Friday, December 30, 2011
Macro Friday - Red Ribbon
My brother's girlfriend wrapped all her Christmas presents with big red bows. I loved how the ribbon looked in front of the tree.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
New Year
Another new year is approaching. One that will be filled with good times, smiles & laughs, tears, memories, dreams, challenges, and new beginnings.
This cat will certainly be a challenge for me! Jon and I have "temporarily" acquired her while his parents are away visiting family. There's a good chance we will be keeping her, which means I have to learn how to take photos of her. My SOOC photo was very dark (see here), so I had to lighten it up in LR3 as best as I could. I know it's not great, but it's the best I could do.
This cat will certainly be a challenge for me! Jon and I have "temporarily" acquired her while his parents are away visiting family. There's a good chance we will be keeping her, which means I have to learn how to take photos of her. My SOOC photo was very dark (see here), so I had to lighten it up in LR3 as best as I could. I know it's not great, but it's the best I could do.
Meet Katniss!
And if you know why we named her that, then you are awesome.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
New Year SOOC
I know it's not the new year yet, but it's only a few days away! Hard to believe that another year has passed. And it was a big one for me, mainly because of the wedding and honeymoon. Some other memorable events from 2011:
I'm hoping for another big year next year! The good times are what make me stronger during the bad times.
New year, new challenges.
f8.0 | 1/10 sec | iso 1000
New year, new beginnings.
f22 | 1/60 sec | iso 100
New year, new dreams.
Come back on Thursday to see my edits of these photos.
-Jon and I spent a week in FL and a week in TN in January. We were able to spend lots of time with family, and we still squeezed in a couple days with friends.
-My family threw a big party for my grandma's birthday in February. We tried to take a family photo, but we didn't fit in one room.
-My younger brother started playing baseball, which provided lots of great photo ops.
-My younger brother also went to his senior prom, and graduated from high school. It was a big year for him, too!
-My friends and family surprised me with a wonderful bridal shower in June.
-I went down to NJ with my family for my cousin's graduation party.
-Some friends and I went to NYC to the American Museum of Natural History.
-We also went to the Maritime Aquarium in CT.
-My parents remodeled the master bath and bedroom in their house.
-One of my best friends/bridesmaids had a baby boy!
-I finally made it to the Renaissance Faire.
-I participated in Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk.
-Jon and I both turned 26, so we are in our last year of saying "mid-twenties."
-Another best friend had a baby girl! Jon and I were given the honor of being the godparents.
I'm hoping for another big year next year! The good times are what make me stronger during the bad times.
f5.6 | 1/15 sec | iso 800
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Holiday Traditions Edited
On Monday, I posted a SOOC photo of one of my many holiday traditions: Collecting Barbie ornaments. I had been messing around with the custom Kelvin WB on my dad's camera, so this photo was WAY too cool! (Look here. You'll agree.)
Here is my photo after some quick processing in LR3:
My step is always to crop. Then I did auto WB, but it was too warm, so I had to decrease the warmth. (of course, I probably decreased it a bit too much.) Then I did auto tone, and decreased exposure and brightness. I also increased fill light, blacks, and recovery. I did some noise reduction right in LR3. I used a sharpen preset (set not available anymore) from Pretty Presets. I finished with the It's Good For You preset from naptime momtog for some color pop.
I also did a black and white edit:
Here is my photo after some quick processing in LR3:
My step is always to crop. Then I did auto WB, but it was too warm, so I had to decrease the warmth. (of course, I probably decreased it a bit too much.) Then I did auto tone, and decreased exposure and brightness. I also increased fill light, blacks, and recovery. I did some noise reduction right in LR3. I used a sharpen preset (set not available anymore) from Pretty Presets. I finished with the It's Good For You preset from naptime momtog for some color pop.
I also did a black and white edit:
Monday, December 19, 2011
Holiday Traditions SOOC
My grandma and mom started a holiday tradition for me when I was in 4th grade. I played with Barbie dolls, so they started getting me the collectible Barbie ornaments. I went through my collection last year, replaced a couple that I didn't have (1993 and 1997), and am proud to say that I now have a complete set! That is, of course, if my mom buys me this year's ornament.
My plan so far for processing is to crop and adjust WB; I'm not sure what else yet. Come back on Thursday to see my edited photo!
f5.0 | 1/10 sec | iso 250
My plan so far for processing is to crop and adjust WB; I'm not sure what else yet. Come back on Thursday to see my edited photo!
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Color Splash Sunday - Spider Plant
Color splash photos are those that have been converted to black and white, but one object has been left colored. Sometimes, it's easy to just isolate your colored object and you're done. Other times, more editing is required, such as adjusting color levels/light/shadow/etc.
This is an open themed link-up, so there won't be any specific themes for your photos. Any photo is fine, as long it was taken or setup by you, has selective color, and you haven't posted it before. You can read more about CSS guidelines by clicking here.
This is our last link up ever for Color Splash Sunday. I have to thank the few participants who stuck with me until the end. I'll miss CSS, for sure!
My photo for today is my spider plant.
Your turn to link up!
Friday, December 16, 2011
Macro Friday 12.16.11
I haven't linked up with Macro Friday in so long!
I was going through all my 2011 photo folders to find pictures for Memories, Dreams, & Reflections 2011, and I found some old photos that I never got around to processing.
This series of photos is perfect for Macro Friday.
When I took these photos, I had been using my dad's D80 with the kit lens. He uses old projector lenses as macro attachments.
This is the projectors lens:
This is showing you how much closer I can zoom in using the projector lens:
And here is the comparison. First photo is zoomed all the way in without the projector lens; second photo is zoomed all the way in WITH the projector lens.
I used to shoot with these "fake" macro lenses all the time when I borrowed my dad's camera. It creates a very deep DOF, so it's a bit harder to get those crisp shots that most people love. It's just so much fun to play with it!
I was going through all my 2011 photo folders to find pictures for Memories, Dreams, & Reflections 2011, and I found some old photos that I never got around to processing.
This series of photos is perfect for Macro Friday.
When I took these photos, I had been using my dad's D80 with the kit lens. He uses old projector lenses as macro attachments.
This is the projectors lens:
This is showing you how much closer I can zoom in using the projector lens:
And here is the comparison. First photo is zoomed all the way in without the projector lens; second photo is zoomed all the way in WITH the projector lens.
I used to shoot with these "fake" macro lenses all the time when I borrowed my dad's camera. It creates a very deep DOF, so it's a bit harder to get those crisp shots that most people love. It's just so much fun to play with it!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Holiday Bokeh - Edited
A few days, I posted some SOOC bokeh shots. (Click here to take a peek.) I imported some of those photos into LR3 to do some quick edits. I kept it simple by cropping, smoothing the noise, increasing blacks and vibrance, and increasing contrast. That's it! I love simple, colorful bokeh, so I didn't use any of my creative presets.
You can see more of my edited bokeh photos over at my facebook page.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
2012 Holiday Bokeh Party!
This bokeh party is hosted by Darcy over at my3boybarians.com. Click on the button below to go check out all of the other beautiful bokeh photos! (And, of course, all of the cool prizes.)
I SO wanted to enter last year, but I was too busy with wedding planning and moving from my parents' house into a condo with my husband (fiance at the time).
This year, I was much more prepared! I borrowed my friend's Rebel and spent a day running around capturing bokeh everywhere. I had some set-up shots and some natural shots. For this challenge, I went with one of my set-up shots, but I hope to share some of the others at some point.
I SO wanted to enter last year, but I was too busy with wedding planning and moving from my parents' house into a condo with my husband (fiance at the time).
This year, I was much more prepared! I borrowed my friend's Rebel and spent a day running around capturing bokeh everywhere. I had some set-up shots and some natural shots. For this challenge, I went with one of my set-up shots, but I hope to share some of the others at some point.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Holiday Bokeh - SOOC
If you've been following my blog for more than a few days, you know that I am a Nikon lover. It runs in my family! My dad has a D80, my dream (for the past 2 years) is a D90, and my brother now has a D3000. I borrowed my brother's camera the other night and sat outside with my dad to capture some pretty bokeh photos.
The aperture range on the D3000 is not as wide as the D80 (edited to add - using the kit lens), but I made it work.
Here are some SOOC shots:
Okay, so, I shared more than I expected. But I just love bokeh! Especially colored bokeh. Come back on Thursday to see the edited versions of some of these.
The aperture range on the D3000 is not as wide as the D80 (edited to add - using the kit lens), but I made it work.
Here are some SOOC shots:
f/5 | 1/8 sec | iso 1600
f/5.6 | 1/10 sec | iso 1600
f/5.6 | 1/10 sec | iso 1600
f/5.6 | 1/10 sec | iso 1600
f/5.6 | 1/10 sec | iso 1600
f/5.3 | 1/10 sec | iso 1600
f/5 | 1/10 sec | iso 1600
f/4.5 | 1/10 sec | iso 1600
Okay, so, I shared more than I expected. But I just love bokeh! Especially colored bokeh. Come back on Thursday to see the edited versions of some of these.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Color Splash Sunday - Green Lettuce Teacup
Color splash photos are those that have been converted to black and white, but one object has been left colored. Sometimes, it's easy to just isolate your colored object and you're done. Other times, more editing is required, such as adjusting color levels/light/shadow/etc.
This is an open themed link-up, so there won't be any specific themes for your photos. Any photo is fine, as long it was taken or setup by you, has selective color, and you haven't posted it before. You can read more about CSS guidelines by clicking here.
**Announcement: This will be our second-to-last link up for Color Splash Sunday! I still love blogging, and I still love selective coloring on photos. However, I can't seem to keep up with this anymore. I've known for the past few weeks that CSS was slowly drawing to an end, so I decided to speed it up. With the holidays upcoming, and big plans already set in motion for next year, CSS has unfortunately dropped very low on my priority list. So, please link up today, and plan to go all out for next Sunday (December 18th). You can post as many selective coloring photos as you want next week! Old ones, new ones, red ones, blues, etc. Have fun with it.
My photo for today: My mom loves tea sets. She has teapots of all shapes and sizes all over the house. These mini tea sets were so much fun to play with when I was younger. Now, they are used as seasonal and holiday decor.
Your turn to link up!
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