Self induced challenge.....

While I am in client limbo I have decided to keep my photography muscles limber and agile by doing a lil 30 day photography challenge.  So Starting tomorrow, and the next 29 days after, I will attempt to stretch myself both creatively and artistically. (Yes...in my opinion there is a difference between the two)  Why wait til tomorrow you ask?  Well the reason I am postponing it til then is today is Mr. M's birthday.


 Feel free to challenge yourself as well.

Source: whitepeachphoto.com via Andrea on Pinterest

How to capture Bokeh and look goofy while doing it....

First off here is the definition of Bokeh.

 Bokeh, according to the great online reference that is Wikipedia, is  "the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light."

  Huh....that definition  seems so bland in comparison to the actual event when viewed in a portrait. Here is a living breathing example of it

Wowzers!  

(Hope you don't mind me tooting my own horn here)  

Here's how to capture it....

Capturing a shot that has great bokeh is not as hard as it appears.  In my humble and NON professional opinion, capturing these shots is all about angles and lighting.  The angles of where your lighting source is coming from, the object you are photographing, and then the camera.  I have always had the best luck by putting my subject between the camera and the light source.  Typically you can see the tiny bubbles of light through your viewfinder when you go to snap your photo.  So get down and get low.  Try different angles you haven't tried before.  You might surprise yourself.

Now the looking goofy part.......

Can you believe that I got this baby less than five feet from my front door?  Yesterday morning as I was taking out our dog Daisy Mae when I noticed the grass was all dewy.  Mostly because at the time I was wearing my pj's and flip flops and was highly annoyed my feet were getting wet.  But I digress....I almost let this magical moment pass me by.  Like I said I was annoyed about my wet feet, but being the photo hound I am, I muscled my way through it.  So back out I went pjs, flip flops, and camera in hand and promptly got down on my belly and got to snapping.  It is times like these that I wish I had a macro lens.  That way I wouldn't have to belly crawl while in my front yard trying to get my focus just right, while all my neighbors watch wondering...

 "just what in tar-nation that crazy lady is up to now." 

Took me about five minutes of belly crawling but man was it ever worth it. This has to be the best shot I have ever captured with so much bokeh.  And I was so close to not getting it. Never be afraid of looking foolish when in the pursuit of your passions.  It only hinders the wonder that is you.  If you hide it...how then can you and others around you appreciate the miracle of life that is uniquely you!  So get out there and belly crawl if you have to.  Sing loud and proud even if you are a bit off key.  Because there is no one else on the face of this planet that is exactly like you!  So go on and get out there......discover what you may have been missing.

Teresa

Beautiful Bokeh.....Love that Shot

Another wonderful weekly challenge from Love that Shot...Beautiful Bokeh.



Some of you are looking at that word and scrunching up your faces with a "What the heck is THAT?"  Have no fear I wont leave ya hanging.  Bokeh is the wonderful soft blur of the out of focus areas in your photo.  Most noticeable around areas of light. It gives joyous lil bubbles of light that seem to dance and play throughout your picture.  I had a hard time deciding which of my "pretties" to enter this week.

      But here is the winner......

Here are some honorable mentions. (Come on you knew I couldn't just have one!)

Evidently I am EXTREMELY right handed in my Photography.  lol  

Better work on that : p

Touch of Whimsy.....

Todays' challenge over at "Love that Shot" is "touch of Whimsy". While I was thinking about and digging through shots I could use, I came across this session I did with my eldest daughter.  Both of us had so much fun with it.  I  relished the thought of getting to edit them up again.  (At the time I was strictly a  Picasa girl)

It was a fun day for just us girls.  I sent her upstairs to choose what she was going to wear and down came "Alice in Wonderland"  Well.....at least what she would have looked like if her dress had been pink. (My girl is most definately a pink mink kinda girl.)

Outdoors we went and took over a 150 shots!  I had a hard time picking my favorites.  As any mother would attest to, it was like picking your favorite child!

But here are a few more I loved and I hope you like them as much as I do.

Local Flavor....Love That Shot!

I took this shot about a month ago we Mr. M and I were out exploring our new backyard.  Living in WY and having the Big Horn Mountains and Yellowstone National Park as your playground, inspiration abounds.

This shot is my first attempt at creating a panoramic shot from several frames.  One side gave me a bit of trouble as it was a bit under exposed.  But all in all I was really happy with the outcome of it. I have only been working with my PSE 9 program now for about 4 months now.  I can't imagine why it took me so long to get it... but boy I can't imagine life without it now!

Here is what I had to work with.

So what do think?  I love hearing feedback.  Take the time to head over to Love that Shot as well.  It is a great community for all photographers from beginners to pros.  I love their weekly challenges!

Love that Shot

Going out on a limb and entering a Link up contest with Love That Shot.  This is my favorite floral shot to date.  Shot this Peony with my baby, my Canon XSI. Here's hoping everyone likes it as much as I do.  As always i would love to hear what you think about it or how it makes you feel. : )

The Joy of Editing.....with Picasa!

You have the perfect spot.....you got everyone looking at the camera......the Heavens have aligned.... you press the shutter button and capture the PERFECT MOMENT!

Rapture!  It feels great, wonderful and exciting! You hurry home to show all your friends and family only to discover that something went awry.

AGGGGGGHHHHHH!

Well have no fear there are many photo editing programs and tricks that can help you salvage your precious capture. The good news is some of them are even FREE!

First let me find a example picture...

Our lovely model today is my very daughter  ; )

Okay you may be saying that there isn't a whole lot wrong with this picture, Right?

I have to tell you for the most part I would agree with you. She has a great expression and has a great sparkle in her eyes. But the evening we took this we had the most gorgeous light, color temperature is off and her face is just a bit darker than I would like it.  So lets see what we can do to fix it, shall we? 

One of my favorite FREE programs to use is Picasa. .Here's a link to get ya there.

  http://picasa.google.com

 Very beginner friendly and easy to use.  Good for basic fixes and has a good selection of "artistic" features.

First off I want to lighten her face and adjust the temperature (fancy way of saying color adjustment) of the overall picture.  Both of these are found under the tuning tab in Picasa. Okay lets see how that worked out for me......

OH That is much better!  Hmmm....I think it needs a little bit of sharpening, so lets do that next.  That is located under the effects tab.  Zoom in on your picture so you can get a really good look at what your are doing with this one. 

 The saying "if a little is good...more is better" DOES NOT apply here!  Too much sharpening can create what we photogs call "noise".  It's that funny speckling or pixelation that happens when you uber sharpen your photos.  Do just enough to bring all your details into a clean focus.  You will like you results a lot better if you do this.

From there we can start to have fun with it.  Add all sorts of effects, B/W, Sepia, Soft Focus so on and so forth.  Lets' see how she looks with some of those.

last picture was edited with Piknik a online editing program partner of Picasa

There a not so great picture saved!  So what are you waiting for?  Get brave, go put on your creative britches and start creating something special.  I would love to see what you all come up with.

Beautiful Butterflies!

Last fall I was witness to one of natures wonders.  The Great Monarch Migration!

Last September I had finished getting my kids onto the bus and was sitting down to enjoy my morning cup of joe when I noticed my Elm trees looked a bit odd.  It appeared that they were losing there leaves.  But they were not falling the right way.  So I walked out my back door and wandered over to have a look.  About halfway there I realized just what I was witnessing.

 I slowly turned not wanting to disturb them and scrambled back to the house to grab my camera.  I was so excited I had never experienced anything like this outside of enclosed butterfly garden at the Minnesota State Zoo. They were everywhere!  I must have had over 300 of these guys and gals resting and refreshing themselves in my trees and grass.  At one time I had them in my hair and all over my arms and legs.  For over an hour I was in a wonderland.  To soon they had warmed up and were on to the next lag of their trip.  And within a minute my yard was totally devoid of butterflies. 

WOOOOOOOW!  It took my breath away!
 Every year these beautiful creatures make a 2500 mile migration.  Taking the same path to the same exact trees down in Mexico.

The miracle of this journey is that it takes 14 generations to make the trip!  How in the world do they know the exact way to go?  It confounds me and makes me smile all at the same time.


For more info on these natural miracles go check out these sites

http://www.monarch-butterfly.com/



http://www.monarchbutterflyusa.com/Migration.htm

Master Monarch

Butterfly leaves

Behind the HomeSpun Motto

A lot of you have seen or read my studio's motto "Making today's moments...Into tomorrow's memories".  Few know the story behind it.

I am a stay at home mom of four very different and unique children ranging in age from 10 to 4 1/2.  Two boys and two girls.  Luckily for the girls they have two brothers, one younger and one older, to watch out for them. (Although they may not always appreciate it.)  My eldest is where my motto stems from.

20 months

Mr M. and I had been trying for over two years and suffered two miscarriages before our eldest came along. I held my breath until that magical three month mark came along.  And other than EXTREME morning sickness (I.V.'s were required) this pregnancy went just as all the books and magazines said it should.  And in late June I gave birth to a very healthy (8 lbs and 12 1/2 oz.) and normal (whats normal anyway) baby boy.

Everything was going along just swimmingly when we began to notice that he was just not keeping up with other boys his age.  At his pediatrician check ups I was told not to worry about it.  All kids mature at different rates.  This held small comfort as my son continued to not  meet those milestones.  He was also starting to "pull away" from being held.  His eye contact was falling off to the wayside. That maternal gut instinct told me something was not right despite what our doctor tried to tell us.

A priceless gem

In short I had him tested and a thought that had been nagging in the back of my mind was confirmed. As every new mother will tell you they think their child is the absolute most perfect child on the face of the earth. There are very few things that will dissuade them from that particular train of thought.  I was dealt such a hand. My  firstborn, my angel, my sweet baby boy  was autistic. Total BOMBSHELL!  I was in total shock.  And I still had to go home and explain it to Mr M who was at work and unable to come to his diagnosis meeting.  Mr M. did not react well with this.

There is a magical connection between men and their firstborn sons.  It is their greatest achievement in some ways.  Going all the way back to Cavemen days.  They have this "Look at what I have created" bravado and mentality.  My line is strong and will go on.  Hearing there was a defect in his progeny was a bit much for his ego to take.  And in response it took many years before he would even admit that our son was "autistic"

Easter 2003

  At the time they couldn't tell us the severity of his autism.  They needed to see how he progressed in the next few months.  He was then enrolled in an Early Childhood Special Education program at the age of 18 months.  He was eventually found to be in the high functioning category of autism. One in every 110 children is diagnosed with a form of Autism. (That is more cases than the people who ACTUALLY get the chicken pox!) He is among the many children being diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. He continues to struggle with it but is making leaps & strides toward what society precieves as "Normal".  To us he is who he always has been.  Priceless beyond measure. ( But I am his mother and to me he IS my perfect angel.  So you could say I am a bit biased on the subject.)

We learned early on to treasure the moments where he would actually let us snuggle with him.  Usually between fits of flaring temper tantrums and unresponsiveness. And it was HEAVEN when he would smile and laugh.  Occasionally I was able to capture these rare moments on film.  And while those pictures may not be the picture perfect studio portraits we all have hanging on our walls, they are more precious to me than any of the others are.

Interacting with his sibling brings me to tears some days

My quirky boy in his own lil world

He turns eleven this month.....sigh. : )

We just never know what life will bring us tomorrow.  Capture a moment TODAY and preserve the memory it WILL be for you TOMORROW!

Backyard Beauty

We so often travel to far away destinations in hopes to glimpse exotic beauty.  But when was the last time you meandered through your own neighborhood or town?  We can become immune to the things we see everyday.  Instead of taking the same ole route when you go for your daily walk/run, take a new alternate one.  Take a moment to look at the world around you.  You never know what hidden treasure you may spot.
  So stop,

     take a deep breath,

          and look around you with new a perspective.

All of these photos were found within 100 yards of my own home.  Rediscover the wonder of your own backyard.  Beauty is everywhere if you only take the time to look for it.

Happy failures.....

It's absolutely gorgeous!
     You captured them perfectly.
            I wouldn't change a thing!

Those words are what drive photographers to capture pure moments that define who our clients are and what they represent.  It is a euphoric experience every single time we hear our clients gush about the images we captured.

With that said, let me tell you that sessions do not always go as planned.  We have our off days too.  Cranky kids, shy introverted adults, families that are stiff and awkward from the moment the camera comes out. Bad weather, lack of inspiration.....really the list can really get long REALLY fast. So what's a girl to do when you just got nothing?  From some of my worst  most challenging sessions have come some of my treasured memories.  I am gonna share a few gems of these with you all today.

 First up is my own dear son. After we moved to Sheridan I was artistically lost.  The outdoors is my studio so I had to scope out the joint before I could even consider finding clients. We FINALLY had a nice over cast day that were just perfect for taking some shots. So this is where my littlest man comes into the picture. I got him dressed and out we went to the places I thought had potential.  I was totally stoked.  I was going to get back in the saddle and get the ball rolling again.

 I probably should have asked him if he was up to it first    : ) Hind sight is 20/20 as they say.  But if I had I wouldn't have captured these.  Now while I wont be hanging this in my home anytime soon (well....maybe) they DO capture the spirit of my lil Imp.

Next up is the bad weather category.  Specifically group shots during a Tornado Watch.  Why not just reschedule you ask?  Well this particular group was a band of guys who all had day jobs and rescheduling would have been a nightmare!  SO out we went humidity, wind and well crummy weather be darned.  This was a wild bunch of guys.  Just an absolute joy to be around.  But trying to get them in any specific pose.....FORGET IT!  They were so animated and funny I could just follow them around and capture them being the big goofs they are.

Families can be a challenge.  Especially when young children are involved.  You must be quick and have a plan.  But even when you have a plan the session is at the mercy of the youngest member.  Before I left MinnesotaI had an chance to photograph my pastors' small intimate family.  His wife was a part of my MOPS group and a very dear friend.  I had taken their sons' photos before so I didn't for see any hiccups. HA HA HA! Live and learn.  He decided that he was just not going to sit at all. Where as in his previous session that was all he would do.  He if had cooperated whose to say if I would have "found" these treasured moments.

This whole session I worried about if I had any shots that they would like.  But I have never been one to back down from a challenge, so once I got back to the office I got to work.  Let me just say that photo editing is just as important a tool to setting moods as setting up the shot before you snap it. With a few tweaks I was able to create an familial intimacy to the session despite having taken these shots right in the middle of town.

So were these photos failures?  At the time I may have thought so.  But they envelope certain successes that have helped me grow into the photographer I am today.  And I could be nothing other than grateful for these happy failures.  They are priceless in their own right.  What happy failures have you had?