73/365: I Love her Eyes

Erica to allow me to take several pictures of her today. Erica inherited more of her Dad's caucasian features, including light brown / hazel eyes.


I only dodged a smidge around her eyes - we had ample light in the dining room this afternoon.



So I'm biased - I think she has lovely eyes.

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58/365: Funny Hannah?

We are lucky Hannah is such a good natured kitty - she puts up with a lot.

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54/365: Just the Girls Today

Another self portrait. Can you tell it is another gloomy winter day?


Kathleen's back - she and Erica watched the movie "Stardust" in the Master bedroom. At least that where they started out - the DVD player in the bedroom showed a lot of static, so about 30 minutes into the film, they relocated to the Family room. Of course, Kathleen spent the night.

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49/365: Special Baptism

A very special day for Erica - today she publicly professed her belief in Jesus and was baptized by Scott.

One of my favorite pictures from today - playing the waiting game.


After being immersed:

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46/365: Love and Kisses

Since Erica is adverse to being in photos, I asked her to pose for this shot, where she would be blurry and the Hershey Kiss would be in focus.

OK, so the Kiss isn't quite in focus, but I only got two shots at it (that's the attention span of a 6th grader) and this one was the better of the two shots.

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44/365: Soccer "Practice"

Today's soccer scrimmage started at dusk, after Scott arrived home. He challenged the kids to a pick-up game, which quickly degraded to a feet version of "keep away".

Erica wasn't fast enough, so Brian stole the ball from her.


Note - the Wal-Mart smiley ball is really a volleyball, but the kids are all about re-purposing their stuff.

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SS Photo Challenge Week 6 - Rule of Thirds

In this week's ScrapShare Photo Challenge, we played with Composition, utilizing the Rule of Thirds.

To illustrate this basic principle, I took two generic pictures of my daughter sitting with her cat in the middle of the yard - nothing spectacular, and the only pictures my daughter will tolerate these days.

For the first picture, I placed them directly in the center of the viewfinder.


In the second picture, I placed her in the lower third of the scene.


Yeah, even with a plain picture, the one employing the rule of thirds looks more interesting (well, at least to me).

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32/365: Rite of Passage

Following the genes of her parents, Erica has been "blessed" with too many teeth. Both Scott and I endured braces as adolescents, so it didn't surprise us that she, too, would go through the same Rite of Passage.

The process started Monday, with X-rays and teeth molds. Remember those molds? Guncky, gritty, sticky, clay-like substance they put in a tray and then into you mouth. The top mold always set off that gag reflex. I remember it all too well. Nowadays, the materials set in one minute and they have flavors.

Today, Erica had her Brackets glued on. Again, I had to suffer through banded braces. The orthodontist had the brackets set on the top row of her teeth to start.


Next step: 4 teeth need to be extracted and then the wires go on. They estimate she'll be in the braces for two years. That's the amount of time I had them in, and they were worth the pain and hassle. That's what I continue to tell Erica.

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22/365 - That's the Appreciation I get

Erica has been complaining all winter long about the winter coat she has been forced to wear. She outgrew last year's coat and refused to wear the bigger coat I purchased several years ago (PSA - NEVER buy in advance) because it was too "poofy". I offered up one of my spare fleece jackets (it was the least poofy thing in the closet), and I have been on the lookout for something on sale.

Yesterday I found a nice Columbia three-in-one jacket that didn't cost an arm and a leg. We went to the store today and she approved (Hallelujah!). We purchase. We drive home. Then what does she do? She separates the inner fleece jacket from the outer shell and wears it. It looks *just like* the other winter coat she has been complaining about.

I took her picture and she wasn't happy about it. She thinks I am the meanest mother. Too bad.



Gotta LOVE this age.....

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3/365: Night Portrait Setting

The first Project 365 Challenge at ScrapShare was posted this morning. Over the next week, we are to use the Automatic settings on the camera. This is something I hardly ever do, but this evening, I used the Night Portrait Setting on my D70 to photograph Erica and Kathleen playing a Nancy Drew Mystery Game, the Creature of Kapu Cave.



I then checked out the settings the Night Portrait used and shot the same general scene, using Aperture Priority Mode. I learned that the Night Portrait uses the Slow Sync flash, something I should use more often in low light, or at least at home for static pics.



Today's takeaway - the scene modes are a good starting point to learn more about how the camera handles different exposure situations, and then you can use that information in the Manual modes.

1st picture EXIF:
Shot in Night Portrait Scene Mode
Exposure: 0.333 sec (1/3)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 70 mm
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

2nd picture EXIF:
Shot in Aperture Priority
Exposure: 0.4 sec (2/5)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 70 mm
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

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