Wednesday, 31st March 2010 - Photo #90

"Notice me Horton"

Here is Kirsten in her show, not the best photo granted but what else could I blog today. She and all the others did really well with their play "Seussical the Musical Jnr". Kirsten was Gertrude McFuzz who asks for a bigger tail to impress the elephant that she loves (Horton). In the end she decides that the tail is stopping her from flying and gets rid of it.

Took this with my little Lumix but mostly took videos as I didn't want the flash to put them off.

Tuesday, 30th March 2010 - Photo #89

"Happy Birthday Grandma"

My Grandma is 86 today! (Luckily she hasn't got the internet so won't know I've shared that little secret). Here she is with her cards and a present. I used my flash to get a more natural colour, she has just had her front room decorated so wanted to be in there for the photo.

My new baby has been delivered today! It was painless and was delivered by Kev my mate the DHL Man! It's my new camera - still waiting for the battery to charge and then I'm off - whoooo hoooo!

Monday, 29th March 2010 - Photo #88

Bit of a rush job this one! Wanted to take a photo of my charm bracelet close up for two reasons, the practise of taking a close up shot with my macro filter on and the other reason is to keep a record of what charms I get and when. I have four at the moment, an Angel and Demon (like funny faces and the book!) a camera (obvious) a best friend charm from Alison and a heart lock from Carl. Changed this to black and white as I took it on the bathroom floor and didn't like the colour. Also got a little bit of bokeh going on (eh get me!!). Off now to camera club byeeeeeee.

Sunday, 28th March 2010 - Photo #87

Been to Calke Abbey (thanks to Barry for the recommendation) to see the Kite Festival and the Spring Lambs. It was lovely, we walked Zac around the edge of the grounds and came across the church on the estate. I loved the blue of this window, had to be patient for the people inside to move out of the way of the window first. I then focused through the gate onto the window, made the window stand out by leaving it colour but turning the door and walls black and white.

Had a load of opportunities to take pictures (never enough time is there). Kirsten loves this one of a day old lamb fast asleep in the bonding pen, where they spend their first 24 hours with mum before moving into bigger pens.

Saturday, 27th March 2010 - Photo #86

Got up early today and thought I would make the best of the birds in the garden, I caught this Dunnock on our wall and managed to SLOWLY get nearer and nearer. I took quite a few and unfortunately couldn't get the black iron gate out of the shot but hey ho. He's got a catch light in his eye and I love the colours of his feathers.

Gardening, bird watching oh dear, I vaguely remember the Concorde pub disco and coming in late - those were the days.......

Friday, 26th March 2010 - Photo #85

I know, I know another flower (this is yours Mum) I used my flashgun and brought the flower well away from a pale blue wall to avoid shadows. The wall has turned cream with the flash but it is straight out of camera, just cropped it abit.

Really like this flower, might not make it to Ilkeston........

Thursday, 25th March 2010 - Photo #84

Got home at dinner and watched a program that I really like called "Open Gardens" (I think I'm getting old!) It inspired me to tidy up my little patch of planted garden in the corner of our lawn. Most of our garden is lawned or has trampoline/rabbit run on it. It looks loads better although when things really start to grow it will be worth a picture (not yet I'm afraid).

Anyway whilst gardening (ie, clearing dead leaves and keeping Zac off the soil and my little plants) I found a few of these leaf skeletons. I love them, they look just like lace and are so delicate. Tried to photograph one with a light behind it and used my old trusty ironing board, tripod, black fleece and a torch. This one was the sharpest and I've converted it to black and white to show the contrast. I've pulled up the shadows too as the texture of the fleece was abit off putting.

Wednesday, 24th March 2010 - Photo #83

I noticed the first of the daffodils out today and as my new tripod has arrived (thanks to HotDealsUK and Carl's Paypal account!) I just had to try it out. Ok so this photo isn't strictly of a daffodil (they are in the background) it's an aeonium I think.

Tripod is fab, need to get used to using it though. Used 2 second self timer to stop camera shake too as there was abit of wind and it started to rain just as I got the tripod out! I've cloned out a cobweb on the flower too.

Tuesday, 23rd March 2010 - Photo # 82

We have a tree that hangs over our fence slightly from next door and this morning I noticed that a Starling was busy collecting pieces of twigs from it. Even Zac running around the patio didn't put him off, so I grabbed my camera.

As always time was against me so only managed a few shots before I had to get ready for work. This one is about the sharpest and I like the fact that he is doing something (yet again another point from Camera Club made by one or two judges). Tomorrow I am going to be ready for them and have my tripod set up. Watch this space!!

Monday, 22nd March 2010 - Photo #81

Meet Gertrude MacFuzz!

This has been abit of a rush job I'm afraid tonight, as I have been making Kirsten's tail feathers for her costume for the play that she is in "Seussical the Musical" She is a bird who starts off with a one feather tail and gets her wish of having a beautiful tail at the end of the story.

Mind you, with the amount of feathers all over the kitchen floor I doubt her tail will be very full by the time the play is over!!

Sunday, 21st March 2010 - Photo #80

Tubing Fun

Hope's had a party today for her 12th birthday and had a great time at Swadlincote Ski Centre. I used sport mode to catch their expressions and then made a collage to show all the fun.

Saturday, 20th March 2010 - Photo #79

Happy Birthday Hope

Hope is 12 today, here she is at the pub after having dinner with our family. She has had her hair cut too so thought a portrait of her would be a perfect thing to blog.

I took my camera and flash to the pub as I wanted to try taking a picture inside, with the windows in the background this was a perfect position to see how the camera and flash coped with the extra light. I like this one best even if her face is very slightly soft.

Friday, 19th March 2010 - Photo #78

"Mum's Potting Shed"

This little house used to be the girls wendy house/den but as they've grown bigger and used it less it has become Mum's little shed. She has taken to gardening since retiring and keeps all her diagrams of planting and tools in it.

I wanted to show the inside of the shed as it is full of interesting stuff but I had to position my camera outside the door and point the camera and flash unit through the door. Unfortunately it started raining before I could really get a good composition and I need a wider lens to get more of the inside in as it is such a small space. I also noticed that the flash burned out the statue that is in the doorway of the shed, didn't notice this when I was taking the picture - I must remember to always check what I'm taking on the screen before I merrily snap away!

Thursday, 18th March 2010 - Photo #77

Need to get to grips with my speedlight so I played about with a dark background. Kirsten was my willing model and this one is with the flash bounced against the wall which creates a shadow down the right side of her face. I've turned it to black and white to show the contrast of her hair against the black background.

Wednesday, 17th March 2010 - Photo #76

Played around with shutter speed and low light, as I really need to get to grips with it. The ironing board was set up already so I used a black blanket, a torch and turned the light off. Hope held the torch still for the camera to focus on and once I had pressed the shutter release she then made the heart shape. Used 'bulb' shutter speed, it worked quite well, this picture is actually a collage of three pictures.

Tuesday, 16th March 2010 - Photo #75

Oh dear! This was supposed to be a photo of a beautiful chocolate sponge cake made for Alison's birthday by Max, Jude, Hope and Kirsten supervised by me as a nice surprise. But as soon as they got back they wanted to play on the trampoline and it was such a lovely day that I ended up making it mostly by myself. Unfortunately, I only had one cake tin the right size so instead of waiting for one half to cool before I removed it I tried to get it out of the tin too quickly and it ended up in about 5 pieces! Even the buttercream icing didn't help it or the chocolate shavings!!

Turned the lights off so she couldn't really see it properly and took this (Jude chose the candles - we thought the more the better to cover the cake up!) It tasted ok but that's about it, sorry Al wanted it to be lovely- Ok so Delia can sleep safe knowing I will never steal her crown.

Anyway here is the birthday girl and friends.

Monday, 15th March 2010 - Photo #74

Went into town with Mum this afternoon and wanted to take a photo of the fountain in the Market Place, unfortunately, it wasn't working so had to make do with a picture of the streets around it. I took a photo of the Guildhall but it doesn't look straight, need to take my time and compose a shot better I think instead of rushing it.

I've put a tiny bit of saturation on this which has picked out the blue, but I'm afraid I couldn't make the sky look any more attractive!

See if you can spot a superhero collecting for Charity!!

Sunday, 14th March 2010 - Photo # 73

Had a busy day and haven't had much opportunity to take a photo. This morning I was messing about with my new flash and took this of Zac. I had big ideas about doing a portrait of me and my Mum and Grandma but I need to practise with the settings abit more as they weren't sharp enough so unfortunately I'll have to go with this one.

Sorry Mum and Grandma but I'll get a good one of us soon I promise!

Saturday, 13th March 2010 - Photo #72

Walked 8 miles this afternoon as the girls are having a sleepover with their cousins and Aunty Sharron. We saw the calves and I couldn't resist this little fella. Zac, however, wanted to play with them so I had to be quick before they moved too far away. Tried to get a shallow depth of field to blur the background but found that on a big animal it also started to blur his back and body so i've done some cropping.

Legs are aching now - do you think anyone would notice if I went out in my slippers instead of heels?!

Friday, 12th March 2010 - Photo #71

Thought I would play about with shutter speeds tonight as I really need to get to grips with it. This has really helped, I used my oil burner which has the same pattern cut out on both sides so that the light shines through. I didn't expect to have to put a room light on but my camera wouldn't focus in the dark even with a longer shutter speed. So with just the side lights on I played about with different speeds and found that I actually didn't need a very long speed, they just showed up the marks on it! Really must clean it!

In the end I liked this one best which has actually focused more on the pattern behind the flame. It reminds me of Morocco (or I am just getting into holiday mode?)

Thursday, 11th March 2010 - Photo #70

Took Zac for his early morning walk today and it was freezing and really frosty. The park near us was covered in white frost, thought it would make a good picture but when I looked back at them the colours of the equipment on the park looked really bright! Amazing really for the state that the park is actually in.

So I decided to colour pop just the elephant see saw and turn the rest black and white to try and show the frost. I also tried to get a foreground, middle and background but think the angles of the fence and the slabs on the park look abit too busy, oh well never mind - you can't win em all.

Wednesday, 10th March 2010 - Photo #69

"Jump for Joy"

As it was nice after school Hope was on the trampoline, I tried to use a slower shutter speed to show the motion but I found that because it was so sunny the picture burnt out. I definitely need to practise this.

In the end I used sport mode on my camera and managed to catch her jumping and the gym ball bouncing at the same time. It's Carl's gym ball but the girls playing with it on the trampoline is the nearest it ever gets to exercise!!! Don't tell him I said that.

Tuesday, 9th March 2010 - Photo #68

Walked to the vets today and took my camera just in case a photo presented itself. On the way back I found these crocuses at the side of the canal path. I put my close up filter on and have cropped quite tight as the background was really distracting. For saying I was holding Zac it's not too bad.

Monday, 8th March 2010 - Photo #67

You will have to forgive me but the next few photos may be using flash as I have a new baby in my life. My Speedlight - I love it.

I'm only a couple of pages into the instruction booklet but am already hooked.

I thought for today's post I would show the difference between using a flashgun and diffuser and the camera's pop up flash (hope you can spot the difference). The room was dimly lit with only side lights on and the tv but I think the top one has come out nice and soft. The flash was pointed upwards to bounce off the white ceiling. Amazing, something that actually does what it is supposed too.

Sunday, 7th March 2010 - Photo #66

Focus on Imaging show at the NEC - World's biggest camera?

Been looking forward to this show for ages and just had to spend some money!! Lots of ideas, freebies and camera goodies that I now want to buy, my booty includes a Colin Prior Landscapes calendar, a Photoshop cupcake and five pens! Here is Jamie trying out a massive Panasonic Lumix, he even drew a crowd (see top photo).

Now I've got to get to grips with my new speedlight (flash) and trawl through all the catalogues I picked up.