Around Town

We recently discovered a nice little area with a walking/running trail along the waterfront after dropping our son off for his summer activities. Early (well, relatively early) in the morning, the water was very still and all the boats were still docked. Along the way, we noticed a heron who wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere--just waiting for breakfast, I suppose. He (at least I think it was a he) finally did step off his little perch and, very gingerly, started wading through the water cocking his head and quickly snapped a fish right out of the water. I missed that shot, of course, since I was playing around with exposure settings--ugh! But I think I managed to get a nice pose anyway.

I used CoffeeShop Web Diptych2 and MCP Finish It and MCP Quickie Collection actions to process the pictures.

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Mmmmm, Cupcakes!

Last February, we were invited to a friend's wedding reception. Katie was very exited that she got to wear her new pink dress. She was having a great time dancing and twirling and eating cupcakes, while her brother was off playing video games and watching TV with the other boys.
There was a beautiful display of a cupcake-tree Katie made several trips to and she actually sat still long enough to get some pictures (yay)
I bought the Finish It and Quickie Action Sets from MCP (love them) ad also used the free MCP Magic Blog It Board Action. I would love to buy the big version, but can't decide which one (Set 1 or 2). Ok, I'd really like both...and a couple others--boy my Wishlist is starting to get big!

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Happy 4th!

Well, I did my first Fireworks shoot and I think I managed to get a couple of good shots despite my uncooperative tripod! We spent the 4th at a friend's house where we had a great view of the water and the barge holding the evening's fireworks. I just set the camera to Manual mode, took off the Autofocus and played around with the Shutter speed. I think the best ones came out at around 2-4 seconds. The only reason I think some of the pictures came out blurry is that darned tripod--hint, hint :D I guess I'll be researching tripods to put on my wish-list next.
I also just bought the MCP FinishIt Action Set--wow, what a timesaver! If you need to get your pictures web-ready, branded, framed, whatever, this is the Action Set to use. Of course, now I want all the other MCP actions, too :D Boy, that wish-list is getting longer and longer!

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A Nifty Camera Accessory

A couple of weeks ago I saw on, I think, D-Town TV a review on the Zeh Photographic bounce. It is soft and flexible and slips right over your popup flash. Plus, I really like the fact that it fits in your pocket and literally takes seconds to set up, unlike the LightScoops, which need to slip into your Hotshoe. Don't get me wrong, I still like the LightScoops; but for a quick-and-dirty flash bounce, you can't beat the Zeh bounce. And--this is a big one--you really can't beat the price: $10 (plus Shipping). But wait, there's more; if you're a NAPP member, you get it for $8!! How's that for a sweet deal?

Here is a quick snap I took (indoors of course) with my camera's popup flash:

A bit too bright, don't you think?

And here's after I snapped on the Zeh bounce:

Looks pretty good to me.

These images are SOOC--no editing whatsoever (except re-sizing for Web).

Don't they look great? I've also found that I can use it outdoors as a quick fill-flash to give it just that little bit of extra highlight. You can get the Zeh bounce from the Zeh Photographic website, or check out their Facebook Page. Give them a try, I'm sure you'll find them very handy to have around.

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The local Wildlife

Lately, I started taking my camera on my walk around the office building after lunch, mainly to get more familiar with the new camera and the new lens, a Tamron AF 70-300 Macro Zoom (sweet). So, every day I try to look for something new and interesting to shoot. Yesterday, as soon as I stepped outside, I heard birds chirping nearby and started to look around. Sure enough, one bird (don't ask what kind because I have no idea, decided to take a break right in front of us. I think he (she?) was talking to another bird and didn't want to chirp and fly :)

I really like this lens. It does a fantastic job of capturing the subject and the resulting DOF and bokeh are great! I used to have to do some creative adjusting in Photoshop to get the DOF even close to what I'm getting now, which saves me a ton of post-processing time. That, combined with some really cool (and extremely useful) actions I got from the Pioneer Woman and CoffeeShop sites, gives me more time to work on the fun stuff, like adding textures.

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