Photo 52 Project - Week 8 (Autumn) & Week 9 (Favorite Disney Picture)

I guess I should be a little stricter about keeping these weeks in a row.  LOL!  I'm still just getting started with Photoshop Elements.  I haven't been using my DLSR much in the last two months, but I have plenty of pictures from previous excursions to choose from.  Right before Halloween, I went on a bus trip to Sleepy Hollow and toured the cemetery.   Our tour guide was great, and I took tons of pictures.  I would love to go back again, because there's just so much to see!  We also saw The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze, which was really cool.  If you ever have an opportunity to do either one, I highly recommend them.

I took this first picture at a park by my mom's house.  There's a nice pond to walk around, in addition to everything else.  I took my DSLR with me when we went for a walk.  I love the fall foliage and took this picture looking up into one of the trees.  I tweaked the color a bit

in Photoshop, and I think it came out pretty cool.

One day I hope to be able to take my DSLR on a Disney trip, but I didn't this time around.  My Canon PowerShot is light and easy to fit in a smallish purse, plus it has an awesome zoom on it.  When we went in 2010, I took quite a few great closeups of the Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom.

On the trip we took in November, I didn't feel like I took as many pictures, but I took over 1,200!  I couldn't believe it.  I had about 300 of my favorites printed to put in photo albums.  This picture is my favorite Cinderella Castle picture.  We had a nice spot on the Hub in front of the castle.  It wasn't the best spot for taking pictures of the fireworks, but we did get to see the Celebrate the Magic show really well.  We had a nice view of the fireworks as well, but if I was really serious about taking pictures, I would have chosen a spot further back.  Anyway, timing is

everything, and I think this one came out really nice.  The castle looks so pretty with the Dream Lights, too.   I'll try to post a few more pictures of my Disney trip when I can.  I'd like to post a few pictures of the Sleepy Hollow trip as well.

Photo 52 Project - Week 7 (Black & White)

So I've been a little lax these last few weeks.  I haven't stopped taking pictures, but for the last few weeks, they've been mostly pictures of my family.  I did take some pictures over the last few weeks that I might post soon, but probably not part of my weekly challenge.

Now that we're getting into my favorite season, I'll be taking my camera out with me even more.  I have a bus trip to Sleepy Hollow coming up at the end of October.  I'm very excited about that one.  I've always wanted to go up there but haven't gotten around to it.

Today I decided to start shooting in RAW.  My camera has the option of shooting in both RAW and JPEG at the same time, so it's like training wheels for me.  I downloaded a trial of Photoshop Elements, and I spent part of tonight playing around with a couple of pictures.  Here's one of my cat, Felix.  I adjusted the white balance and changed the file to black & white.  I have to say that I was surprised at what a big difference playing with the white balance made.  I thought the picture looked nice as it was, but when I changed it around a little, it looked much nicer.
Tomorrow night I'll play around with a few more pictures to see what else I can do.  I can't wait to see what other options the program has.  

Photo 52 Project - Week 5 (Self-Portrait) & Week 6 (Portrait)

Two weeks ago we took our two older nieces to the Long Island Children's Museum.  They've  changed a few things around, and for their rotating exhibit, they have Alice in Wonderland, which was pretty nice.  The most popular exhibit all around is the bubble exhibit, of course.  Even my husband and I like playing with that one.  ;-)

Unfortunately, there was a birthday party going on, so when we went upstairs we couldn't check out the indoor beehive.  They do have some cool mirrors up there too, so we checked those out.  I took a few pictures with one of them, and I decided it would be a cool idea for a self-portrait.  The glass was a little dirty in parts, but I couldn't help that.

Afterward my brother-in-law and youngest niece came over for dinner.  For whatever reason, my nieces to play in our front yard over the back.  So after dinner I went to the front yard with them to play.  When the baby came out, I settled down on the grass next to her and started taking pictures.  The older girls wanted to recreate some Christmas pictures they had two years ago, where they were lined up on top of each other, but the baby wanted nothing to do with that.  LOL!

The baby is fascinated with planes.  Every time she hears one, she has to point it out.  I took a cute picture of her from behind pointing at a plane.  This is the best portrait I can post here at the moment, but I plan to 

keep working on it. 

I'm not sure what subject I'm going to choose for this coming week, but I'm studying my list.  

Photo 52 Project - Week 3 (Clouds) & Week 4 (Nature)

 My long weekend was so busy that I didn't have time to post Week 3, but I did take plenty of pictures!  Most of them were of my nieces, which I won't post publicly, but I did see some amazing clouds during sunset on July 4th.  My picture didn't capture exactly how beautiful the clouds were, but I thought it came out close enough when I considered how unprepared I was.  If I had more time, I probably could have used my tripod and set a slightly longer exposure to catch the color in the clouds more accurately.

This morning I took a class for Canon camera owners.  It was a basics class, and it was to take the user away from the "Basic Zone Modes" (automatic) and use the "Creative Zone Modes" (more manual control.)
We received a really nice workbook and covered most of it.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to the last few chapters, due to time constraints.  The instructors really took their time and wanted to make sure we understood each topic before moving on, so it was understandable.  There's also an intermediate class, and I'm hoping to register for that in the Fall if they offer it.

On the way home I stopped by the Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery to test out what I'd learned.  If it seems like I take a lot of pictures there, I do.  We have a membership there, and we take my nieces there quite a bit when it's nice out.  There's a marshy kind of area (I think) that runs along the side, and I saw quite a few of these Herons there.  I took quite a few pictures before I went up to the church in back and took pictures of the swan family in the water there.  I was mostly practicing selecting my auto focus points and playing with Aperture Priority.  It was a whole different experience being up there by myself.

I kind of like nature photography, although it can be frustrating to get a good shot of the subject.  I also had a good unintentional photography session with one of my nieces last weekend.  She's 7 years old, and once you start talking and joking with her, she kind of forgets about the camera and goes about her business.  She also is quite a ham when she's in a good mood.  She's currently the most cooperative one out of the three.  We bought her an archery set from the Disney store for her birthday, so I took some pictures while she practiced in my front yard.

I'm going through my list sort of randomly, so I'll have to study it to figure out what this week's goal will be.

Photo 52 Project - Week 2 (What makes me smile)

Week 2 is What Makes Me Smile.

Last weekend we took our nieces to the local carousel.  I was dying to play with my new 50mm/f1.8 lens, and I think I got some nice shots.

These pictures make me smile for two reasons:  we always have so much fun when we go on, and it reminds me of my childhood.  (I think the carousel from my childhood is better though - http://www.forestparkcarousel.com/ - Mainly because it's not just horses.)  This is Nunley's Carousel.  It's been moved a few times, but its current home is by the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Museum Row.

I also went to Old Westbury Gardens last week while I was on vacation.  I plan to post a few of those pictures soon.  I wasn't entirely happy with them, because I feel that some of them are too bright.  It was a cloudy but bright out, and I think that I should have played with the white balance a little.  I'm still learning about that, though.  I want to experiment with shooting in RAW, since I'm learning that it would make adjustments like white balance easier.    I was happy with the way most of the flower pictures came out, though, so that's probably what I'll post here.

Photo 52 Project - Week 1 (Pets)

 After some research, I've come up with 52 (plus a few) ideas for my project.  I don't plan to number them, because I don't feel that forcing myself to come up with a picture is going to help me stick with it.  This offers me a little more flexibility with my plans.  My goal is to use my Canon Rebel most of the time, in order to learn the features better.  Sometimes that might not be possible, but I'm going to do my best.

So the topic for Week 1 is Pet(s).  This is my cat, Felix.

  As I was having my lunch yesterday, working on my list, my cat was napping in his bed, as usual.  He got up to stretch and decided that napping on his scratching box looked better.  To get my shots, I got down on the floor near him and started shooting.  I think I disturbed him, but  he was posing for me after a minute.  I even got some pictures of  him in his "cute mode," where he shows us his belly before he got bored and went back to napping.

The second picture I took with my Canon PowerShot.  One of my topics for the project is "sun flare," and I decided to fool around with the PowerShot in Manual mode.  I took a few shots of flowers back-lit by the sun, and when I was reframing the shot, my camera focused on the reflection of my neighbor's skylight.  I thought the effect was pretty cool.  

New Beginnings

I've been doing research for my 52 Week Photo Project, and I think I'm going to compile my own list.  This way I can tailor it to suit my own interests and problem areas.

Since the weather has been so cool for June, I've taken advantage and done a lot of gardening.  It's amazing how quickly weeds can grow, while the things I've planted take so long to fill out.  I was able to trim most of my rose bushes this year, except for a few in a back area that needed major weeding.  I'm still not done back there.  I call that area the "Grandma Garden," because it seems to have mostly flowers that kids give their grandmothers on holidays, like Easter and Mother's Day.  There are some hyacinth and lilies, along with some irises.  The irises are in dire need of transplanting, which will have to wait until I decide where to move them.  The roses in that area are English roses, and they haven't been in great shape since I inherited them when we moved in.

I took a general DSLR 101 class with my friend Jean at a local camera store.  They're also having a Canon class in July, which I am considering.  While I know the basics of photography, this time around I would really like to learn what all the dials and options on my camera can do.

I took this picture of the roses in my front yard after it rained the day before my class.  Unfortunately, it's been raining here for most of the week, and I haven't been able to get outside and practice.  This week I plan on going to a local botanical garden with Jean to get in some camera time.  I should be sharing that experience at the end of the week.

Unintentional Hiatus

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in three years!  It's not that I've stopped taking pictures, because I haven't.  I guess I needed a break from any kind of writing, in general.

On and off I've thought about posting something, maybe combining the two blogs I have to make it easier, which I still might do.  Not sure if there's an easy way to go about it, or if I have to do it manually.  *sigh*

Anyway, I've recently purchased a new DSLR.  It's a Canon Rebel T3i.  I am so in love with my PowerShot that I took the leap away from my Sony.  I did find a good home for my Sony: I gave it to my mom.  :D

Since I received the Canon, I've been itching to get out there and play around with it.  This afternoon after dinner, my husband and I drove up to St. John's Church, up in Cold Spring Harbor.  It's kind of in the back of the Fish Hatchery, kind of hidden.  Here's a picture of the actual church:

I'm not sure if it looks familiar to any of you, but it's the church from the movie In and Out.  In looking for a picture or a link to the scene, I found this cool blog with all the info I wanted to share.  It's called Clyde's Guides & Other Stuff.  It's been renovated in the last year or so, but it's mostly the same on the outside.

We were looking for the preserve that's in the area, but we parked in the wrong place.  If we would have parked above the church, we would've found it.  In looking for it, we took a walk around the church by the water.  That's where I took a picture of this guy pictured above.

I'd like to do a 52 week photo project and post some pictures here.  This means that I'll have to actually post at least once a week, so hopefully I can keep up with it.  As of now I'm researching themes to photograph every week, so I hope to start soon. 

Full Moon

I was looking through my picture folder tonight for something to post on this blog, when I turned my head and looked out the window.  The moon looked so awesome, I just had to take a picture.  The pictures didn't quite capture what I saw, but it comes close.

I never got to finish looking through my pictures, but I'll post again soon as I find some interesting pictures.  I took a few pictures of the birds that have been visiting my feeder lately.  I need to move the feeder, though, because the squirrel can reach it where it is now, and he makes a pig of himself.  If he didn't spill half the seed on the ground trying to get at the feeder, the birds would have nothing to eat.

Winter tree

I hadn't intended on going so long without updating this blog.  It's been a busy few months.  We moved into our first home Christmas week.  We're still unpacking, but we've only been home two weekends so far, so the progress is going a  little slowly.

We went to visit my family in Pennsylvania on New Year's weekend.  My mom and I went to a local park to take some pictures.  I took this picture with my Sony DSLR A300.  I take it out as much as I'd like, since it's not a small camera, and a lot of times I like that my Canon Power Shot can just fit in my purse.  I took quite a few pictures that day, so I'll probably post another few sometime soon.  I took some shots of reflections in the icy water that came out pretty nice.  It's something I'd like to experiment with more in the future.

It's been awhile...

So I haven't updated in awhile, but we've been busy house-hunting...and packing.  We didn't intend on buying a house right now, but it just kind of snowballed since we looked at a house close to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law.  This is a picture of part of the backyard.  We have a gazebo and a solar green house!  How cool is that?!  Hopefully we'll be in the house before Christmas.

Mystic Aquarium

Went to Mystic, CT last weekend with our nieces.  We went to the Aquarium as soon as we got there Friday afternoon.  It was nice, and on the way out, we got our tickets stamped to go back the next day.  I'm glad we did that, because the girls really weren't that interested in going to the Seaport. 

It turned out to be a very good idea, because it wasn't as crowded when we got there, and some of the exhibits that weren't as fun as they could have been the day before were much better.  One of these exhibits was the Birds of the Outback.  The birds weren't very hungry in the afternoon, but in the morning, they were voracious little creatures.  In fact, one of them bit me trying to get his turn at my stick of food.  

Another exhibit was the penguins.  The penguins were way too crowded the day before, because we got there at feeding time.  When we got there in the morning, it looked like they were just waking the penguins up.  Hardly anyone was there, and the girls got a really good look at the birds.

My older niece, who's 7, also got to pet the bamboo sharks.  In the afternoon, they were in the middle of the petting tanks, hiding from the kids.  In the morning, they were swimming near the edges of the tank, and she spent quite awhile there petting them.  She also got to pet the Rays, but she drew the line at feeding them when she found out she'd have to hold the dead fish in her hand.  LOL!  

Fish Hatchery

Last Saturday, we took our nieces to the Fish Hatchery.  When I asked her if she'd like to go, my seven year old niece asked me if there would be piranha there.  :D  I had to explain that they raise trout there to stock ponds and lakes in the area.  ( After looking at the website, I discovered they actually stock fish throughout the state and region, not just Long Island.)

The girls seemed to have a good time.  We bought a big container of fish food, and the fish go crazy when you toss a handful in their pool.  It's hard to make out individual fish in the pictures I took, so I'm posting a picture of the turtles sunning themselves.

Let's go Mets!

We went to see the Mets last week.  They lost the game, but at least it was a close one.  We had really good seats (my husband's company seats), and we had a good time.  This is one of the better pictures that I got.  I get very frustrated with the auto focus in the digital cameras. I find that sometimes the auto focus decides it likes to focus on things other than my intended subject.  I think I might have to play around with the manual focus on the Canon more often.  I miss using my old SLR sometimes, but I'm so spoiled by the immediateness of being able to see the digital pictures right away.

Physical therapy is slowly helping my arm.  At least I can use my left hand to type now, which is a very good thing.  :-)   Typing one-handed is never fun, especially when it's part of your job.    I'm hoping that I'll be back to my old self soon.  I would love to get out there and take more pictures for my blog.

Big Apple Circus

I'm going to physical therapy for my injuries, and I'm feeling a little better, but I'm still doing a lot of things one-handed.  It might be awhile before I post again, but I wanted to share a couple of pictures from tonight.

We went to the Big Apple Circus tonight.  It was really good.  Bello, the daredevil clown, is back with the circus, after eight years with Ringling Brothers.  It was at Ringling Brothers that I saw him a few years ago.



I took this picture of Bello while he was up near the top of the tent.  I think it's one of the better pictures of the night. I'm still getting used to the Canon, and no flash photography was allowed.  Many of the action shots I tried to take came out blurry.

We're going to a Mets game next week, and I'm hoping to get some good shots.  I would love to bring my DSLR, but I don't feel like lugging it with me, so I'll settle for playing with my Canon for now.  Hopefully I'll have something to post after the game.

Forced hiatus

Just wanted to let everyone know that I won't be posting for a bit. I did something to my back and have very limited use of my left arm.  Have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, and hopefully he can do something.   It's driving me crazy not to be able to do most of the stuff I love.  Hopefully I'll be back soon.

A kind of hiatus...

I meant to post when we first came home, but I haven't really been feeling well.  We went on a family vacation to Walt Disney World for a week.  It was a lot of fun, but it was very hot, 90+ degrees most days we were there.

This picture was taken in Epcot, by the China exhibition.  It's one of my favorite shots.  I think the countries were one of the best parts of Epcot.  (Okay, the Nemo ride was pretty cool, too!)  The fireworks there were really great, and I wish we would have had a better spot to watch them, so I could have gotten pictures or something.  At Magic Kingdom, I was able to take some really nice pictures of the Wishes fireworks.

I took about 600 pictures, so I'm sure I'll be posting more of them eventually.  I'm currently working on a crocheting charity challenge that I've been neglecting since we left for our trip.  I really have to get back to that, since it's over mid-June.

Bunny!

Most of the pictures I took this weekend were from my parents' deck.  I caught this bunny sleeping under the pine tree to the right earlier in the afternoon.  The tree is about halfway across their yard.  There's a crazy amount of rabbits running around my parents' neighborhood over the last few years.  I wonder why that is?

So excited!

I got my new camera in the mail on Friday before I left to visit my parents.  It takes such awesome far away shots.  However, this isn't one of them.  *g*  I was just fooling around with taking pictures of different things on my parents' deck and took this picture of a "wish" stuck in a spider web.

I'll post a few more pictures over the next few days.  I took some nice pictures across my parents' yard, and I was impressed with how they came out.  I can't wait to take this camera away on vacation.  :D

New camera!

No actual picture from me today, unfortunately.  I haven't really had the time or inclination to take new pictures.  I've been busy crocheting baby items for a charity contest over at the Bella Bambina blog.  However, in anticipation of an upcoming family trip to Disney World, I ordered a new camera tonight.  It's the Canon PowerShot SX120SI.   It's going to replace my Samsung S85.  (Shh!  I don't want him to hear!  I still love the little guy, but it's time.)

With the exception of the Canon D90, which I wanted in the worst way, but it was way out of my price range, I tend to shy away from Canons.  Mostly because they can be a little pricey compared to other cameras.  This one had most of the features I was interested in, and the price wasn't too bad...especially since I had a nice sized gift card for Walmart that I used toward my purchase.

I'm going to try to take some pictures when I get my camera sometime next week, and I hope to post something here soon.  I'm so excited to try this camera out.