SOCIAL MEDIA


20mm, f/4.0, 1/3s, ISO 800
Today I started a fitness challenge with a bloggy friend on my Reflection of Something blog. I feel seriously awesome after tonight's workout... a 1 mile cardio walk and one of the 10 minute solutions dance routines. Now if you ever want a good ab workout, watch me do that dance routine... the laughter will have your stomach muscles hurting! LOL! But it is fun, and if the hubbs watched me he did it sneaky enough that I didn't notice. I love exercise DVDs, and this is part of my collection. You will notice some of my old VHS as well... I can't give up my hula and bellydance tapes! I suppose one of these days I will have to find them on dvd.

As far as the actual photo goes, I initially thought it would be a fun one to play with texture, but ended up doing an all-over, low opacity urban grit action instead. I am still stuck with my mobile broadband for the moment, and it just is not fast enough for me to browse textures. This mama's got things to do! =)

If you are interested in linking up for the fitness challenge, be sure to let me know too so I can follow along! I looove the new widget I added to track my workouts over on my blog. Fun stuff!

Day 31

Monday, January 31

SOOC

Tired.
Sooo tired.
And stuffed from yummy dinner ;-)

p.s. I am signed up for this online workshop:


Starts Feb 1st!

Day 30

Sunday, January 30

Today is the day I do smartphoneology, but the hubbs needed some cheering up at work so me an A decided to send him some smiles! I would not be a good bloggy buddy if I didn't share those smiles with you as well!

40mm, f/5, 1/40s, ISO 800

A didn't actually like the wig much, but he is a good boy and let me get a few pics before freaking out LOL!
 And now my smartphone pics. I used an app today called Camera ZOOM fx. Apparently I purchased it at some point back in the day... I don't usually pay for apps, so that is weird. This app actually has a macro setting, which is kind of cool. I used that setting to take a pic of the macro thingy I use... I looked for it on Amazon and found this, but I don't remember paying that much. Maybe I did... it was a long time ago. I used to really be great at macro, if I do say so myself. Here is a link to a page on my old photoblog so you can get a better look at what this little snap-on converter can do. Oooh and here is another page with some more of my favorites taken with this adapter... hmm... maybe I will spend some time looking back through these photos today. I had forgotten how much I loved this blog! Ok I am rambling... sorry!



Another project for today? Clean the baby puke off my camera bag! LOL! This was with that same app, using the dated polaroid frame setting.
Done forget to link up your smartphone pics over at One Mom's Perfect Imperfection this weekend! Cheers!

Day 29

Saturday, January 29

It doesn't seem possible that it has been another week already! I almost forgot to do my week in review and link-ups!




The Daily Wyatt     NapTime MomTog Project 365

Week 4

Lazy tonight... Just did sepia and collaged them using Picasa
Didn't have time to think about pics today while there was decent light, and one of my living room lamps has issues so I really had to crank the ISO up (1600) and since of course the light gave me white balance issues I went with sepia and voila! =)

PS - Don't forget to link up a cell phone pic this weekend for Smartphoneology! I will do mine tomorrow!

Day 28

Friday, January 28

35mm, 1/50s, f/4.5, ISO 800, Action: Creamy Chocolate B&W
I had more time to play when I visited my other sister and niece today. My sisters and I all gave birth within 2 months of each other. The niece in yesterday's photo is oldest, then my little boy (a cheater because he was 3 week early, haha) and then this adorable little munchkin. She is exactly one week younger than Aiden. I love taking pictures of her, and she is usually fairly cooperative. I am not sure why this was my favorite today... there is just something about the sweet innocence in her face and the simplicity that draws me in. I just want to kiss those sweet little cheeks!

And of course there is no way I could post just one today, and I had to post a couple of my cutie pants! Such sweet babies! I will post some candids over on my other blog tomorrow... these two are best friends, and so fun to watch!

Click twice to enlarge

Day 27

Thursday, January 27

Tonight was family dinner at Mom's. Taken on auto with the flash on ;-) I am a rebel.
Not getting comments was making me sad. I removed intense debate. Hope people start commenting again, lol. I would take the pictures even if no one commented, but it wouldn't be as fun!

Day 26

Wednesday, January 26


32mm, 1/320s, f4.5, ISO 200


SOOC
So again today I was inspired by another photographer, Courtney Kirkland (here is just one of her amazing posts) and set out to capture an image that would lend itself to a certain effect. I really wanted to try doing a texture. So, I took a photo of a little angel ornament (the same one in one of my favorite photos on my header!) and used the Coffeeshop Give It Texture action, which made it very simple. The texture was a free one I found browsing flickr. Don't be afraid to give me honest feedback on this one (or any of mine, but I am asking for it in particular here). It is something that is brand new to me, and I want to learn! =)



Day 25

18mm, 1/8s, f/4.5, ISO 200
Look at me posting early today! That is because for the first time in a while I knew what I wanted to do. I was inspired by posts from Mumsyhood Project 365 (way back on day 2!) and then more recently by Trisha on her 365 to do some selective color. Normally, I am not a fan of this particular effect. However, both of these ladies used it in a perfect way and I loved it!

I don't know that this is the perfect photo to use it on, but I just love this cow and have been looking at it for days thinking it wanted its picture taken, haha. I intentionally let Aiden blur a little, because I thought it would be fun. I probably could have taken some more shots, maybe angled cow a little different so the tiny sliver of yellow on the left of his nose doesn't look like an editing mistake, changed my setting slightly to fix the upper-right corner distraction... but I was happy with this shot and thought I should go with it and not spend my whole morning on photos, lol. As much as I love my camera, mama's got other work to do! =)

...and by the way, that was not me being overly critical, it was me reminding myself that one of my goals is to SLOW DOWN and make sure I look carefully at more than just the subject before I snap. Seeing where I can improve is part of the learning process! I encourage anyone who views my photos to be critical as well, so I can learn from YOU! Don't be scared to tell me what I can do better. =)

Day 24

Monday, January 24


Aiden playing on my sister's black bedspread. Which also happens to be where I took his newborn photos in this exact same hat! It is the one he wore home from the hospital. Now tomorrow is the last day of his 7th month! How time flies...

A's Birth Announcement

Day 23

Sunday, January 23

Motorola DroidX, Camera360 app, LOMO Film setting
I was initially doing Smartphoneology over on my main blog, but it fits right in here so I thought I would save myself a step! =) The only real rule is all editing must be done on the phone itself, and let us know what apps you use so we can try them out too! Courtney over at One Mom's Perfect Imperfection just started this a few weeks ago, and I think it would be cool if some of y'all joined in! =) Be sure to let me know if you do!


And they are still looking into why my comment link is not showing up... click the post title to get to a page where you can leave a comment. Hope it will be fixed soon! =) Or if one of you knows the answer, please share because I am very impatient and hate waiting for tech support, lol.

Day 22

Saturday, January 22


Holy smokes I am feeling a little overwhelmed today! So much to do, and so little time! =) I did try installing a new comment format. I chose this one so I could reply to comments, and because I have the least problems with this format when visiting blogs on my phone! Hope it works well for everyone, and please let me know if it makes you cranky or less likely to leave a comment because I love to hear from you! I know I have talked with several of you about comment formats... this one was found at http://intensedebate.com/ and was super easy to set up. I know a lot of people use disqus, but there are days when I want to throw my phone at the wall because it refuses to work with their format, haha. So there ya go... and now I return to my crazy day with the babe =)



The Daily Wyatt     NapTime MomTog Project 365

Okay, so until I figure out what I did wrong you have to click the post title to get to where you can comment if you are just on my main blog frontpage. I don't know if that makes sense... I will figure it out later, lol ;-)

Week 3

ISO 400, f/4.5, 1/80s, action color pop 2
Matt and I bought a gingerbread kit for Christmas and never used it. At least the candy came in handy for something (since no one will eat it, lol)! I used my {only} 18-55mm lens and a macro adapter thingy that snaps on the end and does not work on autofocus. I was so irritated I could not remember how to use it when I started trying again, and tonight I finally figured it out! I need to get back in practice for sure, but had fun playing. I swear I will try to find a name/link for the adapter thingy, but I am going to have to go digging back through my old photoblog where it was suggested to me... and I am tired. I just took these, and had to bug the hubby til he got off our desktop computer, hehe. If I had started earlier I might have been ble to fix the color issues I had going on here, but oh well. And someday I want to learn about textures, because something fluffy like this seems a perfect place to play around! Another day though... So now that I {barely} managed to get this up before midnight I am off to bed!

Day 21

Friday, January 21

I love sugar-free lime jello ;-)
So, just for the record, I was not trying to whine or be too hard on myself yesterday. Just the opposite actually. What I meant was that I have come to accept that not every photo has to be one that you would frame. I am cool with that. I learn every day, and overall I can already see growth! I am just in a funk, and so at the end of the day yesterday I didn't have anything, and actually made Matt give Aiden a bath just so I could try to recreate a picture I love that I took about a week ago. While the photo I posted was okay, I had that awesome one in my head and so it didn't measure up is all. So thank you for the dose of reality/encouragement, but it is all good! My words just don't work right lately... that is why I am on a break from my non-photoblog but I didn't want to let this one slip =)

You all are awesome and make me want to keep posting, even on my bad days! Thanks for being such a great community. I am learning so much from each and every one of you, and I had fun catching up a little bit last night =)

Day 20

Thursday, January 20

Today was a tough day for me. I keep reminding myself that we are going for 365 days here... I have to be able to deal with the days where at the end I don't have a photo I love. For a perfectionist like me that is not easy.



I really wasn't crazy about either of these, but I couldn't tell which one I liked the least... so I am posting both, haha. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Going to try to catch up on all your blogs by tomorrow. I have missed the inspiration, and maybe that's why I was so blah today.



Oh, and if you have a minute and are not a regular reader on my non-photoblog, I would love it if you took a look at my guest post for today. My friend, Amy, is amazing and she is sharing her new journey with my readers as she gets the hang of blogging on her own. 

Day 19

Wednesday, January 19

18mm, 1/30s, f/3.5, ISO 800, No flash in my crappy kitchen light;-), Action: Vintage Honey

Day 18

Tuesday, January 18

19mm, 1/40s, f/5.0, ISO 800 - shot in natural light from window, ran Perfect Portrait 2 action in PSE
Oh, mama's little helper. I think I will stick him in a basket more often, because at least then he can't unfold all of my clothes like he usually does, haha! After I took this picture, I changed to a faster shutter speed, but this one still ended up being my favorite! Because let's face it... my baby does not sit in a laundry basket and pose perfectly still, lol. This is what it is really like.

I am going to be absent a bit this week. Will still hop online daily to post my pic, but will have to catch up on all of yours a little later! Have a great week!!

Day 17

Monday, January 17

23mm, 1/30s, f/5, ISO 1600
I did not get my "me time" today, but I did manage to find time to play a little. I admit I was totally uninspired today, and just took this picture about half an hour ago, hehe. Used my lamp trick, shot in manual with no flash... had a few interesting moments trying to get the baby to cooperate, but luckily Daddy was nearby to help.

I ran the Perfect Portrait 2 effect, reduced the noice, softened the background a little, and added the vignette... I know not everyone likes them, but I am kind of an addict, lol.

Day 16

Sunday, January 16

38mm, 1/5s, f/5.0 ISO 200
28mm, 1/5s, f/5.0 ISO 200
 Yes, I am aware of the fact that I am a cheater for posting 2 photos, hehe. I couldn't resist... I loooove Aiden's feet!

Okay so these were taken on manual with natural light, and I was pretty pleased with them SOOC. But I managed to find time to install the perfect portrait action that was suggested to me, and thought I would see what it does! First of all, installing it made me want to throw my computer out the window. So by the time I figured it out (lots of googling before I realized there is a program DATA folder... I was looking in program files because I am stubborn and assume I know what I am doing when I don't) I was frazzled and out of time and I really don't get the whole layer mask/black brush/white brush mumbo jumbo.

The good news is I am going to try to let my mom have my lil man for a few hours tomorrow so I can read the tutorials and start learning! As long as my separation anxiety doesn't get the best of me I will have some serious study time ;-)

Day 15

Saturday, January 15




The Daily Wyatt Project 365 Button
 
If you have a 365 and I don't already follow you but you would like me to, pretty please leave me a link to your project page with your comment! =)

Week 2/52

52mm, f/5.6, 1/15s, ISO 200
Before I had Aiden, I used to love making jewelry. I would like to get back to it someday, although beads and babies don't really mix... maybe when he visits Grandma's!

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions for editing tutorials yesterday! Just to clarify, I didn't really know how to use lightroom either, just used the preset actions. I am now using Photoshop Elements 9, because the free trial was available and if I figure it out I can probably fit it in my budget =). I can't wait to find some time to look at all the awesome websites you guys gave me! I have them bookmarked and ready to go... just need to get some "me time" to look at them now!

Day 14

Friday, January 14



Left: 55mm, 1/40s, f/5.6, ISO 1600  - Right: 20mm, 1/100s, f/3.5, ISO 1600
Aiden studying my photography books


So, I downloaded a trial of photoshop elements 9. I opened it up today, and I get frustrated immediately because I have no idea what I am doing! Where do I start? I liked lightroom because there were all the preset actions, and I didn't have to understand it all... haha. I know I need to learn, but I am overwhelmed. Suggestions?

(Oh, and p.s. I shot the photos this morning in my living room with horrible light so I had a floor lamp angled at Aiden. I decided to improvise to avoid the flash, lol. How do you like to light indoor photos? Lots of questions today... I think that means I am ready to start learning again! =D) 

Day 13

Thursday, January 13



So today was WIreless Wednesday, meaning I am going to be running behind on everyone else's blogs. I will catch up ASAP though! We went to my mom's tonight, and I snapped this picture of my niece. My camera was on auto, and I used the flash... when I am hanging with the fam I don't want to worry about camera settings. My sister loved the picture, but I thought it would be a great one to play with because she reminded me of a little doll. I had fun playing on picnik, but am also including the original shot for comparison and suggestions! I am definitely glad I am doig this blog. I am getting excited about photography again, and am looking at online classes and my old books to start re-learning everything I have forgotten. Thanls for all of the feedback and encouragement! It keeps me shooting! =)

Day 12

Wednesday, January 12


I so badly wanted to spend some time outside taking picture in the fresh winter wonderland we have going on here, but oh my goodness it is cooooold! I admit it... I am a wimp. So here is one of the few photos I took right outside my back door before running back in for cover, lol! I loved how the leaf has a kind of grace about it... like it was dancing on the sparkly stage of snow ;-)

Day 11

Tuesday, January 11


I much prefer being behind the camera. However, maybe if I practice I will be able to get decent self portraits by the end of the year. Of course I have my favorite accessory on... Aiden! =) Took this facing my snowy bright window, with no flash and using my remote.

Day 10

Monday, January 10


Day 9

Sunday, January 9


Aiden is supposedly teething. At least that is what the doctor said when Matt took him in today because he was running a fever and not eating well. I say supposedly because he has been "teething" for a long time now, but I guess that is possible. Anyways, not the point... I captured this minute between him and Daddy today, and decided to explore the world of editing effects a little more. I am a total editing illiterate, so learning more is a goal of mine this year. I do like this effect, but to me it looks edited... I don't know. I am tired today, so maybe I am just a little off =)

I decided to add the unedited photo to this post. I know my white balance needed work as far as color goes, but thought it would provide a reference point for if there is too much editing done above (granted all I did was use some effect button in picnik, haha)

Day 8

Saturday, January 8


The Daily Wyatt Project 365 Button

Week 1/52

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