29th January 2006

SHOCK HORROR

I am not posting a picture for today..... I have come to notice a deafening silence on this blog. I don't think that anyone is reading it.... and it takes time and effort every day to choose pictures, edit them, post them.

So if you are reading this, and would like more, please comment. Even just an anonymous Yes will do. Otherwise, I think I'll have to cut it down. I was so proud of my 3 weeks in a row, but I feel like I'm talking to the air at the moment...

Is anyone out there?

28th January 2006

Canon 350D, 28-105mm lens, 75mm, Iso 400, 1/100, f4.5

Here's something a bit different.... I thought I'd do the dreaded square crop for a bit of variety. It worked better for this shot than any other. I just fell in love with this amazing soft colour, took quite a few shots of it... this was the best. Not that it's fantastic. But it's a gorgeous flower.

27th January 2006

Original photo shot Canon 350D, 50mm lens, Iso 400, 1/500 sec f6.3.

Ok, so this photo has been edited to death, but I kinda like it in a funky way... just goes to show what you CAN do... with a photograph. These flowers are peeking their faces over our back fence... our neighbours must have planted them. However they were originally shot against the sun, so I thought they were no more than silhouettes.... I selected around them, then pushed the curves of the image way way up and there it was.. all the glorious colour and detail. The sky was so washed out it was almost white, so I've given it a bit of blue... summer evening blue.

I like the result, but I'd love to hear your opinions!!

26th January 2006

Canon 350D, 50mm, Iso 1600, 1/250sec, f4.5

Ok, so this is not a technically brilliant shot. I don't think I even cropped it all that well.... but it's so cool. And hey, it's my blog, I'll post if I want to!! and I love this picture!

25th January 2006

Canon 350D, 50mm lens, ISO 400, 1/400, f5

It's really hard to take a good photo of something white... the camera has trouble focusing on it, and it always comes out washy... some levelling done and a teeny tiny sharpen. I love my white agapanthus!

24th January 2006

Canon 350D 50mm lens, Iso 400, 1/400 second, f5

He's a cheeky boy!! I took this in my homemade carport studio today. Good mottled backdrop, and a lot of very light coloured pavers off to the side giving good reflected light! I"m not a user of the funny angled shot normally, I just thought I'd try something different.

23rd January 2006

Canon 350D, 28-105mm lens at 73mm. Iso 100, 1/160 sec, f4.

This is quite an old photo, in celebration of a small achievement. We just got printed out A3 size this photo and another one slightly different composition, and I framed them myself (with some help from my Dad!) and we hung them up tonight. Black mats and frames, on a green wall. Just spectacular. So woohoo for me!

22nd January 2006

Canon 350D, 50mm lens, 1/80sec f7.1 Iso 800.

Ok, so this may not look like much of a photo, but it's a major milestone in my photography history as my dog hates cameras more than she hates vets. She is ultra paranoid about the camera, and I got quite a few shots of her on Friday - she didn't exactly LIKE it, but she couldn't run away either ;)... she's a gorgeous girl.

21st January 2006

Canon 350D, 50mm lens, ISO 800, 1/80 sec, f6.3. No artificial light/flash.

We had a longish power failure this evening, so I had lots of candles around. Had a bit of fun shooting them, this is my favourite shot. Love how the apple in the bowl really glows.

20th January 2006

Canon 350D, 50mm, 1/1000 sec, f9, Iso 800. Shot in burst mode.

So, this is actually yesterday's photo too, but was so cool I had to include it. When we went to get my flowers from the shop we got stuck on the road in the middle of the "Tour Down Under" which is a few days cycling event in and around the countryside of Adelaide. Different stages take riders through different parts of the area, and they went thru our town. This was actually shot from the side of the road as they went past. For some obscure reason, I had my camera in the car with me, and I saw this big pack of riders going past, so I put down the window, put my finger on the shutter and hoped.... Canon's burst mode is amazing, I got SOOO many shots so quickly. Most were slightly out of focus, but some were good. I like this one - it's got action.

19th January 2006

Canon 350D, 50mm lens, ISO 800, f4, 1/200 sec.

My dear friend sent me some gorgeous flowers today, so, of course I had to have a photo shoot with them. The most glorious colours, just so 'HOT' and summery.

18th January 2006

Canon 350D, 50mm lens. Iso 400, 1/160sec f3.2

I'm a sucker for roses, but I seem to have blown out some of the petal edges... will need to work on my post-processing some more.

17th January 2006

Canon 350D, 50mm lens. Iso 400, 1/320 shutter speed, f5.

Some colour levelling done and photo re-cropped.

16th January 2006

Canon 350D, 50mm f1.8 lens. Iso 400, 1/20 sec at f1.8. Room lighting only (halogen and tungsten)

Please click on him for a bigger picture, he looks much better in the bigger format. Honest.

This beautiful fellow keeps me company in my kitchen. My sister-in-law (my dh's brothers wife) gave him to me for a present and I love his colours. Nothing like a challenging subject to photograph. Of course, if I wasn't so tired, it would have occured to me to alter the Iso to get a faster shutter speed, but as it was, I didn't really have any trouble with focus. But I'm learning. It's hard to remember to check it every time.

I think it's time I played with my 50mm for a while, so we'll see what else I can shoot tomorrow.

15th January 2006

Canon 350D, 28-105mm lens at 105mm. ISO 400, f4.5, 1/60 shutter speed.

Ok, so if I want to take more pictures like this, I'm going to have to a) get a macro lens, or b) stop being lazy and set up a tripod. I just couldn't get it close enough and sharp enough. Not to mention that the 'backdrop' was too reflective for this job.

But hey, we learn from these shots just as much as from the ones that work. And they are VERY shiny $1 coins. Brand spanking new. And that's cool too!

14th January 2006

Canon 350D, 28-105mm lens at 90mm. f5, 1/125 shutter speed, Iso 400.

We got a little bit of rain this afternoon and I wanted to catch this lovely feathery grass with the tiny rain sparkles.... I had to sharpen the image a bit, which really brought out the colours too.

13th January 2006

Canon 350D, 28-105mm lens, at 105mm, f4.5, Iso 200, 1/15 shutter speed, natural indoor light. Some levelling, tiny sharpen and cropping in Ps7.

Hehehe Mamma's got a new toy! And Daddy got one too, so I dug out the jewellery making kit and make a little beaded tag for the top of mine - so we can tell them apart in a hurry! It's a seriously basic phone, no camera or anything. But c'mon, with a camera like mine, who needs one in a PHONE? *evil chuckle*

12th January 2006

Canon 350D, 28-105mm lens at 70mm. f6.3, 1/160 sec, Iso 800.

Ok, this is another *not today* photo..... I've had a rather exhausting day with other responsibilities, and probably would drop my camera at the moment. This sunset was taken on the 27th of December 2005. The whole neighbourhood lit up this eerie orange colour, and when I went out to look, it was pretty impressive! I went back in for the tripod as the light failed and experimented a bit, but this photo is probably one of my favourites... I'm a sucker for sunset photos. Always have, always will be!

11th January 2006

Canon 350D, 28-105mm lens at 48mm, Iso 800, f11, 1/400th second.

Some of my visitors may have seen this one before, but it's a classic, and you can't beat a classic.

It's also not TODAY'S photo, but I just can't get out to take one today... have been busy cleaning out BIIIGGG cupboards and boxes that haven't been opened since we moved in not quite 4 years ago....

I could probably have changed these settings, but had only taken 500 shots at this point, and had never tried to shoot mist before. Still love this picture.

10th January 2006

Canon 350D, 28-105mm lens, 1/60 sec shutter speed, External flash, ISO 400, f4, 70mm lens focal length. Very small amount of level adjustment to correct colour.

Just to prove that I do still wear PINK!!

9th January 2006

Ok, so some fun post processing going on here.... and I'd love to know what the neighbours thought of me laying on my new lawn and taking a close up of the grass.

Original camera settings.... Canon 350D 28-105mm lens at 88mm. F13, 1/60sec, ISO 800, AV mode.

Processing in Photoshop included levels and curve adjustment, duplicating the layer and changing it to an overlay....

I like the result. I know it's not *real* but it's a version of reality. Funky!!

What do you think?

8th January 2006

I love these little irises, complete with their own "runways" that grow in my garden.

Canon 350D 28-105mm lens at 105mm. F13, 1/200 sec shutter speed. Iso 800.

Greetings and welcome!!

My first blog has kinda been taken over with Scrapbooking, so I decided to make a new blog to challenge my photography skills.

My aim is for a picture a day posted (but not necessarily shot lol).

Here goes nothing!!

Shot today on my Canon 350D with 28-105 f3.5-4.5 lens at 38mm. Shutter priority, 6 seconds, Iso 200, f5.

All of my pictures may or may not have had some Post Processing including levels, curve adjustment or simply cropping. I use Photoshop 7 for my image processing.