Hey ~ hey peeps, where did the week go?  Wherever it went, I’m thankful for all the good things that filled the time and space.

This post and pictures do not belong together.  As in, I’m sharing a few pictures I took yesterday (they did not make the photography assignment) sandwiched between the subject of change.

Change is all around, if we take a moment to note it.  Consider the fact that it’s already getting dark a bit early.  Soon we will be adjusting every clock in the house and it will be pitch black at 5 pm.  But that’s not what I want to talk about.

As I was saying, change is looming.  In fact, it’s happening under the roof in this house.

I went from a homebody (which I love) to a busybody, overnight.  Hey, it’s what I consider a busybody as I’m filling the gas tank a lot more often than the “old” norm.

I feel a shift from what I’m used to and I’m beginning to see the direction in which this thing called change is going.

I’m making daily visits with my calendar, something I never really had to do in the past.

As I look back over the last two weeks, there is not a day where I just stayed put.

I love that hubby asked me to join him for lunch today.  It’s these kind mid day afternoon dates that make my day.

This change is taking me in all sorts of fun and new directions.

It’s stretching me to be a better me and I’m learning to manage time more efficitntly.

I’m learning from my mistakes.

There is always room for growth.  And I find that opening myself to view the world with a larger lens, I’m able to see, learn, grow and carry out so much more than I dreamed possible.

Cheers to change and being swept away from my homebody zone.

Blessings – Debbie

Well, It’s Tuesday morning and I have to say, it’s been a crazy busy last few days finding subjects for my photography assignments.

On Bracketing – This project is to help understand how to adjust  F stops and shutter speeds and to understand under, proper and over-exposure.

While I thought I had my bracketing assignment “in the bag” yesterday morning.  For some reason, I did not have something that completely satisfied me.

So last evening during the “golden hour”, I set out to get “the” shot.

The assignment called for:

• An object outdoors
• The subject can be anything large
• The background can be anything but it should contain areas of dark but detailed shadows and bright but detailed highlighted areas.
• Shoot in Bright sun (before 11 am or 5 pm on) This was taken at 5 pm
• A total of 10 shots of the same subject (over and underexposed)

The ISO was set to 100 and all camera settings are set for manual in this class.

I continued taking shots by underexposing the object by 1 stop (shutter speed)

One more shot underexposed by 1 stop

And another.

Back to the top.  Now the process was repeated by starting out normal, then overexposing.

I used the tripod for this lesson (not necessary but so helpful)

Over exposed again by 1 stop

Again

and again

The assignments are all wrapped up and copied on thumb-drives ready to turn in tomorrow.  This was a fun assignment.  A true labor of love.

I’m taking a break from photography today.

It’s one of those fun “meet the hubby for lunch” kind of days.

And I think it involves a little food shopping and laundry too.

Have a great day!

Blessings – Debbie

Good Monday Labor Day Morning!  I hope all is well in your world.

I do believe photography has taken over all of my free time.  I’ve been waking up so early such that I can get out of the house, practice and get to my assignments.

This week, I’m not only studying reciprocity of exposure, I’m also learning about bracketing.

Back to Reciprocity.

Reciprocity of Exposure:  Photographs are made because light strikes an object and is reflected towards the viewer where the camera can focus it on the imaging sensor. Learning to correctly adjust your Sutter Speeds and F-Stops to provide optimum exposure is vital and basic to your understanding of the photographic process.

When I started this class two weeks ago, I had no clue reciprocity had anything to do with taking photos.  But thru the exercise this week, I have learned the meaning and importance of reciprocity.  I’ve also learned a lot from my mistakes.  I continue to make mistakes, but luckily I have yet to repeat the same mistake twice.

Turns out, the reciprocity thing was a disaster this morning.  But, all is well that ends well.

So I set out today knowing my two assignments (this week) inside out.

I already have just what I need for the bracketing assignment but I wanted a few more subjects on reciprocity.  Even though I already have enough, I wanted a little more practice.

A not so funny thing happened.  I got the assignments confused in my head and took all bracketing shots.  And yes, I had the assignment with me, in the car.  But since I “knew what I was doing,” or not. I did not think to double check.  Thus, I confused bracketing with reciprocity.  Who does that?  Um, yes, that would be me.

Reciprocity for disaster did indeed strike, but there is another lesson learned.  Double check the assignment goofball, it could save you a trip!

I learned the hard way as I didn’t realize this until I came home and downloaded my work.

So I got back in the car to have another visit with my subjects.  Cheers for getting it right the second time around!  Now I really know the meaning of reciprocity inside out, forwards and backwards.  And I don’t see making this mistake again.

While I had my fair share of troubles this week.  I learned a lot from my mistakes.

I’m ready to turn the chapter and up for the next challenge.

Blessings – Debbie

The first week of class went so much better than the “beginning” of my first day (Last Mon, the 20th) of school.  See the post following this to read all about that.

After my class last Wednesday, the hubs and I hit the road for a short business trip.

While the hubs went to work, I studied the lesson, read a couple of chapters in the book and set my camera to the right settings.

When hubby left for work the next morning, I sat in the living area of our room waiting on room service.

While I waited, I took some practice shots.

Once the room was clean, I put the do not disturb sign on the door and left the room.  It was just me, my camera and a very happy heart.  I could not wait to start taking pictures (for practice)  in the lobby.

This is the first thing I saw that begged for a shot.

This statue rested on a coffee table in a sitting area.  I thought it made for a great subject, so I shot it too.

As soon as I shot the above statue, the battery in my camera died.

It’s the exact moment when I realized I not only forgot to bring my spare battery but I also forgot my battery charger.

It’s the moment my heart sank, the moment when I realized all the hundreds of shots I wanted to take would not be taken.

It was a moment when I found it difficult to forgive myself for leaving one of the most important things of my camera equipment behind.

I believe it will go down in history as another lesson learned the hard way.

The shot below was taken (outdoors) during class yesterday.

This is one of the 3 shots I used for our lesson (in class) on reciprocity.  Reciprocity is a really cool exposure tool for photographers.  It was fun for me to not only understand it, but to put it to work and understand it all the way around.  Good stuff!

Last week, we studied:

• Pixel Dimensions of our cameras
• Metering
• Digital Workflow
• Color Management Procedure
• Digital Processing Procedure
• Bit Depth
• Resolution and RGB
• Color Temperature
• ISO
• Aperture
• Shutter Speed
• White Balance
• Exposure Bracketing
• Exposure Light Meters
• Reflective Light Meters
• Bracketing
• Reciprocity of Exposures

I would like to journal the things I study each week so that it’s here for my future records. And I think it will be fun to look back on each week to see how far I’ve come.

Blessings – Debbie

I could write so many little stories about my first day back to class.

• Road Block – As I arrived for my first day of class, I was rerouted to another street, only to have that street blocked off by construction workers upon my arrival…
• Angels Watching Over Me – The Angels watched over me while a great big S.O.S circled over my head…
• The Good Samaritan – The Good Samaritan watches on with the Angels as I got out of my car, on the road that was blocked off, trying to ask the construction worker where I should go to get back on that road.  All the while the construction worker threw up his hands, shook his head at me and got back into his truck…
• I Could Have Cried – When I didn’t know which way to turn…
• The Good Samaritan Part II – The Good Samaritan stopped me on my way (on foot) back to my car.  After exchanging a few words he said “follow me.”  I spun my car around as I fully trusted him to lead me to the right place.  Bless that nice man real good…
• Twenty Five Minutes Early – The twenty-five minutes early vanished quickly from the time I initially arrived on campus.  This story would take 25 min + a lot of unpleasant memories to tell…
• Late – I was just shy of arriving to class on time.  I hate being late for anything.  And I’m not happy that I missed the opening of class.  At least I know how to get to the proper parking lot from the back of the campus, thank you nice man…

As I sit and reflect over the day, I can’t help but feel just a wee bit happy.  Could empty laundry baskets have something to do with it?  Or could it be that the ironing is all up to snuff?  Maybe, just maybe it was the invitation to join the hubs for a special lunch date.  My absolute favorite part of the day, hands down.  Perhaps this great feeling has to do with all the above.  Either way, it’s been a great day and I’m ready for the weekend.

All work and no play is no fun.  So I mixed it up by taking my camera out for a spin in the yard.  I wanted to try a few settings while things down below were blanketed with shade, complements to the clouds that rolled in.

Behold!  I spied tomatoes growing in our yard!  Who knew?  We didn’t plant them.

I thought they made a great subject, so I shot them like so.

I tend to avoid dead flowers in my shots.  However, I found the vibrant yellow that popped from the flowers that once bloomed, to be a good thing.

Be bright and bold!  Live life to the fullest!  Bloom where you are planted!  It’s what the  flowers have to say.  They can teach us a lot.  No?

One last shot – I don’t claim to know my So Cal trees.  But I wonder if this is a sweetgum.  Thanks to my girlfriend from TX to provide the info on it.  It’s the leaf that first caught my eye.  Then that fruit sort of a thing begged to be in the shot too.  So there you have it.

My photography classes officially begin Monday.  I’m so excited, I’m about to pop!  I can’t wait for my first “real” assignment.    I’m thinking that assignment and much much more will make the blog, so stay tuned.

Blessings – Debbie

Good Saturday afternoon!  I’m having a great week in our little corner of the world.

Oh Snap – It’s what I do.  I’m known to stop what I’m doing the moment something catches my eye.  Especially when my camera is in tow.  I could use a shirt that says – Caution!  I make unexpected stops.

So today I thought I would share a couple of pictures that have not made it to the blog this week.

The White Rose – So pure

And the Dragonfly – Last weekend, while visiting (on the phone) with my mom.  I snapped a few pix of this dragonfly.  I love his/her bold color splashed in front of the greenery.

While I love the lens (50mm F1.4) I used to capture both of the shots in this post, there are still more lenses on my wish list.  The problem?  I still don’t know the exact (telephoto and macro) lens/lenses to buy to do the job I want to do.  I hope to get those questions answered in my upcoming photography class.

Until then, I’ll continue snapping whatever catches my eye.

Blessings – Debbie

There are days when I have to stop and think.  Think of how the art of living is right under my nose.  It does revolve around me but it does not wait for me to hop on.  I’m trying to latch on and truly take to heart the little things that move me.

Some of those things are not easy to put into words.  Left only be felt with the heart and fueled with the emotions we feel when the right moment strikes.  Does any of this make sense?

Take the shot below for example.  I took that shot out by the pool this morning.  But I knew I had plans, plans to work and play in Lightroom to the point my heart spoke and said yes, that’s what I’m looking for.

The histogram in manual mode looks like this:

Sony SLT – A-55V   Focal Length: 50.0mm  f/5.0  (35mm equivalent  75mm)  ISO:  400

The edit below was not quite what I was searching for. It was cropped way too much and it felt cold and harsh.  I could trash the whole thing and start over, or I could continue to make changes and wait for my heart speak.

So I played a bit longer.  I performed a little edit undo, if you will, to undo the major crop.  Next I fooled with tons of settings until it hit the sweet spot.  Something soft yet full of color, yes, this was exactly what I was searching for.

While it’s hard to put into words, perhaps it’s something you too can feel.

The art of living is not so much about the words, rather the way certain things move us.  What moves you, what stirs your heart to the point you feel it more than any word ever spoken?

Find that movement and run with the art of living.

Blessings – Debbie