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Showing posts from October, 2014

116-117/365: Spooky Spider and White Balance

Here we have two posts in one. I went out with my team last night and got back too late to spend much time on the 365 project. Luckily my lovely husband was willing to step into the frame. f/1.8; 1/125; ISO 1600 This is Spooky Spider. He is a much loved new addition to our Halloween decorations. He has a adorable little friend - Spooky Bat. I will try to catch a shot of him tomorrow.  f/1.8; 1/125; ISO 1600 Although I have not taken so many pictures this past two days, I have read countless fascinating tutorials and articles on Clickin Moms. I love the app and have been glued to it during my train journey's to and from London. I feel like I am learning so much from these wonderful women and it is such a supportive community. I love that most of what I read is starting to sound familiar now and that the problems I encounter, such as blown out skies, are indeed tricky problems that even experienced photographers struggle with.  Of all the things I have learnt so fa

Day 115/365: Metering Modes

I have been reading a bit about exposure and metering today. I would love nothing more that to spend some time outside playing around with the metering settings on my camera. I gathered from my reading that shooting in the afternoon sun or dappled light, like I did yesterday, is an absolute nightmare even for experienced photographers and is best avoided. I read some lovely tips but now I can't find the articles on Clickin Moms. There are literally thousands of tutorials on there! I also noted that people seem to have different preferences for which metering mode they shoot in. Some vary depending on the situation and some always shoot in spot.  This  article  compares the different modes and I wanted to do a little experiment for myself. Tonight's willing subject is Daisy, Bear's beloved bedtime friend. Daisy got comfortable, and sat still, while I took these three photos. The light, aperture and ISO remained constant. I altered the shutter speed to get the meter on 0

Day 114/365: Exposure Examined

Yet again I found myself becoming frustrated with outdoor exposure today. I stuck with spot metering and tried to meter off skin. I found this pretty tricky because the kids were moving so much and some times they were pretty far away. That left me trying to hold the centre focus point on little far away faces whilst also glancing down at the meter. I need to learn another colour to meter off, but I am not that familiar with the zone system yet. The meter doesn't stay "awake" long enough which means that it keeps disappearing before I am happy with my settings. So then I have to start all over again. Add in some variable light and the fact that I really cannot take my eye off Bear for a second before she runs off towards some danger, and you can see how frustrating it gets! I am throwing up some SOOC shots in the hope that I can figure out what went wrong with some of them. (I will add the captions tomorrow) The face has lots of different light on it. Do I meter off t

Day 113/365: Bodium Castle

Everyone was tired today after our adventure in London. I hoped that a trip to Bodium Castle might liven us up. It was nice to get out into the countryside, but we never did quite hit the good time stride that I was searching for. Some days are just flatter I guess. My Husband is under the weather with a cold. Roo has mouth ulsters again, which are making him miserable, and Bear was in a stormy mood for most of the afternoon. It was pretty late by the time we got to Bodium and the light was fading fast.  f/5.6; 1/200; ISO 400 I took my kit lens along. Perhaps it is just because I am tired but I have been feeling extra frustrated with my photography lately. I would love to take a Clickin Moms online course as I feel like I have achieved as much as I can on my own. I need a mentor to tell me what to do! f/4.5; 1/100; ISO 800 f/5.6; 1/125; ISO 400 f/5.6; 1/200; ISO 400 f/4.5; 1/100; ISO 800 f/4.5; 1/80; ISO 800 f/4.5; 1/80; ISO 800 f/5.6; 1/32

Day 112: Facing My (Photography) Demons

We travelled to London for a big extended family meet up today. The kids' Aunty G has had a big birthday recently and she always likes to have a Halloween themed party for the whole family. It was a fantastic day and the kids had a blast.  After our trip to Legoland, I concluded that these big busy family meet ups are very tricky from a photography point of view. There is just so much going on and the kids are super zippy. I had all that going on today, plus a few other of my photography problem spots crept in too.  The day started off well enough with indoor shots. I was merrily shooting away with an aperture of about f/5.6 using BBF. Aunty G and Uncle S' place has lots of natural light, which felt like a luxury. It is also beautifully decorated with no kids clutter everywhere. I would love to do a photo shoot there with my kids on their own - without the face paint! Oh yes, we set the kids free with some face paint.    We enjoyed a bit of the old to