31 Days to a better photo.......

Ok so I haven't been too good at blogging but I am getting through some of my camera's manual and I have been practicing.

This is a draft post I did a good while ago:


First up - read your Manual.  Reading a camera manual is like watching paint dry, but it has to be done.  I haven't sat down and read my camera manual in one sitting, from back to front but I have used my manual to look up various functions on the camera.  I have it in the camera bag at all times and when I'm not sure about something I take it out.  I also purchased one of the "Magic Lantern Guides" for the Canon 40d which is packed with diagrams, instructions and tips.

I recently purchased "The Complete Canon SLR Handbook" which has 18 lessons covering things like, how to change your lens, master depth of field, shutter speeds.  It is very straight forward, loads of examples and not too much technical jargon.

So I'm off to read the Manual.......

Photography......

Clonmacnoise



I love photographs.  I love reading photography books, browsing photography blogs, websites, pinterest.  I've lost count of how many photography tutorials I have read, how many ebooks I've downloaded hoping to learn more about photography or how to take a 'nice' picture.

I bought my first DSLR, a Canon 40d, 4 years ago and I've still so much to learn.  I find what I really need to do now is to go out and practice, practice, practice.  Every new year I decide, yes this is the year I'm going to finally get a handle in shooting pictures in Manual Mode.

So with this in mind I am going to start following 31 Days to a Better Photo from my3boybarians.  I love how Darcy says "Photography is NOT a spectator Sport.  As useful as sitting on your couch watching workout videos, this series is not meant to be read through from the comfort of your computer chair. Pause. Do the exercises.  Evaluate your progress.  Mess up.  Get dirty."  -  Well that says it all, I've been doing the "Spectator Sport" but now I have to "Do the exercises. Evaluate my progress.  Mess up. Get dirty."  It is the only way that I am going learn anything.

A Nice Surprise......

Today I got a nice surprise at work.  A young girl came into the office with some chocolates and a 'Thank You' card.  It's the little things that count.  I love my job but when somebody really appreciates what you do for them it makes it all the better.

What made your day today?




I took this photo with my iphone and used Camera+ to process the picture - need a bit more practice!



Sharing the Love......

Happy Valentine's Day



'The Joy of Love' - a photography challenge from last year at  http://willettedesigns.com/?page_id=2780.

Taking Photos in Low Light

Snapsort's Low Light Photography Infographic

Here's a link for this brillant website and more information on taking pictures in Low Light -  Snapsort
I found this so useful and hope to use these ideas over the next few days to practice taking photos in Low Light. 

This is one of the things I want to concentrate on this year - learning how to take photos in manual.

A. Christmas Card

I can't believe it is so near Christmas. Imagine I only started to make so Christmas cards last night. For this card I cut out a template of mittens. I used some paper from last years stash or was it the year before! I glued the first mitten on and use pop dots on the second mitten. I then used bakers twine, tied it in a bow and then stuck on a pearl to make it look as if the mittens were hanging up.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Long Time

It has been quite a while now since I last posted on this blog. Life just gets in the way sometimes!


Loving the Instagram App at the moment. Can you figure out what this photo is of?



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A Recent Card

I have never blogged from an iPhone so just trying this out. Anyway this is a recent wedding card I made.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Explore

This prompt for Explore was all about Maps .... finding them, being inspired by them and creating with them.  So for this prompt I printed off a circular map, covered it in cardstock, stuck some photos of the family on the back of it ( and yes 'Bruce' is family) and embellishments. 

On the next page I printed off a few quotes and scrapbooked a photo of my son winning a football final.  That was his journey with his team, who had their ups and downs, fought hard and eventually they got to their destination!