Monday, December 10, 2012

In Other News: "I'm Back!" (And Christmas!!)

Hey y'all! 
       My lack of posts is glaring me in the face, but be assured this is not for lack of suitable pictures! The only logical solution for this photographer to pursue would be to post more photographs!
       Yep, I was just doing my English homework... Anyways, I think the problem has been that I have too many photos; they have been sitting in folders on my pc for a month (and I keep taking more!) so I will have several "Themed" posts coming up... 
This should be interesting! Today's post is: C H R I S T M A S !


We just put up our tree and I LOVE it! It's real so it has that beautiful pine-y, woods-y, snowy smell; and it looks gorgeous! Don't believe me? Here's the photos!

Decorating the tree! With the colored lights blurring and the interesting shadows (I accidentally set the aperture at like f/5 so this is a lot darker than I would have liked) this pic does look neat. 
This looks blurry for some reason, even though its not *shrug* It is very noisy, I know!


As everyone must have seen somewhere before: Christmas lights pictures!
I really like the bokeh on this one; it's the Christmas tree lights! These two are my favorites of the post! The colors are Christmas-y and bright, without being obnoxious-ly neon and blinding:)
 
I know, I'm using a lot a dashes today... 

When we lived in Tennessee, we got some "Tennessee Volunteers"
Christmas  ornaments. 

Almost done...


I'll leave you with this lovely bokeh. And that, my dear followers, is the end of this post.

Wooo! Can't wait till Christmas!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Catch-Up and FMTSO!


     Okay, now that you're all "awww!" and "Look at the puppies!" I will say I'm so sorry I haven't been posting for a while. School started up some weeks ago and I've been trying to get into a routine for my last year of high school.
     I haven't taken many new pictures so I'll put up some I took earlier this year!
  In the spirit of fall time here are some of the lovely colors outside my house this year:

All glowing and fuzzy gold!
 I tried out a "soft" filter on my camera and
I quite like the effect:) 
























Earlier in the summer (it seems so long ago!) my brothers and sister and I went GeoCaching with our grandparents. We had to find one in our town square and these interesting murals caught my eye. I had been seeing them all around our town and other towns around us and I finally had the chance to take a picture (or two:)!
I have no idea who painted them but they're really cool! I love the contrasting colors and the details!
My big puppies! Oh you're so cute! I could eat you up!
(Not literally, of course, but I do love my dogs:)
Notice the muddy paws: not coming inside!

                                                         Now for some textures:






I tried to get the moss and the rotting wood of the old out-house in contrast to the blue sky and living trees. I really love the mood of this shot though:P
Dandelion in the Sunlight
This is also from summer:) I'm not quite happy with the bokeh (the points of light blurred out in the background) but the picture on a whole turned out well!

This next photo is for FMTSO: "Yummy." 

I love fresh cherries and blueberries! I originally snapped this last year for a photo contest in my county fair, but I touched up the contrast/hue/saturation today.

That's all eFlashed for today folks!


Thursday, September 13, 2012

Walk Through the Field (FMTSO)

 This is my weather! Fall in Minnesota is VERY nice, not too hot, not too cool; perfect for me!
Went for a walk with my Labs and my camera this week; I am not disappointed with my photos!

The sun was setting and the fountain grass in the field was beautiful! I practiced my manual focusing techniques:) 
I love this picture so much, it has three different types of seeding grass
and it has just the right amount out of focus:)




My best bud: Bear!
My town's weather is BEAUTIFUL right now; hope it stays a while longer!

Thanks for following y'all!






Saturday, September 8, 2012

Space (The Milky Way Galaxy From My Backyard)

Last night was a spectacularly clear night; I could see tons of stars and even the Milky Way Galaxy! I got my camera and tripod and set it on the lowest aperture and about 10-15 seconds of shutter time so I could capture the brightness of the star. I am extremely happy with my shots; remember this is my first time shooting low-light/outdoors!
The Milky Way from my backyard!
The white-ish streak in the middle is the Milky Way. My camera picked up many more stars than I could see!
I also did some long-exposure shots:)























Painting With Light in my backyard!
For this one I took a flashlight, pointed it at my feet, and walked in a zig-zag with the shutter speed on 30 seconds!
Airplane in the brilliant night!
This was taken with a shutter speed of 2 minutes! See that line of light in the middle? It's an airplane:) There were quite a few last night, and the next two pictures you can see the airplanes better:
SNAKE UFO! JK, it's only an airplane!
IT'S A SNAKE UFO!!! Just kidding, it's time-lapse airplane travel! 

Trekking across the Milky Way! So neat!
Oh boy, I need to go to bed, I've church tomorrow! 
       See y'all later!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Tagged and Awarded!

Well just today I was "tagged" and awarded by The Kids to say 11 random things about me and answer 11 questions about myself as well as tag 11 other people to do the survey as well:)  Liebster is a German word that means well done, kind, beloved, or valued:)
RANDOM stuff:
1. I like rock climbing and climbing trees:)
2. I love to sleep in!
3. I don't like to get up early but when I do I'm glad I did!
4. I'm an outdoors girl.
5. I love music and chocolate and fruits together! :P
6. I do not eat anything that looks alive (shrimp, sushi, worms, lobster... Yuck)
7. I have a hobby of collecting coins and rocks.
8. I like hats (especially fedoras!)
9. I am a promise, I am a possibility!
10. Not allergic to anything except maybe schoolwork, but Mom says that doesn't count:(
11. I live for the glory of God!

1. How many pets do you have? Right now? 3: Two English Labradors and one kitten named Cali.
2. Are you homeschooled? Yes, all my life:)
3. Are you a Christian? 
Defiantly!!
4. How often do you blog? Whenever I have pictures to show! (Around twice a week at least:)
5. What is your favorite seasons? FALL!
6. What is your favorite food? Mashed potatoes and 
broccoli. (What?! Your fav food is BROCCOLI?!! Yes. Yes it is:)
7. Favorite book? Aww man! I have too many! The Bible, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, "Anne of Green Gables" by 
Lucy Maud Montgomery, Chronicles of Narnia series, and "Soon" by Jerry Jenkins are my top 5 right now!
8. Favorite color? That is confidential! (But I like the sky;)
9. How many siblings do you have? Three
10. How old are they? Younger than me:)
11. What do you like us to write about most? Your pets and animals! 

Okay now to think of my own questions. Hmm... 
Alright, here they are:
1. When and Why did you start blogging?
2. Do you have a hobby that you don't blog about?
3. Have you ever attended a play?
4. What is your favorite place in the world?
5. Do you have a favorite animal?
6. Do you have a big family?
7. City or Country?
8. Have you ever left the state of your birth?
9. Are you quiet or outgoing?
10. What is your passion in life?
11. Do you like neon colors?
   So, the deal is, if I tag you then you answer these 11 questions on your blog as well as 11 random facts about YOU, and then you can tag and award 11 other people if you want to! Just copy/paste the Liebster award to your blog page!
   I'm awarding these bloggers because I enjoy reading their blogs:
John at John's Island
Mona at Montanagirl
Mike at NXTGeek
Haley at Chapter Thirteen
Jess at Scribblings of a Dreamer

P.S.


 I saw this grasshopper by the shed while walking the dogs, so I took like ten photos of it and this was the only good one! :)
     Later y'all!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Buildings: Go Monochrome Day 2 (FMTSO)

      Today's project for Go Mono was "Buildings." I've always liked HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos because they bring out the highlights and the shadows very well. I went to the old county town hall this morning and got this shot.

       I really like it, and I got a few more (not for the project though):



It was locked but through the window we could see
some old school chairs and blackboards
as well as rather new voting booths:)
I like the reflection, too.




(2013 edit: I am linking to FMTSO because I'm snowed in and decided to use these lovely pics instead:) I did some research and found that this town hall was used in the 1920's and 30's. I am not sure when it was built though, so a mystery!)







S'all for now!
Later, Flashed!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Angles: Guitar and Water Drops!

    A fellow photo blogger Nette Requena just started a "Go Mono" photo project and I decided to go along with it too! Her post: http://netterequena.com/2012/08/20/1860/
    Her first day is "Angles" and I took this picture of my sister's guitar today, and it will be my first project pic!
   The story for this picture is very typical of me:) I was running through my room and glanced at my dresser (the guitar leans up against it) and the setting sun coming through the window bounced of the dresser onto the guitar in such a perfect way I had to grab my D5100!  
   I have found: Luck is a photographer's best friend, but precision is his greatest asset:)




    A different take on the guitar; the lighting is totally natural and SOOC (Straight Out Of the Camera)!
   



































     Feeling bored a few days ago, I decided to get my camera and take some shots of this huge crabapple tree in my backyard. Made it more interesting by spraying it with the hose! I had to dodge the water drips while taking these:)
Man-made raindrop on leaf.














I'm tired, g'night!
That's all Flashed for now folks!