I ♥ Faces {Best Face Photo in January}

This week's contest at iheartfaces is Best Face Photo in January. I think this little love bug has the best face of all time! This picture is number 537 at iheartfaces...go vote for Gabrielle and check out the entries while you're there. 



A Month In Photos {January 2011}

Need an idea on what to do with those photos at the end of the month? Rebecca Cooper has shared a great idea on her blog, Simple As That - A Month In Photos. She's even offered word art and storyboards for a DIY project.  Take a moment, sort through all of your January photos and make your own "month in photos". Below are a few of my moments from this month that I thoroughly enjoyed. I hope that you do too.

From top middle;


1. Caleb won the Geography Bee for the 4th grade class at his school. After enduring the 3rd grade and overcoming huge obstacles, Caleb proves to us daily that he is going the distance and will do great things. We're awaiting the results from the 70-question test from the National Geographic Bee Counsel to see if he will compete on the state level.


2. We enjoyed shorts and flip-flops in January - yes, January. It was 74 degrees or so this day. The next day, it was 40 degrees, maybe less. Crazy weather this month.


3. I like practicing with my camera. This was just a fun, melting snow/ice, tree shot that the neighbors thought I was crazy for taking, I'm sure. Imagine looking out your window and someone standing within inches away from a tree, with camera to face. Um, ok?


4. The snowman my kids, husband, and I built two weekends before the 74 degree weather post. See, I told you it's been crazy.


5. This is my kids in all their glory. Caleb will make this obnoxious look while walking through the kitchen while he thinks no one is looking. I just happened to catch him before he could take it away.


There's a little of my January. I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did. I'm looking forward to a great month in photos for February. New projects, new goals, can't wait!

The Simple Things {1.30.11}

Simon Says: "Walk like this, don't fall and get muddy or mom will be really mad". This was the conversation I heard between my little ones today when we ventured out for a walk. Have you stayed a little behind to listen to the conversations between kids? It's really heart warming, sometimes. When they aren't arguing and their words are pleasant to each other. It's really kind of sweet. This was my Simple Thing this week.

Make your way over to Rebecca Cooper's: Simple As That: The Simple Things blog to submit your own simple-ness.

The Simple Things {1.23.11}

You're probably thinking, shoes? Yes, this was a simple thing that brought a smile to my face. These are my daughter's shoes and a little about my daughter, she is a witty, little 5 1/2-year old who always has the answer for everything, she is a mini-me.

Today was warm enough to go out and play, finally. The snow and ice have melted, the sun was in full form, the funk could finally be aired out. I went out to check on the kiddos and found my daughter laying on the trampoline with her shoes still on her feet (which isn't allowed on the trampoline). I asked her if something was wrong and why she still had her shoes on. Her answer to me, "I'm dreaming about taking my shoes off, but I just can't right now, I'm working on my tan"...really?

Head over to Rebecca Coopers, Simple As That; Simple Things blog and enter your own simple thing photo.

Fix-It Friday [#83]

It's that time again. Weekly photo fix-it from iheartfaces are fun for me. I think it's fun because I get the opportunity to see how others edit their photos and can gain some knowledge. I'm always open to learning something new!


Here's SOOC (straight out of camera) prior to edit. Credit to this photo go to Angie Arthur who is a great photographer and contributor of iheartfaces.

Here's my edit:
* Duplicated layer
* Corrected levels layer by moving slider over to the right just a tab
* Added a high pass sharpen filter
* Flattened image
* Added PW's Old West action set to overlay blend mode, lowered opacity to 82%
* Created a layer mask and brushed some of the action from the boy
* Flattened image



Head over to iheartfaces to read about other photo edits. Enjoy!

The Joy of Love - Free Class

Free...that is a GREAT word, isn't it? During the month of February, willette photography & more is offering a free JOY of LOVE class during the month of February. Just in time for Valentine's Day. You will need to sign up for this class. Directions to do this are listed on willette's blog. The only suggested class materials are: someone(s) you love (spouse, child, pet, friend, etc), a camera, and a desire to stretch your photographic skills - which I am all about!

I am hoping that I can hang with this class for the full 28 days. I want to expand my horizons and learn all that I can. It's worth a try, I mean, it's FREE!? Wanna join me? Sign up here!

Icicle Dreams

This week's theme over at iheartfaces is Winter Wonderland. My friend Heather Belcher has an awesome entry this week (you should head over and show her some love). I have searched and searched through my photos, but I don't have anything to enter for this week. So sad. But, I'm gonna post my own winter picture because I told myself I was going to blog, so here it is.

Last week we had a couple of snow days and had the luxury of staying home from work and the kids were out of school two days plus a two-hour delay on the third day. So nice and so cold. I took pictures of our snowman and the kids in the snow but none that I want to enter into any contests. These are just for my memories this time. I posted a couple below in the Snow Days post in my blog below. I wanted to practice taking snow pictures and making the snow look white in the photo instead of grey or an off-white color, as mine usually do. Here's an excellent tutorial that I discovered on my quest to find snow of white. Enjoy!

Here's my icicle dream picture. Love it.





The Simple Things {1.16.11}

For this week's Simple As That: The Simple Things photo, it was kind of difficult for me. I took the initiative to pick my camera up, but I had trouble finding just the right simple thing that made me smile because there were so many this week.

My daughter and I decided to pull out the chalk and create some refrigerator love. My fridge is full of pictures made by my kiddos. She asked me to trace her hand and my hand and draw hearts, below is what became of her idea. She thinks it's perfect, as do I.






For more simple things that made people happy this week, check out Rebecca Cooper's Simple As That blog. Submit your own simple photo!

Fix-It Friday [#82]

I love iheartfaces Friday's fix-it photo posts. I like reading about how other photographers edit the photos. From time to time, you get a good tip on actions that people are using. Like one of the actions I used on one of the photos below from Paint the Moon.

Original photo, SOOC. Credit for this photo goes to Rachel Durik, from Savor Photography.

Here's my first edit. Simple, yet effective. (I must add, her eyes are awesomeness)
- Cropped her in a little to bring her closer
- Unsharpened mask on her eyes 184%, radius 2, threshold 0
- Added a photo filter adjustment on warming filter set at 25%
- Sharpen tool used on her lashes to darken them up a little
- Sharpened the entire photo with high pass filter with soft light blend mode, lowered opacity to 54%

Next edit:
- Repeated steps 1 through 3 above
- Ran PTM Julibee Simple Action
- Lowered opactiy to 82%
- Flattened image

Next edit:
- Used photo from above
- Ran Florabella's Vintage Buttercup Action
- Lowered opacity to 56%
- Added a curve adjustment layer to both of her eyes, slide the curve slightly up to the left

To learn about photography and PhotoShop and all of the fun stuff in between, check out iheartfaces.

Snow Days

The last two days have been absolutely wonderful! The snow days have allowed us a long weekend and more family time. My husband and I were both off from work and the kids were out of school. Thank you inclement weather! The timing was perfect for us. We had stocked up on groceries during the weekend before the "storm" hit (not too much snow, but lots of ice), our pantry was full so we didn't have to leave our house at all. But, all good things seem to have an end. The snow is melting and schedules are returning to normal. Back to reality, I guess.

Gabrielle, Caleb, and Brianna (neighbor)

The three kiddos built a snowman

 

The meltdown commences. I wished for six more inches, secretly.



I ♥ Faces {Smile}

This week's challenge at iheartfaces is "Smile". It's the perfect challenge for iheartfaces 2nd birthday! Happy Birthday iheartfaces! Thank you for all you do. I love the tutorials and the photo challenges you allow everyone to participate in - no matter your level of expertise.

Here's my entry for what I think is one of the most beautiful smiles in the world. She's captured my heart, my little girl. She was so worried about falling off, she almost forgot to smile. We worked it out and had such a great day during this fun shoot.

Check out iheartfaces for more smiles! Stick around while you're there. They have a ton of great tutorials for those aspiring photographers...such as myself!



The Simple Things {1.9.11}

For this week's, Simple As That: The Simple Things post this week, I decided to post a picture of what I think was a great find I found on eBay a little while back. It's been sitting on my dining room table for more than two weeks as I try and find use for it. I bought it to use as a photo prop but have yet to do that yet - but will, mark my words. I've also been able to find the manual online, it may have a functional use.

Here's my Hobiflex III:

Pass through Rebecca Cooper's Simple As That blog to see other simple things that made people happy this week. You'll be glad you did! Have a great week all - see you next Sunday!

Practice Makes Perfect (Hopefully)

I recently called upon my very best friend HeatherB for a little advice regarding ISO, as well as a photographer whose photographs Heather and I admire, Kate Monroe, and exactly when and how to use ISO. I know what it is, I know what it does and what it means, I was just always scared of using it. For those of you who would like to know, here's what the Digital Photography School says about ISO. Basically, it's all about the noise (or the grain) and the light.

I was able to play around with the ISO, shutter, and aperture settings on my camera. I think I'm going to like taking dusk/sunset photos now or those nighttime, bright lights photos. I'm excited! I've tried to avoid the indoor photos, you can scroll through my pictures and see that.

Here's a photo that I took of my lens cap resting on my dining room table with the ISO adjusted from auto to 450. Yes, I repeat - not on Auto ISO - love!

Go for it! Play with your camera. Learn all about it. Read online tutorials, ask a friend, do your research. Don't give up!

Simple As That {1.2.11}

I love the blog by Rebecca Cooper, Simple As That. I've only been stalking for a little while, I've never posted. Her Simple Things photo challenge is brilliant and fun. It's using those pictures that would otherwise not be used in a feature post or printed, it would probably sit on your external for a later viewing. I'm going to try to post every Sunday to her blog.

This picture wasn't taken as a pose or staged, Gabrielle didn't know I was taking it at all. That makes it all the better to me. To capture the look of anxiousness, worrisome or the unknown and thinking, "Am I gonna win the the big prize?!" She and my son were trying to win the Nook for me even though there were prizes that would have been great for any child, they wanted to win something to give to me. The light from the arcade game was just right. It's the simple things that are sometimes the best.

Check out Simple As That blog, challenge yourself to submit your own photo or check out simple posts from others.

The Simple Things

To be a kid again, oh the joy! It's the smallest things that make you giggle and without care.

Although these picture were taken 2010, I wanted them to be the start of my blog for the new year. These pictures bring a smile to my face. We had such fun this day, driving to cut down our Christmas tree. We actually drove 96 miles, for a tree. Yes folks, that's right, for a tree. In the end, it wasn't about the miles or hour and a half drive or three pit stops along the way (not really, maybe just two), we enjoyed our day as a family. We're so busy with our lives at work or keeping the house clean or reconciling the check book, that we forget that life is short and we need to make the best of it while we're given the opportunity. This is one of those memories that will last forever. I can hear my kids now, "Hey mom, remember when we went to cut our Christmas tree and..."...that makes my happy, that makes it all worth the while.

Also, off of the blog post...Happy Birthday to my Mom! She makes me smile and brings hapiness to my heart! I love you Mom!




Gabrielle

 

Caleb

 The pictures above were taken at Northlake Trees in Benson, NC. November 2010.