MomShots

I am comfortable with my actions. I am comfortable with the mid-levels of PhotoShop that I know. I have learned so much since I started using the program and am MUCH more comfortable with it than I first was. I’m not totally intimidated by it anymore. I can let myself experiment and try new things.

But I am comfortable in the little rut I have gotten into.

Curves are an important and useful tool in regulating how your image looks. I have never really played with them. I didn’t really “get” it. I still don’t totally “get” it, but I am now inspired and excited to learn and eventually fully “get” it.

I found a great post by Mommy’s Camera in my RSS feed this morning about using curves. I tried it out and it turns out I’m not totally scared of them.

Yay me!

If you are like me and would like to understand Curves a bit better, check out her post and then pick a photo and go experiment.

This may not be the best example but it is one of the best ones from a little photo shoot yesterday. Here is a picture of Eva Marie (and the back of her adorable cousin Miles’ head, who happened to be born on the very same day!!!). It was a bit dark and I used curves to lighten it up. Ok, so it’s not a good example at all because I hardly did anything. I don’t even know if you’ll see the difference.

Original:

Curves adjusted to make slightly lighter and brighter.

Well, that’s all I’ve got today. Go check out the post on Mommy’s Camera about curves. She has a some great examples and gives some really great advice and thoughts about using curves. I really enjoyed it.

Since Eva Marie has been born I have taken a lot of pictures. I’m sure you can imagine! Today I stripped her down and took a bunch of photos using the natural light that comes in through the large East facing windows in our family room.

I tried to figure out some props to use. I pulled a couple of things from around the house; an old scratched up kitchen chair, a sheepskin, a cute pillow, a knit yarn sack thingy, a baby blanket from when I was a baby, a few cute flannel blankets and the Boppy. I also used our olive colored love seat and my old wooden desk since they were pretty basic back grounds.

I had a little trouble with my white balance. I wasn’t sure if I should use the cloudy or the shadey preset. I think I should have actually done a custom white balance because I had slightly adjust each image. I will try that next time. Maybe tomorrow!

I also am going to try that chair image again but instead of on the carpet of our family room, I will try it on the hardwood of the living room. I think that will look a little better.

I also pulled my older boys in for a few shots. I made them all take off their shirts. I just liked the look of that better than the mismatched t-shirts they were wearing. It also adds an organic element that looks more natural and innocent. I found four that I really liked and am planning on putting them together in a collage. Something like below.

These are pretty much straight out of the camera. I only adjusted the white balance a tiny bit. I would like to try some other editing but for now that’s all I have the energy to do.

So what did I learn?

Posting may be sporadic for the next few weeks. I hope you can forgive me. Hopefully I’ll be able to come up with some helpful tips for newborn photography. You can bet I’ll be taking a whole lot of pictures!

It’s the anniversary of this marvelous blog today, and Jess is sadly without internet to post about it, so let’s surprise her when she gets back!

MomShots has changed how I look at taking pictures of my daughters, by not only encouraging me to simply get the camera out and shoot, but giving me bite sized pieces of information, new techniques and ideas to improve my pictures. It has de-mystified photography, showing me that while it is a skill to be developed, it’s not an impossible, elite activity. Perhaps more than anything, it has inspired me to read my camera manual, which has opened my eyes to so many new possibilities for my camera. My hard drive is filling up with beautiful pictures, and it’s largely due to MomShots.

So thank you, Jess, for sharing your love and passion, and inspiring us to capture our own.

If you’ve learned something new, been inspired, or just entertained by MomShots, please leave a comment and say so.

Happy MomShots Day! Here’s to many, many more.