Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Photo Challenge Day 4 -- Postponed until tomorrow
How do the days get so busy? I'll tell you how -- the to-do lists are a mile long but there are only 24 hours in a day! And so today's edition of the photo challenge is postponed...does this mean I need to do two photo lessons tomorrow?
A List of Lists
I love lists. My entire life revolves around them: shopping lists, to-do lists, wish lists, reading lists. I love being able to write something down, see it, and eventually know that it will be crossed off the page. It's a motivator, of sorts. I have to do such-and-such, it's on my list! That is why this year I decided to list my goals for 2012. There are many benefits to this -- I could list them!
- By listing my goals, I am forced to think about my goals.
- A list keeps the goals visible.
- Visible goals are more easily achieved because one is more mindful of them.
- Now that it's a list, I'll want to check things off of it, so I am more motivated.
Now in my mind goals are different than resolutions, which is important because I am, perhaps, more likely to keep the goals. So, what do I want to do with 2012?
2012 Goals
1. Finish The Artist’s Way and blog about it.
2. Read Science of the Mind and find someone with whom I can talk about it.
3. Read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and consider participation in a book club.
4. Write notes and letters more often. Aim for one note or letter per week.
5. Decide how much time and effort to put into relationships and what kind of relationships I want.
6. Find a doggy day care where Lotus feels comfortable so that I don’t have to rely on unreliable family when I want or need to go out of town or work long days.
7. Craft more (at least once per week).
8. Blog more (aim for every day).
9. Exercise more (get toned for summer weddings!)
10. Spend less (save more!).
11. Produce income.
12. Improve my gardening and canning process so that we produce more of the food that we eat.
13. Take classes that increase my self-awareness (at least two over the course of 2012).
14. Learn a new skill.
15. Finish my novel.
16. Finish an academic article.
17. Try to have writings published.
18. Figure out what I want to do for a career.
19. Be a better spouse (remember to do everything with love and respect).
20. Journal daily.
This is not an exhaustive list. I am sure that if I sat and thought long and hard I'd have more items on there, perhaps things that had to do with more volunteer work or with more demonstrations of love and care for others or something about having less involvement with the family members who make me crazy, but this list was already getting too long (20 goals in 2012? Why not just 12?), so it is what it is.
It's been three full days in the new year and I am making progress toward certain goals (blog more -- check, exercise more -- check, write notes and letters -- check). One of the goals is to learn a new skill, and this month that skill is photography. At least I'm trying to become a more skilled amateur photographer -- we'll see what results at the end of the month. As part of the journey, I am walking through lessons on 31 Days to a Better Photo and participating in a 30 Day Photography Challenge. Perhaps you would like to participate in the photography challenge with me?
Here's the 30 Day list from Mary at whitepeachblog.com. This is from her first photo challenge back in May of last year...yes, I know, I'm a bit late to the game.
- Self-portrait
- What you wore
- Clouds
- Something green
- From a high angle
- From a low angle
- Fruit
- A bad habit
- Someone you love
- Childhood memory
- Something blue
- Sunset
- You with 13 things
- Eyes
- Silhouette
- Long exposure
- Technology
- Shoes
- Something orange
- Bokeh (What the heck? Is that a misspelling? I had to look it up and found a kind of answer here and here.)
- Faceless self-portrait
- Hands
- Sunflare
- Animal
- Something pink
- Close-up
- From a distance
- Flowers
- Black & White
- Self-portrait
Of course now that I look through the blog I see that Mary is starting a January photo challenge. Shall I double-up? Save the January challenge until next month? Hmmm....I'll have to think about that. But just in case you want to jump into the January photo challenge, here is that list from Mary's blog.
- You
- Breakfast
- Something you adore
- Letterbox
- Something you wore
- Makes you smile
- Favorite
- Your sky
- Daily routine
- Childhood
- Where you sleep
- Close-up
- In your bag
- Something you're reading
- Happiness
- Morning
- Water
- Something you bought
- Sweet
- Someone you love
- Reflection
- Your shoes
- Something old
- Guilty pleasure
- Something you made
- Color
- Lunch
- Light
- Inside your fridge
- Nature
- You, again
And there you have it, folks. A list of lists.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
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?
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?
Monday, January 2, 2012
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 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!
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!).
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!
Menu Mondays?
The thought of having such exquisite blog organization that I actually have themed posts on certain days throughout the week intrigues me. But can I really pull that off? I am afraid that if I try to commit to that in addition to all my other plans for the year that I will just be too overwhelmed.
That said, I was very proud of myself for coming up with a menu for a whole week yesterday. Yes, I know many women do this all the time, but I feel lucky if I know what I'm cooking a day ahead of time and Honey does not like being questioned about food during any non-meal time, so planning a whole week was a big deal in my world. Maybe one day I'll supply a "Menu Monday" with photographs and links. For right now, I'll just use this as a way to track what we're eating this week.
Sunday -- French onion soup
Monday -- Hubbard squash gratin + spinach salad
Tuesday -- Baked potato soup + salad
Wednesday -- Curried hubbard squash soup with roasted squash seeds
Thursday -- leftovers
Friday -- BLTs or leftovers
Saturday -- saabzi (spinach) and crock pot butter chicken
Sunday -- crock pot chicken & dumplings
That said, I was very proud of myself for coming up with a menu for a whole week yesterday. Yes, I know many women do this all the time, but I feel lucky if I know what I'm cooking a day ahead of time and Honey does not like being questioned about food during any non-meal time, so planning a whole week was a big deal in my world. Maybe one day I'll supply a "Menu Monday" with photographs and links. For right now, I'll just use this as a way to track what we're eating this week.
Sunday -- French onion soup
Monday -- Hubbard squash gratin + spinach salad
Tuesday -- Baked potato soup + salad
Wednesday -- Curried hubbard squash soup with roasted squash seeds
Thursday -- leftovers
Friday -- BLTs or leftovers
Saturday -- saabzi (spinach) and crock pot butter chicken
Sunday -- crock pot chicken & dumplings
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