Joy is...

...experiencing a baby's delight.

It's Spring!

Okay, not sure sure if Winter missed the memo at the end of Fall but....I think I can be okay with this.  =)

Bokeh

I learned a new word today!  "Bokeh."

"In photography, bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image..."  (According to Wikipedia.)

Apparently, I've been using this technique for awhile now...

It's my favorite season . . .

"Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower."
    Albert Camus

Composition 101:  Combining Dead Space with the Rule of Thirds is an easy way to make a photo more dramatic and eye-catching.  Be careful not to include too much dead space--the "fill the frame" rule of thumb is still always a good idea.

Butterfly Stalking

Taking a good photo is so satisfying.  And the process of finding a good shot is so...nice.  I don't know how else to describe it!  Hmm...

I'm not always the best at focusing.  Just ask my friends.  ;)  But seriously.  I zone out, I get distracted, I go on tangents.  It's what makes me so charming.  =D  When I'm in "photography mode" it's different though.  My mind sort of slows down.

Today, I had some time to kill and I took myself on a photo safari. (Remind me to write a post about what a photo safari is one day.)  The sun was beginning to set and the lighting was really nice.  I drove by a field and pulled over.  I was going to take pictures of the flowers there, but there were all these butterflies.  So I spent the next several minutes stalking butterflies and trying to take a good shot.  (It didn't quite work out.)  Anyway, as I was following one butterfly, I had a neat thought.  Photography is like butterfly stalking.  At least, it is for me.  Walking slowly, being quiet, looking for little details.  (Okay, this was a lot cooler in my head than it is in writing.  I still wanted to share though.)  I like butterfly stalking.

These might be moths...  I never did learn to tell the difference.  Moths are cool too though.

Little Details.

Composition 101:  Don't be afraid to keep clicking.  Sometimes a shot you haven't purposefully composed will be the winning shot that day.

Texture!

 

Composition 101:  Texture = Good.

Water dances.

 

"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."

                                                  - Loran Eisley 

Composition 101: If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in light!  Capturing that light is oh-so-satisfying.  Pay attention to light when composing a shot.  Get it right and it could mean the difference between a good shot and a great one.

I take way too many pictures of flowers.

But flowers are easy.  And pretty.

"What are little boys made of?

Frogs and snails, and puppy dog tails.
That's what little boys are made of!"

Water Water Everywhere

Droplets are fun to take pictures of.

Composition 1o1: KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN.

Sometimes . . .

. . . interesting shots happen by accident.

And by sometimes, I mean mostly.

I'm pretty much a nerd.

I got to go to the zoo with Camp today!! AND it was the first time I've really been able to walk around with my new toy camera (at the zoo). I was in GEEK HEAVEN. (At least my geek heaven.) Lucky for me, the person I was with was Britni and she is very understanding of my nerdom and so I was able to let it out in all it's geeky glory. [Side note: Britni is amazing. True story.]

I think I got some pretty good shots in if I do say so myself. =)

Love is . . .

. . . a cuddly baby who sleeps in your arms.

Little Feet

Composition 101: When doing portrait shots, faces are not the only thing worth looking at.

I love this little boy. So, so much.

Buzz

“Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly,
but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway.”
- Mary Kay Ash

Candid

Composition 101: Use natural light to your advantage whenever possible.

Soulful

"The eyes have one language everywhere."
-George Herbert

Tuesday Tweaks

In which I share a picture that I edited or, "tweaked."

This is one of my favorite little models, my cousin Carter. Isn't he the cutest?

Before:

After:

I did this one on picnik.com I think. I'm a big fan of free. ;) I used the sharpen tool to get rid of some of the blurriness and I used the boost effect to brighten the colors up. Most pictures, especially ones of kids, look great with just a touch from this effect. It increases the saturation of the colors and works well with pictures of kids because it makes things just a bit brighter. (Some progams actually have a saturation tool. It's almost exactly the same thing, I promise.)

Composition 101: When taking pictures of kids, just keep snapping!

Macro Monday!

Yes, I know most every other day of the week is a macro day. But! I did warn you! I LOVE macro shots!

This little guy flew right in to my shot and became my new subject. He was a little ham! Okay, really he did not care AT ALL that I was even there. I finally just stopped and walked away because I had so many shots of him.

Composition 101: Patience and persistence always pay off.