Picture of the Day

Jan 11th

2010-01-10T15:21:00.000-08:00

These are my grandparents. They agreed to be my models for my version of American Gothic.

Little Boys

2010-01-07T15:34:00.000-08:00

I have a little boy. He just turned 4. He is so very special to me. His hugs can melt my heart and fix all of my worries. He left some toys out today when I took him to preschool. So I decided for the first time this year (can you believe it) to pick up my camera and shoot them. These were done with my 100 mm 2.8 macro, at f2.8, 1/80, iso 3200 (my living room gets NO light)

Jan 6th

2010-01-05T15:36:00.000-08:00

Top 9 of '09

2010-01-01T16:14:00.000-08:00

My most favorite of the year, I had a really hard time narrowing it down to only 9!

Dec 28th

2009-12-27T14:51:00.000-08:00

2009-12-26T15:51:00.001-08:00

This is my sister, this will be her second, but it will be my third niece :)

Dec 24th

2009-12-23T14:59:00.001-08:00

November 3, 2009

2009-11-03T15:16:00.001-08:00

Today my ds and I made a Lincoln Log Village. Please note the civil war solider on our watch tower.

10.29.09

2009-10-27T16:48:00.001-07:00

I know you don't remember me. My poor neglected POTD Blog :( I will try to do better. I will try to do better.....
Here is one from today :)

August 22

2009-08-21T17:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't done of potd since april :( things have been crazy, not bad, just a little busy. Anyways I took this image in Old Town, San Diego last week. I would love to know what you all think, any HHCC would be great. This was taken using my 100 mm macro, f 2.8 1/800

April 7th

2009-04-06T10:50:00.001-07:00

I was looking out our kitchen window yesterday morning, and I was very surprised when I found this flower in the dirt area of our backyard. I asked my hubs if that was an calalilly growing over there, and he said no, its just a big weed (he couldn't see the flower part) Sure enough this flower decided to grow in our yard. I normally don't take pictures of flowers, so any cc would be great, this was taken on my 50d, with my 50mm at f1.4, 1/1250 sec, 100 ISO and a custom white balance.

2009-03-05T15:05:00.000-08:00

Here is another favorite, Seal Beach. We go almost every week, for dinner, fun, whatever. I just love it there. And for the record another favorite is my dh, but he would die if I posted a picture of him here :(

Another of my favorite things

2009-03-04T14:07:00.001-08:00

My dd! I can't believe how much she is grown. When she was born (early) she was just over 5 lbs and then dropped to 4lbs 12 oz. It seemed like she was my baby for so long, then all of the sudden and she is such a big kid. She loves to do what we call rockstar poses (jumping shots).

For those of who asked about how I get my kiddos to smile for the camera, I think mostly I am lucky with easy going kids, but really helps too is I let them think they are picking out their clothes for the shoot, and that they are in control of the posing. My ds is always finding cute things to have his picture by. They love to look at the pictures in the viewfinder afterwards and even better at home on the computer. My dd also loves funky bright processing, so I do that for her. I also print out the pictures they want for their rooms and little brag books that they can take to church to help them be quiet :)

One of my favorite things

2009-03-03T16:06:00.000-08:00

My ds! He is just the cutest! and as a bonus for me, he loves getting his picture taken :) This one was taken in early January at the children's garden near our house

Feb 28

2009-02-27T15:14:00.001-08:00

More from disneyland. I thought this flower was so pretty.
SOOC:

My play: I brightened, and color pop, and of course a crop and I know i suffer from centerfocusitis :(

Feb 27

2009-02-26T15:25:00.000-08:00

Fun at Disneyland. Most Wednesdays we head over to Disneyland for a few hours. Yesterday we went to California Adventure and played in the little water park for a while.
SOOC:

My play: I cropped and brightened, then I used Jess' golden vintage action she shared yesterday. I love the retro feel it gave the picture. And I love that my dd is just dancing a way and that my ds is wondering if I am really going to let him get wet :)

Feb 26

2009-02-25T16:39:00.001-08:00

My little boy. He loves to be in front of the camera.

SOOC:

My edit:

I adjusted the white balance, brighten a little, increased contrast (not on his shirt), slight vingette, and black and white conversion, sharpen for web

Feb 25

2009-02-24T16:04:00.000-08:00

We went to downtown the other day to take some pictures. My my mom gave my dd this new hat, and so my dd has been focused on taking some pictures with her new hat:)

Before: (sooc just cropped and re-sized)

After:

And a more normal black and white conversion

This is a lot of processing for me, but I really like it. I used TRA, which are fun sometimes. My dd loves the processing.

February 22

2009-02-21T10:48:00.000-08:00

I took my daughter (on the left) and her best friend for a photo shoot yesterday. Only problem, my little boy loves to be in front of the camera.

February 13th

2009-02-12T10:07:00.000-08:00

I have been away from POTD lately, no real reason, just busy with stupid stuff, and not wanting to post for some lame reason. But yesterday at Disneyland these flowers were so pretty, I just had to shot them. Then today while I was processing these pictures, I thought I would share with you peas. I hope you like them. Thanks for looking.

Texture

2009-01-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

Some of natures music

January 8th

2009-01-07T17:44:00.000-08:00

Ready for Juice?
My mom shared some of her oranges and tangerines today!

January 6th

2009-01-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

January 4th

2009-01-03T15:48:00.000-08:00

Totally off topic, but oh well. For Christmas, I got some seamless paper, Mocha --in these pictures, and studio blue (yuck, I am taking it back, it was a gift)

Any cc would be great. These were taken in natural light, (custom white balance) 50mm 1.4, f2.5, 1/200, iso 400.

Thanks for all of your help!

January 3rd

2009-01-02T16:40:00.000-08:00

Can't go anywhere without gas

(From the Farmers Market in Los Angeles today.)

January 2nd

2009-01-01T16:46:00.001-08:00

At least my rose bush thinks spring wil be here soon

Christmas Baking

2008-12-20T10:26:00.000-08:00

These are cupcake 'pops'. I made them for a Christmas Party tomorrow.

Scout (yes more topaz)

2008-12-17T15:34:00.000-08:00

Here is my dog Scout. He is a Burmese Mountain Dog, (who has never been to the mountains, and hates the ocean.) He is a very lucky dog today, usually I don't let him inside, he is TOO big and my house is TOO small. But it is raining a lot and very cold, so he got to spend the day with me, which is where he would like to be 24, 7. So he was my model today. And since I have been playing with my Topaz filter, here is what I got.

Some answers to the questions on my previous posts:
Topaz Adjust is a filter you can add to Photoshop, it is cheap, like $40 :)
I usually play with all of the presets before I pick a few, this is Pyschedelic.
On my temple pictures, I printed the 1st, 2nd, and 4th all on metallic paper and they came today!!! I love them all. I thought I would give some to my family for Christmas, but now I wish I would made more prints, for friends at church. My sister who was born on Christmas Eve is getting the 4th one 11x17 mounted, and I am so mad that I didn't order two of those, so I could keep one, but I probably just wont wrap it until closer to Christmas that way I can enjoy it some more.

Here is the link if anyone is interested, I think you can get a 3o-day trail for free, but for only $40 I just bought it. http://www.topazlabs.com/topazlabs/03products/topaz_adjust/

Oh and tomorrow I am going to the camera store to get a star filter, so next week I will be enabling those who have thought about star filters, instead of topaz adjust like I am doing this week :)

Topaz Adjust (again)

2008-12-16T12:47:00.000-08:00

This is the Santa at Disneyland, in a very dim lit room, not so perfect for pictures, but its what I had to deal with. I thought the picture was okay, but just for fun, I did a topaz filter on it, and now I love it, it feels like it is in an old christmas book.

Topaz Adjust

2008-12-15T17:16:00.000-08:00

I broke down and got Topaz Adjust, it sure is fun to play with. Here the same picture with some different topaz adjust filters applied. I just ordered these today on metallic paper, and i am so excited to see them!

Original:

Number 1:

Number 2:

Number 3:

December 3rd

2008-12-02T17:40:00.000-08:00

I got to take pictures of my girlfriends family. She has identical twins, this is one of them, which do you like black and white or color?

Firsts

2008-12-01T17:10:00.001-08:00

This is my little sisters, little boy. He is getting ready for the big O N E. I can't believe how big he has gotten, the sad thing is he lives too far from me, so we only get to see him once and a while :(

Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T15:46:00.000-08:00

We went to Salt Lake to visit Family for Thanksgiving. While we were there, we went to Temple Square to see the Lighting. Here is one of my favorites.

Children's Garden

2008-11-20T12:38:00.000-08:00

Today my little one and I went to the Children's Garden at the Arboretum near our house and it was so much fun. It was so peaceful and calm in there. Where I live, it is so busy and so crowded, its hard to find a calming place, but this might be it for now. So here are some fun pictures I took while we were there.

Little One

2008-11-11T14:27:00.000-08:00

Here is my ds, I know the balloon is growing out of his head, but I just love that he is smiling and I have catchlights in his eyes.

School Pictures

2008-11-10T13:35:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law gave me this desk a few years ago, and I thought we would use it for our school pictures. Any cc would be great, I am desperate to get better.

2008-11-05T12:43:00.000-08:00

I really do try to get pictures posted on topic, but angles is a hard one. Last night the sunset was so pretty, (and plus the clouds were somewhat angular) so I thought I'd share.

Nap Time

2008-11-04T16:57:00.000-08:00

My ds still takes naps most of the time. After lunch we go and lay down in his bed and read 3 or 4 stories. Then I tell him I have to go to the bathroom and I will be back in a minute to lay down next to him and then I leave and shut the door and don't come back in until it is time to wake him up. Today before I left him in his bed, he said "Wait I need that" and he was pointing to his Noah's ark toy. Most days, I don't care if he sleeps or not, just so that he is resting and away from me, so I gave him his toy. When I woke him, this is what I found. You could play 'I spy' with all the things he has with him, oh well.

STEEP (its an angle right)

2008-11-03T16:04:00.000-08:00

So as you all know, I climbed Half Dome in September and it was STEEP. Here a few of the bottom of the cables looking up. Climbing up the cables, it was so steep, as I stood on one of the two by fours, I could literally reach my arm out horizontally and touch the wall ahead of me. It was crazy steep and believe it or not going down was better than going up. Also it was way too steep to consider taking any pictures until I was on less steep ground (mainly the top and/or bottom)(oh and the sunflare, was not wanted and no matter how I was positioned, it was there in my way, not wanted, I guesst that is what you get for shooting west at 3ish!)

Contest

2008-11-02T05:01:00.001-08:00

Sara Boulter is having a fab contest for her Christmas card templates, go and check the contest out and her wonderful pictures at http://sbpdesign.blogspot.com/2008/09/so-this-is-christmas.html

Halloween Time

2008-10-31T16:17:00.000-07:00

Here are my little ones. They decided to be Super Man and Wonder Woman for Halloween. My ds has a piece of bendable steel, but he can't possibly hold still for a picture with the piece of steel. They are off to Trick or Treat at Church with dh, I would go, but I am desperate for some time to myself, so I am staying home :)

Happy Halloween!

Baby's 1st Halloween

2008-10-27T18:45:00.000-07:00

My neighbor let me take her little ds's Halloween pictures! She didn't get him a costume, she thinks he is too little :( I love the soft feel of these.

Am I the only one who loves a good yawning picture?!?!?

And a naked head shot just because he is so cute!

I just made her a cd from our little photo shot, and i am dying to hear if she likes them, so cross for fingers for me, because I really want to do his Christmas pictures. (If I get my way, he is so going in a Stocking)

Graveyard

2008-10-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

Here is another one from the cemetery in Yosemite Valley. Down at the bottom it says 'buried by his friend. a.c. black' I wonder, were they life long best friends who when they were 5 promised they would come to Yosemite together to climb El Capitan and then he fell and then his friend buried him and had to go back and tell his best friend'ss wife that he had passed. In the middle it says 'may his soul rest in peace' I have no doubt that there is a heaven, but can you imagine how hard it would be to live in peace if you watched your friend die. The 'what ifs' that would follow.
When I climbed Half Dome last month, I was really conscience of the fact that statistically, someone dies on this rock every year. I really didn't want it to be me. I can't imagine ending a once in a lifetime adventure by burring a friend. So now that I have depressed you, here is the grave.

Graveyard

2008-10-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

While I was in Yosemite a few weeks ago, I took some pictures in the cemetery in the Valley. I thought this one was so sad. It just says "a boy" and i wonder, was he just found dead and no one knew who he was. I am pretty sure he wasn't an native boy, because there were others that said "an Indian girl or boy' All of the graves in the cemetery were pretty old, the newest one dated in the 1920's.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

We went to the pumpkin patch last night here are a few of my favorites!

2008-10-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

I took my little ds for his school picture today. any cc would be great.

Flower

2008-10-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

This is a flower growing on the vines from my backyard neighbor. She says that the vine will be covered with them. I found about 10 blossoms waiting to show themselves.

Fall in Little Yosemite Valley

2008-09-30T15:41:00.000-07:00

Here is another from my trip to Yosemite. This is the little river in Little Yosemite Valley. Little Yosemite Valley is above Nevada Falls and is about a 3 hour hike from the Valley.

Fall in Little Yosemite Valley

2008-09-29T14:53:00.000-07:00

We went to Yosemite this past weekend, the leaves hadn't really changed just yet, but i found this dead tree and thought it was pretty cool

Clouds Finally

2008-09-16T17:43:00.000-07:00

We finally had some clouds here today, we don't see too many clouds during the summer, fog -- yes, drab days --- yes, but pretty clouds were a treat for me this morning.

Half Dome

2008-09-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

Thinking about today, September 11th, I couldn't decide what to post. I try to make this day a day of remembrance, a day of national pride. So today, I decided to post a picture of one of this countries beauties.

Sunset

2008-09-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

This was the sunset at the tall ship festival. It was pretty bright but i sort of like the look of this picture. Let me know if you like it or not.

More Pirate Boats

2008-09-09T16:01:00.000-07:00

Here is another pirate boat with a texture on it, and yes the boats are real. We could have gone on the boats -- out to sea -- but what would i take pictures of from there?

Tall Ships Festival

2008-09-08T15:43:00.000-07:00

We went to see the Tall Ship Festival this past weekend, and I thought they may count as a 'vehicle'. The ships are forming a circle and firing cannons at each other, that is what the smoke is from that you can see.

Totally off topic

2008-09-04T11:44:00.000-07:00

Here is my little boy. Yesterday was his first day of preschool. He had no 'mommy issues' and didn't even look back when I left him, I guess it is good, but I was a little sad. When I picked him up, he casually said Hi mom and when back to playing. I had to carry him out to the Jeep because he was planning on staying awhile more.

The same waterfall

2008-09-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

Here is the same water fall as yesterday, take the same day, just shot at a much slower shutter speed. These waterfalls are noisy and you can hear them all night long. In the early spring, the mist freezes over night and you can see a mist wall, it melts fairly early in the morning, but I would love to see it. We are going up in a few weeks and I can't hardly wait, the waterfalls will probably be more like water drips, but I just don't care :)

Another Type of Water Fountain

2008-09-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

We go to Yosemite a lot, and I always love to photograph the waterfalls. Here is a picture of Lower Yosemite Falls, in March, so not quite full speed, but still impressive.

Another Water Fountain

2008-09-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

I know another water fountain picture of my son, but it is a different water fountain. Water fountains are a great place to practice with faster shutter speeds.

Water Fountain

2008-08-31T20:11:00.000-07:00

While my dd is in ballet class, my ds and I often walk a few blocks to a play water fountain.

Our Family Picture

2008-08-31T06:08:00.001-07:00

Here is our most up to date family picture. We always go to Yosemite so here is our family pic at Yosemite Falls.

My hubs and I are climbing Half Dome at the end of Sept. I am so excited!

August 27

2008-08-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

Here are my little ones. (at disneyland)

August 26

2008-08-26T13:23:00.000-07:00

Father and Son. This is my brother in law and nephew. The little one had just been knocked over by a wave and was being cuddly in his daddy's arms.

My little sister's family

2008-08-25T17:14:00.001-07:00

The theme of Family is an easy one for me. Here is my little sister Katie and her family.

August 19

2008-08-19T17:12:00.001-07:00

Before and After

2008-08-02T20:25:00.001-07:00

I've been wanting to start doing this, so here I am today, not on topic, but I will work on that.

BEFORE:

AFTER: