A couple of weeks ago, I took the boys outside to take some pictures for our annual Christmas card. It was definitely very trying for me because they were all over the place. I’d read in a Flickr forum that following toddlers around and catching them in a pose was a good way to get a picture of them. I decided to try that along with some posed shots to see what I could get.
I don’t know how photographers did it back in the days of film because I took around 130 pictures. Most were unusable, but there were some that I was able to keep. I thought I’d share some of those along with the final poses I used for the card. The last picture is the card that I created at ritzpix.com. I probably should review their service, but I’ll save that for another post.
This photo was taken for the Nikon D80 Challenge #92. The assignment for this challenge was as follows:
“The colour orange occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum at a wavelength of about 585–620 nm, and has a hue of 30° in HSV colour space.
This challenge couldn’t be more simple…find an item or object that is orange in colour and create something interesting enough to impress your fellow photographers.
Any new photo where the colour Orange is featured in the composition is welcome. The manner in which you create your photo and the post processing is entirely up to the individual.”
It usually takes me a week to come up with an idea for these challenges. Sometimes I just come up blank and it’s those times when I’m not thinking about it that I see something I like. On the day I took the picture, it was a nice sunny day with very little cloud cover. While the sign was warning drivers of the work ahead, I looked at it from another angle.
Romans 7:14-25 in the Bible that reads “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”.
This verse talks about the constant struggle we have when it comes to sin. I like this verse because it acknowledges the constant evil and tempations that are all around us. But it also reminds us that there is victory in Christ and that we do have the power to through Him to win the battle. One of the goals in life of a Christian is to live a life pleasing to God. It’s not easy, but it is possible. People may think you’re weird and call you names, but that’s all a part of being “set apart”.
Now, I’m sure the million dollar question is how did I get this from a picture? I don’t know, but that was my intention when taking the photo. I even created a motivational poster out of it. Enjoy.
The weather this weekend was amazing, so I decided to take the kids on an afternoon outing to the park. Earlier that week, their daycare gave them some pumpkins and we weren’t able to go to the pumpkin patch this year, so I figured why not bring them along. My boys are my practice models and I hoped to get some shots in while they were playing.
Here’s what I learned:
Don’t go to a crowded park if you want them to focus on you. The playground was packed and my youngest was all over the place.
Make sure you have plenty of daylight and a fast shutter to prevent blur. I couldn’t set my shutter speed too high as the sun went down, which caused some of the pics to come out dark.
Make sure the camera focuses accurately on the subject. Moving targets can be hard to get in focus.
Take plenty of pictures. With digital you can always delete the ones you don’t like.
BTW: For those wondering, I know pumpkins is spelled wrong in the title. That’s how the boys say it.
If you enjoy music and photography, here is a chance to combine both of those subjects into one fun challenge.
Once again it’s time to put your creative talents to the test. In this challenge you must create a photo that is based on a Band Name.
Any new photo where a Band Name is clearly identifiable in the finished product is welcome. The manner in which you create your photo and the post processing is entirely up to the individual.
NOTE: The Band Name must be internationally known or at the very least extremely popular in its country of origin. Provide a link under your submission to information on the band if you’re not sure.
This was an interesting challenge and there were a lot of great submissions. But I did want to represent the greatest band to walk the face of the planet. Yes, I’m talking about the one and only Earth, Wind & Fire. I got the opportunity to meet them in Houston a couple of years ago and I’m still pretty giddy about it.
I’m not sure if I got my message across because it’s hard to show “wind”, but I gave it a shot anyway.
One photography trick that will help your subject stand out is selective focus. With this technique, we can choose one part of the image to be sharp and in focus, while the rest of the image is kept out of focus.
Using a larger aperture, say 2.8 or 5.0, can leave the background out of focus while keeping the main subject sharp and force the eye to it. Of course the distance between the subject and the background will impact what aperture you use.
For this contest show me selective focus by blurring out the background to draw more attention to the main subject.
While Macro lenses may give some people an unfair advantage in this challenge, I encourage everyone to give it a try even if they don’t own a macro lens….like me.
Any new photo where Selective Focus is achieved is welcome. The subject and the post processing is entirely up to the individual.
It was a last minute idea for me to take this shot. I’d been busy that week and didn’t want to miss another challenge, so I took a picture of the item I use the most. I used my 20mm Kenko Extension Tube and 18-55mm lens.
