California

Last week we went to California... here are a few pictures.

How sweet...

Mickey ears are suprisingly difficult to take pictures of. They can look too dark and get lost in the crowd if you don't use your flash OR they make strang shadows when you DO use the flash.

The beach was wonderful except that I had a piece of sand on my lense that showed up in every single picture. I was ticked.

See it?...Here it is again...Luckily, it was pretty easy to erase that little grain of sand.

Don't look for it in these... it's not there.

Love this one!...

I was sooo excited to come home from California with new, awesome pictures, but I was a little diasppointed. It's hard to take just the right picture in new places. I hardly had any at Disneyland without a strange looking person in the background, and the beach was crazy with sand all over me and my camera. I had no idea.

It's all about practice...I guess I'll just have to go to California more.

My dear friend, Laura, asked me to take her little girl's 15 month pics and some family pics. Here are a few of my favorite...

Oh my goodness!

They brought all the props for the cowgirl ones.

I think they turned out pretty cute. Good job, guys.

I love this red wall!!! Especially with those striking blue eyes.

In my processing...you know, fiddling around in PhotoShop... I kinda blew the whites in this one, but for some reason I really like it...

So, yah, I totally meant to!

What a sweet little girl.

Thanks, Laura! I can't wait to show you these!

The Real Thing...

Holy cow... I LOVE Coca-Cola!!! I love taking pictures of kids drinking Coca-Cola, too!!!

I'm so pleased with these pictures, but I'd LOVE some feedback.

Are these COUNTYFAIR -worthy?

Turn down that NOISE!

I took a photography class a few months ago and in one of the lessons we discussed ISO. No idea what it stands for, but it means how sensitive to light you want your camera to be. Remember when we had FILM and we got to choose the speed?... 200, 400, 800 etc. That's the same as ISO. (I wrote that more for MY benefit rather than YOURS! You're sharp and probably know all about ISO and would NEVER ever EVER forget to change it when needs be!!) We discussed having too high an ISO... our teacher said it created NOISE. Did he just say NOISE? What the heck is NOISE? I recently learned the meaning of NOISE! See all the grainy-ness in these pictures? On skin especially.
THAT IS NOISE! Doesn't it hurt your ears?

These aren't bad pictures... some people actually LIKE the grain...there's an ACTION for it in my PSE5. It breaks my heart, though, to think if I had remembered to change my ISO, these pictures may have turned out better. I could have chosen whether I wanted the grain or not.

Oh well. Next time!

It's all BABY STEPS.

Trucks and Sheds...

I snapped a few pictures at the cabin this last weekend. Here are some cute ones.
Why do I like the sight of kids next to old junk? There's just something about it...

Brookie's Family...

A week or two ago, my sweet friend, Brooke asked me to take some pics of her cute little girl and her sweet family. Here are my favorites...
I can't decide which one of those I like better.

My most favorite...
That one makes me soooo happy!

So I can't find anyone who will print a 10x20... learned that the hard way. I'm sure they're out there, but until I find them, I'll stick to 5x7s and 8x10s!
Oh well.

Thanks, Brooke, for taking a chance on me!

We all scream for it.

There is something sooooo cute about kids eating ice cream!
Get ready for my favorite picture int the world... so far...