Editing

So I have obviously been neglecting this blog (and the other one..I really need to get my sh!t together). I barely have time to edit photos, so forget actually getting a chance to blog about it. I seriously don't know how my friends balance their lives and blogging. My guess is that they are much more dedicated to blogging than I am. Tonight is the first night since August 1 that I did not bring work home-so I decided to get caught up on some editing. I have not uploaded any new photos to my computer since May. All my photos from the summer are still on the camera. At this point we can expect to see 2013 summer photos sometime in late 2014. Tonight, I couldn't get my Photoshop Elements to open-I suspect it's my crappy computer-not Adobe's issue. Luckily Picasa opened, which is a little bit more Amateur friendly. Tonight I am uploading photos that may already be on the blog, but these are "edited." My editing mostly consists of cropping, and fiddling with the shadows and highlighting. 

Working Aperture Mode

So anyone that owns a camera knows that there are tons of "modes" to shoot from. Once I started taking my class I decided to step away from the "preset" modes and shoot in either M, A, S, or P. For the most part I have been shooting in manual, but for these shots I switched to aperture mode.

We were at my Aunt's house after my cousins bridal shower (26 more days) and they have a giant row of beautiful lilac trees (or are they bushes?) lining the back of their yard. So I got all geeked out and stood back there and just started taking shots in aperture mode. Again I looked liked the crazy lady, but at least it smelled nice back there among the flowers.  Again these are the unedited versions. I also wish these were scratch and sniff, because they smelled wonderful!

Overall I found it great to work in aperture because my other settings could stay the same, and I was able to get consistent results and change my aperture with ease. 

The Zoo: April 2013

Holy cow I am behind. I have been taking photos-like 400 new ones since my last post. The downside-400 photos to go through and "edit". I am still not sure how to edit purposefully, and it is a lot of trial and error that slows down the process. That may be the next class I take.  


In April I went to the zoo with 3/5 of the Julius family, and I took roughly 300 pictures. I'm sure I looked ridiculous. :) I messed around with shutter speed a couple of times so I have stop motion movie of the polar bear, brown bear, and some deer like animals running around in the Plains. I have been focusing on aperture, and I am having a lot of fun problem solving.  Here are some unedited from the zoo. 

These are messing around aperture:

 These photos were taken in the Oceans building, no flash-it is exciting that I am learning how to make it work.

I am hoping to go back in June to get some of the butterflies, and the gardens. I am finally a member of the Indianapolis Zoo, and I plan on getting my money's worth this summer. 

Quick Note

We are moving in a few days! Less than two!! Not much photography happening because of the move, but I did order some prints for the new place. I used shutterfly because I don't know who else to use. Suggestions on a better printer that has reasonable prices? Here are three of prints I ordered.

Then these:

And a butterfly one, but I can't remember where I saved it. I can't wait for these to arrive so I can hang them up in the new place. 

Hopefully I will hit the zoo next week with my friend Allison, and her adorbs baby Parker Lee, and I will have some great material to practice this. 

Practice

Here are some shots that I have taken and edited using Photoshop Elements.


The first one is Loki. I love the expression on his face. I hope to be able to get rid of the TV in the background.

In this one, I am pretty proud that I managed to get rid of my foot in corner-I used the cloning tool. I also really like that I achieved the depth of field I was going for (I'm pretty proud that I know what depth of field is, and that I made it happen intentionally). 

 This one is another experiment in using aperture. I cropped this photo and I made it black and white. It was already overcast from the incoming rain/snow.

This picture I was practicing with shutter speed. I was geeked out that I had my Kitchen-Aid Mixer on top speed, and I was still able to get a stop-motion clear photo. I didn't edit this one, but I would have liked to get rid of the shadow. I need more practice in Photoshop Elements. 

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog! This year for Christmas "Santa" gave me a DSLR camera. I have been so excited to learn how to use it. Seriously it is very overwhelming when you look at the camera to try and figure out what all the buttons mean and do. So, I started taking class in January at the Indianapolis Art Center. 

Since I have started the class I no longer use the pre-made settings on the camera, and I have been shooting exclusively in manual. It has been an adventure. 

I will up load photographs soon. :)