Category Archives: Photography

What do you think this is? *Updated*

September 14 2011 1 1024x682 What do you think this is? *Updated*

First person to guess correctly gets a million (Monopoly) dollars!

ETA: No one even got close.
It’s a used dryer sheet held up towards the light.
But it’s pretty cool, right?

Spark by Spark

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark,
in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-alls.

fire sparks Spark by Spark

Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach.

August 26 2011 30 1024x682 Spark by Spark

Check your road and the nature of your battle.
The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.

fire streak Spark by Spark

-Ayn Rand

Weekly Winners {A Day Late Edition}

I’m a day late and a dollar short, but I wanted to share these anyway.

Find more Weekly Winners over at the lovely Lotus’ blog.

That was HILARIOUS!
Aug 14 2011 15 1024x1024 Weekly Winners {A Day Late Edition}

 


Round and round and round we go.  Where we’ll stop, nobody knows.

Globe Weekly Winners {A Day Late Edition}

Sweet, Sweet Baby6 month pics 19 1024x682 Weekly Winners {A Day Late Edition}

Let them eat cake.
August 18 2011 10 1024x682 Weekly Winners {A Day Late Edition} 


Friday Night Lights

August 19 2011 8 1024x682 Weekly Winners {A Day Late Edition}


Little Cousins

Big girl little girl 1 1024x682 Weekly Winners {A Day Late Edition}

weekly winners Weekly Winners {A Day Late Edition}

Sweet Baby Sneak Peek

I saw that the i{heart}faces challenge this week was eyes.
I have several pictures of eyes that I really love, but the idea is for you to use a current picture.
I didn’t have one, but I was doing Alden’s 6 month pictures (I’m only a little late) and ended up with this one.

6mo 1 1024x682 Sweet Baby Sneak Peek

Oh, sweet girl.  I love her to pieces.

And I hope to have the rest of her pictures done sometime soon!

I Heart Faces noborder 125x100 Sweet Baby Sneak Peek

Weekly Winners {Aug 7-13}

I should probably have called this Daily Winners, because I’m only including pictures I took yesterday.  I attended the Becoming Conference (which was wonderful) and after sessions were done, I wanted to walk around and take pictures of flowers.  Little did I know that the flowers would be the side dish in these pictures.  I couldn’t believe how close I was able to get to these bees.

Ridgecrest Flora 10 1024x682 Weekly Winners {Aug 7 13}

Ridgecrest Flora 46 1024x682 Weekly Winners {Aug 7 13}

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Ridgecrest Flora 22 1024x682 Weekly Winners {Aug 7 13}

Ridgecrest Flora 41 1024x682 Weekly Winners {Aug 7 13}

Ridgecrest Flora 7 1024x682 Weekly Winners {Aug 7 13}

floral trio Weekly Winners {Aug 7 13}

Find more Weekly Winners (or add your own) at iamlot.us

 

 

 

weeklywinnersmarch2010 Weekly Winners {Aug 7 13}

Weekly Winners {July 31 – August 6}

It’s been a while since I linked up to LotusWeekly Winners.
Even when I don’t post, I love looking at all the pretty pictures.
Seriously, go click here and be impressed with the beautiful art.

Her Favorite Birthday Gift: Giggles and Ice Cream
Aug 2 2011 4 1024x682 Weekly Winners {July 31   August 6}

Mini Me
Aug 3 2011 5 2 1024x682 Weekly Winners {July 31   August 6}


Sister Love

Aug 4 2011 4 1024x682 Weekly Winners {July 31   August 6}

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. -Picasso
August 5 2011 1 1024x682 Weekly Winners {July 31   August 6}

Serious Artist
Serious Artist 1 1024x682 Weekly Winners {July 31   August 6}

This one is (admittedly) not the best picture, but it’s special to me.
This is the day before Lydia’s birthday, the last day I could say that my kids were 0-2-4-and-6 years old.
0 2 4 6last day 1 3 685x1024 Weekly Winners {July 31   August 6}

 weeklywinnersmarch2010 Weekly Winners {July 31   August 6}

 

Shine

July 19 2011 21 1024x682 Shine
Throw wide your arms
Stretch your heart, your mind
Push yourself beyond where you’ve gone before
And     o pen     up

Throw wide your arms
Pushing away your doubts, your fears
And simply be you
Seeking simplicity

Throw wide your arms
And look toward heaven
You will shine
And be shined upon

Why I Edit Photos

I know that there are some people who prefer not to use photo-editing software.
If it’s not “right” in camera, then you’re just out of luck.
But I see this software as an easier-to-use-and-less-chemical-ly dark room.
I don’t do a lot of editing out spots or fixing blemishes (but you can do so fairly easily).
But I certainly crop and I do play with color, exposure and saturation .

For example, this is a picture of Carter SOOC (straight ouf of camera):
IMG 8697 1024x682 Why I Edit Photos
It’s just fine but it’s not what I actually saw when I was looking at him.

What I actually saw was this:
July 17 2011 7 1024x682 Why I Edit Photos
I bumped up the exposure a little, gave it a little more yellow glow, and brought out the black a little.
All minor adjustments, but I think they made a big impact.

But I’m not always going for the exact look that I saw in real life.
Sometimes I want it in black and white or to give the picture a certain feel or tone, like this:
jellyfish 1024x764 Why I Edit Photos

I use Lightroom for almost all of my editing, because it is so user friendly,
but if you are just wanting to do a few adjustments on your own photos?
I would suggest using picnik.com.

I edit photos just like I edit my writing.
What you see here in this space isn’t the rough draft or the original shot,
I edit because I want to share the best I can.
But, with writing or with photography, sometimes you get everything right and there’s nothing to edit.
That always feels good.
(But it doesn’t happen often!)

Do you edit your photos?
Why or why not?

*This is not a paid review post nor are those affiliate links.
I just really love Lightroom and I think that Picnik is a great option for everyday kinds of pictures.*

i want to be a daisy

flower2 1024x468 i want to be a daisy

Happy.  Innocent.
Vibrant.  Vivid.
Infectiously beautiful, wonderful.
Always making people smile.

flower3 1024x468 i want to be a daisy

If you were a flower, which would you be and why?

Weekly Winners

I randomly shot off a few clicks to test a setting on my camera and got these.
Pretty odd pictures of my foyer, but I really like them.

April 10 Weekly Winners

Years ago there was an annual craft fair near my home.
I’ve enjoyed going out to the old fair grounds and taking pictures.

April 10 2011 13 1024x682 Weekly Winners

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I realized right before bed on Wednesday that I hadn’t taken a picture for Project 365.
I saw a stack of multi-colored tissue paper on my counter and thought,
“Well, it won’t be great…but at least I’ll have a picture.”
But I actually really like it a lot.

April 13 2011 7 1024x682 Weekly Winners

This is what was going on when the bird flew into the house.
Luckily Asa continued to play with bubbles for hours while I tried to get that stupid bird out!

April 14 2011 Bubbles 7 682x1024 Weekly Winners April 14 2011 Bubbles 11 682x1024 Weekly Winners

Strawberries!

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The disco-less Disco with Dad (and Mom and brothers and sister) Dance

April 15 2011 Disco with Dad 4 682x1024 Weekly Winners

April 15 2011 Disco with Dad 16 682x1024 Weekly Winners April 15 2011 Disco with Dad 17 682x1024 Weekly Winners

For more Weekly Winners, visit my friend Lotus at iamlot.us.

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