Cathy's Pix

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Happy Heart Day

Testing out the Macro setting on my lens on my homemade Oreo truffles.

300mm, 1/160 sec, F/5.6, ISO 200

300mm, 1/200 sec, F/5.6, ISO 200

135mm, 1/250 sec, F/5.6, ISO 200

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

I just couldn't look at my ugly kitchen sink any longer! I learned a lot from the kitchen sink water project, but I would have liked it better in my house in WA where I had a pretty sink and a beautiful window behind it! Oh well.
So, here's a picture I took of my sister and her baby this past summer. I played around in Photo Works again and turned it into a sketch. I think it's kinda cool!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Week 2 Homework: Shutter Speed

Last week was a crazy week, but I'm back on track. Here is is my "kitchen sink test" to experiment with shutter speed.

55mm, 1/80 sec, F/13, ISO 1600

55mm, 1/1000 sec, F/5.6, ISO 1 step over 1600

55mm, 1 sec, F/32, ISO 200

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Playing Around in PhotoWorks

Thanks, Laurie, for the tip! I think PhotoWorks is great for editing, especially since it's free! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Color isolation.

Color isolation & matte effect.

Color isolation and soften effect, but face is left sharp.

Color isolation and soften effect all over.

She's a Slider

70mm, 1/60 sec, F/4, ISO 200

Storm Rolling In

70mm, 1/500 sec, F/5.6, ISO 125

The Good Life

70mm, 1/60 sec, F/4, ISO 200

Friday, January 23, 2009

"To The American Soldier"

70mm, 1/50 sec, F/22, ISO 200

Thursday, January 22, 2009

My Favorite Corner

70mm, 1/25 sec, F/4, ISO 200

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Aperture Homework

70mm, 1/2000 sec, F/4, ISO 200
I focused on the tree, you can see little detail beyond the tree.

70mm, 1/500 sec, F/8, ISO 200

Again, focused on three but increased aperture to 8. You can see more detail on the ice caps.

70mm, 1/60 sec, F/22, ISO 200

Focused on tree, once again, but this time even the trees across the Hudson are clear.

In my photo editing software, these differences are very clear but on the blog, they are not as noticeable. That's why I've also decided to post these rock pictures. They illustrate the point even better.

70mm, 1/3200 sec, F/4, ISO 200

70mm, 1/800 sec, F/8, ISO 200

70mm, 1/100 sec, F/22, ISO 200

Monday, January 19, 2009

12 Weeks to Better Photos

I just found this "12 Weeks to Better Photos" course for FREE on http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/. It's a course that you can do on your own time. I will be starting it this week, because I am so excited that I can't wait. They have coursework to read (a downloadable PDF) and a weekly challenge.
Anyone care to join me in the course? I would love to have someone to share the weekly challenges with! It's a beginner's course and offers basic information, so some of you might be bored with the info, but might still enjoy the weekly challenge.
Click HERE for your first lesson.
(It's a course from last year so I have already downloaded all 12 lessons. If you want me to email them to you, just leave me a note and your email address if I don't have it already.)

Catchlights

Did you know those light reflections in my eye below are called "catchlights"? I didn't until I stumbled on this article. Now I'm going to try to catch more of them! (Not on myself, though, so don't worry!)
Find out more HERE.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

All Dressed Up And No Place To Go

I got all fixed up this morning and then got the call that church was cancelled. Are you kidding me? I actually put on makeup and did my hair this morning and no one except my kids will see me today?

Then I remembered my trusty tripod and remote. Baby was sleeping, I had some time, so I tried more self portraits.

I think Blaire's self portraits are so cute, clever, and pretty that I wanted to try some more of my own. I had to be brave!

I used manual settings and manual focus and I learned a lot!

Mostly, I learned that I like myself better when I'm out of focus.

(Warning: You are going to get really tired of looking at me, me, me!)

50mm, 1/13 sec, F/2, ISO 200
Oops, a little to close to the camera. I don't have Photoshop, but when I was uploading my photos into PictureProject, I clicked a little button called "Enhance Dark Tones" and voila, it made me look a little Vogue-ish, don't you think?

50mm, 1/80 sec, F/2, ISO 400

50mm, 1/80 sec, F/2, ISO 200, +2 EV

50mm, 1/80 sec, F/2, ISO 400
I cropped in because I thought it was cool that you could see the big window I'm staring into, plus a silhouette of my tripod, in the reflection of my eye.

50mm, 1/80 sec, F/2, ISO 200
My entire face is in focus, plus the lower ISO makes everything clearer. More real. I think it makes me look like I'm on a prairie with the wind blowing or something natural like that.

50mm, 1/80 sec, F/2, ISO 400
Looks like an author's picture on the back of a book, don't you think?

50mm, 1/80 sec, F/2, ISO 400
The exposure is very blown-out, but I like the effect here.

50mm, 1/80 sec, F/2, ISO 400
Remember "Glamour Shots" in the mall? Total 90's fad.

50mm, 1/80 sec, F/2, ISO 400
A study in asymmetry.

50mm, 1/80 sec, F/2, ISO 400

50mm, 1/80 sec, F/2, ISO 400

50mm, 1/80 sec, F/2, ISO 200
See how everything is sharper in this photo than the other color ones just above it? The only thing I altered was the ISO.

I've never had a subject hold still, move to different angles, let me change settings and try again. We are our worst critic's after all, so I was able to be honest with myself about the quality of the shot. Within an hour I couldn't believe how many different "looks" I achieved with my camera, just by experimenting and having a little patience.

My advice to anyone who is going to try this? Bump up your ISO (or have a +EV). I found an ISO of 400 instead of 200 softened my features (so that every freckle, mole, and pockmark wasn't in detail) and gave the images a more "artistic" look.

Now, enough! Moving on...