Nutcrackers

Ok.  Not my proudest moment, but I committed to about once a week or so you're getting the good, the bad and the ugly.  I don't think I've hit ugly, yet, but...

My baby loves nutcrackers and wanted a picture with all his nutcrackers.  He painstakingly set them all up.  I thought I would get the benefit of some afternoon sun on the stairs, but I still needed the flash.  I tried it in every imaginable direction except directly at him.  This shot is at 1/200, ISO 800, f/4.5 - I had all kind of variations for shutter speed and aperture.  I just happen to like his focus (and his bedhead).

He loves to pose - this totally captures his "I'm a serious model look."  I'm am still playing with all the Lightroom presets in addition to the basic adjustments I make.  Top is using Aged Photo and the bottom is right out of the camera.  I really like the focus on his face without losing all the color.  

I'm learning here - would love any comments from any of you experienced shutterbugs out there.

Playing with Lightroom

I just got my copy of Lightroom (Lr) this week and I have been spending entirely too much time playing with it.  Until 3:20 am the first morning to be exact.

The photo below is a combination of playing with the my new 24-70 lens and with Lr.  It's one of the few pix I took with it - most of the action shots I have taken have been with the 70-200mm.  I have struggled with the action shots in the gym, but the new lenses have definitely made a difference.  While this still isn't super crisp, I do get CBT stealing the ball.  I also like the effect of making it more monochrome.  Seems to focus you more on the point I'm making - he's stealing the ball.  It's a standard Sepia preset in Lr with a small Vignette on the corners.

Here's the same picture using the Lr preset Direct Positive.  For some reason, I love it for the shots in the gym.  Curious what you think.

 

Settings were 1/200 sec at f/2.8, focal length 70mm, ISO 1600 with the EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM

Fast Action in a Gym?

I spent a bit of time conferring with Brian at our class about pictures of children playing basketball in a gym, which, by the way, is not well-lit.  The answer was to get something other than the "crappiest lens" in the world.  I am very excited to say I just got the 70-200mm f/2.8L lens from Canon, which explains why I am late on my weakly post.  I've been playing and trying to learn how to use it.

I tried it tonight at CBT's basketball practice.  Here are a couple of my favorites.  Much better than the crappy lens.  Still need more practice, though. 

 

Shot in the Dark

I have been drawn to pictures in the dark for some reason.  None have really made it here because they haven't been very good.  My hubby gave me an assignment, which I agreed to take.  But since this is a team sport for us, I wanted him to participate, also.  The assignment?  The Christmas tree.

TV1/5, AV1.8, ISO400 50mm lens

Hubby's Photo - I love it

TV1/8, AV1.8, ISO200, 50mm lens

First Official Photo Shoot

I've finally worked up the nerve to post a couple of photos from the official photo shoot of my brother's family at Thanksgiving.  Didn't really have a clue what I was doing, but it was fun.

This one is only slight processed with the software that came with the camera.  (I have been analyzing whether I need Photoshop Lightroom or Elements or both.  More on that later maybe.)  I used my 50mm lens with a shutter speed 1/80, f/2.8 and a 100 ISO.

This one we did a little more post processing.  Shutter speed was 1/160.  Av was 3.5.  ISO again was 100.  I took over 300 pictures and some were not so good and some were ok.  Still learning a lot.