Photogrpahy magazine arrived

The latest copy of digital photo has arrived today. It has a supplement with it about Photoshop. I must make sure that I get to read this tonight when the younglings have gone to bed.

Hopefully I will be able to learn how to add some funky effects to my pictures. There is also a section about layers.

Also featured in the magazine is something about low light shots.

I think it is a good month for what I would like to learn.

We have had some really pretty sunrises and sunsets recently. Here is a sunset picture that I got yesterday. I like how you can see the reflection in the puddle on the road.

Motivation

I know that I have got a lot to do and I know that time is always challenging to juggle, but I really need to set some time aside to read through my Photoshop book.

So I think I will have to set myself aside a challenge. For the next week I need to make at least half an hour to sit down and learn something new about Photoshop (especially layers)

Lets see what I can learn in the next week.

I was looking through some of my older pictures and I found this one from last month. I took this when I took the younglings shopping with me. It is easier for me to shop with them in a shopping trolley as at least I do not have to worry about where they are. I thought it would be fun to get a picture of them.

I decided to add a Christmas theme to this picture with the help of the funky extra seasonal features at Picnik.com

Sunrises

One of the things I love about this time of the year is that I can actually catch a sunrise. In the summer there is pretty much no chance that I can get one.

This was the sunrise that I caught yesterday morning as I was walking the younglings to nursery and school.

I have joined a photography club

 have been going to a photography club with one of my friends dad. I have enjoyed going there so I have joined the club.

They have got their own place with a studio. It is getting renovated at the moment but once it is finished it will be good to get shots taken there that I cannot get taken at home. It will also be good to enter the photography competitions as well and get inspiration from the other members.

Now that the nights are getting longer I am having limited time when to take natural light shots. I decided one late afternoon to get some shots of the street lights. As it has been raining a lot recently I liked the effect of the light reflecting.

What I like to photograph

My teacher asked me the other day what I liked taking picture of. I started thinking of the things that I like taking pictures of. I do like taking color pictures but I have grown to prefer mono pictures. I do enjoy taking pictures of landscapes but I also like macro shots. I do like taking portrait shots of animals but in a natural environment and I remembered that I also like taking pictures of objects that you normally would not notice and making them look interesting.

I took these pictures a couple of months ago when I was at college.

This picture is of a water pipe that leads to a hose that is there to put out fires:

This one is of an emergency chair for people who have difficulty walking.

This is the spring at the back of the pad which wheelchair users would use to open a door.

I just need to plan out how I can work a professional career around what I like taking pictures of. One thing that I could do is take portraits of peoples pets. Though I really could do with learning to drive before I do anything like that.

I could also sell pictures to be made into postcards, cards, posters etc. I think I would need to get an agent if I am going to do this. That would leave me to concentrate on getting more pictures and leave them to do the part of the job that I am not experienced with.

I just need to do my best to stay positive from now on.

Feeling better tonight

 have just got back from my photography course and I am feeling better. Chatting to my teacher helped a lot as well.

I was not sure what to do at the class today but I just had some fun editing some of my older pictures with Picnik and I added a festive theme to a couple of pictures. It was fun and it was nice to just do something silly. I think I need to do that more often.

Looking through older pictures

After asking for some advise about regaining my confidence in my photography I was given some good advise about what I could do.

One of those tips was looking at some of my older pictures and seeing them with new eyes.

I decided to do this today as I have not had much time to edit pictures and I have not even had time to look through the pictures that I have taken. I found some nice shots from the beginning of November. I am struggling to edit one of them as it is losing some of its color when I open it up in Photoshop. I will hopefully work something out but I have found one of my daughter that I like and I was able to edit it.

I am not feeling too bad today. I think if I can manage to get some focus then I think I will be at least half way to getting my confidence back. May the force be with me for doing that.

Walking through the wood with her doll Winter:

 

I like each version for a different reason. I also like that by just changing the effect it can change the feel of a photograph.

Not feeling too good today

I think I need to start looking at what kind of professional photographer I can be. I need to have something to aim toward. At the moment I just feel that I am just wandering aimlessly.

I also feel that I am not making any progress at all and while I am not going backwards I am not going forwards either. But then again ho can I go forward if I do not know where I am going.

I also think I am going to stop going on the forum that I normally post on as there are others who are getting on really well there. I think it is great that they are doing well and I hope that their success continues, but at the moment this is only making me feel like I should also be making progress and having more success than what I have done.

I also think I need to get some structure to what I am doing. I need to set some time aside when I can read the magazines and the books that I have. I have not looked at one of my magazines or books for a while now and that may also be contributing to how I feel. Even if I just get some inspiration then that would be good enough.

Even though I am feeling bad today I have still managed to get a picture edited. Here is it in color and in black and white. It is a step on the other side of the wood that I go through when taking the younglings to nursery and school. When the water was at its highest level it became a natural water feature (the local farmer had put the gravel down to fill the holes in the road)

 

I had a problem with Photoshop

Today when I was editing a picture that I took today when my photoshop shut itself down. I thought at first that it might have been connected to the problems that I am having with my computer but even after a restart it would not open.

I had a look on the Internet and I managed to find a solution to the problem. I was then able to download a programme that fixed it. I am so proud of myself for doing this as I normally wait for my partner to fix my computer problems (I had sent him a text to ask for help but I did not need it in the end)

This was the picture that I was editing at the time. It was taken as post of a photography challenge that I take part in on a Forum that I post on. The theme for this month is self portraits.

Mirror, mirror in the garden...

 

Flood water beginning to go

I was pleased that there was not much rain today as it was not fun walking in it yesterday.

I did manage to get some longer exposure shots with my tripod. I am quite pleased with how they have turned out. I did not manage to get the self portrait that I wanted to do but I can hopefully get that taken tomorrow.

I did get a shot of the sun shining through my favorite tree in the wood at the back of our home.

I have still not had any inspiration about what kind of professional career I will follow so I think I will ask my runes and tarot cards and see if they can offer any help. I think I will also look at what kinds of careers are available as well.

Here are some shots that I got today:







Here is my youngest son with his homemade lightsaber:

Flooding

It rained last night so I discovered that the wood at the back of my home and where I walk to take my children to school and nursery was flooded (I will take my tripod along tomorrow to get some long exposure shots)

It was good to be able to find something that I was glad to photograph. I enjoyed taking the photographs. I am not too sure about how they are turning out with the editing. I will see what shots I can also get tomorrow.

I managed to get a lot of shots taken and I have sorted through some of them and edited some as well. That is good considering that I was out in the evening at a photography club.

It has been raining all day and it is showing no sign of stopping so it will be interesting to see what the wood looks like tomorrow.

Here are three shots that I have have edited so far.

I am happy with this shot that I got on Monday. My friend offered to take me up to a place called Pillars of Herculies. They grow their own organic vegetables and have a cafe. It is a really funky place and I love the grass growing on the roof. The next time I go I will get some shots of the inside.

It has such a hippy feel to the place.

In color:



In black and white:



I do like how by just simply changing a picture to mono has such a dramatic effect on the feel of it. I like both versions.

I want to be a professional photographer

I decided that I wanted to become a photographer last year and I started getting out and taking pictures every day of anything that took my interest and taking part in a monthly challenge on a forum that I post on.

As I progressed I got better cameras and I now have a Nikon D80. I really like it and I have learned a lot about it and have started using the manual settings rather that rely on the portrait and landscape settings.

But recently I feel like I have lost my confidence in my photography. I just have not been able to get a shot that I am that happy with and I just do not feel like I am making much progress.

I thought I would start up this blog to hopefully get me through this and back on track again.

I think one of the things that bothers me is that I am not really sure what kind of professional photographer I would like to be. Once I have decided what I am going to aim for then I will be able to set out some structure to how to get there.

Even though I am taking an evening course on digital photography it is not helping. At least I am learning something. I would like to get on a Photoshop course at some point as I do think that I have a lot of improvement with my editing. I have also got a book that will also help me learn about Photoshop.

I am however happy with my black and white shots. I have really enjoyed creating black and white images. I think they can be so dramatic and some shots work so much better in black and white.

Here are a couple of shots that I am really happy with.





So just for now I am just going to make sure that I still take photographs and try and do my best to at least get one edited a day. I will also try to try something different when I get the opportunity.

May the focus be with me.