'd expect to see more hats as the weather turns cold! Here are a few of those.


Youngest Daughter in the Snow

Trying on her Birthday present!

My husband - hiding from the cold!!!

And of course, my largest selection, the parades, costumes, etc.


One of my favorite photos of my son - and one of his favorites too!

Who can forget My Fair Lady

Especially those wonderful Ascot Hats!!

Some of them from back stage!

What about this amazing Alice in Wonderland cast?!? Middle school kids with wonderful hats. The flowers, the Queen of Hearts!! Wow!

How about some Rockin' parade hats?!? I'm running out of room!

And some of the more important hats...

My God-Daughter at her High School graduation

Always a wonderful moment!

I hope you enjoyed the hats today! They are more plentiful than I first thought! Look out for hats around you and don't forget to go look at everyone else's hats!

Happy Friday!

Tiffany

The Computer Has Returned!!!

2011-06-22T18:07:00.000-05:00

The bad news - I burned up my video card.

The Good News!? - it was ONLY the video card and not the entire computer! Whew! All files are intact and no photos were lost in the process!

Just before I took it in, it would randomly shutdown for no apparent reason. Every time I would turn it on, it would shut down a little faster until it would only stay on for 1-2 minutes at a time! I frantically plugged in my external hard-drive and started backing up photos. Turns out, I hadn't backed up anything since before CHRISTMAS! YIKES!!! That's a lot of photos that I would have lost!

If you are reading this now and you save photos - or any other keepsake type items - to your computer, stop right now and back up stuff!!! I was SO lucky!

There will be posts coming the rest of this week and this coming weekend about my photography endeavors over the last few weeks, but here's a teaser.

My first attempt at taking senior pictures of my son. Also the only picture in the group that has been edited. Since I haven't had my computer, I used Picnik.com to edit the shot.

Have a great Wednesday! I'm still going to be busy on Thursday, but hopefully back to some PHOTOS on Friday! :)

Still without my computer!!

2011-06-20T13:42:00.000-05:00

AAAAHHH~ So frustrating!

I wanted you all to know that I haven't forgotten about you! I have taken some neat pictures and I want to share what I have learned! As SOON as I have the computer back and in working order, I will have LOTS to share!

Take care everyone - I hope I will be posting pictures soon! :)

Tiffany

Horses!

2011-06-17T16:10:00.000-05:00

Last week, my youngest and I went to the local Saddle Club's fun day. We don't own any horses, nor do we ride, but it was fun to go watch. It was the first time she had ever been to something like this and she made some friends.

Photographically speaking, I was challenging myself. I wanted to get some good shots of horses. I was trying to capture some backlight to get that golden glow around the horse. I had several problems that I will list because I feel like we learn so much from pictures not turning out the way we want them.

1. Part of the problem I had was that I didn't have enough zoom, so I couldn't fill the frame with the horse. Some of the pictures would be fine if I were closer or had zoomed in more. (which I could probably fix with some creative cropping.)

2. I didn't want to use a flash because I didn't know if it would be distracting to the horses or riders. While they weren't competing for prizes, they were practicing for competitions...

3. The sun didn't cooperate!! Doesn't that always seem to happen? I got a lot of great pictures early on, but then the clouds rolled in and the shutter speed began to slow down. Things began to take on motion blur at that point, so I just went with it! :)

4. Please remember that I am still without my normal computer so I have no photo editing software. All shots you are going to see are straight out of the camera (SOOC). If I can edit them a little, I might be able to get more keepers out of the deal! :)

Here we go! (There are a lot, so I will do some today and some tomorrow)

Some of the events require the horse to walk or trot around the arena. I took a position at the railing at one of the corners. It helped to capture the horses and riders as they went by.

Here I caught some backlighting, but they were so far away, this is my max zoom for my lens (55mm)

However, if I was still zoomed in when they went by, then the shot didn't work as well... do you see how her leg seems so much larger than her head?? It's because I was still at 55mm

A shot of how the clouds are now rolling in and causing me to have to decrease my shutter speed. When the speed is fast enough to stop the movement, like in this picture, I am underexposed.

All the riders lined up in front of the judge.

I think I will be able to get something out of this shot once I can edit it. I like the way the backlight is showing the dust as it's kicked up. I also like how the blonde in the horse's tail has that glow. :)

With the slower shutter speed, some neat things happened. Look at how the horse's face and saddle is in focus but everything else has movement.

There was a lot more that night. I'll show them to you over the next few days so I don't overload my blog albums.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Tiffany

Self Portraiture...

2011-06-15T12:52:00.000-05:00

One of the goals I am setting for myself this summer is to take some self-portraits. I want to see how many different, creative ways I can take my own picture.

Here is one from last year that was somewhat successful - partly because of the interesting face my friend is making! :)

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

V is for Variety!

2011-06-14T10:52:00.000-05:00

I'm trying a new photo group. It's called "ABC Wednesday". They have you post a certain letter each week on Wednesday and today's letter is "V". Here's the link:

So, here's why I chose Variety - since I was going to post these pictures anyway. :)

Because of things happening with my health, I've been trying to eat more fruits and veggies. (don't worry please, I'm fine! :) ) The problem is, and you may have the same problem, that once I buy the fruit or veggies, they sit in the 'fridge and eventually go bad!

My solution was to make a tray as if we were having company and leave it sitting out on the kitchen table. Talk about working!!! I ate more fruit than I have in a long time and the kids just devoured it!! I had to hold them off so I could take pictures before they ate.

One of the keys was to make it as appealing to the eye as possible. Not only did I include a Variety of our favorites, but I also was sure to include a Variety of COLORS!!!

Here are some of the shots I got:

The kids and I wound up eating 2 cantaloupes....

2 1/2 pounds of grapes....

2 quarts of Strawberries, a pint of blueberries....

2 Kiwi.... (my kids and I love kiwi! I wish they weren't so expensive here!)

Half a cucumber and a pint of grape tomatoes....

Lots of carrots and sugar snap peas, 2 plums and lots of cheese!

Did you know that on the new Weight Watchers plan, all fruits and veggies are FREE (no points, you can eat as much as you want!!!) Besides being low in calories and high in vitamins and other good things - they are YUMMY and perfect on hot summer days!

Did you know that if you bite the bottom off a strawberry, and if you have little fingers, the strawberry can become a ring?? You learn something new every day! :)

PS - my baby loves strawberries...

PS - notice that the kiwi is already disappearing - the older one is going for the last 2 slices here. I barely got any!!!

What are your secrets for getting the kids (or yourself!) to eat more vegetables and fruit?? Do you have recipes that work well with kids?

Happy Wednesday everyone!!! :)

Tiffany

Flowers at the Farmers Market

2011-06-13T10:55:00.000-05:00

What a fun weekend I had! It will take me all week to post everything we did!

I took the daughters to the farmers market downtown. The youngest got bored but enjoyed the veggies and fruits (especially the tomatoes and strawberries!)

Here are some pictures from a flower vendor's booth. Such gorgeous plants!


The vendor's booth

I was so intent on getting some of those flowers (and waiting on people to get out of the back ground) that I didn't notice I was taking a picture of a wilted flower!! That will teach me to pay more attention next time!

Happy Monday!

Tiffany

Easy Like Sunday Morning...

2011-06-12T11:19:00.000-05:00

Today, over at Shutter Sisters, the post was about Simplicity. What a great subject for Sunday morning!

When we strip away everything and just get down to the simpleness of life, sometimes those are the best shots! No editing, no stress, just shoot what grabs you and share. It's about the most beautiful imagine you can take, in the most simple way.

Here are a few of mine today.

Enjoy your day!

Simply yours,
Tiffany

Flags

2011-06-10T14:59:00.000-05:00

Today, for Friday My Town Shoot Out, the subject is Flags. It took me a little while, but here we go!

PS - my normal computer is down and out for at least a week, so all I have is my backlog of saved photos on my external hard-drive. Even so, I feel like there are some things we can see! :)

First we have the flags that were donated by the Boy Scouts as part of their Eagle project. They were dedicated on 9/11 this past fall. You can read about it here.

Here, I was trying to get some sun "flare" behind the flag as it was popping in the wind. We were at a parade waiting on the oldest child's band to march by.

Next is another parade that the son was in. The horses are always a favorite for our family and this picture worked out well. I edited it for my taste, trying to give it a more "western" feel, and wound up with this. Not too shabby!

This next picture is my daughter getting tired when we were visiting the Alamo in San Antonio, TX. The shot was taken with my cell phone, so it's pretty good (for a very old phone!)

Be sure to check out everyone else's Flags this week!

Have a Blessed Weekend!

Tiffany

New "Follow" option

2011-06-09T23:55:00.000-05:00

You may notice that I have added a new gadget here on the right of the page. I'm trying it out for now. It is a Networked Blog widget that, if you follow, will post an update for my blog on your twitter, Facebook, or RSS feed (I think - I'm still trying to figure it out!)

For now, it is late and past my bedtime - but I will continue to work on it and let you know in the morning!

Good Night, Sleep Tight, Sweet Dreams, Etc.

Tiffany

Farmers Market Finds - Catching the Beauty...

2011-06-09T14:11:00.001-05:00

One of the hardest things for me is trying to convey to people what something is like through a photograph. When I take photos for my own pleasure, I am often capturing something specific just for me. But when I take photos for an article, I find myself wondering if the photos will really express what is actually there.

Am I making them say enough? Are they saying too much? Oh well, I decided to take the most beautiful pictures I knew how and let the editor deal with the rest!

For a recent online article, I visited the local farmers market with a staff writer and took pictures while she interviewed the vendor.

Here are some shots from an organic tea stand. While I don't care for tea to drink, the aroma was glorious! I hope the pictures can convey this as well!

Scooping tea into a bag for sale

They also had homemade organic fruit butters

While I tried to take advantage of how prettily the sun shone off the jars, I should have brought something to shade some of the shots (see the tea below). Even though it was only 9:00 in the morning, the sun was already pretty high - (it's summer here.)

Ginger-Peach Tea

Enjoy life!

Tiffany

Silhouette Shot at the Lake

2011-06-07T13:16:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, there were several comments on my silhouette shot at the lake. I thought I'd show you a few of the tries before I got it right. :)

First, you need to know that I had gone to the lake to shoot a pretty sunset, but wound up being slightly disappointed that there weren't really enough clouds in the sky.

Here are a few of the sunsets shot from the spot I was standing.

Then I just decided to try a self-portrait. I liked how, as the sun had sunk, all the things up close were a silhouette. First I set the camera where I though it would get me and I wouldn't have to stand in the water! :) Then I put the time delay (which is about 8 seconds, I think) and walked up to the water's edge and posed.

The only problem with it, my head is obscured by the land on the other side of the lake... So I adjusted my camera so that the horizon was in the lower 1/3 of the picture. Perfect, I thought! But....

Again, no head! And this time, not much person either! I had decided, after the last shot, that I would turn sideways for the picture. Not sure if that was a good idea or not, but here's why. I have a very distinct profile and I thought it would be nice if people knew who was in the picture! :)

So to fix the problem, I had to lower the legs of my tripod to half the height. I got down on my knees and adjusted the picture again. I tried to get the horizon in the lower 1/3 of the frame again and hoped! (It was starting to get pretty dark!)

And there you have it! I think I am going to try a few self portraits of different kinds this summer. We'll see how they turn out! :)

Have a great day everyone!

Blessings to you,
Tiffany

NO FLASH!!

2011-06-06T10:18:00.000-05:00

There have been several events I have been to recently where photography is frowned upon. Mostly because the people around are trying to concentrate and the camera - and especially the flash - is distracting.

Here are some shots from a birthday party that involved a dart tournament. I didn't have a tripod with me, so I used the table top to help me stabilize the camera. Even so, I took MANY photos that didn't turn out. Those that did, still aren't what I would like, but they have something about them that is appealing (at least to me.)

What do you think??

Night Vision

2011-06-03T09:41:00.000-05:00

Today's theme on Friday My Town Shoot-Out is "Night or Dusk Shots". I know I've got some of those! I've been trying to get more - I'm especially intrigued with trying to get some cool movement in the shots with cars passing or people walking. I'm going to keep working on that!

In the meantime, here are a few of my favorites. Some are from last summer and a couple are more recent...

Sunset

Self-portrait at Sunset

Downtown after dark

State Capital Building at Dusk


Midnight Lightning Storm

Check out everyone else's FMTSO here:

Have a Blessed Weekend!

Tiffany

The music store

2011-06-02T09:41:00.000-05:00

Another assignment I did this past school year was for an article about a music store. I love how it turned out!

Here are some of the shots I took that day.

If money were no object, I would have snatched up that Harp! I love Harps!

I wish I had been paying more attention on a few of these shots... I should have dusted the cymbals off first! The dust was picked up by the flash. :(

Another example of where I should have dusted first...

I sent all of these along with 2 other shots to the editor. Here's how it was produced in print. So far, it is my favorite!

Have a great Thursday!

Tiffany

Getting it in Print

2011-05-31T11:35:00.000-05:00

Back in September last year, I found myself at a theater cast party talking with the owner/producer of a local magazine. I happened to mention that I love photography and if they ever needed some help, I'd love to participate. She told me to send an email to the editor along with examples of my work and they'd see if they could use me. (PS - that's code for, "we'll see if your photography skills are good enough.")

I followed up immediately (the next morning) by sending the editor a link to my photostream on Flickr. Low and behold, within a couple of weeks, I had my first assignment! I talked about it here and posted a few of the pictures here.

While I've gotten good at converting my photos to the 300dpi requested by the editor, I have never been able to convert to CYMK from RGB. Luckily, with this small publication, they are willing to work with me and make the conversions after I submit the RGB.

I was a little disappointed that the pictures I submitted were converted to black & white. I had processed the photos to give them a late afternoon "golden" hue which was not only lost in the conversion, but made the shots less crisp and clear. Oh well, I learned something!

Here's what the end product looked like.

I have since done a couple more articles and stories! It has been fun and it has kept me shooting through the chaotic months of winter and early spring when I thought I didn't have time to take pictures!!

Looking forward to spending the summer with you!!

Much Love,

Tiffany

School's (nearly) out for Summer!!

2011-05-21T07:01:00.001-05:00

Holy Cow! This school year was frantic from beginning to end it seems! But as things are winding down, I am getting so excited to spend my summer taking pictures again and being in the Civic Theater's Musical.

I'm also itchin to get my blog up and rolling again! The best way I can think of is to post some of the shots I took over the school year. I will probably do that for the next few days. Then it will be off to take some great pictures again this summer and work on the un-ending task of improving my photography!

Let's see.... I didn't get a ton of chances to take pictures this year, but I DID take some... Let me flip through my shots and see what you might enjoy looking at.

It looks like I mostly have shots from a SNOW DAY!! (a day off from school because the snow fell so quickly, the buses were getting stuck!) Here goes:

At Sunrise

A little rabbit was using the "wishing well" in someone's yard as shelter

The youngest daughter enjoying her time in the snow.

Blessings to everyone! I'm looking forward to a relaxing and beautiful summer!

Tiffany

Treating Myself!!

2010-10-18T23:43:00.000-05:00

Today, because I was driving by, and because it was the anniversary of the day of my birth, I stopped by a wonderful bakery called Daddy Cakes. I bought a few cupcakes (they were nearly out!) to bring home to my family and to treat myself!

YUMMMMM!!!!

I had the strawberry shortcake. It was delicious and OH SO RICH!!! I think I went into a sugar coma for about 3 hours after I ate it! Can you say "real buttercream icing!"???? *faint*

I bought the Cookies and Cream variety for my older children. (a second strawberry was required for the younger one.) They said the icing tasted like ice cream. I don't doubt it! Of course, I didn't get a taste of those... No worries! I don't think I could have handled the sugar overload!

My husband loves banana and they only had one left. I didn't even get a chance to take its picture before he had dug in. (it had banana pudding in the middle!! Yummy!)

If you are ever near the Topeka area and in need of some desserts, stop by Daddy Cakes! Wonderful gourmet cupcakes and a great atmosphere!

I still have one left that I will take to school for lunch tomorrow. I also have a meeting there tomorrow night......

Oh ya!

Diet??? Who needs to diet?! We don't need no stinkin' diets!!!!

Chairs! (??)

2010-10-15T06:47:00.000-05:00

Today's theme for the Friday Shoot-Out is "chairs".

I SO wish I had time to go to a furniture store and take some shots of chairs I want to buy!!! Alas, I do not have the time.

So....

Here are some chairs I have shots of:


From the production "Arsenic and Old Lace" - gives it that old Victorian home look.

This is my classroom at school. 1, 2, ready, SING!

Bench overlooking the lake.

Swing at the ballpark.

The pup at the Bark Park decided the bench was HIS!

The throne at Ken's house. :)

(I used a couple "vintage" actions on the last photo.)

Yep - there are some chairs - or seats ......

Check out all the great Friday Shoot Outs on these other blogs!!

Much Love to ya!

Tiffany

Old Glory!

2010-10-14T20:35:00.000-05:00

While waiting for the parade last Saturday, I found myself standing next to a flag that was rippling in the wind. How perfect!

I just found a good vantage point that didn't have distractions and put the sun where I wanted it. I then set my camera to take continuous shots as the wind moved the flag around.

Here are the results.

All photos are SOOC.

I think the first is probably my favorite because the sun is just over the edge of the flag, but half of the flag is not crisply focused. I also like the third and forth shots. :)

Have a great evening! Friday shoot out tomorrow!

Much Love,

Tiffany

Middle Child and a Merry-Go-Round

2010-10-13T21:44:00.000-05:00

As promised yesterday, here are the merry-go-round photos of the other daughter. They aren't as good. She was a little closer to me and I never completely got focused on her. :/

BUT - I promised to share them, so here they are!

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Pioneer Woman is doing something interesting in her photography section today. She gave us a hi-res photo that she took and asked everyone to Photoshop it, then load it back to Flicker and share it with everyone. I'm QUITE interested to see what kind of results happen. This is a very cool idea!!!

Much Love,

Tiffany

At the Park

2010-10-12T19:59:00.000-05:00

A fun day last Saturday. The son's band performed in a parade just a block from the house. I'll post pictures about that soon.

As we were waiting on the parade, the girls and I played on the merry-go-round. I decided to climb up there with them and try to take pictures WHILE they were spinning.

It was:

* FUN!

* a little scary

* made me very DIZZY!!

* created some interesting pictures!

I learned:

* HANG ON! TIGHTLY!! I wrapped my leg around one of the bars and sat on the beam.

* Set the shutter on continuous fire. There WILL be some "bad" shots among the good ones.

* I hadn't thought about it, but it makes sense.... Because we are going around in circles, the light will be changing in each shot.

* It's hard to focus on something when I'm moving!!!

Here is my favorite from the morning.

This second one is probably better technically, but her smile was starting to fade and is looking a little more forced. The first smile was better. :)

Now that I take a closer look, it's not that bad... I like them both! I'm not really sure which is better.

Now for the not so great ones - all the way to the down-right failures!

My orange shirt is reflecting in her glasses.

Blurry....

Not too bad, but there's a dappled shadow across her face from the trees.

Too much shadow.

Then I tried some landscapes, but the smile was definitely fading.

Shadowed and glasses reflection

Blurry and glasses reflection....

And..... blurry.

So - there are the tries for this kiddo on the merry-go-round. I'll show you the other daughter tomorrow.

It is such a busy week this week. (I seem to say that a lot, but it's TRUE!) I had a performance as a member of an adult choir last night, and I have a performance as the director of a high school choir tomorrow night. Tonight, the kids are at band practice and they have a concert tomorrow as well! Thus is the life of performers in October, December, and again in the spring! We'll make it through as we always do! :)

Have a great week!

Much Love,

Tiffany

FMTSO - Reflective or Shiny!

2010-10-08T18:16:00.000-05:00

It's FRIDAY!!!!

Today's theme for Friday My Town Shoot Out is Reflective or Shiny.... I think I have some of those! :)

First is this wonderful fountain at the Rose Garden:

One of my all-time favorite reflections from the Tulip Festival last spring.

Another favorite from this past summer.... I love how the setting sun gave the marina a golden hue!

How about this funny reflection?????

Pretty geeky, eh?

Here's one of my favorites that has light glinting off the water. :)

Be sure to check out everyone else's Shiny-ness!

Have a great Weekend everyone! The band is marching at a parade tomorrow morning and the hubby and I are off to "Rocky Horror Picture Show" at the theatre tonight! Going to be tons of fun!!!

Love ya!

Tiffany

Beautiful Barn!

2010-10-07T22:05:00.000-05:00

What a busy week it is! Homecoming is this week at the high school where I teach. My show choir sang at the Homecoming assembly this morning. I think it went well! There was a carnival this evening and there will be a parade, the game and the dance tomorrow! Wow! I will then have 2 seperate choir concerts next week - one I'm conducting and one in which I'm singing. :)

I think I'm meeting myself coming and going!

During these times of the year, the rural setting calms my mind and spirit. Here's a shot from the same farm where I took the chickens photos.

Here's wishing you much relaxation during the weeks to come!!

Tiffany

Blog Award

2010-10-06T22:20:00.000-05:00

Being such a small and new blog with few followers, I was very surprised to see the comment on yesterday's post!!

Thank you so much Marie Elizabeth from The Places I go... for the Blog Award!

Marie Elizabeth, Thank you so much! I was so surprised!!

It is nice to know that the random things I say and do are occasionally appreciated by others.

Here is a shot from a couple of years ago on Thanksgiving. My daughters were swinging together on the tire swing at my parents'. I think it is one of my all-time favorites even though I really didn't understand how to use my camera at the time!

Much Love!

Tiffany

Kitten!!!

2010-10-05T20:20:00.000-05:00

This cute kitty likes to hang around our house. She belongs to one of our neighbors and had kittens a couple of months ago. As she has been trying to ween her kits, she's been spending more and more time at our house!

We give her milk once in a while. We kinda spoil her like that.

As she's been around more and more, she isn't scared of my camera anymore. Now I get blurry pictures because she keeps coming up to inspect the camera. :)

Isn't she just the sweetest?!?!!???

Say it with me: Awwwwwww!!!!!

I hope I can get some less blurry pictures soon. :)

Have a great day!

Tiffany

Preparing for Print

2010-10-04T08:40:00.000-05:00

This photo is becoming one of my favorites.

I took it on the morning of the 9/11 dedication by the Boy Scouts on the grounds of the Capital Building.

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As I am preparing to submit my photos for the magazine article I shot, I am running into a snag! (Oh NO!)

The editor asked that I submit photos that are 300dpi and in a CMYK format. Luckily, after all that studying I did last summer, I knew exactly what those things meant, but I wasn't exactly certain how to make it happen.... Time for more research!!

For those who don't know, "dpi" is short for "dots per inch" and referrs to the resolution of your photo. While my photos automatically save at 72dpi in Photoshop Elements, I did find that I can "resize" the photos and change them to whatever dpi I want. In fact, while most were at 72 dpi, a couple were already saved at more than 400! In order to follow directions, and since this is my first time to submit photos to an editor, I changed them all to 300dpi and saved them in a seperate folder in order to preserve the originals. (I didn't have to shoot in RAW in order to do this. JPG was fine!)

The problem I'm running into is that Photoshop Elements will not convert photos to CMYK. Photoshop will (you know, the $700 package), but not Elements. I have read that GIMP allows for the conversion, and that it is a free download, so I am considering it. We'll have to see.

Again, for those who are newbies and didn't spend their summers in the library :) CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK. When we view photos on the computer screen, or see photos that are made up of light, the RGB format is used (Red, Green, Blue). From those three basic colors, you can make litterally THOUSANDS of colors. However, in the world of ink printing (as in magazines, newspapers, photo prints, etc.) CMYK inks are used.

So there are a couple of things I learned about through this voyage. I also learned about a program called "dropbox", which is an online backup/file-sharing program. This is where I will submit my photos. I don't even have to travel anywhere or mail anything! Welcome to the digital age!!!

Have a great Monday everyone!

Tiffany

Photo Shoot

2010-10-02T21:36:00.000-05:00

I had the opportunity to do my first photoshoot this week! How fun! I was asked to take photos to accompany an article for a local magazine. Here are a few of the shots I took.

I am learning a LOT about the process of preparing photos for print. I’ll write more about that this coming week.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Tiffany

FMTSO - Orange and Black

2010-10-01T07:08:00.000-05:00

This week's theme for Friday My Town Shoot Out is "Orange and Black".

I wasn't sure I had many pictures that were orange, let alone orange and black - but I took a little time to sift through my catalog of photos. (and that alone was a lot of fun! There are some wonderful memories stored in my computer!) I was so excited that I not only found shots that were orange and black, but they were taken right here in Topeka and the surrounding area!

Here are some shots I found for this Friday.

From my post a couple weeks ago about the bon fire - orange flames and black charred branches.

And another fire from my father's place on Christmas morning. Always the best time for a fireplace!

Orange roses from the Gage Park Rose Garden.

A shot of a butterfly I found in the park last summer.

And this past summer's search for the perfect sunset.

How about a flower from a trip to Lake Shawnee?

There's always the orange and black flames on the classic car at the diner in Worlds of Fun amusement park.

Or if you happen to have a need to feed an army, you might wind up with several bins of orange chips! (This is how we feed that huge marching band you read so much about!)

What about that AMAZING orange Charger from the car show last month??? **Swoon**

And lastly, but certainly not least, what about that orange sky in August?? The sun setting in the middle of the wild lightening storm?? Awesome!

You should click here to see everyone else's Orange and Black photos this week!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone,

Tiffany

Good Friends - sort of....

2010-09-30T17:49:00.000-05:00

My daughter had her Brownie Scout meeting last night. They have their meetings in the library of their school. As they were working on a game, I decided to look around. I found MANY old friends whom I hadn't seen in a LONG time and a few who have recently become good friends!

How many of these do you recall?

I think I have this book memorized. :)

So many good books, so little time!!!

The need to grieve

2010-09-29T08:39:00.001-05:00

My son's school experienced a tragedy this week. A student who is in the band with him, was killed in a car accident Monday evening.

As I let my brain and emotions sift through this information yesterday afternoon, I found something I wasn't prepared for. While I didn't know this student, I know that she was part of my son's group of friends. She was a member of the band which is a family for him. It is his home away from home and one of the most important things in his life. As I watch my son go through the grieving process for the first time in his young life, I find myself needing to grieve as well - not for my own loss, but for his and that of his entire school community.

I'm not sure I have ever felt the need to grieve for a community. It is a strange and confusing set of emotions. I am nearly overwhelmed, yet it seems strange and is unexpected. Being new to this community (I have only lived here two years) I guess I didn't realize how much it was becoming a part of me. Especially when his high school isn't part of my daily life as I teach at a different high school on the other side of town.

Perhaps I feel this unseen connection because of the bond of music. For me, this isn't a tragedy that has struck the high school (although it has) as much as it is a tragedy that has struck a high school's Marching Band. In any music group, the emotional and personal binds run deep. Music has the power to bond and unite a previously unrelated group of people. While I don't know their band directors personally, I do know them as professional colleagues. They have suffered a powerful blow to their group and now have to begin the process of healing and rebuilding.

If any one is able to help this group of kids through this difficult time, it is a music teacher. Music has a power to express and to heal. Victor Hugo said, "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words yet cannot remain silent." How interesting and perhaps a little ironic that as I walked into my classroom under a cloud of grief this morning, I was greeted by this quote. Two years ago, when I first moved to this community and took this teaching position, I painted this quote on the wall of my classroom.

As I go through my day with so much inside me that must come out, music will be my tool. I will pray for comfort and peace for the families and the students, and I will sing. I will hug my children a little tighter tonight, and I will listen to music to calm my spirit.

God gave us music so that we might pray when we have no words. To the Seaman High School Marching Vikings, you are in my thoughts and prayers today.

Wishing you all love and peace,

Tiffany

Stereotypes

2010-09-27T23:32:00.002-05:00

What is it that makes stereotypes so humorous???

Here the boys decided to have fun being "cops".

Friday Night's Football Game

2010-09-26T22:28:00.000-05:00

I decided to try a few different views of the Football game. I hope you like them! :)

I hope your weekend was relaxing - mine sure was! Boy, I needed that!

Here's to a productive week for all of us!

Much Love,

Tiffany