It's Here!! My Canon 50mm f/1.8 Lens

I just got my 50mm 1.8 lens from the UPS man!  Thanks Amazon.  It is a beauty.  I was able to open up my f/stop to 1.8 and turn my ISO down to 400 in my house on a gloomy day!!!!  Gretchen is napping and Gabby is out with Mark so when they get home I will take some more but here is one of my first shots;

Christmas Tree Picture with the Girls!

ISO: 1600
Exposure: 1/13 sec
Aperture: 3.5
Focal Length: 18mm

 This is as good as it gets this year!   

Week Two!

I finally was able to complete week two of Twelve Weeks to Better Photos.  (http://is7.twopeasinabucket.com/photocourse/weektwo.pdf) 

This weeks assignment was on stopping the motion by using a higher shutter speed.    You will notice that as the shutter speed (exposure) increases the water seems to stop.  Very cool!  

ISO: 1600
Exposure: 1/15 sec
Aperture: 11.0
Focal Length: 37mm

 

ISO: 1600
Exposure: 1/125 sec
Aperture: 4.5
Focal Length: 37mm

 

 ISO: 1600
Exposure: 1/200 sec
Aperture: 4.5
Focal Length: 37mm

 

ISO: 1600
Exposure: 1/500 sec
Aperture: 4.5
Focal Length: 37mm

Christmas Tree Take One!

We finally put the tree up tonight and of course I immediatly had to get my Canon out and play around.  Here is a picture of the tree

ISO: 1600
Exposure: 1/13 sec
Aperture: 4.5

Then I decided to try and have some fun with shutter speed.    I took these all by placing the camera on the ground and using a book to angle it a bit, I can't possible hold the camera perfectly still for 30 seconds!  I let the camera set all the other functions and I changed the ss.  I love the first one......now if I could just get Gabby to sit still for 30 seconds!

ISO: 100
Exposure: 30.0 sec
Aperture: 22.0

ISO: 100
Exposure: 1.0 sec
Aperture: 4.0

   ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/8 sec
Aperture: 3.5

  ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/200 sec
Aperture: 3.5

Bad Light

It is winter in Wisconsin and I have horrible light in my house.  I can't take many good photos under these conditions.  :)  I am trying to complete week two of my twelve week challange but I can't seem to get a day with any light. 

I thought I would at least post this picture.  The photography is lame but as usual her eyes are beautiful.

Gretchen Claire

Week One!

I found an online photography course http://is7.twopeasinabucket.com/photocourse/weekone.pdf and I decided to give it a try.   The goal of week one was too shoot in AV mode and see the changes in the f/stop or aperture.  The lower the f/stop the wider open the lens is and the less of the photo is in focus.  I took this similar photograph by changing the f/stop from the lowest setting, the a mid setting and finally the highest.  Ideally I would have been outside but honestly finding the time to do this in the daylight was a miracle, oh and it is 4 degrees outside.  ;)

Here is week one;

This was shot at
 ISO: 1600
Exposure: 1/100 sec
Aperture: 3.5

ISO: 1600
Exposure: 1/20 sec
Aperture: 8.0

and

 

ISO: 1600
Exposure: 1/3 sec
Aperture: 22.0 

Bokeh = A Burry Background

I have been wanting to achieve this look for a long time.  This is originally what got me interested in a DSLR.  I don't really have the best lens to create the look but here is my best try anyways.  I love Gabby's feet!

A Day with the Nelsons

I love Sundays! On Sundays we usually start out leaving our house around 7am to head to Kenosha for Great Lakes Church and then it is usually lunch with family after that. Last Sunday we went to the Nelsons house for another excellent lunch created by Susan. I walked around and snapped a few photos. Their house is excellent for photography because they have huge windows allowing a bunch of natural light in. I am actually pretty proud of this photo of Grandma Mercier

I was very very proud of this one of my niece Leah but now I do notice the white balance was off (I didn't realize that I had this set to custom instead of automatic) I made it black and white to try and save it


Then I took some photos of my youngest niece Sarah. I really really thought I got a good one here.....I guess I can't see focus as clearly in my camera as I can on the computer.

I guess I need to work on focus! I already switched the setting for white balance back to auto. I love this stuff!!!

Our Family's Newest Addition; a Canon Rebel XS

Welcome to my journey. My husband Mark gave me a Canon Rebel XS for my 30th Birthday and I am determined to learn how to REALLY use it. I am not interested in just turning it to auto and capturing great photos, I want to learn how to use all of the features and make art. I am going to blog my progress here in the hopes of seeing a transformation from snapshots to photography. Here is one of my first pictures with my Canon


Even just a few days later I see the flaws in this picture. :)