{me}anderings . . .

goodbye summer . . .

we go back to school tomorrow.  waaah.

i gave g extra morning snuggles when he woke up.  i love how warm and squishy he is first thing.  i was feeling sentimental so i sang one of our little baby songs to him . . . "mama loves her baby her baby her baby . . . mama loves her baby, yes she does . . . ".  g sang it back to me, changing the lyrics a bit, "mama loves her poopy . . . ".  sigh.  definitely not a baby anymore.  jenni asked if he was going to kindergarten this year.  i'm like, "do you think i'd be this relaxed if he was going to kindergarten tomorrow?!".  ack!  not my baby.  he'll have one more year of mrs. vicki, thank goodness.  i've been warning him that she's not going to be impressed with his potty humor and raspberry spits.  he swears he would never do either of those things in front of her.  here's hoping his undisciplined summer doesn't show too badly . . . and speaking of undisciplined summers . . . me too me too!  that long list of things i wanted to get done this summer so the school year would run more smoothly . . . it's still here taunting me.  on well.  it was a very relaxing summer.  :D

canon digital rebel tips . . .

 

i'm no jamie or joanna or tara . . . but i can usually get a few good photos when i really need to.  some of my local friends have asked me how i do it, so i thought i'd post a few tips here.  and get those promised wedding pics posted at the same time.

 

i own a basic canon digital rebel.  it's an slr.  which means you can change the lenses.  this is the important part.  the lens is everything.  the camera is only as good as the lens you put on it.  90% of the time i keep a canon 50mm 1.8 lens on mine.  it's a portrait lens.  it's fabulous.  my pictures were instantly better when i got mine.  i've heard it currently runs between $85-$130 depending on where you get it.  it's totally worth the investment.

being a portrait lens, it has a very shallow depth of field.  this gives you that gorgeous background blur.  it can also give you blur where you don't want it if you're not careful.  group shots are a little difficult with the portrait lens.  i like to get my subjects to do what i term the "squishy face" pose as often as possible.  this keeps their eyes on the same plane and greatly lessons the potential of one of them having blurry eyes.  i hate blurry eyes.

this is important too.  you MUST control the focus.  if you let the camera determine the focal point, it will always lock on the closest thing to it.  in this picture that would have been the groom.  isn't he handsome in uniform?  but what i really wanted to capture was the cheshire cat smile that i knew would be on my neice's face.  locking my focus allowed me to capture the shot i wanted.  in portraits this is critical too.  you certainly don't want the nose to be in focus and the eyes a bit blurry.  i hate blurry eyes.  most of the time i shoot in "P" mode.  this mode allows me to lock my focus and turn off my flash, but basically everything else is still automatic.  i have my focal point locked on the center.  i can then press down halfway to get my focus then reposition the camera to capture the shot.  it works for me.  you might come up with a different game plan, just make sure YOU decide what to focus on.

it's taken me a while to figure this one out . . . the portrait lens has trouble taking action shots and group shots.  i've tried using the action mode for action shots.  i've tried using the av mode, a-dep mode, and landscape mode for group shots.  haven't seen much improvement.  it's the lens.  i've started switching to my kit lens for action and group shots lately and it helps.  it doesn't really do the job the way i'd like it to be done, but it's all i've got right now.  when i get the money i'll get a nice mid-range zoom with image stabilization.  this would make me very happy.

this is perhaps the most important thing.  light is everything.  to take a good picture you must learn to SEE the light.  you'll get your best pictures outside in the early morning or late afternoon/early evening.  i do the happy dance when i have to take pictures and god sends me an overcast day.  bonus!  if i have to take pictures outside in the broad daylight, my eyes immediately hunt down some shade . . . a tree without much dappling beneath, a porch, a building that's casting a shadow.  anything to soften the strong light a bit.

i never ask anyone to stare into the sun.  ouch!  but i do try to stay aware of where mr. sunshine is and keep him over my right shoulder in hopes of capturing catchlights.  i love my some eyes with catchlights.  aaaaaaaaaaaaah . . .

you can get great natural light photos indoors.  windows let in the light and you can get phenomenal shots as long as the sun is shining.

even when the light isn't optimal, you can still get some soft glowing shots by turning the ISO up as far as it will go.

this is also helpful outside when evening is fast approaching.  be sure to bump your ISO back down to 100 or 200 for day shots though.  higher ISOs tend to produce grainier pictures so i only use them when i have to.

sometimes you've just gotta use the flash.  i can't miss a meaningful moment because my lighting isn't perfect.  and i don't have the equipment it would take to make it perfect.  times like these i take lots of pictures.  well, i always take lots of pictures, but you know what i mean.  taking lots helps me get lucky with one or two good ones.  i was laughing at how many family members stopped by to ask if i'd gotten a picture of my dad with the groomsman.  we all knew papa was over there talking the poor boy's leg off.  and isn't this last one the sweetest photo.  grandma who doesn't get to see her little grandson very often and his parents together in the background.  i love it.

ok.  that's about all the non-technical technical photography info i can think of right now.  i do hope some of you can benefit from it.  and if any of you have some helpful tips to add please post them in the comments!  :D

in the news . . .

happy birthday to the triplets . . . six years old . . . yay! 

happy birthday to sammy . . . one year old already . . . say it isn't so!

happy birthday to harper too . . . she's three . . . hurray!  (and arachnaphobes beware . . . dear sweet joanna has the scariest black widow pic ever over there . . . shudder).

so i was procrastinatinating again this morning.  blogging's good for that.  thought i'd share a few gems with you . . .

emily pitts has this blog readability test link.  she was lamenting the fact that her blog rated at a high school level.  you know i had to try it out.  it said i'm pushing out elementary level work.  ha.  i'm totally ok with that.  i've always considered myself a picture book blogger anyway.  and i like the stream of consciousness writing style a la faulkner in the sound and the fury.  and well, lowercase type just feels so much more personal.  yea.  i know.  totally making excuses . . .

i'm rather a-political, but laura kurz has this way funny picture posted on her blog.  don't tell me those doggie tees don't make you chuckle just a bit . . .

jennifer johner has a new layout posted.  she rocks.  always.

in case you haven't heard yet . . . kp's a gg!!!  so happy for her!  :D

april foster has a fabulous playlist.  i think i might cruise on over and listen to it while i'm scrapping this evening.  and i really do need to scrap this evening.  i'm 24/27 on the july layout/project a day challenge.  and cha summer stuff is already starting to roll in.  just found out this morning that a million little things already has new cosmo cricket and american crafts.  ack ack ACK!  must scrap scrap SCRAP!

he's not a morning person . . .

and i suppose i'm responsible for his condition.  i wasn't much for mornings either.  at least not at his age.  he's so funny.  he'll stagger out of his cold dark cave, blinded by the 9:30 glare, groping for the first pair of sunglasses he can find.  more often than not, they're mine.  pink ones usually.  today his new ones were handy.  clearanced chameleon shades.  he's so cool.  at least when he loses the grumpy face.  that can take up to half an hour.  oh the pain . . .

speaking of pain.  this first layout was painful.  seriously.  i think i worked on it all day wednesday, only to dismantle it and try again.  much happier with version two.  aren't those monsters the cutest?  all new october afternoon goodies.  so much fun.

the second layout came together much more smoothly.  i'm trying to make a dent in my new stuff before the NEW new stuff starts rolling in.  that's my neice and nephew.  classic charlie.  not a serious bone in his body.  still collects transformers.  they're robots in disguise, you know.  back to the layout.  it has sei poppy, mm mini shimmer alphas, cloud nine foil-trimmed alphas and lots of bling.  love it when i can get away with the bling.

sing it with me now . . .

"sweet little beautiful, wonderful, perfect all-american girl"

anybody else out there hit the country tunes when they're traveling?  i do.  it's automatic.  as soon as i get in the car headed south, my finger finds country and i start wailing.  good stuff for making the miles fly by.  and i usually find a couple layout titles on the way.  i immediately thought of this page pic every time carrie underwood came on during the last trip.  perfect for sure.  page is my go to girl whenever i get that urge for flowers and bling.  the girl's got IT.  and she knows how to work it.  at least for me.  all kids should have her picture taking style.  she looks me straight in my camera eye, gives me the look and then we're done.  none of that following her around for an hour begging and pleading for a little lens love.  are you listening gabriel???

anyhoo.  i was thrilled to get this picture.  classic page.  wowzas.  who knew it could get that much better.  WOWZAS.  it's like a murky film has been lifted.  thanks kelly for telling me how to make my little pse 3.0 work it.  happy happy. 

here are a couple more from page's bday that i've tinkered with . . .

i'm so loving this . . . :D

holy hannah . . .

or should i say jumping jess.  this is my neice, jessica.  i photographed her wedding.  she was a beautiful bride.  i've been meaning to post more of her wedding photos here.

and now i must confess.  i've gone over to the dark side.  or should i say bright side?  i've resisted photo editing for a long.  long.  long time.  but for some reason, today i jumped right in.  now i'm a photoshop junkie.  i know why i resisted.  it's addicting.  and i have a bit of an addictive personality.  i could play with this one picture all day.  really i could.  it's a whole new art form to explore. 

the first one is the original.  the second one has been played with.  emphasis on play.  this is fun.  why did i think it wasn't fun? 

one more cha post . . .

i'm sure no cha would be complete without a couple squishy face photos.  gosh it was so nice to meet all my friends.  they're so delightful.  this is me and celeste (taken by my other fabulous roomie, dina). and me and kp (taken by glue or kelly n, not sure which).  you can see a windblown shot of me and glue and kelly n over on kp's blog.  so much fun.  can't wait to go again.

and here's the jenni video.  enjoy!  :D

cha-summer product review . . .

what was hot at cha?  yellow, houndstooth, cupcakes, bobble trim, and boys!  yes!  they finally listened to all us mothers of boylies and produced boy products (not that i am ever above using flowers and faded red on my layouts, lol).  from left to right: october afternoon weathervane and basic grey ambrosia, american crafts, chatterbox, fancy pants, and october afternoon nightlight.  (click on pics to enlarge).

you all already know i adore jenni bowlin studio.  here are a few of my other favorites from the show  . . .

 

october afternoon was so awesome.  four new lines and all of them fabulous.  gorgeous colors.  gorgeous prints.  delightful embellishments.  i was super lucky to be able to bring home some of this and can't wait to get started on a (googley) layout tonight.  from left to right: weathervane, hometown, night light).

cosmo cricket was a happy boy mama place.  these little sunshines (jack's world) made me smile and the scalloped plush trim was mmmmmmmmmmmm.  gotta get sherri busy planning our camping trip for this fall so i'll have lots of pictures to use with mr. campy, a charming retro line.

american crafts always scores.  they just know alphabets.  check out how shiney these new foil ones are.  they also had new fabric and puffy ones plus all the old favorites in fun new fonts.  they also know color.  loved the combination in this love line.  and look . . . cupcakes and fauxe houndstooth.  they always know what's hip and hot too.

crate paper was divine.  their catalog really doesn't do them justice.  very classy prints and colors.  they had these cute tiny chip buttons and their diecuts were to die for.

i adore halloween lines.  they're my favorite as far as themed product goes.  i thought these doodlebug skulls were great fun and i usually don't like skulls.  they also have a new monochromatic line in several colors that's already available and some matching flocked polka dot paper that's coming soon.

ki memories is always on the cutting edge of paper.  this release they bring us sheers.  transparent, but not so much.  hard to describe, but really cool.  you're going to want some.

making memories also has a new monochromatic line available in these three colors plus a brown whose picture i seem to have misplaced.  i'll be using the heck out of this once i get it.

basic grey.  woaaa.  always love them, but this release they have two new lines that are so me.  less distressed than their usual and a great mix of colors and patterns.  offbeat and urban prairie.  yes please.  they also have a great new line of mini chip alphas in 3 shades of browns and the coolest mini album ever.  can't wait!  i hit this booth at the end of day one, so i was a little worn and didn't take pics, but luckily it was the one catalog that i forgot to give jenni, so i took a few pics from it to show you.

probably one of the coolest releases this show is cardstock if you can believe that.  yes.  bazzil has a new texture, embossed swiss dot.  i'm in love.  hoping i can convince jb to put a piece in every kit. 

ok.  that's it for my product pics.  enjoy!

tomorrow's post, jb's booth . . .

wow. that was SO much fun . . .

jb's booth was charming.  she's just so talented and gracious.  i loved watching her with her customers.  you could see just how much she respects and appreciates each one.  i'm honored to work for her. 

i took a few pictures of the booth and i think there's a rather amusing video out there.  i'll try to get that all ready for you in the morning.  i also took a few pics of product i liked.  i'll get those up tomorrow too.  so much to see.  so much pretty pretty stuff.  but really, i didn't take many pictures.  i was having too much fun to bother.

i got to hang out with several of my online friends.  that was totally awesome.  and i made some new ones.  also awesome.  people in this industry are so fun and kind and supportive.  yes.  they are.

of course i missed my little pork chop.  and i could tell he was happy to see me.  when i saw him at the airport he gave me a big smile and said, "i got a big booger.  huge.  it's in my nose.  that's so nasty".  hee.  i gave him a big kiss and held his hand all the way home.

trying to get the rest of my cha samples posted today.  i think i got it all, except for the other mini.  i'll have to post that separately.  it has a lotta pages.

cards:

home decor:

 (click to enlarge)

ack! i'm not even packed . . .

the gman was feeling a teensy bit puny today.  hoping for a good night's sleep and a back to normal wake up in the morning.  hoping to be on that plane bound for chicago tomorrow.  hoping to have some exciting show pics to post here tomorrow night.  hoping hoping . . .

another new one in the meantime . . . my neice and new nephew-in-law . . . jbs victoria patterned paper, mini bingo cards, and felt birdies.