The last day of the year

Ooh the last day of the year has come around.

I think I will have to look through my pictures when I get back home and see what improvements I have made through the year before I start planning out what I still need to learn and improve.

Books for Christmas

I have got some photography books for Christmas.

I will have to look through them and see if there is anything in them that can help me.

Sadly though as I thought there is no snow. If I would have stayed at home then I would have got the white Christmas that I would lvoe to have but not this year.

At least when I have hopefully moved to Canada then we will have lots of white Christmasses.

Let it snow

The snow arrived yesterday but while that was great there has not been any more. At least it has stayed cold so that what snow that fell is still there and is likely to stay.

It would have been a good opportunity to get lots of shots but sadly so far I have not really had the opportunity to do so (the last few days have been hectic for me)

At least I have been able to get some shots though and some from when it was snowing.

Reducing noise

Right my next mission is to find out how to reduce noise. I do not like using flash but of course I then end up with very noisy photographs when shooting indoors (like at my eldest sons nativity)

These are the best shots that I got of him. I was very fortunate that even though was several rows back I was able to get this shot.

 

Waiting for the snow

I have been told that there is snow due here soon. I am looking forward to it arriving as it will be lovely to photograph. Though it will be better once it has stopped snowing. I would like to get some nice snowflake shots. I think I will have to find out how I can get some.

I will be disappointed that I will not catch any snow this Christmas. I very much doubt that I will get any where we will be going. It is possible but I am not sure if I can remember seeing any snow there. At least next year I will be spending Christmas at home. Though not that I have ever seen any snow at Christmas either and of course it will be Murphy's law that states that we will have a te Christmas while we are away.

I do love taking pictures of frost as well but sadly we have not had much of that either.

I did get this shot recently of a frosty dead wild flower. I am pleased with how it has turned out.

New photography magazine

I went to the shops today and I was able to get the latest copy of Digital Photographer. I really need to subscribe to this so I do not need to rush out to the shops to get it.

It looks like it is going to be interesting this month. There are sections about Interior shots and getting perfect lighting. Even though I do not like using the flash I think it is good to still develop that skill in case I need to use it (there will be times when I will not be able to get away with not using the flash)

The going pro section is about securing sponsorship from manufacturers. That sounds something that would be really helpful for me (though that would be most helpful now as funds are short and there is always stuff that I am going to need) I will take that with me when I go away next week. I am not feeling well enough to read it tonight. Fluffy romance is the only thing that I will reading tonight.

I have been taking some shots of the sky today. I read that it is always good to have a collection of good sky shots for the times when nature does not provide them (darn that pesky nature for holding out on us when we need it, we are photographers...it should make everything perfect for us every time)

I am not sure what is causing it but there are a few specks on my pictures. It is either something on the lens or something on the mirror in the camera. I hope it is not the latter, as I have not needed to clean that yet and I am very nervous about doing it. I am not going to do it without a proper kit though. At least Photoshop will fix any problems that I come across (I love CS4)

Today I managed to get some nice sunset clouds (the sun had already set at not long past 3pm so I missed that as I was collecting the younglings from school)

I think I am going to have to find out how to get low light shots without the noise.

I really love photographing frost. I think it looks so pretty.

Sorting through my magazines

I get a couple of photography magazines a month, but I have got out of the habit of reading them.  I have still been buying them as I know that at some point I know that I will be able to look through and learn something from them.

Today I got all of my copies of Digital photo and Digital photographer that I have got. I sorted through them and took out the useful bits and put them in a folder so that at least I know where they all are and they will be kept in good contition as well.

My challenge of learning something new about Photoshop each day had to be put on hold due to other things that I have had to do first, and times when I have just been too tired. I think the best thing for me to do is to leave this challenge until the New Year when things have hopefully settled down.

Now we are into winter I have decided that I would see what interesting things that I can photograph. It is easy to get into the habit of thinking that Spring, Summer and Autumn are the only seasons to find anything interesting to photograph. But today when walking through the woods I thought the water drops on the dead wild flowers looked really interesting (especially with the spider webs there as well)

More sun shots

When the sun shines that is the time to make the most of it and get as many shots of it as possible.

I do not think I could ever get bored of taking pictures of sunrises, sunsets or the moon. I love looking at them normally. My youngest son was asking this morning why he could only see half of the moon. I briefly told him about the lunar cycles but I will have to show him a lunar chart to help him understand.

I think I will have to find out when the next lunar eclipse is.

I am going to have to give my lenses a good clean soon as I keep having to clone out marks on the pictures. Thankfully as they are only little and are easy to remove. Well easy to remove on the pictures that I have needed to remove them. I thankfully have not come accross anything that is challenging to remove.

Because I was taking shots of the moon I had my bigger lens on. This meant that I was able to get some close up shots of the sun. I used the bush to help break up the brightness of the sun. This also means that we can see the sun's shape.

The moon in the morning:

The morning sun:

 

Just when I think that...

That I will not get a sunrise this morning due to it being overcast the sun suddenly came out.

I was walking back from dropping the younglings off at school and nursery when I noticed that it had come out.

It was more challenging getting a shot of it as it had risen but I was able to get a shot of it from behind a bush, so that seemed to soften its glare. I am pleased with the shot I got of it.

 

Feeling inspired

Today for the first time I felt inspired when I was out taking pictures.

I have had some fun experimenting with low light photography. I did not have my tripod so I used a fast shutter speed. This created an interesting effect when I edited it in Photoshop. I think next time I go out I will take a tripod and see what I can get.

These are a couple of the shots that I got today:

 

Confident about mono

I am feeling more confident about my mono work and my landscapes. I think one thing that I can then do would be to sell mono landscapes. Hopefully they could sell as posters, cards and postcards.

I got an amusing shot of my son the other day. He found a scrap of material and he put it over his head. It reminded me of a picture of Lady GaGa I saw not too long ago.

Got some old pictures

Now that my partners computer is not working there is a spare monitor. I was then albe to put the laptop into his monitor. I can now access the stuff that is on the laptop.

It is always interesting looking at old photographs. It is a good way to see where I have improved and see what I did right then. Or maybe to remind me of something that I did then that I no longer do now and that I could start doing again.

It was also reminding me of a time when I did not use RAW. I could not imagine every using JPEG again as I think RAW is awesome but there was a time when I did not know about it. I need to find out how to edit JPEG files so I can also make the most of those pictures as I have found some nice pictures that I took.

It is also nice looking back at the spring and summer months and all the pictures of sunny days and flowers. Sometimes it feels when you are in those months that you have not had much of a spring/summer until you look back on all of the pictures and realize just how many days that we did have.

I wonder what I will have learned by the time next years flowers have some through.

Here is a picture of a Buttercup that I took in May:

Getting organized

I have started getting all of my magazines and stuff that I got from the photography course organized.

I have got most of the magazines in one place and I have got a folder to put the stuff in.

My son was not well a few weeks ago. I got a phone call to go and collect him from school. He lay on the couch and I wrapped him up in a sleeping bag. It was not too long before he fell asleep. He only falls asleep during the day when he is ill.

putting my college stuff together

I have decided that now that my college course has ended that I need to get all of my college work and put them together in a folder.

I have found one bit, so tonight I will be off to search for the rest of the stuff that I was given.

When I was at college on Tuesday I applied to get an ILA (individual learning account) the pack arrived today so I must make sure that I will it out so that I can get the next photography course paid for.

This was a shot that I took of the sunlight coming through the trees:

 

Sleeping beauty

Ok so I am biased but I managed to edited another picture tonight before I go to bed.

Learning to stop being so harsh

Last night was the last night of my photography course. I got a certificate as well.

I learned about layers.

I also learned that I need to stop being so harsh on myself. It really does not matter that others understood quicker how to get the sky transfer before I did. I did it in the end and that is what is most important.

I will be going on the advanced photography course in January. I think it would be good for me to get one it. I would also like to take a Photoshop course to help me with the editing.

I think I will have to look at the Photoshop book tonight once the younglings have gone to bed.

My confidence is beginning to return though. I am beginning to believe that I can become a professional photographer. I am still not sure what I will be doing but I just know that there is something out there that I can do.

I have also started thinking about outdoor portrait photography. I am not sure about children's photography at the moment but I think I will leave an open mind so that I start off doing something with a view of developing the skills at a later point.

I got this shot of the moon tonight. It is a lovely full moon. I am looking forward to getting a bigger lens so that I will not have to crop in so much. I am much happier with the shots that I have been getting. At least I have been able to capture the detail.

I got this shot of the younglings while we were walking to nursery and school. I always like seeing them walking along holding hands and I cannot resist taking shots of them doing so. It is also good experience at taking low light shots.

 

This is a shot that I got of the sun rising this morning. I am going to learn how to make a good job of cloning the line out of it.

 

The frost is here

Today is the first frost that I have seen this Autumn/Winter.

I love taking pictures of frosty mornings as it looks so beautiful.

Yesterday there was a full moon. I thought it looked so fu when I had collected my eldest from school.

 

 

 As we are getting closer to the shorted day the days are a lot shorter. I was able to catch a funky sunset last night as I was walking home from collecting my eldest from school.