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Ever since I saw a photo of cloning, I had been wanting to try it. After deciding on a historic park as the backdrop, Phriend and I gathered up our cameras, tripods and remotes. We spent some time playing around with different settings and different poses. We took 100s of photos, allowing for more options when “cloning”. We had a blast and plan on doing this again with several themes in mind.

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If, at anytime this last month, you have stopped by my little cyber place, you have most likely read my rantings about the cold freezing cold, snowy weather we have been having here. In fact, we have had 7 major snow storms in the last 28 days and we are expecting another storm tonight, lasting into tomorrow. For all my whining and complaining, there is an upside.
All this snow has made my place of work, very slow. As a result, we are often asked to cut hours. I am generally the first to jump up and down while yelling pick me, pick me! When I am the chosen one, I can be seen skipping out from my work area and out the front door. I am a blur of joy!
Such was the scene yesterday. It turned out to be a fabulous day. I was able to get home in time to help my husband dig out friends of ours, we went to lunch and headed out to the fields to give the puppies a much needed run. We all had a blast. Then came the text from my phriend (her new name as she is my great photo friend). Her evening class had been cancelled! We quickly packed our camera gear and drove to a winery, which, by the way, is having a monthly photo contest. How wonderful!
Does it get better than this? An unexpected day off, time spent with my husband and puppies, and an evening filled with photo fun with a phriend.
I Learned ~ to stop complaining about all this darn snow and embraces the benefits it brings.

Murphy waiting for us.

The crazy girls.

view others at Camera Critters

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SkyWatch Friday

I Learned

Yesterday we received our third snow storm since Christmas. While this storm was considered a mere dusting at 6”, it was a enough to create a marvelous winter wonderland. The soft powder lay still on all of the out stretched tree branches. Although temperatures were frigid, my friend and I could not pass up the opportunity to capture some photographs.
When the sun finally made it’s presents, I played around with creating starbursts. While this photo is over exposed for my liking, I am pleased with the starburst.

ISO 200, f/25, 1/400

ISO 200, f/14, 1/800

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Last evening, a photo friend and I were practicing night photography. To be more exact, we were trying to create a starburst effect from the light which sits a top our local lighthouse. We had been successfully practicing this effect with Christmas lights and the sun; and after seeing several photographs, of different lighthouses, with fabulous starburst, we knew we needed to have a photo like that of our neighboring guiding light. Off we went on a 19° F night, we set our tripods, adjusted our setting, crossed our fingers and with a remote opened the shutter.

While I am happy with the images we obtained, we were not able to capture the effect we set off after. Perhaps we were too close to the light? Do you need to be further away? Does the light need to be stationary? Ours revolves. I believe I had the correct settings as I did get a burst from the lower illumining tower light. Any suggestions??

I learned, I am getting better at night photography but just when I think I have this down ~ I really don’t!

Please critique, any and all comments are always welcome.

ISO 1600, f/5.6, .77 sec


ISO 800, f/22, 30 sec

view others @ Sky Watch Friday.

Click it Up ~

36 hours after it had begun, the snow ceased falling. The bone chillin' wind did not follow suit. It continued howling for 2 days, seemingly finding pleasure in it’s great strength against both man and beast. Unfortunately, the world did not come to a stop and we needed to get busy digging out. A path for the pups was our first priority, second to finding our car under a mountain of snow. With drifts standing over 5’ tall, it was difficult to see anything other than a frozen wall of white powder.

Three days later the local airports are still back logged, and to my joy, extending my son’s Christmas vacation and visit. The abandoned cars have finally been removed from the roadways, and the streets are now plowed. It was a Christmas Blizzard to be remember for many years to come.

I learned ~ I would rather be the person, with camera in hand, responsible for documenting a pictorial history of this day, than to be the one outside with a shovel in my hands!

Please critique, any and all comments are always welcome.

Click it Up ~

I learned ~ I was able to talk a friend into going to the beach with me today. With temperatures in the single digits and a photo shot in mind, I learned it is sometimes just necessary to shot in auto mode.

I posted two photos this week, first the photo I had in mind. However, just by looking at it one can not tell how bitterly cold it was standing in the sand. The second photo proof it was a necessity to shot in auto.

Please critique, any and all comments are always welcome.

Click it Up ~

For this weeks "I learned", at Click it Up ~ it is best to run the puppies for (oh) about an hour before a puppy photo shoot. Then with much patience and lots of luck, one can capture a good photograph. Please critique, any and all comments are always welcome.

23 days, the count down ~

Better not cry, better not pout. Santa Claus is coming to town.

For "click it up" ~ I learned to layer photos.

For SkyWatch ~ When what to my wondering eyes should appear.

*I have used this photo previously, however I thought it looked like the perfect backdrop for Santa.

Friday PhotoShare ~

SkyWatch one photo down...


During this pass week, B and I continued to explore our local lighthouses. I spent most of our time clicking and snapping away from every angle while B read all about the history of the guiding lights. I practiced more with night photography resulting in some interesting photographs. However, I will share a photo I took and textured. Kim's class was fabulous, not only did she share her "secrets" of texturing, she taught many tips and tricks to use while working with photoshop.

Please critique, any and all comments are always welcome.

Friday PhotoShare ~

I am trying to learn to embrace the Autumn season.

Friday PhotoShare ~

Thanks to Courtney’s encouragement I decided to jump out from behind the camera. As a rule I prefer to be behind the lens, resulting in my absence in many of our family photos. The photographs I have of “B” and I were all taken by someone,(she says, trying not to sound like an elitist) less skilled. In general, they are often missing tops of our heads, sides of our faces, or one of us is blinking. As most folks aren’t interested in taking 100s of photos to obtain one which could be considered passable, we have learned to settle.

Having almost mastered my tripod I felt finally the time had come and this past week took the leap. To help “ease the pain” B and I went over to one of our local historic parks. I can honestly report we had a blast. A side from the self timer, my camera can be set to take up to 9 consecutive shots. I took over 200 photos, many resulting in me running into the photo and B laughing as he is yelling “run Forest run”. I was able to get several which we both liked. B, the amazing man that he is, suggested the next day we go to our favorite beach area. We were having such a great time, in fact, several people stopped to laugh along with us. ~

Please critique, any and all comments are always welcome.

Friday PhotoShare ~

My neighbor created an elaborate Halloween display, one of which scares all children young and old. I am not one who enjoys being frightened and prefers Halloween trick or treaters to be dressed as their favorite Disney character.

As of a late, I have been playing with some night photography and decided to take advantage of this neighbor's display. Somehow his yard of terror didn’t seem to be so frightful when I was armed with my camera.

Photo was taken @ ISO LO1, f/5.6, 1 sec. Please critique, any and all comments are always welcome.

Friday PhotoShare ~

My husband and I took an evening trip to our closest lighthouse the other evening. I started to photograph with the recommended ISO 200, f/11, 30 sec. I understand this was a good setting to capture the star created by the flashing light. This produced a very dark image and foolishly I bumped the f stop to f/22. Wrong! What I got was black photo with one tiny white speck. Than it dawned on me to turn the f-stop down, I turned it to f/5.6 and to my surprise there was an actual image on the screen!! I was so excited, it was a "light bulb" moment.

The most difficult thing for me was focusing, (my lens doesn't have an infinity setting). It was so dark and I could barely see the lighthouse through the eyepiece and far to dark for auto focus. Dang!

My lowest ISO is 200 and it than goes to LO 0.3, LO 0.7, LO 1, what the heck does that mean?? Guess, it means, more reading is needed. I did use a tripod and I did use the self timer. I am pleased with the outcome but there is room for improvement.

I have been looking at this light for well over 35 years, and that night I realized the light does not flash, it is a revolving light, which means I would not get the star effect I was hoping for. No worries, we have 12 land lighthouses, 10 water based lighthouses and 2 lightships in my local area. I am certain one must have a flashing light.

Heading out this evening to try my luck with night shots of my local marina. After receiving a package from Japan today I am certain I have room on the 4GB to practice. Thank you very much to our hostess ~ Courtney.

Please critique, any and all comments are always welcome.

Friday Photo Share ~

(* SkyWatch one post down)

Lately, I have fallen in the habit of taking photos of the same objects. Strolling the boardwalk, I find my camera being drawn to the roller coaster jetting into the Atlantic Ocean; in the fields bordering my home, it’s the old aged barn. While this makes for a wonderful pictoral diary of my everyday life, it also has brought routine.

My recent quest to produce better photographs has inspired the search for new subjects. This fresh perspective has proven to be both whimsical and enthralling. Generally, once a week (camera in hand and husband in tow) I head off to unexplored places. This has yeilded several serendipitous occasions; a pool of starfish, the migration of the monarch butterfly, the discovery of a Lighthouse which I did not know was nearby and another I have never visited. We became witness to the wet harvest of cranberries in the nearby bogs and all sorts of creatures in the bushes and on the logs.

A relentless persuit of photographic creativity has also sparked an interest in night photography, and over the past week, a mix of success and failure. One dark night recently, we drove to our local Lighthouse, "Old Barney." While I have many photos of this landmark, my collection lacks an evening shot. My mind's eye could see a dimly lit structure, its rays of light streaming in long bars sharply peircing a jet black backdrop with a whisp of cloud reflecting the moon's mellow glow nearby. It was to be a glorious photo, one to be framed and treasured, reviewed and revered. However, it was not to be so. What no one told me is that its a blind darkness; you can’t even see to focus, let alone the intended image. A glance through the eyepiece revealed a pitch-black backdrop dotted with a small white speck.

My Ansel Adams moment will have to wait; perhaps, it is best to first try shooting at dusk.

favorite from the week ~

oh, good Lord ~

ISO 500, f 5.6, 1/2 sec

Friday Photo Share ~

This week’s “lesson” ~ be mindful of where you are cropping. In most instances it is wise not to chop off limbs. Courtney’s examples were proof of this point.

While I was trying to capture the ♥ which was being created by the curved necks of these flamingos, I applied the rule of thirds. Upon uploading and critiquing my own photo (which I do all the time), I wasn’t thrilled with the look of the photo. I thought the photo lacked my “subject” and after reading the lesson about “cropping”, I noticed I had indeed cut off the flamingos lower leg at the point of his/her knee caps. Yuck!

I decided to crop the photo down to create the photo I had in my mind‘s eye. I am much happier with the results.

And a big thank you to Courtney for a new 4GB card, now I can practice, practice, practice.

An Autumn ~ photo share

Metering ~ I am a shoot 100s of photos and hope for the best kind of photographer. After finding Courtney’s blog I decided to take control over my photography and to learn more about improving my photos through use of manual mode and settings. This being said, I never realized I could or would need to meter anything. This week’s “lesson” inspired me to do some reading on this subject, grab my Nikon and head out to the field to photograph the Fall harvest. I was feeling empowered to capture something wonderful. There was clearly a difference in the sample photos posted by Courtney, however when I changed the settings, I did not notice any difference. Perhaps it was the subject matter I was shooting, or the rainy overcast weather, or maybe pumpkins and apples just always look good and don’t need to be metered. None the less, I am happy with the photos I captured, but I am happier I arrived at the farm in time to enjoy one of the freshly made apple cider donuts.

Photo Share ~

(SkyWatch ~ one photo down)

This week I had the opportunity to head out, with camera in hand. I spent time playing with my aperture settings. I took distance shots with the background in focus and the foreground blurred, then changed my aperture and captured the same photo with a different aperture, completely changing the look of the photo. Due to my quest to capture some amazing photos, I had the chance to see a pool of starfish. A first for me. I took a chance on trying to capture some "out of reach" photos. I took a daytrip to visit a “never been to place”. My timing was perfect. Unknowingly, I chose the day of the arrival of the migrating butterflies. Never have I seen such a magical site as I did on this day. As I stood on the trail, in the marshland, 1000s of beautiful butterflies surrounded me. I learned several, life and photographic lessons this week.

I am going to miss Summer ~