debor026

The most amazing things may also be the smallest.

Have you tried saying "Cheese" and it doesn't work? They stare at you grumpily or give you that fake smile that looks like a grimace? Let me share with you a trick I learned from my mother. Tell them to NOT smile. Really. It goes something like this (speak like you are serious but be smiling a little yourself): Non-smiling child "DON'T you smile!" The child looks surprised "I mean it!" Small smile starts "I see that! Wipe that smile off your face RIGHT NOW!!" Big open grins and belly laughs Keep talking as long as you are taking pictures, with variations on the theme. "Don't you dare" does wonders, too. Since daddy has been doing a lot of business in Seattle he needed to demonstrate how far it is from Reno to Seattle.

Post 200! I wanted to take a picture for yesterday's letter H (Heart) with a black background. But I don't have one. The lighting in my house at night (since I can usually only take photos after work) also really stinks. So to fix both at once I used a mirror. But that's not black, right? It is if you use only tea lights for lighting since they don't really reach the ceiling. So here's my setup. After I had the candles lit I turned off the lights in the room so the ceiling would be black. But after I took the first couple of pictures, I realized I wasn't creating enough light with the tea lights and so I had to make a really long exposure (which is a little tricky while hand holding the camera) Really simply solved by moving the tea lights closer. When I lined up the shot I wanted I could see which lights (those on the right in this case) had to be moved back a bit. Just be careful not to light your sleeve or camera strap on fire since you are in so clo...

For February I'm getting started on an ABC photography project . There will be a couple days that I have NO idea what to do (X?) but luckily I have a little time to get there. A is for Alphabet. I love letter press! To set this up I put down a piece of MDF with a manila folder propped against the wall behind it. After I had them arranged in a way I liked I decided it was too dark so I set up the kids' flashlight to shine across the front of the letters. B is for Bubblebath. Heehee, what you can't see is that every part of the tub edge to the left is covered in STUFF. The kids' bath toys and shampoos, etc. It looks serene from here but... C is for Cookie (of course!) This one was a little challenging to set up. I sat him on a cooling rack and used a table knife angled at his back to keep him propped up. Across that I angled a fork (also had the base anchored in the rack) with the cookie stuck on the prongs over his hand. I put a small box in front of him wit...

I've heard several times that Valentine's day was simply made up by the card companies. I'm guessing there's truth to that and if it is then you've got to hand it to their marketing guy as that was brilliant. Still, I'm pretty thankful for it. Christmas is well timed right as winter is really getting going to give us lots of pretty lights and and color to tide us over for a while but after a big bang of New Year's we really don't have much again until spring. I don't know about you but I get a little blue when every day is gray and dark. So Valentine's day is actually very well timed to bring a lovely bunch of color into our days right when we need it and enough to tide us over till spring. So, yes, maybe it's all about marketing but even so: Yay! This photo made Explore on flickr this morning (#500 but still...) and I'm a little giddy about it. Yay again for color! EDIT: It's up to #89 . I've never done that before. If c...

I really hate those days (or weeks) when I have no words. It seems like I'm incredibly busy with work, with kids, with life and yet there is absolutely nothing to talk about. Maybe that's why I like photography so much. Photographs can say something all by themselves so maybe sometimes we don't have to. Like this one. I know why he's making that face. I know that I caught it during the whole 5 seconds it was on his face and then it was gone. But, if I don't say why, maybe it's better? Because then anyone who sees it can use their imagination for the reasons his eyes have that expression. And possibly they'll relate to that idea more than the real one? How about you? Have you ever made up in your mind what a photo was about only to find out that wasn't it? And if so, which did you like better? Do you always explain your photos or do you let some stand by themselves?

I am very thankful for the 365 project because I'm now looking at the world around me, in some ways, as if for the first time. Like this morning. Normally I would hurry to get out of the cold as quickly as I could move. I'd pull my coat tight and try to move faster without really seeing anything around me. And this morning I would have missed this. This beautiful leaf completely covered in frost all the way round. It was lovely but "usual me" wouldn't have bothered to notice it and probably would have crushed it under a boot as I hurried along. And I'm so very glad I stopped. I'm glad I got down on my knees, looking goofy, and took this picture. It really is lovely to see the world fresh. Did you see something recently you would never have noticed? What has you looking at everything differently?

I was having coffee with a friend today and I took these photos to demonstrate to her how to make something close up (the coffee cup) in focus without making it the center of the photo. Very simply put, you can put the camera in front of the cup and push the button down half way to "hold" the focus. Then while the button is still held halfway down slide the camera to the position you want for your picture and push the button the rest of the way down. This way your picture looks like the one above instead of the one below (where the camera would naturally focus on the center of the shot when you push the button all at once).

I'm going wordless today as I'm madly house painting. Wee!

No, not this one. Though Wendy is pretty. But I only took her picture with my baby. This is my baby (and my reading material to go with her). And this is my very sad and jealous Canon. It still gets to hang out in my purse, I guess. In my low-lighted living room (seriously, I need a lamp or 12) the shot of Pixel (the cat)just doesn't do well with the Lumix P&S. The flash lit up her eyes too much (and red eye fixes don't acknowlege the yellow eyes). But no flash with the Lumix means I can't see the cat... But my new baby, she's a performer. Now I can see Pixel (and pixels).