Photo Challenge Day 10: A Childhood Memory

When assigned a task that involves memories as a teenager or child, it's hard for me to think of something suitable.  I don't always remember things before I was about 20, and there are plenty of reasons for that.  There are, however, some things that were constant enough in childhood that memories of their presence (if not memories of specific instances) are clear.  And so when given the task of photographing a "childhood memory," there was one item that stood out to me.  I knew what I needed to photograph.

My blanket.

When I was born, my great-grandmother made this blanket for me.  As I got older, I realized that she made a number of similar blankets for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren until we either grew too numerous or she grew too tired.  My sister has a blanket, also made by Great-Grandma, but it is different: pinks and squares much smaller, not a long, perfect nap sized blanket of children around the world.

I love this blanket.  When I went away to college, this blanket came with me.  It, along with another blanket my mother gave me for college, have followed me everywhere.  They are old and tattered, but well-loved.  The people in this blanket are missing pieces of hats or jumpers, but the seams are still solid, a miracle after so many decades.

Perhaps this blanket is one of the reasons I quilt for new babies.  I want them to know that someone loved them -- or even the idea of them -- so much that the love was poured into something timeless, something they can keep forever.  And after all, everyone needs a nap blanket.

A busy day of recipes -- Buffalo Wing-style Hummus

Today was very busy, but part of that (ahem! all of it) was my fault.  I had plenty on the to-do list, but I also got sucked into Pinterest during my meal planning and ended up finding multiple recipes that I wanted to try today.  (Did I mention that I'm still working on learning the virtue of patience?)  Thankfully, all my hard work was rewarded when all four new recipes that I tried today actually turned out...even when I modified them a bit.  (Honey is always telling me I should think about trying recipes the way they are written first, but that just seems a tad boring.)  Even more impressive, two were vegan recipes and they actually weren't horrible.  (Side note: I have learned to make many special diet dishes for extended family and friends, but that doesn't mean that I always like it.  And I still have no idea how someone could be a vegan, but that's my own issue...and you'll probably see, eventually, that I have plenty of food issues.)  So, what were these recipes?

1. Green Monster Spinach Smoothie -- my new favorite way to eat spinach, courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats
2. Coconut vegan cookies -- a bit cakey (because they're vegan), but full of flavor and low in fat from FatFree Vegan Kitchen.
3. Skinny figgy bars -- I thought they tasted like fig newtons, Honey thought they tasted like a fig crisp, but we both liked the results, so it's another winner from FatFree Vegan Kitchen.

I also made a hummus dip, a modification of Badger Girl Learns to Cook's Buffalo Wing Hummus.  The picture I took of the results will also serve as my photo challenge picture for the day, because while it is not a picture of "someone I love," it is a picture of what I do to make my Honey happy, which is almost the same thing. (Right?)

You can find the original recipe at the link (above), but I'll post what I did here.  It was a big hit in this house and I'm sure I'll be making a lot of this to go with our afternoon celery stick snack.

Buffalo Wing-Style Hummus

• 1 can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas) -- do not drain!
• 2 Tbsp crunchy peanut butter
• 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/4 c. lemon juice (I used Real Lemon)
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 Tbsp BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's original because it's the best -- trust me)
• 2 Tbsp buffalo wing sauce (with a vinegar base)
• 2 Tbsp Sirracha
• 1/2 tsp. celery seed powder 
• Salt, to taste (you could also just use celery salt instead of two separate ingredients)

Put all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

It is so good!  A bit tangy and spicy with a good texture and a perfect compliment to celery or carrot sticks.

This recipe made about a pint.

Photo Challenge Day 6-7-8: A little bit of this, a little bit of that.

I think that I have a love-hate relationship with this photo challenge.  I want to learn how to really use this fancy camera, but trying to prioritize the lessons and tasks is a bit difficult.  My problem is that I always bite off more than I can chew.  Always. I've been trying to work on this recently (as in, since the beginning of last year, when Honey pointed out I was in a vicious circle -- I planned to-do lists that were way too long and then would get upset with myself for not being able to finish everything on the list).  I've also been trying to add more tasks and scheduling to my day.  Don't ask me how these things are all supposed to work together because I don't know yet -- it's just been one week.  What I do know is that I haven't always made it to the day's photo lesson and challenge, which is why I am merging three days into one.

The photo lessons were about aperture (again), depth of field (i.e., what's in focus) and "the exposure triangle" (a bit too much math is involved in this for my little non-math-y brain), and the photo challenge for the three days was a picture of fruit, something from a low angle, and a bad habit.  So, how can I merge these concepts?

A bad habit...from a low angle

My top shelf of the food "pantry" (also known as the place in the laundry room where we store food above the wine) always contains these wonderful crackers.  Oh fishy crackers, how I love you!  Of course they are not really a good habit, especially when one is trying to lose a bit of weight.  Thankfully, Costco now carries fishy crackers with individual serving packets, so Honey and I can split one, I get my salty, cheesy goodness fix, and I don't feel too guilty.

A low angle, f/20 (high f-stop)

 All the leaves are visible and there is great detail -- so I've figured out that "more 'f' means more focus." Good to know.

A low angle, f/4

 Soon it will be spring and I will probably spend many evenings outside taking pictures of flowers, blurring the background so that no one can see the rest of the messy yard.

Fruit...from a low angle

Fruit...higher f-stop (more in focus)

Fruit, lower f-stop

This month I learned a new word, bokeh, which basically means that one thing is in focus and the rest of the picture is a bit blurry.  I like the results.  I have no idea how to pronounce the word.


I am not the only one having fun with the camera.  Honey recently discovered that he can take the tripod from his cheap telescope and use it with the camera, which allows him to take pictures at night.  This was a bit of last night's sunset.

Photo Challenge Day 5 -- Something green, from a high angle

Having missed the photo challenge yesterday, I decided to combine the two days.  It was such lovely weather for photos, too -- the air felt more like early spring than January.  Did we skip winter again?  (I hope not!) The clouds today were much better than on day three of the photo challenge ("Take a picture of clouds").  In fact, as I was driving out to the country and back I wished I brought my camera ("Lesson one: always take the photo" -- remembering to bring the camera helps here).  The day was stormy and sunny and a bit rainbow-y.

The photo lesson for yesterday was about ISO, something on a camera that has to do with light and speed, and today's lesson was on aperture.  I am still learning but at least things are starting to make sense.  I always wanted to be able to focus on something like a flower and have the background blur -- now I can do that!

Lesson 4, Picture 1 -- ISO 800, shutter speed 1/60 (I think).

Lesson 4, Picture 2 -- ISO 400, shutter speed 1/10 (I think)

I am going to have to learn a bit more about ISO to see the point and understand how to use it.  The lesson on aperture was much easier -- the higher the number (also called f-stop, which can be written as f/5 or f/20 or whatever number you're using), the smaller the aperture and the larger the depth of field (i.e., more things are in focus).

Picture 1 -- f/5 -- see how only the flower is really in focus?  I always wanted to know how to do that!

Picture 2 -- f/10, more of the leaves are in focus, or at least heading in that direction.

Picture 3 -- f/20, still more is in focus and you can see that this is still winter and there are dead leaves everywhere.

Picture 4 -- f/29, aka "Ack, my yard's a mess!"

I think I will like using this feature!  Perhaps it's good that the weather is already getting better. Come on, spring!

Photo Challenge Day 3 -- Clouds and Shutter Speed

Today's photography lesson was about shutter speed, which is something I read up on when we first got the DSLR in December.  In fact, shutter speed shows such immediate, noticeable results that it was the first photography skill I felt I could really grasp.  I've done a bit of playing around with it before, but now I've tracked my "playing" so that I could share as part of this year's blogging (and blog goals! Yay Day Three!).

Shutter speed refers to how long the camera takes to record an image (essentially).  It can be in the tenths or hundredths of a second or, if on a tripod, the shutter can stay open for several seconds to absorb more light and capture an interesting shot.  The setting tends to be written like this -- 1/60 = one-sixtieth of a second, 1/10 = one-tenth of a second. On a Canon DSLR, like what we have, shutter speed can be controlled on the Manual (M) setting or the Shutter Priority (TV) setting.

It is amazing what a difference shutter speed can make!  Focus on that, more than on the fact that Lotus wasn't really posing for the camera today...

Picture 1 -- M (Manual mode), 1/60, f/4.5, ISO400

Picture 2 -- M, 1/40 (see the difference in the lighting?), f/4.5, ISO 400

Picture 3-- M, 1/100 (so dark! probably because I was taking pictures on a cloudy day), f/4.5, ISO 400

Picture 4 -- M, 1/100, f/4.5, ISO 800 (changed the ISO to see if that made a difference; it's brighter!)

I switched to the TV (shutter priority) setting instead of full manual so that it would choose my f-stop and ISO but I could still control the shutter speed.

Picture 5 -- TV, 1/60, auto

Picture 6 -- TV, 1/250, auto.

Picture 7 -- TV, 1/60, auto.

As you can see with the amount of light that is let in using a longer shutter speed, during times of low light it can be nice to use a slow shutter speed.  Since we've had the camera, it's been overcast or dreary most days, so I've been using a 1/80 shutter speed for most shots.

In the 30 Day Photo Challenge, I was supposed to take a picture of clouds.  Which I did.  You probably can't tell...as I said, it's been dreary.

And here are a few more photos just for fun:

What will tomorrow bring?

Photo Challenge Day 2 (What I Wore) AND A Bit About Camera Settings

Today our weather has returned to a normal Pacific Northwest winter -- cool, wet, gray and stormy.  A perfect day to stay inside!  And it's a good thing, too -- now that I've decided to do a 30 Day Photo Challenge and go through 31 Days to a Better Photo, there's plenty to learn!

Today's photo challenge: a picture of what I wore.  Now I could bore or shock or frighten you by taking a picture of my outfit, but I don't want to do that until I'm sure we're good friends.  You might not want to know that I start every day in sweats and don't change until after I exercise (whenever that may be on a given day), or that on days like today my outfits are really dull, even a bit sloppy, because I'm not planning to go anywhere.  Add to that the fat that I chose to wear a white fleece vest today and Nora, one of our black cats, has decided to add her own magical touches to my wardrobe and you have a runway model's worst nightmare come to life. Of course I can't disregard fashion entirely, and so in an attempt to bring a bit of whimsy to my outfit I've donned a headband with a butterfly (my own creation, thank you), which you will see in some of the following pictures.

If, that is, you choose to read through this entire long and potentially rather boring post.  You see, today's lesson, step two in getting a better photo, was to read through the camera's owner's manual.  Which I did.  Sort of.  I at least read most of the good bits.  And I learned that our camera came with an official owner's manual and two unofficial tips books (the one on flash a bit of a pitch to buy an external flash -- and they almost have me convinced to do it!).

I spent a while reading through the main manual and taking pictures, recording adjustments as I made them.  You are warned -- you'll be faced with a bazillion shots of the same thing if you choose to continue reading.  All of it is from the desk in my craft room because, as I said earlier, it's a dreary winter day today and so we're stuck inside.

The camera has two more "creative" settings that Honey and I are trying to learn: AV (Aperture Priority) and TV (Shutter Priority).  We'll examine both today.  

Picture 1 -- TV with the autofocus adjusted manually to center over the frame instead of in the center of the photograph.

Picture 2 -- TV with the autofocus on automatic (center of the shot)

Picture 3 -- TV with the "picture style" (image effects) set to portrait (as opposed to standard). Portrait is supposed to be good for close-ups to make the skin look better. (Good! I need that!)

Picture 4 -- TV, picture style set to standard, which is supposed to keep everything crisp/vivid.

Picture 5 -- TV with the picture style set to "landscape," which makes blues and greens more vivid.  I am sure this would be more noticeable in an actual landscape -- somehow using the tissue box just isn't the same, even if that box does have leaves on it.  I can't see any difference here, can you?

Picture 6 -- TV with a picture style set to neutral. This setting is supposed to be for those who want more subdued tones in photos so that they can manipulate the image on the computer.  I think it's safe to say I'll be staying clear of this particular setting for a while.

Picture 7 -- TV with a picture style set to "faithful," which I guess creates a dull color scheme, also for manipulating photos on the computer.  Guess I'll stay away from this setting, too, for the time being.

Picture 8 -- TV with a photo style setting of "monochrome."  Black and white!  I may use this!

Okay, enough with the desk.  That's a bit boring, right?  Let's move on to looking at a few more settings on the camera.

I like the TV setting (shutter priority) because I can control the shutter speed myself.  This is very important when trying to take pictures in uncontrolled lighting.  It's amazing the difference shutter speed can make!

Picture 9 -- TV, shutter speed 1/80. Not bad for a fairly dark room!

Picture 10 -- TV, shutter speed 1/325 -- yikes that's dark!  So I guess on really bright days it would be good to increase the shutter speed to let less light into the photo.

I switched to AV (aperture priority) mode to try that.  This allows the photographer to control the f-stop on photos, which is useful when you want to set the depth of your field.  For example, if I was trying to take a picture of Honey on a warf and wanted boats in the background to be blurry, I could do that by increasing the f-stop number.  At least I think that's how it works.  Right now that's not very clear because of the setting I used today.  Guess I'll have to play around with this a bit more.

Photo 11 -- AV, f/20. Yikes that's blurry!  Maybe taking photos using a mirror is confusing the camera?

Photo 12 -- AV, f/20 with a makeshift "tripod" (Dawn of the Dreadfuls book on CD -- a Christmas present I'm looking forward to consuming). That's better!  Maybe we do need a tripod after all?  But who wants to carry such a thing??

Picture 13 -- AV, f/3.5 -- the lowest f-stop setting on the camera. It's fairly clear (considering I'm holding the camera in my shaky hands instead of using a tripod) and you can see that I am in focus and the wall (about six feet behind me) is blurry.

Picture 14 -- AV, f/20 with a tripod -- still a bit blurry.

Picture 15 -- AV, f/14, with flash.  This is a result of me thinking "I wonder if a flash would make it more clear because then the camera wouldn't be fighting for light."  As you can see from my first attempt, I was mistaken in my thinking.

Picture 16 -- AV, f/5, with flash.  I discovered that the f-stop's lowest setting when using the flash is f/5 instead of f/3.5.  I wonder why...?

As you can see, I have plenty more to learn.  Good thing it's just the start of the month!

Photo Challenge Day 1 -- Self-Portrait

In my first post of the new year, I said that I was going to try the 30 Day Photo Challenge and and 31 Days to a Better Photograph.  Why not start on the first day of the year?  Seems as good a time as any.

Photography Challenge Day One: Self-Portrait

Ack! We're blurry and I need longer arms!

31 Days Lesson: Always take a picture.

The lesson "always take the picture" is a good one, something I tried even back in high school when everything was on film and my camera and technique lacked refinement.  In fact, as a teenager I think that I drove people to distraction taking so many pictures.  That's a habit I stepped out of as an adult.  It seemed too much work, even with the ease of digital cameras now (making it convenient to delete horrible photographs instead of paying to see what turned out on a 24-exposure roll).  Yet I do love taking pictures, so when Honey got a DSLR for Christmas, we were both inspired to start learning about how to take good pictures and part of that includes taking pictures of everything.

As a side note, one of the things I am trying to remember to do this year is "watermark" my photographs.  We'll see how long I remember to do that...