Beth V Photography Class: Day 10 "Far"

Day 10's assignment was "far"... And I totally agree with what Beth said... All pictures don't have to be tight close up shots. Some of my favorite pictures I've taken or that a friend of ours took are pictures with more "background".

Last night Mackie wanted to play soccer with BK and I took my camera out there hoping to get a cool shot of them playing. Well I had to bump my ISO up so high and my shutterspeed so low because of the light, that any motion was a crazy blur.

BUT!! I got a precious pictures of Dylan watching Mackenzie playing on the swingset! So I was pleased!

Check out those fat elbows!! LOVE IT!! And his UTTER devotion to his sister! :)

ISO 800, 1/25, f/5.6

Beth V Photography Class: Day 9 "Near"

The assignment for day 9 was near... The challenge was to think outside the box... not just a close up of a precious little face!


Saturday when we were playing outside in the new "pool", I thought what a good way to let Mackenzie show off her new $1 pool toy... Ha!

I'm pretty happy with the way this one turned out...

ISO 200, 1/250, f/5.6

Beth V Photography Class: Day 8 "Light"

I'm actually writing this post on Sat night as opposed to Sunday because I'll be spending Easter Sunday with my family celebrating The Light of the World.

Again I'm still a little behind on my assignments... But that's ok I'll be catching up over the next couple of days. This assignment was light and we were challenged to try out backlight. I'm still not sure if what I got is a good example or just lucky since Mackenzie's hair is so blonde!

I didn't get what I was looking for, but I'm ok with the outcome, and as always my precious subjects! For the record, I wanted more of a hazy look but that didn't happen... Ha! I have some pictures kinda like that, that I took at the Easter Egg Hunt a few weeks ago, but they weren't taken on manual so they don't really count... :)

All 3 were take at ISO 200, 1/250, f/5.6

I like this pic because she's looking off to the side (probably at her Daddy or Brother).

I love the different persepective of this one! I guess its not different when I take a lot of pictures at weird angles these days... Ha!

Again, I'm not sure if I did a good job with back lighting or if its just the blonde hair throwing me off. Again, kinda hard to backlight when the pool is almost directly over the pool! Ha!

Beth V Photography Class: Day 7 "Shadows"

Last week was a crazy week to say the least... I had something every night it seemed, and the night I didn't, it was cloudy and raining, so there wasn't any chance to take a picture with shadows!

I knew there was very little chance that I'd get all 3 of my crazies in a picture together, so I first started with the kiddo who I could try to con into a cool shadow picture. However, she wasn't feeling it and it ended up with me having to apologize for getting frustrated with her.

Soooooo, I thought I'd get a precious picture of Dylan and Brian standing and holding hands, but NOPE! Dylan wasn't having it and was ready for his uncharacteristic second nap of the day. So Brian tried to put him on his shoulders for a pic, but again, he wasn't having it.

But I ended up with a cute picture that showed exactly what was going on... Brian wresting Dylan. Which turned out funny. And just goes to show... the best planned pictures just don't turn out perfectly alot of times! :)

ISO 200, 1/250, f/5.6

Watching Daddy

Monday night I braved it for the first time and took both kids to the softball field to watch BK play softball. Ironically, it was the first time Dylan had been out there, however Mackenzie was out there before she was 2 weeks old!! But Those were the days where he played in 2 leagues and played almost every other weekend... My how a few years and a broken finger while playing softball can change things...





Can't catch me!



Daddy, can I come in?




Cup? Or ball? Hmmmm....




Let me out there!




Watching her Daddy!

Think I'll keep him!

Hubby scored some brownie points today!

Beth V Photography Class: Day 6 "Loud"

Today's assignment was "Loud"... There is no shortage of Loud in my house! I don't call it Crazy Kennebeck Land for nothing! However, catching Loud on camera is a totally different story!

I thought I had a brilliant idea... Take the kids in their playroom in front of their window and tell them to scream their hearts out! (Because I knew there was NO chance I'd get them at their favorite loud activities... dinner time, chasing each other, dumping Dylan out of his chair onto the carpet...)

Mackenzie thought it was an awesome idea and she was all about it! However executing it in was a whole different story. And I sure wasn't going to be able to get them both in the same shot in good light without blur screaming!

I deleted a TON of pics and there is one from Mackenzie I kept. And I also threw in a picture from the other day when I tried my outside assignment again this weekend.

ISO 800, 1/80, f/5.6

ISO 400, 1/200, f/5.6



Beth V Photography Class: Day 5 "Quiet"

Day 5's assignment was Quiet. As you can imagine... Not much quiet happens in Crazy Kennebeck Land! Unless the kids are already asleep!

I took these shots this morning right after my kids woke up, (one of the only other times they are quiet) and they were watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates. They were both still and Dylan even stayed on the couch... Shocking! In my fave picture, Dylan is doing the only other thing that keeps them quiet, reading.

ISO 800, 1/20, f/5.6

ISO 800, 1/13, f/5.6

Not thrilled with the lighting over the top of the kids heads in this pic..

ISO 800, 1/20, f/5.6

This one is a little grainy... I'm still struggling to get good pics of my kids in the sunroom even though it has great lighting. Ugh!

Outside, Let's try this again... :)

So today I decided to take a shot at the "real" assignment from earlier in the week... Taking pictures outside at any time of the day using the tips and tricks I learned.

I tried to get Mackenzie to cooperate to take pictures, while Nana and Pop distracted her and tried to trick her into looking my way... Not much luck on that front! Although the best try we had was when Nana counted while I snapped away. The pictures turned out ok, but still not totally thrilled with them. The fake smile I was getting didn't exactly help that. Ha! I suggested her making a silly face and told her she didn't have to smile, but she said , nah!

ISO 400, 1/60, f/5.6

This shot I actually got a real smile, plus I like the different perspective in this picture as well. I get bored with the same straight on centered shot very easily, so I'm always playing around with perspective... tilting the camera, getting at a different angle, etc.

When I was happy with my pictures was when I started snapping shots of Dylan while, him, Nana and Mackenzie were swinging. Thanks to Pop for the waving he did behind me that got the best shots! For the record I'm also thrilled with the # of pics I got that were clear and crisp, maybe I'm starting to get that down a little more. At least on swinging... inside while running... still needs some work. On another note, there were plenty of shadows where they were sitting, but because little dude is short in proportion to everybody else, none of the shadows were on his face! All are taken at ISO 400, 1/200, f/5.6.

Beth V Photography Class: Day 4 "Out"

Day 4's assignment was to take a picture outside. We got tips on how to take pics in "open shade" to get good pictures regardless of what time of the day it is. Unfortunately by the time I get home at night, most of the good light for taking pictures is gone, so I'm excited to try out these new tips and tricks this weekend.

In the meantime I'm posting a pic I took of Dylan this week from the outside looking into our sunroom. It took a little while for me to get the shot, because I was trying to get enough sun on his face where you could make out the pic while also fighting the constant movements of a 14 month old. He thought it was fun to run away everytime I got close! Silly boy! I am thrilled with the way the pic turned out but even more so the way it looks like his face is squished against the screen even though he was squished up against the window. ( Please ignore the head shaped shadow that you see on his shirt... Ha!)

ISO 400, 1/80, f/5.6

I've attached a pic of Mackenzie that I took this weekend while she was swinging in the back yard. I guess you could call it "open shade" so maybe this one is more in line with the "assignment". But again not really... Have I mentioned how much I enjoy that this class is laid back and I won't get slapped on the hand for my interpretation of the assignment? Ha!

ISO 400, 1/160, f/5.6

Let's go for a walk

Tonight we went for a walk with the kiddos in Dylan's wagon after dinner. Decided to snap a few pictures with my phone along the way. So blessed with my family!

Beth V Photography Class: Day 2 "New"

I decided to go back and do the Day 2 assignment in the Beth V Photography class because I knew the perfect subject...

Day 2's assignment is something new. I was in the backyard yesterday afternoon and noticed the new fresh spring grass growing up thru the old dead grass and thought about how pretty it was to see this early in the spring (even though it felt like summer this weekend!).

ISO 100, 1/320, f/5.6

Beth V Photography Class: Day 3 "In"

Lately I've been thinking alot about how I would love to get better at photography and even went so far last weekend to look for an online photography course. But being "frugal" aka CHEAP, I got discouraged very quickly when I saw a few of the options that were out there and how expensive they were. Then I also began to get really intimidated at an "instructor" and other people ripping my amateur photographs apart. This weekend I was trying to catch up on my blog reading and happened across my friend Ashley's blog and noticed she had enrolled in an online FREE photography class! I almost cried!! Yeah I know... drama queen! Anyway I immediately went over to Beth V Photography and read the details and knew it was the class for me! Something where I would get tricks and tips and learn how to use my camera more and LEARN what I was doing! And in a laid back type atmosphere! I was pumped!

So over the next month, I'll get an assignment every other day and I'll be posting my pics here. I'm already excited about my picture I took for today's assignment. We were supposed to take a picture INside. And I'm excited about what I've already learned from the tips in her email.

Disclaimer: I may or may not have bribed my child who hates the camera these days to take the picture... Emphasis on the may... Oh and today I'm posting 3 when I should only be posting one... but I was so happy with my pics and the fact she agreed that I couldn't decide. Next assignment... one picture. :)

ISO 800, 1/80, f/5.6

ISO 400, 1/40, f/5.6

ISO 800, 1/40, f/5.3