Week 6

Falling behind on my posts. This week's photo is actually one I took a couple of weeks ago. I am still trying to get the focus right in my portraits. Here is a picture of Radar, my mom's dog. As you can see the focus point is on her ears and neck, not the eyes. To me the composition is not that great either. I should have backed up and got her legs and feet. Also, the left side of the picture needs just a tad more room. Although, she was moving fast and when she finally stopped, I knelt down where I was and snapped the picture. (Click on the photo to see it larger)

Note:  This photo took a lot of adjusting. It was under exposed, so I had to brighten it up which gave her fur a purple-ish tint. I would scrap this picture, but I wanted to show it to see how I progress throughout the year.

Week 5

I almost forgot week 5, and I have a great photo this week. I saw a Red Tail Hawk land in one of the trees in the back yard, so of course I grabbed my camera and went outside to get some close shots of it. At first it was in a tree that was too far to get anything good, so I tried to sneak up on it. Well, it took off, and I thought that was it, that it was gone. It actually flew to a tree that was easier for me to get close enough for some good shots. The first photo was right before I spooked it a second time. The second shot was when it took off, and I panned the camera with it and snapped the picture.

The second one needs to be straightened, but I like the angle of the hawk without straightening.

Week 4

Still working on my focus issue. I can get sharp focus on still subjects, but when it comes to the kids its a lot harder. This week I also worked on composition and lighting. I took the boys to the park around 3pm, so the sun was still pretty high. I tried facing them with the sun to the side, then I tried facing them away from the sun. The best shot was Andrew when he was in full shade. The sun seemed to blow out their skin and cause harsh shadows under the eyes. Here is the photo, and I also added my logo.

Week 3

Here is another outing with the boys. Andrew's Cub Scout den went to the fire station for a tour of the fireman's quarters and the fire trucks. I had to raise the ISO because of the indoor lights in the garage, but this one of Matthew was in front of the windows so the noise is not so bad.

Week 2

Oops! I missed Sunday. Well, tonight was like a Sunday night for us here at the house, because the kids had the day off. So, here is the entry for this week. Matthew and I were in the dining room working on a school project, when I noticed the light coming in from the window was really bright. Not direct sun light, but even light. So, of course I grabbed the camera and begged Matthew to let me take his picture. At first he wasn't being cooperative, but then he asked if I could take his picture with his project.

Week 1

Maybe I was being a little too ambitious with the 365 challenge. The purpose of the photo a day was to motivate myself to practice my photography and learn how to improve the quality of my photos. I feel that by giving myself a week to think about what I want to photograph and plan a shot, then I can get more out of this exercise. I don't want to end up snapping a picture with my phone just to get something posted everyday. So, on to my new adventure...

I have decided to post on Sunday night, so it will give me the weekend to do any post processing if needed (which will most likely be the first couple of months). I will update this post on Sunday with the photo of the week.

UPDATE: Here is the picture of the week. We took the boys ice skating today. It was hard to photograph them, because 1) everyone is moving and it's hard to get the focus right, and 2) I'm not good at ice skating and I almost fell with my camera.

Day 2

Since the Christmas decorations will be put away soon, I took a picture of one of my favorite ornaments. My friend, Erin, made it for me last year. It's a clear ball with Twilight pages cut up and stuffed inside. You can see the first three letters of Edward's name. I love it!

Day 1

Here we are at the start of the new year. My resolution, well not really a resolution just something I want to try, is to take a picture every day. I want to learn to be a better photographer, so this will get me out there taking more pictures. Now to start off the first day, I actually have a picture from last night right after midnight (technically it was Jan 1st) at a New Year's party. This is by no means a "professional" shot, I was just doing the point and shoot thing to capture the fun.