Inside outside

Well at last I am up to date with Kim Klassen's new 2B course, day 4 Kim asked us to take a photo of something from inside outside. I am so used to bringing the outside in so this took me a little longer to think of what to shoot. It is more difficult at the moment as most of the contents of our house is still in boxes! Anyway this was fun and I can see me doing more of this, I already have a few ideas...........................I just need to find my "prop box"!

Until next time............................................

Focus

Day 3 of 2B was last week, and this week Kim talked about ISO and exposure compensation and then about focus and metering, as mentioned in my last 2B post these were not new to me, but it is wonderful to go back to basics once in a while as I know I for one often forget, especially where exposure compensation is concerned!

This day Kim said that she would love to see us experiment specifically with different focal points. "Set up a shot...of course it can be a still life, a portrait, a nature shot....whatever you want to shoot. Focus on different areas in the scene. Select a collection of your favs (at least 3) and put it together in a lovely layout." Well I played and I played some more, I just LOVE using a shallow depth of field and then use different focal points to change the way a photo looks.
Here is a collage of three of the photos I took

Ooh Kim mentioned that she is going to share how she organises textures, I am looking forward to this, I have so many now that I have collected that this is something I really need to look at.

Until next time............................

Out of auto

Well day 2 of 2B (Beyond Beyond) and the challenge was to get out of auto mode on the camera. Kim asked us to experiment with our cameras and to set up a shot or pick a still subject, stand in one spot, switch over to Aperture Priority or AV, set your f/stop down to the lowest it will go, take a series of photos, bumping the f/stop...one stop at a time..... Move in a little closer and go through the series again. Download the images and view the DOF differences as you increased the f/stop settings and adjusted your distance... Having participated in an OU course (T189) several years ago now, I have been shooting out of auto for a while and just love the flexibility and creativity it allows, I shot the above photo about a year ago of the underside of a flower, but just adored the way the petals flowed, it reminded me of a ballerina. I do have a preference for the softness of a shallow DoF so tend to shoot mostly with a very low f-stop (1.4 to 2.8).

I would usually have taken a new shot, but my studio (my conservatory, where the light is just fantastic) is out of action at the moment as it is storing a lot of our furniture whilst we re decorate. As Kim then invited us to edit and make it our own her lovely pine cone image, I decided to have a go at this instead. I had great fun playing with this, I love the white on white, it opens up so many possibilities. My edit is below and if you rollover the image Kim's shot can be seen.

My goals for 2013 is that I hope that I continue with my creative journey and become a lot more confident and find my own style artitstically. I SO need to step outside my comfort zone as well and continue to learn. I did start last year to learn how to use my flash off camera, but this year I want to become more confident in doing so. I have quite a few people asking me to do shoots for them (friends of friends), but I lack the confidence to shoot strangers. I have no problem at all when it is friends so it frustrates me no end feeling this way, especially as I know I would do a good job. 2013 I hope to change this, so watch this space.

Well until next time..........................................

The key to happiness

Four weeks in and I am really enjoying the Beyond Layers e-course, the course is based on two emails a week, the first one shares a thought and inspiration for the week and the second one is more practical with things to create.
For day 7 Kim’s challenge got me thinking, we were asked:
“What makes you happy?” for me corny as it may sound my family makes me happy, no matter how bad everything is outside or how upset I get the “grounding” factor in my life is my husband and two kids. I also have a fantastic extended family and friends all of whom are just so supportive that I could not imagine being without any of them.

A Mother’s love is something that no on can explain,
It is made of deep devotion and of sacrifice and pain,
It is endless and unselfish and enduring come what may
For nothing can destroy it or take that love away . . .
It is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking,
And it never fails or falters even though the heart is breaking . . .
It believes beyond believing when the world around condemns,
And it glows with all the beauty of the rarest, brightest gems . . .
It is far beyond defining, it defies all explanation,
And it still remains a secret like the mysteries of creation . . .
A many splendoured miracle man cannot understand
And another wondrous evidence of God’s tender guiding hand.

~Helen Steiner Rice~

Apart from my family, reading and music also make me happy, as does photography 

 Kim then suggested that whenever you are feeling a little blue, a little uninspired, a little blah…  refer to your list…  It just may give you the boost you are needing. I know that when I feel this way seeing my kids always makes it feel so much better.


Until next time......................................................

Different perspectives

Kim Klassen's Beyond Beyond class started January 23rd I was a little late joining as I was debating whether I should join in considering I am still so far behind with Beyond Layers, as you can tell I took the plunge and decided to go for it.

Our first challenge was to spend some time shooting a still life, we were to allow ourselves at least 30 minutes for the task and then to post our favorite or favorite images. I was pleased to see that the ones that I would usually automatically delete from the camera prior to uploading to the computer I also felt the same about when I downloaded them and I swiftly deleted them on my first run through of the downloaded photos in Lightroom (which I LOVE by the way).  My favorite from the exercise is above and it was when I looked in the viewfinder on the camera too. As I liked several others too I decided to make a collage out of them.  We weren’t supposed to move the objects instead we were to move around them shooting from various angles. For me, it was a wonderful reminder to keep shooting beyond the obvious first shot I envisage. I did find it difficult finding the time the week though as we were in the process of moving back house after having some major work done, so I will probably do this again when I am more relaxed and have a better subject to shoot as I loved it.

Until next time...............................

A day to remember

Kim Klassen’s Beyond Layers course made me smile when I saw the post for Day 5 and 6, if you know a little about me you will realise that I have been documenting my family life for Project Life since January 2012 (so memory gathering on a big scale!)
Kim said, “If you were to take 6 images to represent your day, to place in a time capsule to look at again in years to come, what would you shoot?” I decided to use six of the photos I took on our visit to the Olympic Village in London on Sunday. We were then encouraged to do a storyboard of those shots. So this is what I came up with, thank you Kim for sharing the storyboard templates, they are great :-)


Kim Klassen’s Beyond Layers course made me smile when I saw the post for Day 5 and 6, you just need to take a look at the name of my blog and if you know a little about me you will realise that I have been documenting my family life for Project Life (so memory gathering on a big scale!)
Kim said, “If you were to take 6 images to represent your day, to place in a time capsule to look at again in years to come, what would you shoot?” I decided to use six of the photos I took on our visit to the Olympic Village in London last May. We were then encouraged to do a storyboard of those shots. So this is what I came up with, thank you Kim for sharing the storyboard templates, they are great and this brings back such great memories.

1. We travelled on the train up to London, not a regular occurrence for my kids.
2. When we reached Stratford the “guides” gave us a helping “hand” finding our way to the event, there was such a party atmosphere once we got off the train :-)
3. The Olympic stadium itself and all the colourful tiles, my kids had a great time playing here during our walk about the village.
4. Inside the stadium, London Prepares for 2012.
5. Enjoying watching the athletics, cheering on the competitors, despite the bitterly cold weather. It definitely did not feel like a day in May!
6. The home straight on the track to London 2012.

What would your six images be if you did a time capsule of your day?

One word

Day 4 of Beyond Layers and we were challenged to think of one single word, mood or thought…… and then set out to create a photo around your theme. Well we had a really busy weekend, football, swimming, walking (in the rain!) and playing so photography has taken second place.

I decided to have a play with some of the forget-me-nots that my daughter picked for me from our garden for the beyond layers day 4 challenge. Well the word that immediately sprung to mind for me was beauty, so I created and image around that, hopefully it works.

I had a pretty bad photo day today, well all non children shots anyway! This one I messed up BIG time, I really should have used EV compensation , but just forgot and because I “could not be bothered” to shoot again I thought I would see if I could save it as usually shots like this I just automatically delete from my hard-drive.

First of all I increased the exposure in Lightroom by 1.25 and then changed the white balance from Auto to daylight, finally I increased the clarity to 25% to get this

Finally I transferred the image to Photoshop Elements then

• duplicated the background layer , Multiply @ 50%
• added texture kk_plastersquared, Multiply @50%
• added texture kk_plastersquared, Multiply @50%
• added text layer, colour burn @ 55%

“Love of beauty is Taste. The creation of beauty is Art.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson