211/365 – Not So Straight-Laced

I knew I’d get fairly knobbly carrots when we grew our own.

I wasn’t expecting quite this knobbliness though.

Also, please note composition, focusing and lighting.  This was shot on auto and pretty much looks exactly like I wanted it to.  Even better, it only took me 20 shots to achieve it, as opposed to the 10 it would have taken on manual.  Hmmm.

210/365 – Bugs

The bug viewer might be one of the best things I have bought this year.

It buys me a fair amount of quiet boy time.

209/365 – Mind the Gap

Her first one.

Although she’s putting on a brave face for the camera, she was actually fairly distraught about the loss of her first tooth.  Shortly after I took this picture came the floods of tears.

I think it was the blood.

In her world, blood is the signifier of a really bad bump.  No blood, no problem.

That would be my fault.  In the event of an accident, the first thing I say is nearly always “is there any blood?  No?  Well then, it can’t be that bad, can it?”.

In light of her distress today, I might re-think that policy.

208/365 – Tiny Critics

It seems that my children are shaping up to be photographic critics extraordinaire.

I was going to post this one:

but they both said that this one was better:

On reflection, I think that they’re probably right.

I may go off to a quiet corner now to grumble about how everyone in this house has a better photographic eye than me.  Harumph.

207/365 – Puddles

There is no such thing as a puddle too small once mummy has said you can paddle in your crocs.

Or a rubbish bag too big once you’ve been told about cluttered backgrounds.  Sigh.

206/365 – Mrs Frisby

Of course, the only problem with going on a workshop and learning about exposure, focusing and setting up a shot is that you then realise when you’re getting it wrong.

I’ve learnt today that I have a tendency to over-expose.  I took some pictures of my big sister and her two children and nearly all of them are startlingly bright.

They looked ok on the camera screen so I think it’s time for me to get to grips with histograms.  I’ve got a rough idea how they work, I just need to work on the fine detail.

This is about the best of a dodgy bunch.  I think it’s saved by the strong colours she’s wearing.  That and the really cute rat on her shoulder (even my children were eventually won over by the rats).

 

(actually, I’ve just looked at a preview of this post and it doesn’t look so bad when it’s not on a white background)

205/365 – Finally, I Put It On Manual

On Thursday Nikkii and her family came to stay with us for a few days.  The kids all got on well and so did the husbands.

That was fortunate, as on Saturday Nikkii and I sent them all off to Legoland while we attended a photography workshop run by Rachel from Savor Photography.

Actually titled an (un)Workshop, she took us through the basics of photography using only the manual setting (which frankly terrified me), lighting, working with a flash, photo editing and how to work with models on a professional shoot.

I wish I’d done it about three years ago!

Rachel is both lovely and a great teacher.  In less than an hour of being in the classroom I actually felt comfortable fiddling with my camera settings.  Things that had seemed logical but I couldn’t quite get my head around, like how to control how much light gets in to the camera, suddenly became crystal clear.  I began to understand how setting something like the aperture affects the shutter speed, what you need to change to get a proper exposure, or which ISO setting to use in which situations.

Another thing I was worried about was that I would probably be the most inexperienced/least knowledgeable person there.  I was concerned that maybe I’d hold the class back as they all seemed like really accomplished photographers already.  Well, if I did hold them back they certainly didn’t let on.  They were a really lovely and friendly bunch of people and I didn’t at any point feel like the rank amateur.  Thank you for that, lovely photographers.

The biggest thing that I’ll take away from the day (after finding the manual button) was how to use light.  I’d never really considered it before but Rachel made me realise that light is my photography friend and I should really be paying a bit more attention to it.

So, next day, I set to with my two.

Not too shoddy for a complete beginner, if I do say so myself.

Next step is to get myself into Lightroom and start playing around with editing.

Oh, and I NEED a flashgun as well.  And a remote.  And a reflector.  And a new lens.  And maybe a pocket wizard.

204/365 – Cupboard Handles

Yet another filler post.

I will write about the workshop I did yesterday, which was brilliant, but not until I have time to sort out my pictures and write a proper laptop post rather than another iPhone post.

In the meantime, apparently there is only one reason we have handles on our kitchen cupboards.

Toy storage. Of course.

203/365 – Reading

Proper big girl books too.

I went on a photography workshop today and haven’t had a chance to download my photos so this is yet another filler post.

202/365 – Potential

It feels like I’ve been waiting for months for these to open, but it can’t have been that long.

If they all go together, it’s going to be beautiful.