I Heart Faces :: Pets Only

It's Pets Only for this week's photo challenge at I Heart Faces. And just look at this face I'm entering! Who could possibly resist this face!?!

Bubba is my slobbery, smellier son... er... English Bulldog. 

He loves my bacon, eggs, and sometimes even helps me out with that early morning sacrificial pancake. You know that very first pancake that just doesn't look like you want it to look? Yeah, well, Bubba loves those.

He's single, but I have to tell you I am pretty particular about any potential young females he might set his eyes on. You know how mothers are with their boys.. ahem.. dogs. We are very lucky Bubba is back home. He recently had a heat stroke and after a few weeks of babying is doing well and enjoying spending time with his friends, Donald and Daisy (or is it Donna and Daisy? We still aren't quiet sure.)

Head on over to I Heart Faces to see all of the other beautiful pet faces hanging out over there. While there, be sure to congratulate Angie and Amy on their TWO nominations for the Blog Luxe Awards! (And then, I'm sure they'd love it if you took a second or two and voted for them, too.)

Sweet Shot :: Make My Heart Sing

They absolutely make my heart sing!

Photoshop for Digital Photographers and Photowalks

Y'all know I've really been working on my photography - reading my manual and everything (my lame attempt at humor).  I decided I needed to take it up a notch. I wanted to share how I'm doing that with you.

Photoshop for Digital Photographers Seminar

I attended the National Association of Photoshop Professionals' Photoshop for Digital Photographers seminar in Atlanta on Friday. I have heard so many compliments on Scott Kelby's seminars and was excited to attend this one. It was everything I had hoped for and more!

If you have an opportunity to attend any of his seminars, I highly recommend that you do. Y'all know I've really been working on my photography - reading my manual and everything (my lame attempt at humor). This seminar on Photoshop for Digital Photographers just really pulled it all together.



If photography is something you are interested in as a hobby or even more than a hobby, NAPP is an organization you will love. Great information, discounts on photography hardware and software, and exceptional forums.

I'm a member of NAPP and if you decide it is something you would enjoy, I would really appreciate if you would click on the button in my right sidebar or even the larger one in this post. I won't get money from your joining, but I will get points from NAPP for the referral which can be used for great stuff like extending my membership for a few months, books, and other goodies.

I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with Dawn and meeting so many great photographers of all walks of life and level of skill. Another post will be coming soon from all I learned from these great conversations.

Photowalks
I was bitten by the Photowalk bug when I participated in my first at Sun-n-Fun with Nikon earlier this year. I enjoyed it so much I've now signed up for two more.

I Heart Faces Photowalk Across America - I'm participating in the Atlanta Photowalk led by Dawn (I get to see her two weeks in a row. I'm a lucky girl!) with Secret Agent Mama assisting. I am so excited I just can't wait! Please pray the weather is gorgeous! Bloggers and photography, what in the world gets better than that on a summer day?


Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk - Oh my goodness this is going to be fun! If you have any interest in participating in this photowalk, I'd jump on getting registered. There is not a fee to participate and space in each of the groups is limited. Registration begins June 1st, but it opened a little early and I didn't think twice about getting registered for it.

What great photography lessons and tutorials have your found?

I Heart Faces :: Yellow

A two year old Little Buddy in a big ole, antique Yellow Stearman.

Mama's Gettin' Snappy

My family loves me. They really do. I think they even get my quirkiness --- some days.
They are pretty supportive of this photography obsession I have. Always pointing a camera at them, saying stuff like, "hold it right there. Great one." And of course always taking way longer to actually get "the picture" than I intended.

Our simple walks become filled with tons of stops and starts so I can "get this" or "capture that."

And now, I get to share with you just such a little segment.





This was the photograph I was after during our walk on the pier.

But greedily, I asked Little Buddy for just one more. {Don't judge me}





And this is what I got. Funny.

But wait. It gets better.





Who in the world did he think he was hiding from with this pose?





And he obviously was not going to hang around for another shot. So what did I do?

Like any great Mom with a camera, I kept snapping!





And got this little jewel. Oh when I think how easy it would have been to have just stopped taking pictures after the one I wanted. I would have totally missed this one.





And then, like Dug in the movie "UP," my eye wandered over here.





And then over here. I am drawn to the color red. And boats. I had a thing for boats.

If you want to know how a pro gets her children to pose for photographs, check out Darcy's excellent How To.

How do you get your children to want to participate in photographs?

Eye of the Beholder from Darcy

Today's guest is Darcy from Life with My 3 Boybarians and Graphically Designing.

I'm sure most of you already know and love Darcy. She makes the blogosphere beautiful with her gorgeous, professional designs and her photography. She also encourages everyone to share their photography with her weekly Sweet Shot Tuesdays. But most of all, she's an awesome wife to her Handy Man and mom to her three boys.


You can also find Darcy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/my3boybarians.

Have you ever seen a photograph or image and thought, "...wow. I would love to be able to capture images like that!" Do you feel like your images are ordinary compared to another photographer who always seems to get it right? I feel like that all. the. time.

It may be that the other photographer has an amazing camera, has a unique post-processing method, lives or travels somewhere extraordinary... but chances are, more often than not, it's the perspective of the camera holder.








Iowa fields shot from a moving vehicle, along I-80

Think about how we, as adults, view the world. For the majority of the population, we all stand somewhere around the 5 feet to 6 feet-something inches tall. We all hold the camera at approximately our eye level or within arm's reach.

This means that the majority of casual snapshots are taken from the angle of the average adult's eye height. For this example, we'll say 5'8" (if you're short like me, you're swooning about what those extra inches would do for your weight distribution right about now! ;) ) and standing a typical distance of 5 - 10 feet for people and perhaps more for landscape.

The point is, we've all exhausted that view. Anything shot around 5'8" feet looking down, looking straight across... well... that's old news. Our brains take one look at that and think, "ho hum." We also tend to stand a standard social, spacial distance from our subject. As Americans (most of us) - our culture of social spacial relationships is one of safe distance. This is true in most European countries, I visited, too. There is something such as "too close for comfort."

Now think of some of the most extraordinary shots. Often they are of the extremely ordinary, otherwise banal subject matter. How do awesome photographers make the ordinary look extraordinary?

They change the way we typically see things. And sometimes, that means we photographers should also have contortionist, dare devil, and weirdo added to our resumes. I have climbed furniture, climbed park benches, gotten sometimes uncomfortably close to my subject, laid down on my belly in the middle of a street, dangled from branches, leaned out moving vehicles, and otherwise perched myself somewhat precariously for the sake of the shot.








Baby shot by climbing a park picnic table and hovering.

It helps that I have a spotter on hand for my road shenanigans, and someone looking over me at me while I shoot. I have the privilege of co-shooting with my husband on most shoots. And sometimes it's as simple as getting low or getting close. Then, getting lower and closer. Good photographers are not lazy or lacksadaisical. They do not "stumble upon" great shots. Good photographers make great shots happen. It is this exercise, this awareness of perspective that takes effort.

Sometimes a photoshoot is a physical workout. It's up, it's down, it's squatting, laying, running ahead to shoot back. Leaning, balancing and go-, go-, going. If you feel like your shots are simply ordinary - give some thought to your activity and body position as a photographer. Challenge yourself to safely position your camera somewhere other than the usual. You may just love your extra-ordinary shots.








Tulip shot by laying on ground.

Now it's your turn! Next time you're shooting, try something different!

As a caveat, I feel like I must add here - I do not ever position babies and children in the positions I'm willing to put myself. I have seen photos of babies in trees and hanging from branches. This is not the same thing. Babies are not props. Children are not accessories for your photos. Be very attentive to the difference between putting yourself in a unique position, to any risk to your subject. Babies and children especially should always be positioned and placed with safety first. Please don't confuse my message with any one that encourages placing babies precariously.


Be sure to visit Darcy and tell her how much you enjoyed her post! And remember my great giveaway.

Photography and Lighting with Amanda

Today's guest is Amanda from Beautiful Blog Designs and Photography Haven. 

I am thrilled to have Amanda provide a guest post on Photography and Lighting. I have learned a ton from her photography blog and just knew you all would enjoy her.

You can also find Amanda on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AmandaPadgett.






Good morning! My name is Amanda and I'm going to share with you how one simple thing - LIGHT, can effect your photos and how to use it to take better pictures, whether you use a point and shoot or a DSLR. light.

There several types of light, but because of lack of time and expertise, not to mention readers' attention, I'm going to write only about natural light, i.e. the light provided by the sun. And, I'm not going to give a long lecture on how and why, but rather just give you basic tips to improve your photography.

Things to know about light and photography:

• Try to only shoot early in the morning or late in the evening, when the light is soft, not harsh
• If you are shooting in mid-day sun, move to a fully shaded area.
• If you're shooting inside, move in front of a window and TURN OFF your flash.

To illustrate, I took my second son outside and grabbed a shot in the full sun and then one in the shade. (For all the shots in this post I only used my oldest son's Canon A470 Point-and-Shoot).








Do you see the difference? They were both taken at 11:20 AM, but for the second shot I just moved about ten feet away, under a large tree.

Now, let's talk about using a flash. I am NOT a fan of the flash. When I want to take a picture inside, I get near a window and position my subject so that they are well lit and take the shot. Below is an example of that. In one shot I used the flash and the other I turned my son's P&S on manual, tweaked the settings a bit (read your manual to see how to shoot in manual) and took the second shot with no flash.


Isn't the one without a flash so much better? The skin tone is more realistic, and there are no shadows like in the shot with the flash.

So, if you want to take pictures of your children to put in frames or give to grandparents, or share on your blog, just remember these three things:

1. Shoot early in the morning or late in the evening.
2. Move to the shade if shooting in harsh sunlight.
3. Move to a window if shooting indoors and turn off your flash.

Head over and say hello to Amanda at her Photography Haven blog and let her know how much you enjoyed her post. And remember my great giveaway.

Sweet Shot :: Trees

Large and graceful, rugged and gnarled.

I'm linking up my Sweet Shot photo over at Darcy's. Since my store is a giveaway sponsor, I am not eligible for any prizes. But, if you love the photograph, I'd love your comment!

I Heart Faces :: Smiles

This week I am participating in I Heart Faces photo challenge, Smiles.

Head on over and have a giggle at all of the other great smiling faces this week.




Guest judge this week is professional photographer, Kristen Kalp. I visited her special page and loved reading about her and seeing the photographs of her favorite faces.

Sweet Shot - Hot Air Balloons

Oh how this photograph makes me want to be up there with this balloonist.



And I'm not even that fond of heights. But I am extremely thankful I was able to enjoy the beauty of these balloons.

Our Morning and A Winner

This morning I participated in a Nikon photowalk that turned out to actually be a competition. There were 25 photographers competing and were to capture and submit their cameras back in to Nikon with only three photographs in the camera. One for Planes and People, one for Planes in Flight, and another for Planes as Art. It was tough! My husband and Little Buddy were also able to participate and honestly, Little Buddy's photographs put mine to shame!

I think I know what elective I need to begin teaching him. Or maybe, he needs to begin teaching me.

We should find out the winners of the contest around 2. I just hope I can get digital copies of Little Buddy's photographs back. They were THAT good.


Also, last night officially ended the Ultimate Blog Party. You guys have blown me away with commenting on my UBP post and entering my giveaway. I wish I could give every one of you the $50 Amazon Gift Card. If I could, I would in a minute!

I have loved visiting you back and getting to see your blog homes as well. I look forward to continuing to read your blogs and hope that you will do the same. I've enjoyed this giveaway so much, I'm planning another biggee in the next week. So be sure to stay tuned for it.

And now, the winner. It's Lolli.

Congratulations. Send me an email and I'll email you with the gift card.

To everyone else, thank you so much for entering. Remember, I have another biggee coming next week!

Sweet Shot - Red

I love the color red! Especially in the flowers I use outside my home. They are just warm, friendly, and more... homey.

This past weekend I grabbed my camera and played around with the macro settings. {Y'all, I sure am trying to learn how to use this camera before I invest in a newer model.}



I was pleased as punch with myself on how this one turned out.

Sweet Shot

Yep, I know it is no longer Tuesday and that this same picture was already used in a post, but this is by far my Sweet Shot of the week. And... I guess I'm better late than never, right?





This picture is by far the sweetest shot I took over the past week. It just screams fun, childhood, and life.

Check out all the other Sweet Shots over at Darcy's.

I Heart Faces :: Angles

This week I am participating in the I Heart Faces challenge, Focusing on Angles.



I was a good bit below my husband and son as I took this photograph. I wasn't sure how it would turn out when I first started to take it, but loved how I captured them and the gorgeous sky. The colors just popped.


Head on over to I Heart Faces to see all of the other wonderful entries.