The Spirit put this on my heart today, so I had to find one of my photos from Ethiopia and share. This is truth. We serve a BIG God.
So knowing and believing that truth let's:
Live BIG
Pray BIG
Work BIG
Forgive BIG
Love BIG
Play BIG
Serve BIG
Give BIG
Risk BIG
Do BIG.
There's nothing small about our God, and there is nothing small about this one, beautiful life that He has blessed us with. And we only have ONE life, so LIVE. IT. BIG.
Let me start with my disclaimer - I am not a pro-photographer. In all honesty I am a momtographer - a mommy with a dslr who is passionate about capturing moments of my children's childhood. Everything I know is self taught. A lot of what I have learned is intuitive and trial and error. I was asked yesterday by three different people how to take pictures of their Christmas tree. I am going to attempt to answer how I did it in as simplistic of terms as I can. I am sure there are far better tutorials out there, and definitely far more technical tutorials to be found. But here is what I do.
The camera I use is a Nikon D5000, and my current favorite lens (which has not left Roxy, my camera, since the day I purchased it!) is a Nikkor 35 mm. LOVE this lens. Love, love, love it.
Moving on.
So your lighted Christmas tree photos might be turning out like this....
(no sparkly glow - the flash sucked it all away {sad})
when what you are really wanting is a photo more like this.
The first photo was taken in auto mode on my camera with the flash.
Here is how I got the bottom photo:
Tip #1 Light your Christmas tree. Turn off all of the other lights in your room. I took this photo around 8ish, so it was completely dark out at this time.
Tip #2 Use a tripod or something to set your camera on. (You will want to do this anytime you begin slowing your shutter speed -which means your shutter will stay open longer in order to let in more light - and it is really hard to hold still enough to not shake your camera and blur your photo.) Jim has a really nice tripod, but I was feeling lazy, so I just propped my camera on some crates that I had.
Tip #3 Turn your camera to manual mode. This automatically turns off my flash on my camera. You want your flash off.
Tip #4 Change your ISO (for my camera I go to the menu to change ISOs). My room was dark except for the tree, so I changed my ISO to 3200 (as high as my camera will allow). You may want to play around with this for your camera and depending on what time of day it is.
Tip #5 Because I only had light from the tree in the room I wanted my lens open as wide as it could go in order to suck as much light in as I could. So this meant that I wanted to change my f stop (aperture) to the SMALLEST number. For my lens that is 1.8.
Tip #6 The last thing I did was change my shutter speed to 1/60 for this shot (I metered on my Christmas lights - if that does not make sense to you just keep adjusting your shutter speed and snapping until you like the look!).
Tip #7 Focus and shoot!
Voila! A {pretty} photo of a lit tree!
Let me know if you give it a try, if it helps, or if you have better/different tips to share!
(All photos are unedited - straight out of the camera)
I can hardly believe that my baby brother proposed over the Christmas season, to a beautiful, godly girl, and is getting married this summer! Benny is eight years my junior, and I feel as if I missed out on a big chunk of his childhood, being that I left for college when he was just ten years old. Despite that, I love him fiercely, and I could not be more proud of him.
He is currently in graduate school at Wheaton working towards his PsyD - an alternative PhD in psychology. His heart is enormous and his love for God is solid. He is compassionate, intelligent, creative (his proposal was so creative and romantic - I was super impressed!) honest, humble, and fun! It has been such a joy seeing the man that God is making him into.
And Breanne, although I have only spent a handful of moments with her, is absolutely the perfect match for my brother. She is kind, godly, compassionate, sweet, and beautiful to boot! They complement each other in such a lovely way.
My only knock on her is that she can hardly blow a bubble to save her life - which provided lots of laughter and great memories.
It was my great joy to be asked to photograph them while they were visiting for Christmas.
To stand behind the lense and focus on telling their story was priceless.
They gave me a moment of pure joy.
A gift.
(This is a Momentous Monday post. To learn more go here, and please feel free to link up with us right below!)
Let me start with my disclaimer - I am not a pro-photographer. In all honesty I am a momtographer - a mommy with a dslr who is passionate about capturing moments of my children's childhood. Everything I know is self taught. A lot of what I have learned is intuitive and trial and error. I was asked yesterday by three different people how to take pictures of their Christmas tree. I am going to attempt to answer how I did it in as simplistic of terms as I can. I am sure there are far better tutorials out there, and definitely far more technical tutorials to be found. But here is what I do.
The camera I use is a Nikon D5000, and my current favorite lens (which has not left Roxy, my camera, since the day I purchased it!) is a Nikkor 35 mm. LOVE this lens. Love, love, love it.
Moving on.
So your lighted Christmas tree photos might be turning out like this....
(no sparkly glow - the flash sucked it all away {sad})
when what you are really wanting is a photo more like this.
The first photo was taken in auto mode on my camera with the flash.
Here is how I got the bottom photo:
Tip #1 Light your Christmas tree. Turn off all of the other lights in your room. I took this photo around 8ish, so it was completely dark out at this time.
Tip #2 Use a tripod or something to set your camera on. (You will want to do this anytime you begin slowing your shutter speed -which means your shutter will stay open longer in order to let in more light - and it is really hard to hold still enough to not shake your camera and blur your photo.) Jim has a really nice tripod, but I was feeling lazy, so I just propped my camera on some crates that I had.
Tip #3 Turn your camera to manual mode. This automatically turns off my flash on my camera. You want your flash off.
Tip #4 Change your ISO (for my camera I go to the menu to change ISOs). My room was dark except for the tree, so I changed my ISO to 3200 (as high as my camera will allow). You may want to play around with this for your camera and depending on what time of day it is.
Tip #5 Because I only had light from the tree in the room I wanted my lens open as wide as it could go in order to suck as much light in as I could. So this meant that I wanted to change my f stop (aperture) to the SMALLEST number. For my lens that is 1.8.
Tip #6 The last thing I did was change my shutter speed to 1/60 for this shot (I metered on my Christmas lights - if that does not make sense to you just keep adjusting your shutter speed and snapping until you like the look!).
Tip #7 Focus and shoot!
Voila! A {pretty} photo of a lit tree!
Let me know if you give it a try, if it helps, or if you have better/different tips to share!
(All photos are unedited - straight out of the camera) Subscribe in a reader
I look at these photos, which I was adamant about capturing before Jim flew to Ethiopia, and all I can think about is that verse Matthew 6:20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.
We had not taken the time to still long enough to really freeze a portrait of our family these past six months. We have had one or two snapshots, but this photo was intentional and it just screams to me what God has done for us. It is far crazier to do "self" portraits with three kiddos, but we laughed and made it through with a few shots that I will cherish for the rest of my life. They remind me of why it is worth it all just to say yes to God and then to follow that yes - no matter where it takes me.
I am a slow learner, but these photos are a good reminder that it is all worth it - storing up treasures in heaven, letting earthly treasures fade.
I keep going back over the 900 plus images from the engagement shoot I did a few weekends back. I keep coming up with new shots that beg to be edited. This entry was one.
What I love about post-processing is the artistry. Now I know, and am the first to admit, I have a long way to go here, but I love taking an image and creating something beautiful, something.... more. I know in order to do this one must start with a good image, and I am working on that.
Before:
With this image I really wanted the person viewing it to notice the details - the curve of her cheek bone, his freckles, the shadows that accentuate the contour of their faces, her lashes, etc. I am not sure if I accomplished that or not. But I hope when you look at this portrait you feel the emotion, the intensity, the love in that moment of time that I saw through my lens.
After:
I hope I forever captured for Roger and Bethany a moment in time that is unforgettable.
I used my beloved Roxy (my Nikon D5000) for this shot with a Nikkor 18-55 mm lens. I edited in Photoshop CS3.
To see the artistry of others or to join in yourself head over to Monica's.
We are feeling our way through what a summer is "supposed" to look like and be like. Remember, my hubby and I have spent six out of our (going on) eight married summers at a summer camp where he was the program director. So the long sunny days that lazily loom ahead of us without any schedules or bells or people is rather....different.
And dare I say lovely? I am embracing this new phase of life with both arms.
I really desire for summers to be a special part of my childrens childhood. We have very special memories of our camp summers together. Why does being home during the summer have to be any different? I want our summer days to look very unique when next to our "rest of the year" days. I have been mulling this over in my mind trying to figure out how to do summer.
Our breakfast has taken on a summer look - yogurt and granola. I am thinking of even adding a few green smoothies once in awhile.
Our dinners have taken on a wardrobe change as well, as I learn to implement summer recipes.
Stuffed green peppers. One of my favorite recipes growing up. The dinner is simple when prepped ahead of time. I cooked my meat and scooped out my peppers a few days ahead.
Of course there are things that still have to be done - like housework and laundry and cooking, but I am going to loosen up a bit on those during the summer. Some nights we may even have ice cream - as our main course. And some days I may skip the laundry and the floors.
Our mornings will be spent lounging in our jammies just a bit longer.
And of course we will read tons of books. I can remember being a child and spending a large amount of my summers getting and reading new books from the library. We went together as a family yesterday. I indulged in a large stack of books for ME! I plan to enjoy every last one of them - guilt free. Cadi and I spent a long time this morning in the sun reading. {bliss} A mountain of books, the warm sun beating on our backs = summer.
I gave Cadi a summer trim today as well. I keep trying to talk her into an inverted bob - to no avail. So we did away with five inches instead. It's not too noticeable, but it is healthier now.
I hope this summer affords me opportunities to continue to get to know Roxie - my sweet camera. I worked on aperture and sunlight this morning and spent time with my daughter in the process. When I focus my lens on her I find my heart tuning into hers as well.
Scotty got in on the action a bit when he awoke from nap. Boy is he hard to capture lately! He is so lively and fun and active!
We were goofy for a bit on our porch swing. Growing up I had a huge pink mirror in my bedroom. We tried to sell it at our yard sale with no luck. It sits on our porch right now. (I think I may end up putting it in Cadi's room after all.)
I love the little hand print smears on the glass.
I love the little children that belong to those hand print smears.
I look forward to what's ahead this summer.
Little toes peeking out of sandals.
Long summer mornings spent with a good book and some iced tea.
Adventures at some nearby parks.
Afternoon walks around our small neighborhood.
Homemade popsicles.
Ice cream for dinner.
Dirty little bodies from a hard day's play.
The smell of sunshine in my childrens hair.
Tucking freshly bathed children into crisp, clean sheets.
There's this girl I know that holds a special place in my heart. I met her when she was just a freckled-face teenager working at our summer camp as a life guard. She is magnetic - a beautiful person - inside and out. Upon meeting her, I was immediately drawn to her, as was my daughter. Cadi adores this girl - Bethany. Cadi really thinks that Bethany is part of our family and her sister. Can I tell you a secret? I think the same thing - only that she is my sister. She is not. We have not a drop of the same gene pool, yet I love her exactly the same as if we did.
Saturday evening I had the amazing blessing of photographing Bethany and her fiancee' Roger. Their engagement shoot was fun, and special, and beautiful - everything that Bethany is. The way that Roger adores her is precious, and makes me so excited for their future. I cherished every moment behind the lens, remembering the freckled faced girl that first walked into my life, and marveling at the beautiful woman that I found my camera focusing on. Bethany loves God and desires to serve Him with her life. She has not always walked an easy path, life has not dealt her roses, but she continues to walk the path she has been given with grace. She amazes me and encourages me, and blesses me.
Here are just a few of my favorites from their shoot. (I took over 900. Roxy and I had a blast! To see all of the photos in Part 1 of their shoot, please go here.)
I love you, Bethany. I am so proud of you.
(If you are not familiar with Momentous Monday and want to learn more, please click here.)
This blog is my story - well God's story - of how He is taking a scared, shy girl on the adventure of a life time. He is writing a story over me that I didn't ask for, but it is more breath taking that I could have imagined. This is where I pen my story - all for God's glory. You are welcome here. The ending of this story will be a surprise for us both.
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Addis Ababa Time