Shooting in harsh sunlight

Thanks for all the suggestions on last week's photography post on self-portraits. Some great advice were: use a 2-second timer so that after the remote click, you have time to pose and hide the remote // shoot in continuous mode, of course! // let hubby take the pictures ;). Hehe. Thanks again!

Today's the FIRST DAY OF SUMMER! You've probably already heard the advice to stay out of the sun between 10am and 2pm. The sun is at its highest, which means you'll be exposed to more UV, I think. Well, this post isn't about sun-safety even though I subscribe to the "say yes to sunscreen" mantra. No, this post is about my challenges when photographing in harsh sunlight. I often shoot around 10am because that's just the time our son and I head out the door on weekends.

Self-portraits

I decided in May to make an effort to get in front of the camera. The hubby found an old tripod in his parents house (score!), and I bought an inexpensive remote (referral link). Before I show you the results, let me say that it was a CHALLENGE. Setting up the tripod, positioning the camera, getting anything in focus, getting the remote to work, and getting a good composition, etc. was SO HARD. For those of you who use a tripod and/or remote/timer regularly and get good shots, I seriously TIP MY HAT to you! TIP MY HAT to you!

Canon T1i | Manual | 50mm | ISO 3200 | f/3.5 | 1/125 sec

Black & white photography

When I first started converting photographs to black & white (b/w), it was mostly an attempt to conceal background clutter or whatever mess was on my 22-mo (J) shirt (or face) at the time ;). As I read more about b/w photography, I'm learning that really great b/w photographs are more than just an action in photo editing software.

Simple Sunday

Welcome to Simple Sunday where I link up with Rebecca from Simple as That. But before I get to my photo, I'd like to wish all Mommies and Soon-to-Be-Mommies a…

Friday Fun

One morning, I was trying to change our 21-mo (J) out of his PJs. He wants nothing to do with that, by the way. He rolls around on our bed in his bodysuit, chubby legs exposed. He grabs his ankles and falls backward into our fluffy comforter. He crawls away and hides underneath the covers. At times, I get annoyed because he's taking so long, but that morning, I appreciated how big our son is getting, but also how small he is at the same time. Soon those chubby legs will be replaced by lean muscle. Soon he'll be dressing himself. Soon he'll be waiting for the school bus. I better cherish these moments, even if that means we leave the house 15-20 min later.

Encouragement

I began taking photography a bit more seriously beginning this year. That means:

Building blocks

Happy Tuesday! I'd just like to thank you for your support as I transitioned from blogging in 2 places (expandng.com and capturng.com) to just blogging here. You have allowed me to blog about both my family and my interests in photography. You gave me examples of your own blogs and how they also cover different topics and are reflections of who you are. We aren't one dimensional people, so why should our blogs be, right? So...THANK YOU for your support. When I have time later this Spring, I hope to get started on either redesigning expandng.com or designing a whole new blog.

And now onto today's topic: building blocks.

Simple Sundays

Here's a second installment of Simple Sundays...

A boy and his puppy

Happy May!

When we first brought Jasper home, he was only a few months old. Our son was only a bit over 1 year old. Jasper immediately found a liking to our son since our son was small, on the ground a lot, dropped food, and had food on him at all times. Jasper loved to lick our son's face and toes. Our son didn't know what to make of him back then.

Dogs & flashes

I can't control the intensity of my SpeedLite 380EX. I bought a diffuser cap for it, but that just spreads the flash around instead of diffusing it. Ergh. I've even secured a piece of white paper over the flash. The effect was lackluster. I fiddled with the "flash exposure" on the camera, but that just dims the photo, not the flash. Ergh. Anyways, my bloggie friend Jen recently agreed that it's hard to get her dogs to stay still for a photo, but even harder because they're afraid of the flash. Luckily, our puppy, Jasper, isn't scared of anything. Not even the flash.

Portraits

I'm so glad that my parents took a lot of photographs when we were growing up (see some here). I love to recall all the fun memories! They may not be "professional" but they certainly capture priceless moments.

Camera backpack for moms who carry around baby stuff too

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on my blogs yesterday! Overwhelmingly, y'all supports my move to only one blog -- it'd streamline posting, some regular readers here didn't even know I had a photography blog, and it's my blog so why not! So in that spirit, I'll be posting here in the meantime...I am considering a new blog all together...Anyways...

Ever since Tania over at MauiShopGirl posted about cute camera bags that don't look like camera bags, I've been thinking about getting a new camera bag. P.S. I love THEIT bag she featured! And I just found SHUTTER|bag on Facebook - which is a large leather camera bag that looks very chic and functional.