Pic A Day

New Moon

2009-09-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

I was playing around with the telesecope last night, and the moon was seriously lighting up the sky. Jupiter was incredible, too. I'm not skilled enough to get a photo of jupiter, but here is the new moon.

Taking a Break

2009-09-01T17:19:00.000-07:00

This has been a wonderful endeavor. I have learned so much about photography, and I have been so inspired by everyone's photographs, but the time has come for me to take a break. I love the 365 challenge, but I have to give my family and my work some of the energy that I have been putting into photography. I am not going to close down the blog, because I still hope to participate in forum challenges and post my entries here.

Thank you, thank you for all of your comments and support. I hope to have a little more time to visit blogs and leave comments. Happy Snapping!!

August 21, 2009 - (201) Not Your Mother's Tongue

2009-08-21T16:52:00.000-07:00

August 18, 2009 - Zoo

2009-08-18T06:49:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what kind of bird this is, but, up close, it was very interesting looking.

August 17, 2009 - Zoo

2009-08-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

What is a trip to the zoo without elephants?

August 16, 2009 - Zoo

2009-08-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

This is more like it. You go to a zoo to get a shot of a lion, not a dragonfly :)

August, 15, 2009 - Zoo

2009-08-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that I had to go to the zoo to get a shot of a dragonfly. The dragonfly was just sitting there waiting for me to shoot it. What could I do? I used topaz detail on it. Oh what fabulous sharpening. However...., it is slower than molasses in winter. It took over two minutes for "pre-processing."

August 10, 2009 - Unexpected

2009-08-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

Right in the middle of the festival, there was a couple getting married. It was so unexpected. Everyone was doing double-takes.

August 9, 2009 - Action

2009-08-09T19:07:00.001-07:00

Old Spanish Days - Fiesta Celebration 2009, Santa Barbara, CA

Don't miss the choreographer on the side egging the girls on.

August 8, 2009 - Clown (57)

2009-08-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

August 7, 2009 - Hook

2009-08-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

Challenge - Hook

August 6, 2009 - Discovery

2009-08-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

Both of my kids tried buggy-boarding for the first time. Here is my 8 year old, waiting for the perfect wave.

August 5, 2009 - Feathered or Feathers II (96)

2009-08-05T08:21:00.001-07:00

August 4, 2009 - Feathered or Feathers (96)

2009-08-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

I liked this photo, but there was, basically, no composition. So, I added a frame to make it a little more interesting.

August 3, 2009 - Refugio Beach, California

2009-08-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

Mystery Beach = Refugio Beach, CA

August 2, 2009 - Name That Beach

2009-08-02T08:55:00.001-07:00

I tend usually to crop with the horizon in the top or bottom 3rd, but I liked the rocks, so I left it alone.

This is an even more isolated part of the beach. It looked like the water comes up pretty dangerously high during high tide. I didn't want to test it.

August 1, 2009 - Name That Beach

2009-08-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

This is a part of the beach that people don't frequent very much. It is far away from the parking lot. You have to walk about 30 minute. There is lots of tar on the beach here, which is very difficult to get off of your feet and impossible to get off of your clothes. There are, also, lots of rocks, so there isn't much chance for beach volleyball. It is, however, a great place for pics. This is a tiny cave cut into the cliff by the surf.

July 31, 2009 - Name that Beach

2009-07-31T07:58:00.000-07:00

I just recently returned from camping near the beach. Does anywhere care to guess what beach this is? It is in California. I'll post photos over the next few days. This shot is the view from our campsite. You can see our pop up tent in the edge of the photo.

I like this shot, but this lens is not the greatest. You can always see fringing. I don't know if that is the right word, but I'm talking about that blue halo around anything of contrasting colors. Does anyone know how to deal with that in PSE?

July 30, 2009 - Smoke (289)

2009-07-30T13:47:00.000-07:00

I just got back from camping, so this one was easy.

July 27, 2009 - Candy

2009-07-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

A Child Hitting a Pinata

July 25, 2009 - Hours, Days (152)

2009-07-25T20:42:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to get a hummingbird shot for so.... long. I really want to freeze the wings, but I just don't think I can do it. I spent two days with the camera set up on a tripod with a remote. As I see it, I have two problems.
Problem #1: The feeder is always shaded. At ISO 800, my camera produces too much noise for the delicate features of the bird, and the shutterspeed necessary at ISO 400 is just too underexposed. The best I can do with my camera is 1/4000 which I think would be fast enough if I were in direct sunlight. I guess my only hope is to use a flash. I have no experience using a flash as a fill, but I will try. I hope I don't blind the poor bird.
Problem #2: The auto focus focuses on the feeder, rather than the bird, and I am not quick enough to get to the camera and focus manually. I'm using my macro lens with 2.8 aperture which means the focus really has to be right on. I have no theory as to how I am going to get around that problem. Humm...

July 24, 2009 - Costume (67)

2009-07-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

This is the last Ren Fair photo. I know I was supposed to end the series yesterday, but I couldn't resist showing you my little jester and peasant. The kids were so cute that they let them in free. I was so hot, I thought I was going to faint.

July 23, 2009 - Queen

2009-07-23T06:59:00.001-07:00

How could I end this series without a shot of the QUEEN?

July 22, 2009 - Dance

2009-07-22T07:14:00.001-07:00

These were my favorite dancers in this troop. Their dancing seemed authentic to me.

July 21, 2009 - Foreign (109)

2009-07-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

July 20, 2009 - Jousting

2009-07-20T07:05:00.001-07:00

July 19, 2007 - Renaissance Faire

2009-07-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

I wish that I had gotten better photos of the actual joust. I will show one tomorrow. I put the camera on the auto sport setting, which is almost never a fast enough shutter speed. I don't know why I thought this would be any different. Oh yes, it was that I was lazy and smoking hot in the crazy costume I was wearing.

Here is our Scottish hero.

July 18, 2009 - The Final Frontier - Mechanism (181)

2009-07-18T06:20:00.000-07:00

I visited the NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, recently. Here are some photos of the rocket that took the men to the moon. It is enormous!! Each photo shows a different segment(s) of it. Due to blogger logic, only the third photo enlarges.

July 17, 2009 - Canine Companion (41)

2009-07-17T06:21:00.000-07:00

Well, we've finally done it. We got a puppy. We went and saw this little gal and paid for her. We can't take her home yet, because, soon, we are going out of town. But, when we return, we'll take her home. My smallest son cried when we left. It was little condolence that soon she would be ours. We are thinking about names. Samba seems to be at the top of the list.

This dog is a Black Mouth Cur mixed with a Border Collie. That translates better as mutt, but I think she will make a good family dog.

Note: In effort to get this photo to enlarge, I published it twice in two different sizes. Nothing seems to work. If anyone has any ideas, please pipe in. Blogger enlarges randomly, from what I can tell.

P.S. Now, I tried it one more time, with the first size that I uploaded, and it is enlarging. I really think that it is just luck.

July 16, 2009 - Lock

2009-07-16T06:58:00.000-07:00

A barge waiting to exit the Murray Lock and Dam in Little Rock Arkansas

July 15, 2009 - Sunset

2009-07-15T06:53:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting for a sunset photo. I've tried many times. Finally, I got on I like. this is a photo of the bridge.

July 14, 2009 - Reflections

2009-07-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

I took this photo from a bridge called "The Big Dam Bridge" in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is an incredible impressive structure. It is the longest pedestrian/bicycle bridge ever built, and it is also the only bridge ever built into a Dam.

July 13, 2009 - Reflection

2009-07-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

I'm back from vacation and what fun it was. I went to Arkansas and Texas with my boys to visit family. I didn't bring my DSLR. All of the photos were taken with a Panasonic DMC-FZ8.

When I saw this swamp I just loved it, and I made my family stand in front of it to take a photo. Personally, I think that the reflection is beautiful, but everyone did NOT agree. Some people just can't seem to appreciate green slime :)

July 6, 2009

2009-07-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

I'm out of commission for at least a week--vacation. I'll be back next week to catch up on blogs and start posting again.

July 4, 2009 - Mist

2009-07-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

More camping photos:

July 2, 2009 - Skipping Rocks

2009-07-02T06:06:00.000-07:00

I went camping recently and took some photos. I really, really worked hard for this shot. My kids love to skip rocks, and I have lots of photos of their backs or side shots of them skipping rocks. However, on this camping trip, I noticed that there was a peninsula not too far away that I could hike to and take a photo of the kids from the front. So I put the camera, tripod and the big lens in the backpack and went the long way around to the peninsula to take photos. We worked up a sign language so that I could tell them when to throw. What we 365ers won't do for a photo :)

July 2, 2009 - Skipping Rocks

2009-07-02T06:05:00.000-07:00

This is a shot of where I went to to take the photos.

June 30, 2009 - Rockin in the Free World

2009-06-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

My husband played at a festival Friday. It was lots of fun. I cropped this photo to take advantage of the cool backdrop.

Here is a YouTube Link to one of the songs: Neil Young's Rockin in the Free World

June 28, 2009 - Famous Authors

2009-06-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

I am reading this to my kids. My oldest could easily read it himself, but they still like me to read to them.

June 26, 2009 - Dandelions

2009-06-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

June 24, 2009 - More Swim Lessons

2009-06-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

June 24, 2009 - More Swim Lessons

2009-06-24T12:29:00.001-07:00

June 22, 2009 - Two Left Feet

2009-06-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

Challenge: Mismatch

I came back from the store with two left feet.

June 21, 2009 - Swim Lessons

2009-06-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

June 19, 2009

2009-06-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

The posts on Monday through today are all from the grounds of the same beautiful home (not mine :) This is the last of them.

June 18, 2009

2009-06-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

This shot had a difficult exposure. Since I had to edit it pretty extensively, anyway, I figured I would just go all the way. I used the dramatic topaz filter.

June 17, 2009

2009-06-17T06:10:00.000-07:00

I saw a picture similar to this on one of the blogs, so I can't take any credit for creativity, but here is my stab at it.

Sony A350
Lens: Sony 18-70mm f3.5-5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/160 second
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 100

July 16, 2009

2009-06-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

Sony A350
Lens: Sony 18-70mm f3.5-5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/320cond
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 100

June 15, 2009 - Knot

2009-06-15T07:02:00.000-07:00

I know the knot challenge is over. I should get over it, but yesterday, I found the knots, so here they are---sadly, too late.

June 14, 2009 - Featherd Friend

2009-06-14T06:05:00.000-07:00

I don't know anything about birds, but this one landed in my yard and stuck around long enough for me to snap a shot.

Sony A350
Lens: Sony 18-70mm f3.5-5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/800 second
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 200

June 13, 2009 - The Sweet Taste of Freedom

2009-06-13T06:16:00.000-07:00

As I promised, the boys freed the frog. My younger guy had to be convinced, though. He cried...

Sony A350
Lens: Sony DT 18-70mm f3.5-5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/400 second
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 200

1/640 sec

June 12, 2009 - Captive

2009-06-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

My son caught this little guy. I told them that we have to let him go, today.

Sony A350
Lens: Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 Macro
Shutter Speed: 1/2 second
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 200

June 11, 2009 - Morning in the Park

2009-06-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

Sony A350
Lens: Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 Macro
Shutter Speed: 1/320 second
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 400

June 11, 2009 - Morning in the Park

2009-06-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

Morning in the park

I think the only way the photos will enlarge is to put them in separate posts.

Sony A350
Lens: Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 Macro
Shutter Speed: 1/800 second
Aperture: f/3.2
ISO: 400

June 10, 2009 - Kindergarten Graduation

2009-06-10T06:09:00.000-07:00

I could post a lot of cute graduation pics. All of the kids were ADORABLE, and they put on a show! They recited the names of all of the presidents. They said bible verses. They sang songs, not kids songs like Jesus loves me. They sang Hail to the Chief. They read from books. They did mental math. They dressed up like kids from other countries and gave short speeches describing their country. They had to have a costume change to put on these robes. I got my money's worth :)

Sony A350
Lens: Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 Macro
Shutter Speed: 1/125 second
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 400

June 9, 2009 - Sense of Motion (275)

2009-06-09T09:37:00.001-07:00

The boys were pretending to race, and they were quite serious. It was fun to watch.

Sony A350
Lens: Minolta 50mm f/1.5
Shutter Speed: 1/160 second
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 100

June 8, 2009 - Feline (97)

2009-06-08T06:02:00.000-07:00

Just as I was leaving the park, I came across this cutie. The gal holding the cat was trying to find her a home. The girl's Dad was adamant that she could not bring the cat home, because they had four cats. She had already tried the humane society, but they were full. She was meeting a friend that she hoped to entice into taking the cat. I love cats, but my family is allergic. It was an adorable kitty, though.

The fstop was still at F-11 from the previous shots. The cat is adorable, but I probably should have softened the focus on that arm a bit. I brightened the cat's eyes with coffeeshop's powderpuff action and used coffeeshop's color pop action. I love both actions. The colorpop action has a fantastic sharpening feature (I like it more than unsharp mask.) and a nice the vignette.

June 7, 2009

2009-06-07T06:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's photo came out of the camera very nicely. I messed with it a little, but it was genuinely a good photo with nice exposure. Comparatively, I went to a park less than a mile away and took a photo within five minutes of the photo in yesterday's post and the clouds were completely blown. What went wrong?---a litany of things. The main thing is that, with the first shot, I used my histogram. My interpretation of the histogram can lead me to overexpose sometimes, but more often than not, I get a better exposure with the histogram. When I moved locations, I wasn't thinking. I didn't use the histogram. I just snapped. If I would have thought about it, I would have known the bridge and shadows were going to be a problem for the auto metering. When I looked at the photo, I could tell the clouds were blown, but I didn't have time to figure the shot out. It turned out to be salvageable, but I'm most gratified when I take a good shot, not when I create one. I blended exposures creating different exposures with my raw settings. This usually works out better for me than taking different photos with different exposures. Can you tell along the tree line? I'll answer that, yes, you can tell along the tree line. It isn't the most natural transition in the world. I guess I could do better if I would have taken more time, but, as it is, this photo has probably taken up half my life not to mention the longest post in history :) Would I ultimately get a better product if I took different photos with different exposures rather than working with the same photo?

This one enlarges

2009-06-07T06:24:00.002-07:00

June 7, 2009

2009-06-07T06:24:00.001-07:00

Here is the original photo without processing. I used this one for the exposure of everything except the sky.

June 6, 2007 - In My Neighborhood

2009-06-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

We have a community open space where I take lots of photographs of my kids. Since the clouds were so pretty today, I thought it would be a good day to get a shot of it.

Sony A350
Lens: Minolta 50mm f/1.5
Shutter Speed: 1/100 second
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 100

June 5, 2009 - More Angels

2009-06-05T06:11:00.000-07:00

More experimentation...

June 4, 2009 - Angels (11)

2009-06-04T05:58:00.000-07:00

I tried a couple of different things here. What is your preference? With this blog, I can never tell if the photo will enlarge or not. Hopefully, they will enalrge when you click. I can not figure out for the life of me why sometimes the photos enlarge and sometimes they don't. I have experimented uploadeding in small, medium and large. Now, I just upload in medium and it's hit or miss.

Sony A350
Lens: Minolta 50mm f/1.5
Shutter Speed: 1/4000 second
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 200

June 2, 2009 - Shell

2009-06-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

Challenge - Shell

Sony A350
Lens: Minolta 50mm f/1.5
Shutter Speed: 1/640 second
Aperture: f/4.5
ISO: 100

My children LOVE snails. They always have several snails in a shoebox.

May 31, 2009 - Unexpected

2009-05-31T10:15:00.000-07:00

I thought that I would try to do Tammy's challenge, so I went out to my garden to take pics of flowers for pop art. While I was out there, I got a few shots of this bee. It is a good thing that I got shots of the bee, because my attempt at pop art was a bust.

Camera Data: Sony A350
Lens: Minolta 50mm f/1.5
Shutter Speed: 1/640 second
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 200

May 29, 2009 - (265) Rolling

2009-05-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

It was a bleak day for the beach, but it was great day for a hike. Some friends and I took a long trail over a BIG hill to the beach. Getting there was no problem, but the hike back was so hard. Even through the fog, the view was beautiful. When it is clear, the view is spectacular. I am going to try and wait until I take photos on a clear day to post pics of the view from the hike, but here is one of the "rolling" tide.

Camera Data: Sony A350
Lens: Minolta 50mm f/1.5
Shutter Speed: 1/640 second
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 200

When we finally got to the beach, I wanted to stay longer. But it had taken 2 hours to get there and everyone had things to do, so we stayed just long enough for me to take a few pics and then we were off. It was awesome to be on a semi deserted beach. Usually the beach is teaming with people. There were people, but definitely room to stretch out.

(208) From the Road

2009-05-27T06:12:00.001-07:00

208 is, actually, "On the Road," but this shot is "From the Road." It was very windy.

Camera Data: Sony A350
Lens: Minolta 50mm f/1.5
Shutter Speed: 1/500 second
Aperture: f/6.3
ISO: 200

Note to Ron: I haven't forgot about your request for more info on the wedge. Since the last telescope photo, it has been foggy every single day. When I get the telescope out again--I'm on it.

May 25, 2009 - Memorial

2009-05-25T06:14:00.000-07:00

This is at the site of a fatal car accident that happened about five years ago. The car hit a light pole and three of the occupants were killed. All of the victims were teenagers.

This tragedy had a tremendous imact on the community.

May 23, 2009 - Wall

2009-05-23T07:27:00.001-07:00

Challenge: Public Art

Camera Data: Sony A350
Lens: Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 Macro
Shutter Speed: .8 seconds
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 400

May 21, 2009 - Blowing Off Steam

2009-05-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

With all of the budget cuts, work has been stressful. It was a welcome bit of fun to celebrate a colleague's (and friend's) birthday. As if you couldn't guess, the birthday gal is wearing a mustache.

Camera Data: Sony A350
Lens: Minolta 50mm f/1.5
Shutter Speed: 1/80 second
Aperture: f/2.2
ISO: 400

Several us us gave our best "come hither" look, but I don't think we are the sexiest bunch. I did get one "diva" shot.

Camera Data: Sony A350
Lens: Minolta 50mm f/1.5
Shutter Speed: 1/80 second
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 400

My internet connection has been temperamental this week. That is the reason for the late posts. I have no idea what is wrong with it.

May 19, 2009 - Footware (107)

2009-05-19T21:18:00.001-07:00

As luck would have it, the season is almost over, but we had to buy my son new cleats.

The cleats are black and white and the background was white, but my white balance was a little off, so I converted the photo to b/w and masked to reveal the red lacing.

Camera Data: Sony A350
Lens: Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 Macro
Shutter Speed: 1/4 second
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 100

May 17, 2009 - Public Art

2009-05-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday was open house at my school. I was lucky enough to capture some of the students painting murals for the event.

Camera Data: Sony A350
Lens: Minolta 50mm f/1.5
Shutter Speed: 1/640 second
Aperture: f/3.2
ISO: 100

May 14, 2009 - Messier 3

2009-05-14T05:49:00.000-07:00

I few days ago. I finally got the first item that I need to do atrophotography, a wedge. This is my first shot with it. This is Messier 3, a globular cluster in Canes Venatici. My husband and I worked for hours to figure out how to polar align the wedge, which must be done to make the thing useful. We didn't do the best job. You can tell, because the stars are still a little elongated. However, I know we'll get better. I've been doing some research. Hopefully, we will get back out this weekend. I'll post a photo of the wedge and more info about it as well as well as a comparison shot.

Camera Data: Sony A350
Lens: Prime focus with CPC 800
Shutter Speed: about 4 min
ISO: 800

May 12, 2009 - Controls (64)

2009-05-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of the back of a my husband's guitar amp.

Camera Data: Sony A350
Lens: Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 Macro
Shutter Speed: 10 second
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 200 MM
ISO: 100

May 10, 2009 - Topez Filter

2009-05-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

I downloaded the free trial of the topez adjust filter, so I tried it out on this photo.

Filter + crop (above)

Original

I really don't need another plug in, but I may not have the will power to resist. It was so easy to use.

On a different subject--I upgraded to PSE 7. At first I thought that the new masks were great, until I looked at the photos at 100%. There is no feathering on the selection so the start and end points of the mask are readily visible. Now that I think about it, maybe there is a way to tell it to automatically feather the selection. Maybe I will post that question. Anyhow, I have about a million actions in PSE 6 that I will never have the time to transfer, so I rarely even open 7. That was a complete waste of $50. I am very disappointed with it.

Friday, May 8, 2009 - My Rose Garden

2009-05-08T06:57:00.000-07:00

This is a purple rose called Ebb Tide. The color, in the photo, isn't as true to life as I hoped. The rose is actually purple. That is why I wanted to photograph it. The auto white balance on my camera isn't very accurate. I should have used a gray card. I felt rushed, because I wanted to get the photo before the dew vanished, but the result is pink, instead of purple.

Camera Data:Sony A350
Lens: Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 Macro
Shutter Speed: 2.5 second
Aperture: f/32
Focal Length: 200 MM
ISO: 100

f/3.5, Exposure 1/60

MAY 6, 2009 Challenge - Litter

2009-05-05T20:22:00.000-07:00

Challenge - Litter: I went to the baseball field for litter, and there was plenty!!

Camera Data:Sony A350
Lens: Sony DT 18-70mm f3.5-5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/100 second
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 70 MM
ISO: 100

May 4, 2009 - Afternoon Siesta (88)

2009-05-04T06:45:00.000-07:00

Camera Data:Sony A350
Lens: Tamron 70-200 Macro
Shutter Speed: 1/100 second
Aperture: f/13
Focal Length: 70 MM
ISO: 100

This shot was, completely, unintended. I was after something totally different. While I was thinking about the shot that I intended, I told my son he could close his eyes, because the sun was bright. I just snapped a few, because I thought he looked cute--like he was sleeping.

May 2, 2009 - Cheap Eats

2009-05-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

Challenge: Cheap Eats

Camera Data:
Sony A350

Lens: Tamron 70-200 Macro
Shutter Speed: 1/4000 second
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 160 MM
ISO: 800

I knew exactly what I wanted to take a photo of and how I wanted the pic to look as soon as I saw the challenge, but getting my kids to do what I needed was the most challenging part. I had my little guy hold the hose and my 8 year old hold the apple, but it was cold and windy. By the time I got the shot all three of us were wet and cold. Not to mention that I made them do it twice, because I thought I had the shot, but when I looked at it on the computer, it wasn't what I wanted. By the time I decided that we needed to do it again, one of the kids had eaten the apple. (Just their luck, I found another in the back of the frig :)

The problem I had with the shot was figuring out the right aperture and ISO to blur the background but keep the water and apple sharp. I started with ISO 400, but, then, I upped it to 800 with the second go around. (800 is about the highest ISO I use with my camera. Anything higher produces too much noise for my taste.) If I would have had cooperative assistants, I would have experimented more, changing the aperture to f4 or f5 to see what happened. I also wasn't, totally, happy with the way the apple was being held, but my little guys were doing the best they could :)

APR 30, 2009 - Typographical Error

2009-04-30T06:45:00.000-07:00

A student found this typo in our history book.

APR 28, 2009 - New (198)

2009-04-28T06:44:00.000-07:00

My older son (8 yrs. old) came home and said that he had taken a walk to see baby owls, at school. Of course, I was intrigued. So he and his teacher were nice enough to show me where they were so I could get a pic. My younger son went with us. He has just gotten glasses, but he didn't have them on. When we got home, I asked him how did he like seeing the owls. He said that he didn't see anything, just a glob of white. I was so sad. I showed him the 8 X 10 I made of this for his teacher. He said the photo was much better than real life, but, really, those owls were so cute. I wish he had seen them.

APR 26, 2009 - The Band

2009-04-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

I have to say, I love, today's, photo. My husband has played in a band for many years, and I don't have very many pics of him in action. My neighbor was nice enough to watch my kids for a little while, last night, so I could snap a few shots. OK, so I danced once, but most of the time it was all about business.

Also, I would like to give a shout out to Bethany the proprietor of Elegant Word Art. She made me a beautiful, new, signature for my photographs. She gives away plenty of free word art, so if you do digital scrapbooking, she's a great find.

And finally, I want to let everyone who checks my blog know that I will be posting every other day from now on. I am going to check other blogs on the days that I don't post. I have to lessen the load. I am really excited about the change though, because I know that this will, really, make it easier for me to keep on snapping!

APR 25, 2009 - Wind

2009-04-24T16:59:00.000-07:00

Challenge: Wind

Apr 24, 2009 - On the Water (209)

2009-04-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

APR 23, 2009 - Sunbathing

2009-04-23T18:06:00.001-07:00

APR 22, 2009 - Places of Worship (269) - Mission Santa Inez

2009-04-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

This Mission has a wonderful, outdoor, Stations of the Cross.

The circle that you, occasionally, see on my photos is a dreamstime watermark. These photos don't have a watermark, but you can see the same watermark on the photos from the April 14 post.

APR 21, 2009 - Doors (79) California Missions - Mission Santa Inez

2009-04-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

Doors: Mission Santa Inez

April 20, 2009 - Church

2009-04-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

The answer is...

April 19, 2009 - Take a Guess

2009-04-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

What do you think goes on in this building? Take a guess. The answer will be revealed, tomorrow.

April 18, 2009 - Strawberry Stand

2009-04-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

April 17, 2009 - Sign (282)

2009-04-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

I'm going camping today, so I have set the blog to publish automatically. I won't be taking my computer, checking any blogs or leaving comments until I get back. I hope everyone has a fun weekend!

APR 16, 2009 - California Missions - Old Mission Santa Inez

2009-04-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

I went to the Mission in Santa Ynez, yesterday. It is a small Mission. It, evidently, is only open on Sundays, so I didn't get to go inside, but the views from the grounds were beautiful. They look like they will be a good submit for the challenge this week. I'm posting this a little early, because I know I will be busy, tomorrow.

Challenge: Lines

APR 15, 2009 - Lines (172)

2009-04-15T06:16:00.000-07:00

This is school art project barely made it home. I found it in the bottom of the bookbag.

APR 14, 2009-Weights and Measurements (355)

2009-04-14T06:53:00.000-07:00

This is an educational toy that I used with both my boys. You can use it to teach color, weight, addition, subtraction, sorting, etc. I think I liked playing with it more than them.

I'm sorry if I messed up the feeder, yesterday. I was messing around with some older posts.

APR 13, 2009 - One Dozen

2009-04-13T06:47:00.000-07:00

April 12, 2009 - Easter

2009-04-12T06:28:00.000-07:00

This is my Easter tree. Each ornament has a name on it, and we put an ornament on each day. We pray for that person, especially, all day on the day we put the ornament on the tree.

APR 11, 2009 - Spring (300)

2009-04-11T13:15:00.000-07:00

APR 10, 2009 - Companion (61)

2009-04-10T06:21:00.000-07:00

These little guys, sit on my desk at work.

APR 9, 2009 - Big Events (6)

2009-04-09T06:53:00.000-07:00

My kindergarten son won a speech contest in October at his school. He dressed up as Jesse Owens and gave 3 minute, memorized speech as if he was Jesse Owens. The principal of his school requested that he say the speech again at a school event. The principal gave us less than a weeks notice, so I was less than enthused. I didn't want to put the pressure on him to learn the speech again in such a short time. I didn't say no at first, but after I talked it over with my husband, we decided to decline. However, my son's teacher had asked him directly, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. I didn't want to help him learn it, so he asked me to print it out, and he read the speech over and over on his own. He learned it again, and he performed it perfectly at the event. I was so proud of him.

Just as the principal was singing his praises after he sat back down with us at a big table in the front, he let out the biggest BURP, then he started to laugh. (He claims it was an accident, but I don't believe him. He just learned to burp and he does it ALL the time.) Then, my husband started to laugh. Then, my other son started to laugh. No one else was laughing--just them. Eventually, I gave signal to my husband make a run for it, but my husband was really slow to get the hint. The whole thing was really funny and embarrassing, at the same time.

APR 8, 2009 - Little League

2009-04-08T06:21:00.000-07:00

Thumbs up: All is well on first base.