PSF - Last Trip

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

I always try to capture the kids in their element and don't have an easy time. I think that showing them together is the hardest challenge of all but worth the time cause I like seeing them at their present heights. Anyway, not much of a story to this photo except that they listened to me when I told them I wanted them to walk together holding hands. I just love the closeness they show here.



This was our last camping trip of the season as its turning cold. Now I will focus my time on figuring out how to perfect my external flash. :)

Theme Thursday - Create

Since I am on travel this week I didn't have too much time to create anything fun, but I do have some shots of my pumpkins for today's theme.







That last one makes me hungry. So not terribly creative but I wanted to have some fun with something other than my grumpy kids.

PSF - Haircut

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Well we broke down and decided to get the peanut her hair cut. I can't believe how much hair this child has. We took her to the local chain and was hoping she would be good. My other two cried like banshies when their hair was cut so I assumed the worst. I couldn't believe that she sat in that chair with her apron on the whole time and didn't move. We were stunned, no crying, no fidgeting, nothing. Amazing. It also helped that big sis was standing in front of her making her laugh.

So here's before:



During:



After:



Isn't she the cutest? Well, of course I think that. :)

Theme Thursday - Story

I had to dig thru the archives for this week's theme. Its been a crazy busy week and I haven't picked up my camera since the weekend. :( However, here are a few various shots that I think tell a story. What do you think?



I wonder what she is thinking here.



Practice makes perfect.



And of course one of the horses. I often wonder what goes thru their minds as they watch my house/kids/us and all our antics. If they could only talk.....

What stories do you have to share today?

PSF - Tires of Gold

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Two years ago we bought the dreaded mini-van. Neither of us wanted one but with the third child on the way it seemed the logical choice. We researched, created spreadsheets, test drove all of the vans out there and finally settled on one. The biggest flaw with this mini-van was the tires. We hated the tires. They ride terrible and they are crazy crazy expensive. Well the time had come to replace them after only just over 40K miles. Oh, did I mention that these tires wear terribly too? After much thought, more spreadsheets and more test drives we decided to keep this van and replace the tires to get about one more year out of it. Wow, was that painful. I am still not sure that was the right decision but its done now. Maybe next year there will be another vehicle that we will love more and can haul around our large family. Hmmm....maybe not.

Theme Thursday - Fall

My favorite theme yet! Here are way too many shots of fall around my house:


At the pumpkin patch


No Climbing!


Holly is starting to show berries




Purple Ash Tree


Maple


And the girlie with the fall background.

Ok, that's enough but I could go on all day long. This is the best time of year for photos!

WW - Trick or Treaters (the early edition)

Been Tagged by Kimberly

So I was tagged by Kimberly to participate in some randomness. I am supposed to write 7 random things about myself. So here goes:

1. I drink more than 2 cups of coffee in a day and like it in the afternoon and evening too (decaf)
   
2. I love musicals and my all time favorite is Rent. I am listening to the soundtrack now and I have the movie, plus I have seen it on Broadway and on tour
   
3. Fall is my favorite time of year, pumpkins, apples, leaves, coolness and Halloween
4. I am wanting to take a real photography class once I can fit it into my schedule but I have no idea where to go for one
5. I wear the same pair of earrings everyday. I don't buy jewelry often and don't shop for fashion jewels either.
6. I really don't like Disney but since my kids do I force myself to take them there and buy them the propaganda products.
7. I have a bad habit of biting my cuticles. I have a pair of nippers in my desk at work to cut them off.

Well, that's a bit about me today. I don't think I will pass this onto 7 people as I am supposed to but if you read this and want to participate please feel free.

PSF - Childhood

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

When was the last time you had a ball with a plastic lawn mower and a ball popper.



What timing to catch them both doing the same thing at the same time in the same shot. Its funny someone thought I cut them and Photoshopped them into the same frame, but it was really a total fluke. Maybe not the best shot since I should have gotten better focus, but it so captures the essence of being a child.

Theme Thursday - Sun

I set out to do these shots yesterday afternoon in the beautiful afternoon sun however, there was no sun to be found with the cloudy rain we were getting. So instead I did them this morning in the morning light.

Attempt #1 - I wanted to capture the Crab Apple Tree with the sun shining past the top:



Attempt #2 - I wanted to get on closer on the apples but realized it was harder with trying to position the sun through the branches. The tree then came out a but darker:



And bonus shot. My little one playing in the afternoon sun.

WW - It Begins

PSF - Cause I always wanted to

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

After some thought and inspiration from the wonderful photogs I follow, I decided I wanted to venture a try at the 'sleeping baby' pics. I know my youngest won't be a baby for too much longer so I wanted to take advantage sooner than later. After putting them to bed, I stall for time to make sure Miss V is totally asleep. Then I take my camera and a flashlight and tiptoe into her room. Setting my camera on the highest ISO possible and opening her door with the hall light on and the flashlight shining on the ceiling....it was still way dark. Darn. OK, plan B. She's asleep, right? Why not turn on her light a bit? As soon as my finger hit the button on the ceiling fan light, her little head popped up to see what I was up to. UGH, Darn. Ok, turn the light off and walk out so she goes back to sleep.

I wait 5 mintues and go back into her room. This time I set up to use my external flash set to a high brightness and a low ISO and high SS. Miss V is sleeping on her back and I set up and take my first shot **CLICK/FLASH** and just then they poor startled baby jumped higher than I have ever seen her do. Poor girl, I blinded her! I felt terrible.

She rolls over and goes back to sleep and I walk out for another 5 min break. I re-adjust my settings, lower my flash and sneak back in to try again and manage to get this shot through the bars of her crib:



But I woke her up again!



I leave again for another 10 min break. But I am not defeated! Nope not at all. I sneak back in there and proceed to shoot a bunch more. I must have looked like a loon though trying to squeeze my large un-squeezable lens in between the crib rails, leaning over her while standing on a stool, placing my camera in the bed with her and taking a shot totally without looking and taking the chance of lowering her rail to get a better angle. Keeping in mind it was very black in her room so the times where I was standing over her holding the camera at my waist height, I was completely aiming my flash directly into my eyes, which left me seeing spots for a long time! Smart, real smart. However, I did manage to get a few good ones that think captures the moment, despite me being a total idiot!











Oh and I wouldn't DARE have taken away her binkie. That would have surely been a death-wish, even though I would have love to have gotten a few with out it.

Ok so I overloaded PSF this week (makes up for my lame-o post last week).

Theme Thursday - Multiples

What a good way to show off multiples than taking multiple shots of my multiple kids. This is by far the hardest thing for me as a mom, getting them all together. Something is usually wrong with the shot, one (or more) isn't looking at me, my focus is off or they are running out of frame. Here are three attempts of getting them all in one shot from last night. Can you spot what is wrong with these??







I took a chance and thought if Mr. Z was holding Miss V. she would sit still for a shot. It worked, kinda.

So anyway, getting onto part two of the Multiples, how I process multiple photos at once. I usually shoot in Raw so I upload the shots from my camera and import them directly into Lightroom before I do anything else. From there, I look at each one and pick a few I would like to process. The one think I love about Lightroom are the presets. I have a bunch that I toy around with. Some give me the real warm glow and some add vignette. I like the ones that reduce noise and up the exposure, cause even though I try to avoid it, I am still underexposing my shots. I also crop in Lightroom (usually keep the same photo ratio) so that when I choose the preset, if there is a vignette, it will be on the cropped in shot.

For the above shots I used three different Lightroom presets. I liked the initial look of these. Then I played with the WB (I haven't ventured into custom WB yet) and exposure. Sometimes I use Lightroom to do my noise reduction but othertimes I use my plug in later. Once I am done with the Lightroom processing, I send these to PS. In PS I either run an action to make the shot brighter or in some cases hazey (cause I like that look). I also play with the levels and/or curves to get the exposure just right. I add a contrast layer and sometimes a hue/saturation layer and then flatten. From here I run a sharpen and add my watermark. I will save the file as a copy of the original just incase I want to go back and re-PP. I also know that since I still have the Raw file and Lightroom does not change that, I can start from the beginning and do it all over again if I want to.

So that's my workflow for multiple shots. I am getting more pleased with my PP but its still a work in progress. Some days I think they all look great. Some days, like last night, I am not all that happy with the results. I am sure I will get in more of a groove and like my processing more and more each time I do it.

WW - Happy Jewish New Year!