Favorite Photos of 2011

I meant to do this post before the new year, but I didn't have my external hard drive with me that contains all my pictures, so I just put it off until I got back to Italy.

The following photos are my favorite that I took in 2011 in no particular order.

1. Lanterns at Disneyland Paris



The pattern, color and shapes are what make this picture one of my faves. It just gives off a whimsical vibe.

2. Sunbeams in St. Peter's.

The sunbeams in St. Peter's Basilica are my very favorite thing about the place.

3. Churros and Chocolate in Madrid.

Even though Sean gives me grief, I love taking pictures of the food we eat in our travels.

4. Maternity

One of my goals this year was to take more portraits of people. This was the second maternity session of three that I've done this past year and this is one of my favorite shots.

5.  Red Pumps



This is from one of my pictures of the day when I was working on my 365 project last year. I think this is my favorite still-life from last year.

6. Eiffel at Sunset

Some of my favorite pictures from this year came from my August trip to Paris.

7. Poppies in Tuscany

I'd always wanted to capture a field of poppies in Italy. This year on my family's visit we just happened to be in Tuscany while the poppies were blooming. Absolutley beautiful!

8.  Baby in Pearls

I've been lucky enough to practice photography on a beautiful baby this year. This is one of my very faves from our many sessions.

9. Bird's Eye View

Another of my favorites from Paris. That city is so beautiful!

10.  London Eye and the Thames



I was lucky enough to visit London for a second time this summer and really enjoyed getting to take more pictures of this amazing city. The London Eye makes for a perfect subject.

Fun With Photography: Tips and Tutorials

Now that I've discussed my camera and equipment, I thought it was time to give you guys a few tips (that you may or may not know) and some links to some great sites for photography tutorials.

Tip Number 1:
Ask lots of questions. Find a photographer who's work you love, either in real life, on a blog or on Flickr. Ask them questions about what equipment they use, what tips they have for photography in general and how they produce some of their shots. I know there are some people out there that don't like to share all their secrets, but I've found most photographers like to talk about their work and how they acheived their shots.

Tip Number 2:
Don't shoot in auto mode. Seriously, put your camera on another mode, like Program mode (P on Canon), Aperture Priority mode (Av on Canon), Shutter Priorty mode (Tv on Canon). More on these modes later.

Tip Number 3:
Don't use your flash. Just don't. I can count on one hand the amount of times I've used flash in the last year. Mostly those happen to be inside candid shots that I'm not trying to really get a fantastic picture. I hate looking at pictures that someone has used flash in. It really takes away from the picture, especially if the picture is of people. If I'm taking pictures inside I try to use my 50mm, just because it lets lots of light in and I don't need to use a flash.

Tip Number 4:
Practice. A lot. I recommend doing something like a 365 or 52 project to help you practice. That means you're either taking a picture a day or a picture a week and if you try different things with your camera, then you're going to get better. Get out there and shoot. Sometimes I take pictures of my dog, what I'm eating for dinner or myself. It's just fun and it makes for better photography.

Tip Number 5:
Educate yourself. If I had the chance, I'd take a photography class, but I haven't had that option to date. If you can't get to a photography class like myself, there are tons of online workshops from some great photographers and usually there are all different price ranges and it can help your skills. Also check out photography blogs and digital photography forums. I'm going to list some of my favorite websites below.

Digital Photography School ForumsThis site has tons of great tutorials for all kinds of photography (portrait, landscape, etc) and the forums are invaluable. I often use the forums for questions I have or to get critiques on my photography. Sometimes the feedback I get really helps.

Adventures of an American MumSeveral years ago Rachel did a series of tutorials called "Get Your Click On". She covers things like aperture, shutter speed, ect and explains it way better than I ever could. I have several of her posts bookmarked and refer often to them. She's super talented and I believe is a contributor at I Heart Faces.

The Pioneer WomanI'm sure many of you are familiar with the Pioneer Woman, but aside from cooking she also has some great tutorials on her blog. Check out the Photography Section of her blog!

MCP ActionsI used this blog for my newborn shoot because there were some great, in-depth tutorials on that subject. There are also other tutorials about other sorts of landscape and portrait subjects, as well as Photoshop and Photoshop Elements Tutorials.

The CoffeeShop Blog
Rita is a very-talented and very generous maker of actions for all Adobe editing programs. She also has great tutorials and links to other great blogs. All of her actions are FREE and I use them a ton when I edit my pictures.

These are just a handful of the photography blogs that I frequent, there are many, many others out there and they all are helpful in their own way. If you have any suggestions of other photography blogs that we should check out, feel free to leave it in the comments. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me!

Fun With Photography: My Equipment

I get asked a lot what kind of camera I have and what equipment I use. First of all, let me just say that a great camera does not make for a great photographer. That being said, it is helpful to have a nicer camera and different lenses because you can do more with them.

My camera is a Canon Rebel XSI aka the Canon 450D

One of these days I hope to upgrade to a Canon 5D Mark II, but as it's a bit pricey, that's going to take awhile.

I have 4 lenses that I shoot with. Some I use more than others and there are different circumstances where I'll use one lens over another.

First lens is my kit lens, or the lens that came with my camera. It's a 18-55m. Nothing special, but for basic shots and some macro it works well.

Next is my 70-300mm zoom lens. It's also known as a telephoto. It's great for zooming in from far away at flowers, animals and some landscape details. This picture of Big Ben was taken with my telephoto.

Because the telephoto zooms out so far, it's pretty important to have a lens hood on it to prevent your pictures from being blown out or getting too much sun flare in your lens. I don't always shoot with mine on, but my pictures usually turn out better when I do.

Next is my 50mm f 1.8 lens. It's a prime lens, meaning it doesn't zoom in or out, it's a fixed lens so no movement. I use it a lot more than I use to. It's awesome for portraits, close-ups and even works well for some landscape shots. It also creates great bokeh. A lot of my 365 Project photos are taken with my 50mm lens.


Last, but not least is my 10-22mm lens. It's a wide-angle lens and in my opinion works best for landscapes or if you are in a room and are wanting to capture a large number of people or details in the room.

This photograph is an example of the wide angles capabilities.

Another piece of equipment I use is a tripod. I have a cheap Wal-Mart quality tripod right now, but it's on my list of things to upgrade. Tripods are great for night shots. with a tripod you aren't getting any camera shake and it truly can take your night shots to the next level. Almost all of my night shots that were taken on our last vacation were taken with a tripod.

Some people are fine with just taking pictures and not doing any sort of post-processing on them. Since I'm aiming to be a professional photographer and because I like the look of my pictures more after they are processed, I purchased a photo-editing program.

I own Adobe Photoshop Elements 8. With photo editing programs you have several choices. Rita over at the CoffeeShop Blog wrote a great post about the three most popular programs on her blog just a few weeks ago. Check it out here.

I will say though, if you're going to get a photo editing program, you really need to get a book that teaches you how to use it. It's not a program that you can just figure out for yourself right off the bat. I recommend Scott Kelby's book, The Photoshop Elements Book for Digital Photographers. I seriously call it my bible, because it's so amazing and very helpful when you're first starting out.

If you have any questions about my camera, lenses or photography, feel free to email me. I'll do my best to answer your question!

My Ten Favorite Photos of 2010

I've taken a lot of photos this year. Some I've loved and some have been less than stellar. I wanted to share my ten favorite photos of 2010 with you.



Sean HATES having his picture taken, so I really value it when I get a good picture of him not making a frowny face.



This might be one of my favorite photos I took in New York. What's more New York then the Brooklyn Bridge and a taxi cab?



I think this might be my very favorite picture from this year. I was determined to get a good picture of Big Ben when I went to London and I did.



Although this is a simple picture, with ordinary things, I'm drawn to this picture. Perhaps it's the colors or the fact I just love the composition.



I took this last January when I was at home. One of the things I miss about living in the country is the great opportunities to photograph the wildlife.



This was taken in Santorini on my trip to Greece last summer. I don't have a lot to say about the picture, I just love it.



Some friends of mine and I went to the San Michele cememtery off of Venice this past fall and found these ballet shoes on one of the graves. It was a very interesting experience and I highly recommend taking the time to visit the cemetery if you're ever in Venice.



The Trevi Fountain at night. Sean and I actually blew this photo up and it's hanging on our wall. Rome is one of my favorite cities and the Trevi fountain was just amazing.



I love this picture, because to me it says Italy.



Again, a very simple picture, but for some reason I just love it!

Winter Scenes

While I've been back in Oklahoma I've tried to take advantage and have been taking massive amounts of pictures. It's quite the running joke in my family that I take pictures of everything. I've told them all if I ever get famous they'll be sorry they made fun of my photography because I'll make them buy prints at retail price.

Because for the last couple of days we were pretty much snowed in, I used the time to take some pictures of the birds that frequent our yard. The snow made a wonderful backdrop to the birds and this is one of my favorite shots.



Not having Photoshop to edit pictures is driving me nuts though. I seriously feel like it's an addiction. Must. Buy. New. Laptop. and. Photoshop!

Fun With Photoshop

For a lack of a better post today, I'm going to show some before and after photos on Photoshop. The changes aren't drastic, but I think it's very important to have at least Photoshop Elements to give your photos that little extra boost.

Exhibit A:

Before



After




Exhibit B:

Before



After

Not a Full Effort

I've been giving a lot of thought lately to my life and what direction I'm headed in. As I was doing this I had the realization that I've been doing things "halfway" for too long.

Let me elaborate a bit, growing up I didn't really try hard in school. Mainly because I didn't have to. It just came easily to me. Once I got in high school I had problems with math, but that was about it. I still made good grades in everything else by not giving 100% of what I could have given.

That attitude in college burned me big time. If I have any regrets in my life, college is it. I didn't try like I should have and my GPA from college, although not bad, isn't as good as it could be either.

The last couple years post college I haven't let this attitude get to me as much. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do as a career and now that I've narrowed it down to two choices I can concentrate on what I'm doing. I realized yesterday talking to Sean that I've kind of been half-trying at photography as well. I'm just sort of doing it, without really planning or putting anything into other than taking the pictures and editing them.

Now I've sort of drawn-up (well at least in my head) a plan for going further with this photography dream. I wanted your opinions yesterday so I could sort of gauge the interest level in my photography. One of these days (hopefully soon) I'd like to have a website up where you can order prints from me. I'm looking into a flash site for my photography too. Anyone have any experience with Photobiz? I'd like to know your opinions if you have.

I think it's time I gave it my full effort.

Careers, Plans and the Future

Every year as my birthday draws closer I sit and reflect about what I've done this past year and what I've accomplished.

For the past few years I've had mixed feelings about each passing year. Somehow I don't feel as if I've reached my full potential each year and that feeling bothers me.

The question is though, how do I reach that point where I do feel as if I've reached my full potential? When I feel like I am doing in my life what I'm supposed to be doing?

I guess what I'm mainly talking about is a career. For the most part it doesn't bother me that I don't have an established career. I've had several interesting jobs and I wouldn't trade those experiences for the world. Yet, at almost 26 years old, I sometimes feel behind the crowd or as if what I'm doing isn't normal.

Granted, as a military spouse I knew it would be harder to have a career or sometimes even have a job at all, but knowing that doesn't make it any easier.

When I got out of college my dream was to work for the National Park Service in one of their museums, I love the outdoors, I love the feeling I get when I visit the parks and I wanted to experience that on a daily basis. Eventually I realized that as a military spouse that was going to be next to impossible, unless I somehow luckily ended up next to a National Park.

My next thought was to become a librarian. Specifically to work as an elementary librarian at a school. I had a job in a public library for a year and a half and really enjoyed it. Plus as a military spouse having a degree in library science is something I could more easily find a job with (hopefully) and in the future would be able to spend summers with my children.

These days I've been thinking about pursuing photography as my career. I love it. I love shooting, I love editing. I just like it all. EXCEPT, I don't love shooting people as much as I do landscapes and shooting people is where the money is at. Not to mention there is a lot of time and money that go into becoming a successful photographer. Right now I don't have any customers either. Something that obviously is very important to be able to make a career out of it.

So I'm stuck. What to do? Get my Masters in library science as a back-up and in the meantime do my photography on the side? That's my plan right now, but that could change at the drop of a hat.

Any advice ladies?

I'm Soon to the Proud Owner of...

These:



Canon Wide Angle 10-22mm lens



Canon Telephoto 70-300mm lens

Sean was a dear and told me to take some of our leftover tax refund money and get myself some new lenses. I have to say he's very supportive of my photography and I do love him for that.

I've been researching lenses for quite some time and I knew these two were next on my list to buy. Hopefully this summer I can add a macro lens to my collection as well. Thankfully a macro lens will be the cheapest of the bunch.

I cannot wait to start shooting with these!

PBS and Photography Musings...

First things first....a fab giveaway!

Check out Wearing Mascara's awesome make-up giveaway. I promise you won't be disappointed.

I'm still trying to think what to give away for my 200th post. Sorry to the ladies in Europe, but I won't be giving away a plane ticket anytime soon. So keep those suggestions coming!

I'm getting super excited about this upcoming weekend. I'm hopping over to Houston to hang out with Sara and Lindsay and I'm thinking it's going to be a blast!

I got a wonderful award from D.A.R. over at The Student and the Soldier today.



Thanks D.A.R.! I'm glad that people enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy reading theirs.

I'm supposed to pass that along to a few other people, so I'll pass it on to a few of my new favorites.

1. Sarah at Dance Shoes and Combat Boots. I just recently started reading her blog and I'm really enjoying it.
2. Honey and Quilts- I like the way she writes and her quilts are amazing! I told her I'm going to come visit her in Germany once I get to Italy. I have a feeling we'd have a good time!
3. My Home, My Life- she's always got a great post waiting for you and she dislikes blow-up lawn ornaments as much as I do. That right there deserves an award.

Does anyone watch Antiques Roadshow? Sean and I try to watch it every week. (I told you I was old) Anyway, I'm constantly in awe of the things people find in their homes/garage sales/estate sales or has been passed down in their family. Last week, one lady had a scrapbook one of her ancestors had made of various Confederate and Union leaders, with their autographs, pictures, etc. It was amazing! I wish I had something cool like that in my family. As far as I know we are lacking in cool antiques on both sides of my family. Does anyone have any neat antiques/family heirlooms in their family? I'd love to hear about them if you do.

Sean and I watched a very interesting program last night on PBS about the Medal of Honor. Did anyone else catch it? Some of the things these men did were AMAZING! It really was an eye-opener for me and how heroic some of the people who have served our military from the very beginning have been. Several parts almost made me cry. Especially seeing the crosses at Normandy. I plan on visiting there while I'm in Europe and I know just being there I'm going to cry. It's such a historic/meaningful place.

Ok...enough sad talk.

I have my eye on a new telephoto lens for my camera. I'd ask for it for Christmas, but it's ridiculously expensive, so I'm going to leave it off my list. I think it'd really take my photos to a new level honestly and I like the option of having a telephoto lens.



I honestly do want to be a photographer. So in reality I do need to buy things like lenses, flashes, Photoshop to help with that. Sean is great in encouraging me with this dream and my friends are too. My only dilemma is what market I choose to work in. I personally enjoy taking landscape, outdoor, wildlife photos, but unless I sell those to magazines, websites, etc I don't see so much of a market in that. I do really enjoy taking pictures of babies and children, but working with people kind of makes me nervous. Not that I'm not a people-person, but the fact I'm taking pictures of essentially memories is scary to me. That's mainly why I don't want to be a wedding photographer, because I know how important that day is and I'd hate for my pictures to not reflect what the couple wants. Make sense? I guess I just need to take my photography one-step at a time.

Oh and one last thing. Look at these cute dresses! They'd be perfect for a holiday party. (Forever 21 of course!)






Have a superb Thursday eveyone!

Trying out the new camera

Yesterday I babysat one of our friend's children and I had the opportunity to play around some with my new camera.

Here are a few results.




The above picture is my favorite that I took, but please ignore the dog carrier in the background. I've been trying to find away to increase the shadows to make it disappear, but have yet to succeed without making the rest of the picture too dark. I don't have Photoshop, so that's not an option, but if anyone else has a suggestion please let me know!



I love this one too, if you look closely you can see everything but his eye is black and white. I love some of the tools in Photobucket.



I love sleeping babies!




As you might have noticed, I prefer black and white pictures when I'm photographing people/things.

I'll be updating on the rest of the weekend hopefully later tonight.