January 31, 2012

Pharoah's Tomb Completed!

January 30, 2012

Due to Adam's scooter being run over and Jason's bike chain breaking...both boys are riding their sister's pink one's...and looking good doing it :)

January 29, 2012

It may be January, but it was great swim weather today.  Even with a cast, we couldn't stop ourselves from enjoying it!

January 28, 2012

Jill ran errands with Daddy and brought home some treats from the asian market :)

January 27, 2012

My sister came for a super short visit to say hi to everyone (and that's my Grandma :)

January 26, 2012

Adam threw four frisbees at once

January 25, 2012

Only pic taken today was taken with my cell phone by Andrew...we went for a Frosty run at Wendy's to use our Halloween coupons before they expired.  Thank you to our cousins for the special treat :)

January 24, 2012

Spring in January...in California

January 23, 2012

Decided to take some pictures of the rain and I actually caught this drop splashing...

But unfortunately I hadn't yet adjusted the white balance...here's what I wish the background of the above picture looked like...next year I'll work on figuring out Photoshop cuz I think that could fix it.

January 22, 2012

Jason's bowling at his birthday party

and a bonus pic to follow-up from a few days ago...

It fell out while brushing her teeth!

January 20, 2012

Sisters

January 19, 2012

What I thought would be the last photo of Beth with her top baby tooth...see it hanging there?  But it's currently 24 hours later and the tooth is still hanging on!

January 18, 2012

Jill trying to catch the turtles (her words)

January 17, 2012

At the park...getting as close to the sand without actually going into the sand (for the sake of the cast)

January 16, 2012

This photo was taken in the morning at Adam's request...it then ended up being the only picture I took all day so it makes it onto the blog :)

January 15, 2012

Andrew blowing bubbles for our 2 year olds Sunday School Class.

January 14, 2012

This has possibly gotten out of control...

January 13, 2012

Jason's Birthday...how to limit to one photo?!?  My good camera battery died (talk about poor planning!) so these were all taken of the birthday boy with my point and shoot :)

January 12, 2012

We love board games around here...here's the latest (one of Jason's Christmas presents).

January 11, 2012

As much as I want to get my camera off auto and improve my photography skills...sometimes there's more value in the story, and that's really what I want to focus on...So today's photo was taken with my cell phone camera...

January 10, 2012

Beth found flowers...gotta love California winters :)

January 9, 2012

And Jill today...bummer of a night but as you can clearly see...she's a trooper :)

January 8, 2012

Jill today...

January 7, 2012

Busy packing up Christmas and napping off a headache so Jill took over picture taking for me today.  She's allowed to use my old Kodak point and shoot and loves to take pictures just about daily of things I wouldn't normally take pictures of!  I am seriously thinking I'll make an album, "From Jill's Perspective, a 3 Year Old's Story."  So I'm keeping most of her pictures because they really do tell a story.

January 6, 2012

Yea!  Adam learned how to swing completely on his own. 

This is the face of a proud little boy!

Telephoto lens...very pleased to get a clear shot with that lens and a swinging boy!

January 5, 2012

What the boys did with their free time today...there are "rooms" for each of their friends :)

 

...and I took this pic with no flash, just a high ISO :)

Day 4 of 31 Days to a Better Photo: ISO

Ok, this post began in May, 2011...I never wrote anything and just moved on to Day 5 because I didn't get ISO.  It made sense when I read it and I've seen a grainy photo taken at a high ISO to see that I don't want that but I still didn't get it...why would I ever want to touch it?  Just put it at 100, get sharp photos and move on, right?  Wrong...I finally figured it out...today...that's a good 7 months after first being introduced to the beast.  When I first read about it, I got out my camera and took a bunch of pictures at all different ISOs...and there was pretty much no difference in the pictures.  I didn't get it so I moved on.  Now, after a few months hiatus, I've been reading on in 31 Days to a Better Photo and the exposure triangle is being presented.  It seems ISO, Apeture and Shutter Speed all relate.  I knew about 2 of those relating to each other and understand that but ISO, still not getting it...until today.  I took this photo of Jill doing her writing (she loves to do this, by the way...everyday!)

I was able to get the shot with no flash, yea!  I soooo prefer natural lighting (especially since I don't have a fancy flash attachment, just the lovely pop-up flash that washes everything out!) So, I then move on to Adam.  He is further from the window so this is what I got...

Bummer...not enough light.  But then I remembered - ISO.  Would it really make a difference?  I changed it from 100 to 1600.  That is ALL I changed and this is what I got...

Wow, it works!  ISO does make a difference.  I didn't believe it.  I've tried it before but I guess I still had to figure out other stuff before I could get it.  Maybe I just didn't hold the camera still but no, I took more and had the same results.  I'm so excited because I've figured it out and because then I got more pics like this one...

Super Fun!  Looking forward to playing more and more :)

PS  If I'm understanding what I'm reading in the internet world and from what I remember from college photography...A high ISO will make for a grainier picture and should be the last resort...I have a cheap kit lens with an max aperture of 5.6...a better lens would not need the high ISO but for now, I'll use it!

January 4, 2012

All this work trying to figure out settings and white balance and ISO...but sometimes it's just getting lucky enough to catch the bubble before it pops!

January 3, 2012

La Brea Tar Pits

January 2, 2012

Made a handprint collage for Daddy on the 8th Day of Christmas...guess the color of Jill's handprints?

Day 1 2012

My attempt at Bokeh...fun to play!