Today's post is brought to you by the letter L...

For the challenge of "begins with an L"....Leeks! LOVE how this turned out...the color of that tomato especially. And those little droplets of water on the cutting board.

And for good measure, another shot with the macro....Lifesavers!

Soft light on lemons...

Played with a stronger texture layer on this one. The texture was a free download from http://paintthemoon.net/blog/first-class-freebies/ptm_timeworntexturesamplesprev/. It came in the form of a PSE action. I added the texture to the whole image as a top layer, then erased the texture from the lemons and most of the bowl. There's a slight color to the texture layer (warmer than the actual image). So I then needed to paint the color (without texture) back on the lemons and bowl. The download site had good directions for installing actions and using them. I hope to try more in the future, but most of her actions are not free. So I'll be experimenting with the ones offered at http://www.thecoffeeshopblog.com/ first instead.

Really love how this turned out. Really diggin' the side light too.

Simple, yet profound...

Yes...another macro. :) This pic was not cropped at all...amazing for the acorn to fill up that much of the frame! Don't know if you can tell, but I added a bit of texture to this. Just learned how to do that recently and really like the effect. In this case, I wanted to keep it subtle, so I lowered the opacity on that layer. Tomorrow I'll post a shot with a more obvious texture layer. (Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson) Have to say, I really love this shot! It's one of my all time faves. I like the minimalism of it.

The past is confusing, the future's a blur...

And now...drum roll...my first macro shot! This was for the challenge of "blur". I had no idea what I was going to do for that, but my new lens had just arrived the night before so I was determined to use it. I was writing in my journal that morning and starting thinking about the picture on the cover. It's a faux leather design with that old poem "Footprints". So, I thought it would be fun to play around with the SUPER shallow dof you can get with a macro. Shot this at f/3.2 in an effort to only get one footprint in focus. It naturally made me think of those great words in 2 Cor. 5:7. "We walk by faith, not by sight."
I'm loving the lens! Two things I love are shallow dof and detail and it's perfect for that. I had no idea until I started experimenting that I would need much smaller apertures with the macro to achieve the same dof. The field of focus with f3.2 for this lens would have been wide open (f1.4) with my 50mm. What I might normally shoot at f/2.8 with my 50 is more like a f/5-8 with the macro. Who woulda thunk it? Sadly, that means I need more light. BTW, the macro takes an awesome portrait too!..and I don't have to get right in my subject's face.

Barbed...

I shot this for the challenge of "sharp". It's a thistle I picked up on a whim at the Arboretum. Sure glad I saw it, because it was perfect for the challenge. Loved the contrast of soft background and sharp subject. Shot this with my 50mm. Didn't have my macro YET. Stay tuned for my first macro pic tomorrow.
My favorite comment in response to this challenge post was from my friend Sam. He asked, "So, if I were to shoot that, would that mean the thistle was Sammed?" :)

Portrait of a lady...

Well, one good thing about the 365 is that there's plenty of fodder for the blog! Shot this for the challenge of "aged". Amy Ruth a wonderful lady from our church. I visit with her most mornings on my way out to my car as she's waiting for the handicap transportation to pick her up. I was thankful she let me take her picture that day. I didn't tell her the topic was aged, tho'...thought that might be a little offensive. I asked her lots of questions while I was shooting and loved hearing about her life. She told me she's 88 and she was married for only 2 years because her husband passed away. She is retired from working for Dallas Seminary. She seemed happy that I could e-mail her a copy of her picture so she could send it to her brother...."so he could see how old she'd gotten"! lol. What a precious lady! She never misses a Sunday at church and she spends a lot of time praying for others. She asks me all the time about my son in law, Nathan, and how he's doing after his kidney transplant. What a treasure!

Gave her a copy of both color and b/w. I prefer b/w...what about you?

A year in pictures!

Happy anniversary to me! A year ago today I made my first blog post. Thank you to any and all who have taken time to read it. It's been great fun for me and a good incentive to continue learning with my camera. In honor of the occasion, I'm posting this dandelion pic. I spotted dandies at church on the way home from an errand a couple weeks ago and stopped for a few shots. Didn't have my tripod, so this is handheld. I thought it turned out pretty well tho'! Just wish it had been a cleaner background...I was laying down, but couldn't get sky behind like I wanted. Shot this with my 50mm.
Nearly a year ago I posted my first dandy pic (with the 18-200mm). Could just be the different lens, but I hope my skills are improving. Focus is definitely sharper in the newer shot anyway.

And now I think I need to try this with the macro. :)

Joyful...

Hannah was particularly joyful on this day....Love her tongue between her teeth...

Knee-slapping laughter...

Nearly falling over with laughter when Jenny made monkey noises! :)

Soft and pink...

I'm not sure what kind of tree this is (maybe a peach?), but I love it. Wish the cherry trees had been in bloom, but it was too early. Next time!

Complimentary colors...

Discovery...

Jenny showed Hannah the sign for flower when we entered the park and she signed it repeatedly the whole time we were there. In case you're wondering what it is, you put your fingers under your nose and move from one nostril to the other, as though smelling a flower. Like this:

She was not afraid to touch and enjoy things.

...including the grass.

Missed my focus here and got the grass instead of her hand, but I decided I like it because it shows the cool texture. Hannah enjoyed touching, but was not too sure about crawling in the grass. It was obvious she really wanted to, but she couldn't make herself do it. :)

Flowering tree...

Jenny and I read the name of this tree and then I promptly forgot! I think it's some kind of magnolia...tho' it looks very different than the variety we usually see in Dallas. I was disappointed we didn't have blue skies that day, but I still really liked this almost monochrome effect. Which background do you prefer...gray sky?

or the vivid grass?

Nuts!

This little guy was so intent on eating that he didn't seem to mind me moving closer. Remember I had my 50mm lens and not my zoom. This is basically SOOC (straight out of the camera)...no crop...so I was close. But as soon as I got down on the ground to shoot from his level, he was gone. Bummer!

Rollin' along!

She had a great time! Stayed busy holding onto the side (sometimes leaning over the side)...observing EVERYTHING around her. She was particularly fascinated by the big tractor lawn mowers! Isn't that rye grass gorgeous!?

Dallas Blooms!

Jenny and I enjoyed an afternoon at the Arboretum recently with Hannah. It was actually the day before Dallas Blooms opened so it wasn't TOO crowded. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so much color after the months of brown grass and bare trees. My absolute favorite will always be tulips. They have so many different colors, but these are 2 of my faves.

BTW, I usually use my 18-200mm lens at the park, but this time I used my 50mm. What do you think? I'm diggin' the super shallow dof.

"Dancing" with daddy...

She finally started taking steps if you hold her hands. Not too anxious to walk, but she's getting there! She was so funny that night. Generally, we have to stand on our heads to get her to look towards the camera, but that night she was completely fascinated by it. She's used to me shooting in natural light (no flash) and the camera is just a fixture to her. I was using my hot shoe flash tho' and it makes a cool little noise every time it goes off. She was completely fascinated...looked into the camera for EVERY shot! :)

Lost in the shadow...

Had to shoot for the theme of "shadow" one day and wouldn't you know it was cloudy here? Not a shadow in sight. Had to create my own indoors, but was pretty happy with how this turned out. The lyric is from a Stephen Curtis Chapman song.

Soft pink...

And finally...the other end of the rose. I really love this shot. I love how soft it looks. I usually prefer deeper colors, but really liked the effect when I turned down saturation.

In the eye of the beholder...

I bought some roses the other day, intending to shoot them for a 365 challenge. Somewhere in the process, I decided to shoot this. I'm not sure why, but on that day I found as much beauty in the stems as in the blossoms. I like the angles of the cut stems and the bubbles and the clean minimalism of this shot. Call me crazy!

Candlelight and crystal...

One day our challenge was candlelight. I'd never shot anything by candlelight before except birthday cake...so this was a fun one. Set up my 3 candles on the piano and shot with a tripod, of course, with slow exposure. The shot was feeling really blah to me, so I added some crystal goblets in the background. What a difference! Hello bokeh and reflections! This is one of the things I'm learning...try a different angle...add something or take something away from the shot. Sometimes a small change makes a dramatic difference.

What are little girls made of?

This was really fun for me. I'd never attempted a triptych before, but admired others. I'm not at all sure that I did it right as I had no directions, but I figured it out by trial and error. This was created for the 365.

She loves her G-Pa...

...and he loves her!

Window framing...

Hunting for KC...Sad that she went outside...

Found Grammy instead...Focus is a little soft (tricky focusing through glass) but I love her expression and the twinkle in her eye. Oh...and I love how her fingertips are white from gripping the window so tightly. :)

Another day, another rehearsal...

"I am a dancer. I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living.... In each it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one's being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes in some area an athlete of God. ~Martha Graham, c.1953"
Yep, 365 again. This day was "high angle shot". Many thanks to my model, Caroline, for her lovely feet and hands. When Kara saw this she asked where I shot it. She was surprised to learn it was in my kitchen. Hmm....but I don't have wood floors. Can you guess how I did it? I brought out the leaf from my oak table and put it on the floor for Caroline to sit on. Worked like a charm! :) I love this shot...the texture of the wood, the shadow from the window...and of course the graceful arms and legs.

The child within...

Yeah, she's 16 and growing up fast. She looks so stylish in her trendy clothes and pretty make up. Still, if we're lucky, we can sometimes catch a glimpse of the child in her. I'm grateful she has not abandoned the whimsy that makes her uniquely her. I hope she never does!
As you probably guessed, this was for the 365. The challenge was "caught in the act" so I tried to capture the motion of the pinwheel and imply that I caught a teenager enjoying a childish toy. The bubbles from yesterday were attempts for the same challenge, but when I saw how pretty the late afternoon light was in this shot, I knew it was the one I'd use. Love how the bokeh is radiating out from the pinwheel. Pure luck...In hindsight, I think I should have used a slightly faster shutter speed. I wouldn't want to freeze the pinwheel, but would have liked to see some of the individual blades in the blur.

Bubbles...

Finally had a chance to experiment with some bubbles. Want to try this again sometime with some better solution. This stuff worked for about 5 min. I liked the spray of solution in this shot tho'.
Love how Emma has solution all down the front of her clothes! When we first gave her the wand, she put it directly in her mouth. :) Guess we should have known since she's only 2! She held the wand so close to her mouth that I'm afraid she ate a lot of soap. At one point, she opened her mouth to say something and a big bubble came out. :) It was hilarious! ...like something out of a cartoon.

That last shot was a killer...

Found it humorous that on the day Kara turned 30, I made her pose for the following shot.
I know, it's nutty...but it was for the 365. The challenge that day was "the end"...and I thought this would be funny. Notice the cause of death...ODC stands for "Our Daily Challenge". Yep, it was only day 50 of the 365 and I could already tell these challenges are gonna kill me. :) I'm having tons of fun, but it really is relentless. I feel such accomplishment each time I finish a challenge, only to realize there's a new one the following day. They just keep comin'! :)

Kara was a great sport about this. In fact, it was shot in broad daylight with Kara sitting up on the floor. I tucked a black blanket in the background hoping it would look like she was on a gurney. I monkeyed with the temperature in processing to make it look like morgue lighting. My favorite part is the subtle stripe on the sheets. I didn't have any plain white ones. One of the comments on the 365 was "Which morgue was this? Looks like Beverly Hills"....and another was "When I go, I want it to be on luxury sheets". Too funny!

Happy Birthday to Kara!

Found these fun glasses at Party City too...Yep, Kara just joined Geezerville! :)

Alien invasion...

One of our challenges for the 365 was "neon". I had no desire to drive down Greenville at night shooting bar signs, so I headed to Party City instead. Picked up some little green glow-in-the-dark men...cheap party favors. Kara and I camped out in my bathroom for a while (only room in the house that's totally dark in the daytime) and played with different exposures.

For this first one, there was no other light source than the little men and the glow in the dark ball behind them (their planet). Trust me when I say these guys are not that bright....but they sure turned out that way in this shot.
For this one, I introduced a battery operated spinning toy that lights up. This was something like a 25 second exposure and for app. 5 of those seconds I circled the lighted toy once around the little men. Very "Close Encounters"...
For this one, I used the same battery operated toy. This was again a 25 second exposure, but I just whisked the lighted toy into the frame for a brief moment....less than a second. I love the way the marble countertop turned into a misty atmosphere.
Kara isn't always thrilled about helping me with my projects (understandable). Usually I hear "I'll give you 5 min." :) But on this day, she said she actually had fun. It was awesome seeing how each little adjustment completely changed the image! BTW, this stuff isn't really what I want to shoot, but I'm learning so much about my camera from these challenges.

Smart 'n' Sassy...

She's growing and changing so quickly. She now loves to look at books and point to things and sign what she sees. She still has very little interest in talking, tho' she does say "uh-oh". She knows a LOT of signs tho' and babbles a lot, so I guess she'll start talking when she's good and ready. Is is just me, or does she suddenly look a whole lot older in these pics?

Two moods...

One day our challenge for the 365 was "doors". We're only allowed to submit one photo for each challenge, which is hard but also good for me. It's teaching me to self edit. :) Fortunately, we can add a second photo in our comments if we're wavering. I'm glad, because on the door day, I wound up with two images so vastly different I couldn't begin to choose. It amazed me how much the lighting affected the mood.

"Welcome, the door's always open."

"Mom, there's someone at the door!"