Photography Tips!

I am wanting to do a post with photography tips and would love some input from you guys! If you have any tips for other photographers, or anything that has helped you learn post it below! Sometime in the next week or two I will compile your tips and mine and put them out there for all of us. I will post your name next to your submissions, so feel free to send people over to see your words of wisdom!!

Ok, let's try this again!

I joined a 30 day photo challenge on Facebook. Today is day 1 and the challenge was a self portrait, so here is my self portrait!

Yea, I felt really awkward doing a self portrait with just me looking at the camera, looking away from the camera etc. But I really like this picture! You can see how happy I am, just make sure to look past the bags under my eyes! You can join the challenge too! Like this page to be reminded of the challenges and see everyone's submissions.

Brooklyn is 6 months old!

I had the pleasure of taking some pictures for a beautiful little girl named Brooklyn. She is now 6 months old!

She was a very serious little girl, but we managed to get some smiles from her!

Mother's Day flowers

My grandma sent me Mother's Day flowers today and they came with chocolate!

29: Music

My husband is a recording engineer and a musician, so music is a large part of our lives. That's why I put music on my 30 weeks list. I bought this guitar a few years ago in hopes of learning how to play it. I learned a few chords but life got busy with our wedding and now the baby and my ever present photography ambitions so I never really learned how to play it. We keep it around in case someone comes over to record and they need a back up guitar.

 I turned this B&W and added some grain and some vignetting. My setting were f/5, EXP 1/25, ISO 500. Here are two more that I kinda liked.

Zack Arias on Creative Live

First of all, Creative Live is one of the best things on the internet that I have ever found! Someone linked it on a chat board I frequent for the Jasmine Star session a few weeks ago and I fell in love.

Anyway, onto Zack. He is a phenomenal teacher and in one day has seriously impacted my photography for the better. He gave a lot of good analogies for the technical aspects of photography. I especially liked when he compared the different levels of aperture to a water faucet -it makes so much more sense now! Zack makes a great point - your photography is your business, so how can you focus on the business aspect and hope that the photo's fall into place? You have to master your craft before trying to master the business aspect. A good photographer did not get to where they are by being good at business. Sure it helps, but you can't be a good photographer without knowing your camera and all the variables that go into making a good picture.

I can't wait to see what he will teach us tomorrow! Seriously, cancel the rest of your weekend, grab a notebook and check out Zack Arias at Creative Live!

How do you know?

How do you know if you're meant to do what you are doing? I look through my pictures and second guess myself all the time. I just don't know if I'm supposed to be doing this. I know that not every picture is going to look awesome straight out of camera, or even after some editing, but sometimes I think I'm just not good enough.

I mean, I think I have the creativity part down pretty well, but the technical part.... not so much. I've been paying more attention to focus, lighting, shadows etc,  but it's hard to know if it's making a difference.

I think Jasmine Star said it best "I am a chicken, I should just lay an egg to complete the transformation." I am a chicken, now I just need to transform into a photographer :)

Big things are coming!

I am so excited, I have two friends that are having baby girls and one of them is due any day! I am so excited and looking forward to taking Miss Maci's newborn pictures soon! I also have an opportunity to take portraits for a local business. I am looking forward to all the new opportunities heading my way!

30: Detail

It's a pretty rainy day today, but we made it outside in between showers. Our tulips by the mail box are starting to bloom. You can click on the picture to make it larger.

My settings were ISO 400, 105 mm, f/ 5.6, EXP 1/250 sec

30 Photos Challenge

I originally started this on my mommy blog, but moved it here. Since I did the first few, I'm going to start from the bottom and work my way up. These will be posted every Tuesday, starting tomorrow.
1. Light
2. Blue
3. Metal
4. Breakfast
5. Shadows
6. Yellow
7. Glass
8. Green
9. Fire
10. Plants
11. Red
12. Glass
13. Masculine
14. Purple
15. Fabric
16. Lunch
17. Pink
18. Wild animal
19. Water
20. Feminine
21. Paint
22. Paper
23. Dinner
24. Reflection
25. Pattern
26. Angle
27. Pets
28. Chores
29. Music
30. Detail 

Here we go!

Welcome to my photography blog! I have a lot of ideas in mind for this blog and hopefully you will all enjoy reading them! Make sure you check out the gallery, and if you have something you would like to see, leave me a comment and I will see what I can do to get it up here. Thanks!

Shayna