Grateful for Newborn babies

I love newborn babies.. they are just so fresh from Heaven and so adoring and oh the newborn baby smell is wonderful. I have many things to be grateful for at this time of the year so this was a nice topic. I am thankful for my girlfriend who let me come over and to take pictures of her little guy.

Happy Halloween

BOO! This is my scary picture..sorry for submitting two photos.. My sister painted this pumpkin for me for our Ward Halloween party.

Since my kids are all grown up and my grandaughters are in Hawaii , I have to resort to taking pictures of other peoples babies... this is her first Halloween and she looked so cute I could not resist... she is a baby fairy. Taken at our Ward Halloween Party.

Childs Play

My daughter got married this weekend in Hawaii so my husband and I were fortunate to go over for the wedding, this little girl is one of my favorite little people ( and her sister) , she is my grandaughter and I love love love taking her picture. So I missed the smile challenge but she does have a sweet smile too. ( playing in the sand on the beach in Maui)

A little guys first kiss

This is my daughter Whitney and the little boy she Nannies for, she has been with this family since she was in the 9th grade and has planted several kisses on his cheeks! I just love the look on his face!

Great Grandma Caroline

This is my great grandmother Caroline Gregory when she was about 20 years old... I scanned the picture to my computer and then did some restoring in photoshop, the picture was basically in good shape, but I took away some spots, burned the edges and added a frame. All in all I think it turned out very well.

Popcorn Lover

Tonight my daughter Whitney was eating some popcorn out of the bag and here comes our dog Zeppelin getting right up behind her, at first he was hugging her with his paws around her shoulder which was so cute, but the picture did not show the popcorn. So I kept shooting and got this adorable shot. He is just looking at the popcon hoping she will give him some, which of course she did because she spoils him!

OOOOOKLAHOMA...

Where the wind comes Sweeping down the plains...

This old farm windmill reminds me of my favorite Broadway plays "Oklahoma". I have seen it several times on t.v. and on stage and I love it each time I see it.

The New Me

O.k... this is a great topic since I am a new ME! After years and years of neck, shoulder and back pain because of large "girls", I had a reduction last week and feel 100% better! ( After a horrible recovery) While in surgery my sister bought me this cute bra, something I have not been able to wear since I was a teenager! Sorry if this if offensive to anyone but I am so happy, my confidence has sored, my clothes fit so much better, I have no more pain. We were asked to take a picture of what is you, ( or me) or how do you feel about you, ( me) and I can tell you all that I feel great and look forward to some fun shopping and a great life.

It's BathTIME...

I had the best time tonight doing family pictures for some good friends of mine...they have an adorable grandaughter named Amora, here she is getting ready for her bath!

CAUTION....Beware of ..

 

The family dog hanging out in the bathtub! Our crazy dog loves to lay in the bathtub, we have to drag him out when we want to shower. I am asking for help on this picture, Every picture I took, the bathtub showed up soo white, and you could not tell he was in the bathtub, I tried using no flash, and higher ISO but the picture was to dark and blurry, then I tried different shutter speeds with and without flash.., I kept getting the same result, ultra white tub and no contrast. The highest ISO setting on my camera is 1600, so any suggestion on how to get a good tub picture close up? I had to do some editing so you can actually see that he is in the tub. I am open to all help here! Thanks.

Three Favorites...

The Three challenge words I chose were New, Red and Comfort.
I just had some work done on my violin , I got New Strings and New pegs so it's just like New

I went to Grangeville Idaho this weekend to do some Senior pictures for a friend and as we were coming down the mountain we saw this lovely red sunset. So breathtaking!

And last I chose this Wheat as comfort because when our children were smaller we lived in a very small farming community in Eastern Washington and my husband worked at a grain eleveator, storing and shipping wheat on barges... during harvest he worked long hours and as a result got big checks , it was a comfort to us that we knew we could go school shopping for all six of our kids! . Sorry...I posted all my words at one time. I missread the instructions!

A House of Heartbreak

 

Heartbreak is... once having a home where a family resided, that is now abandoned due to it's abuse as a meth lab. Sadly drugs are everywhere...even in my small town.

A Vision of Loveliness

 

I love this vision, a mom and her kids. Thanks to my girlfriend we were able to do a fun photoshoot down at the beach.

Basket full of Blue

These sweet little blue eyed babies are the newest addition to our family, they are 3 weeks old now. They have the cutest little faces and pretty blue eyes. They were not very cooperative tho when I was trying to take their pictures! Typical babies!

Hometown American Pride

This is my brother, we were all down at the parade today and they were passing out flags and he stuck his in his hat, thought it was to good to pass up for a mission twenty four picture.

There is NO Limit....

When it comes to Oreo Cookies and Milk! My favorite snack.

Summer Is.....

SKIMMNG.... Skimming is a boardsport in which a skimboard is used to ride on incoming waves across shallow water.

Midnight Express

It's Pretty obvious that this train does not run any more but at one time it might have been a midnight express train. It was not easy getting a night shot and then on top of that it started raining! But all turned out well and I was able to capture one good picture!

Tuesday Tutorial

Good Morning Ladies and Gents, Today's tutorial is going to be on Filters Lenses.( They fit right on your lense, and you can only use them on SLR Camears.) I am going to share with you some information about 3 different kinds of filters you can buy for your camera. The First one is the Diffuser Filter, or it can be called a Diffusion filter. This filter is used to create soften images. The keywords are enchanting, romantic and dreamy. A diffusion filter diffuses strong light without affecting the sharpness and contrast of the image. These filters are mainly used in portrait work. ( Beware, pictures below are all of family!)

Kylah and Madyson with Diffuser lense

Kylah and Maddy without diffuser

The Next filter is the Polarizing filter, It is best used in very sunny weather. It can darken blue skies turning them deep rich blue and they are also great for removing reflections in water. So if you are shooting a river scene and you want to see detail in the water or on the river bottom, a polarizer will reduce reflection. They are also good with foliage, making leaves and such less shinny.

Kylah and Maddy with Polarizing lense


Kylah and Maddy without lense

Last but not least is the Warming filter. These useful items work to remove the bluish cast that can result from cloudy, overcast lightiing or shade. Snow has an exceptional ability to pick up blue cast so this filter works great for winter. ( Sorry....my pics were only from summer). The warming filter lowers the color temperature of your subject. Warming fliters come in various strengths and even slightly different colors from different manufacturers. If you have photoshop you can find these filters under Image>Adjustments>Photo filter. Once you are there you can pick the color of your filter. So down below are some different examples of warm filters.

Here is Whitney with a Warming filter



Without any filter


Kylah with a warming filter


Kylah with a touch of the Pink filter


So These are just different ways you can enhance your pictures. I know you can order filters on line or in any camera shop. Some are very expensive and some places like WalMart sell basic filters that are not expensive at all. Just shop around and have fun and take lots of pictures!
P.S. Can you tell I am missing my grandaughters???

Naturally weathered

Saturday I had the opportunity to go to the 11 year Scout day camp, it was held out at this old homestead a few miles out of town and oh boy, what a photographers dream. There were so many things to take pictures of, while the boys were out doing scouting stuff, I was busy taking pictures. I did manage to get a few of them too! Anyway this is an old weathered window on an old barn next to the old house. I just added a tiny bit of contrast and a frame.