MomShots

So I was thinking that I need to remind myself to get the camera out every single day and practice what I am learning. Maybe you need a reminder to take a MomShot every day too. Maybe not. Thinking about learning how to use our cameras and thinking about what makes a great photograph is nice but unless we actually get out our cameras and take those MomShots, we are not going to progress as fast as we’d like.

Some people are involved in projects like the 365 Project. That is where you take a photo every single day for a year. Can you do that? Personally, that’s too much pressure for me right now. I know I will miss days and then I’ll probably end up abandoning the whole project. That’s setting myself up for failure and I don’t like that. However, I could probably do a 52-Project or something less demanding. A photo a week is better than nothing, right? I DO take more than one photo a week so right there I know I’d be OK.

I am going on a road trip next week. My sister and I are going to drive up to Bellingham, Washington to visit our parents. It’ll just be me, my boys and my sisters. We are going to have a blast. While I am gone, I plan on getting out my camera every day and taking a MomShot. I always find inspiration when I travel, it’s the nature of going to new places. I’m excited.

I think I am going to do a MomShot a Day Project for the time I am gone. I’ll try to post them as the week progresses. Anyone want to participate with me? We could put them in a special Flickr group if that works for you. Let me know. Its always fun to have company!

So I just read this awesome post on a blog I follow and I wanted to lead you over in that direction. The blog is called Digital Photography for Moms and she often has great tips. This morning her post was about shooting in RAW vs. shooting in JPG.

If you are not sure what I am talking about let me explain a little bit:
These are file formats. I believe all digital cameras can shoot in JPG. You can usually choose how large of a file you would like it to use - small, medium or large. I believe most DSLRs have the ability to shoot in both JPG and RAW.
When your camera saves your file as a JPG, it compresses it and then runs the file through an algorithm that determines what the final result will be. Basically your camera makes choices for you like how blue or dark the image will be.
When you shoot in RAW, your camera doesn’t compress the file. It saves this giant file and then when you bring it into your computer you can make choices about how you want it to look. If your white balance was off or you have areas that are a bit blown out, you can often save those pictures and correct them to look better very easily.

So from that really simplified explanation, you can see that shooting in RAW gives you more control. There are a lot of benefits from shooting in RAW.

I have been shooting in JPG all this time and I just switched my camera to RAW on Saturday night for the Photocamp photowalk. I was really surprised by how much control I have in the editing process. I could lighten some of my images or change the white balance. It is pretty cool.

So I’m still experimenting with it and I’ll get back to you with more information about it. Don’t feel like you need to switch over this very second but it is a fun change and it opens a new level to my post processing.

On another note, I need to announce the winners of our giveaway from Friday and I need to put together that much anticipated catchlight post. I’ll get on those as soon as I can. Things have been a little crazy in my part of the woods lately. I was so obsessed with my presentation from Photocamp that now it is time to get back to reality! So the point of this little paragraph is that those posts are coming soon. So hold your horses! I’ll get on those items soon.

Obligatory MomShot:
A little triptych I made using images from a morning shoot after I gave Mag chocolate cake for breakfast (yeah, I’m that kind of mom too). I really liked how it turned out. I love the brightness of the colors and the lightness of the background. Even though you can see my brown chairs and cupboard behind him, there is a certain “airiness” or “lightness” about these shots that I really dig.

The shot on the left and the one in the middle was shot at 50mm f/1.8 200 ISO, the shot on the right was shot at 50mm f/3.5 200 ISO. All shot with natural light. I decided I’m going to start giving you my settings. I always like it when other people do that so I want to do the same for you.

I get asked once in a while what point and shoot cameras I recommend.  I love that question and I wish I had an awesome answer for you.  I would love to be in a place where I could review cameras and let you know my thoughts on them but currently no one has sent me any cameras to review.

Hey Nikon! Are you listening?!?

Here’s your chance Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Sony and any other camera manufacturers.  Send me your cameras and I’ll let my readers know the scoop!  

Since I don’t have a lot of experience with various manufactures I can only tell you this:  I love Nikon.  I have loved their point and shoots in the past and I love their DSLRs now.  They always have excellent lenses and cutting edge technology.  

I know people who have loved their Olympus’, Canons, Kodaks, etc. I don’t have any experience with any of these brands for digital cameras. I had a Polaroid film camera and it was a fine little camera. It did the job.

If I were to buy a digital point and shoot to keep in my purse, I would probably choose the Nikon Coolpix S60.  I like the size, I love Nikkor lenses, they claim to have one of the fastest start-up time and shutter speeds around and an added bonus is that I think Ashton Kutcher is kind of cute.

I’m just kidding about that being a reason to buy it, really I am. I’m so NOT that shallow!!!

The S60 has a 3.5″ touch LCD screen on back. I think that’s pretty cool! It has a cool feature where you can touch the subject (on the screen) to lock focus. This sounds like an awesome feature that gives point and shoot users more variety. It also has some fun things like smile detector, a high ISO of 3200 so you can get low light shots and smile timer. Using the touch screen you can write on and edit your photos in camera. Those are some of the reasons why I would consider buying this camera.

For a little more robust point and shoot camera I like the Coolpix L100. It has a VERY fast shutter speed of continuous shooting in sports mode at 13 frames per second. That’s WAYYYY fast! It also has an amazing zoom range simulating a 28mm to 420mm zoom lens. That is a 15 times zoom. The average point and shoot only has a 4 or 5 times zoom. It has a high ISO of 3200 meaning it can be used in low light situations pretty well. It also has all the normal Nikon preset modes that I love on a point and shoot.

I think if I were to choose a camera between the two I would choose the L100 because I like the awesome zoom capacity and super fast continuos shutter speed aspects of this camera very much. When taking pictures of crazy, wild, wiggly, running all over the place kids I think this feature would get used a lot. I would probably always have my camera in sports mode if I used the L100!

These recommendations are solely based off my research online and my past and present experience with Nikon. I don’t have much experience with other brands so obviously my opinion is tainted by that.

What point and shoot camera do you recommend? What have you used in the past? What aspects do you enjoy about your camera? Why did you buy it? Please share your experiences with us here on MomShots so we can all benefit from your knowledge.

With 2008 coming to a close and 2009 already underway, now is the time to remember and record all of your family’s adventures. There are 100’s and 100’s of events and moments worth recording from just one single year. So how do we organize and and stay on top of all those stories? How do we record, organize and remember the most important events? We start right now…         

Many of us take 1000’s of pictures each year to find them stored up in virtual folders all over our computer. Sometimes they get printed and shared, but more often than not the story behind the beautiful pictures is never told and soon forgotten. The Family Yearbook Challenge was started to help all of us grasp the moments and stories that are happening right now, record and store them so by the end of the year we have a collection of photos and stories.

Each Monday on my blog, www.publishourstories.com, I post “Homework” that readers can follow and use to help them capture the moments week by week. I give story and memory prompts as well as questions and reminders of events and important dates. At the end of the week readers then store and organize all their photos and stories in designated folders. By the end of the year their folder will be filled and ready for publishing. One lucky participant will get their Family Yearbook printed and bound by Cherish Bound for FREE!

If you would like to join the Family Yearbook Challenge Click Here to get started. Then click here for Week 2 & Week 3. It’s never too late to start telling your story. Grab the button, invite your friends and get your family involved.

Thanks Tara!!! I’m so excited to get started!

I wish I could think of a REAL word for large that starts with a “U”.  I love alliteration.  I couldn’t think of anything so I just made one up.  It sounds pretty big doesn’t it? 

Now I’m also thinking this may be a bit redundant.  With the alliteration the words undertaking and underway seem to be the same thing.  Whatever!  I’m sticking with it.

So are you wondering what this very large project is?

To answer that question I will tell you a story…

Once upon a time there a mom who was obsessed with her oldest son turning 5 (sound familiar?).  She was puttering around in Photoshop one day trying to create a little medley of photos to add to her daily countdown to his birthday.  She took four photos of cute and silly faces, sharpened them and cropped them all to the same size of 5″x7″.  Then opened a new document to put them all on to make a little collage.  This new document was huge; 100″ x100″ because she didn’t know when she created the new document what she was going to do so she randomly chose a really large number so there would be lots of room to move things around.

She put all her photos on the new document and played with them a bit.  When it was all to her liking, she decided to crop it and then insert it into a frame that she found on Flickr.  

As the cropping was about to begin she got an error message that said her scratch disk was full.  Instead of panicing like she is oft apt to do, she decided to spend a few minutes doing a little Googling.  The results of said search indicated that she’s just got way too much stuff on her computer so she decided that she needs to go through her 2008 photos and delete all of the ones that she didn’t really want.  As she was going through them, she realized that what really needs to occur is a gigantic scrapbooking and/or photo album creation.

What I, ahem, I mean She needs to do is go through all the photos from last year and put them into a printable format and then actually print them out and put them in binders.  

I’m not fooling anyone.  She is actually me.  I have filled up my little MacBook to capacity and it is time for some major spring cleaning.  I’m not overly upset about this since it was one of my photographic new year resolutions anyway.  That day has just come a little sooner than I anticipated.  I am excited to put together some of these images and actually get them OUT of my computer.  I think I am gong to be working on this for the next few evening as there are quite a few photos.  I’m obsessed or haven’t you heard?

I was eventually able to get the result I was after by deleting a few not so great shots of grass and fences or something.  It’s a start and I’m excited to continue on the project.

Have you made any progress on your New Year resolutions?  Have you made any progress on actually getting your photos out of your computer?  Any suggestions or tips for me that might make the process a little easier?  You know I would really appreciate any tips.

Or help.

Anyone want to come over and help me?  I make a mean peanut butter and home made jelly sandwich!  

This is kind of an exciting post for me.  This is MomShots’ first podcast ever.  Did you ever wonder what my voice sounds like?  Well now you will get to find out!  

Early this year I had the opportunity to interview a local photographer; Kiera Haddock.  I hope you will check out the interview below (if you are viewing this through your RSS feed, you may need to click into the site to view the podcast player) and check out her website.  I always find great inspiration from her photographs.  I enjoy her compositions, color and pattern usage.  I think she is very talented.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Podcast: Play in new window

On a recent driving adventure with my sister in law and our two oldest children (I was driving in the snow so therefore it was an adventure), we stopped at a grocery store.  Katie, my SIL, went into the store while I stayed in the car with the kids.  B was sleeping but Uly was awake and starting to get restless.  So in an attempt to stay off the inevitable freak out session that would likely ensue, I pulled out my camera and told him to make funny faces.  

The light was very low and so I had my ISO boosted to about 800 and and my shutter speed was super slow too.  It was a fun experiment for both Uly and I.  He got to explore his funny face arsenal and I got to try to get a low light photo that wasn’t blurry without using my flash. 

After a bit, B woke up and joined in the fun too.  She was pretty sleepy still so her silly faces were mostly just sweet angelic expressions.

So I am thinking that there is a MomShots tip here somewhere.  Perhaps the tip is one that I have gone back to a few times and will probably continue to go back to: the camera doesn’t have to be a solitary observing activity; it can be an activity for the whole family.  I think MomShots are a chance for the whole family to enjoy the fun and unity that we enjoy, plus you get the added bonus of being able to document those fun moments.

Now go photograph some fun!  Make a silly face!  Encourage your kids to be wiggly and precocious!  Then get your camera out and snappa! snappa! snappa!!!

My sister in law and her family are here visiting for the week.  We are having a great time.  Our kids play together so well and we just love having them here.  Her husband even made us some of his scruptios-didlyupmtious popcorn last night. 

I guess if you are going to be gifted, making popcorn on the stovetop is a great gift to have!  He has got mad popcorn making skillz.  Yummm!!!

They live in Southern California and their children have never seen the snow.  Well, let me rephrase that, they have never played in the snow.  We don’t have any snow at our house but we went up into the mountains to find some.

After a beautiful drive we found a place where we could get out and let the kids play until they were frozen.  Or really, until the adults were frozen.  It was fun.

I got out my camera and snapped a ton of pictures.  Unfortunatly I was pretty dissapointed with my results.  Kind of frustrating but a learning experience none-the-less.

This first photo is a bit overexposed.  There is a trend in photographers right now to blow out light colors.  I am torn between liking the way this turned out and wanting it to be less overexposed.  Either way, it’s a cute result of B. playing in and eating the snow.  There’s the whole shadow thing going on too.

This next picture is pretty cute, but if you look really closely, it is slightly out of focus.  I had a lot of photos that were not in focus and I wasn’t even using my manual focus lens.  I am frustrated by that.  I am going to try again today and try to get some more that are in focus.  

I this this last one is the best in terms of proper exposure and depth of field.  However, Composition needs to be improved here.  I love the idea of the footprints in the snow and Mag in the distance, however it is too busy on the left of the photo.  I think if just the tree were gone it would look much better.

Anyway, I wanted to share my results with you.  I was pretty frustrated while I was looking through my photos.  I really wanted to have some cute photos of our excursion but I didn’t really have many.  

I am going to try again today.  We are going to go to Salt Lake City today and I am going to try again.  I am always trying again.  Practice, practice, practice.  I think that is what it takes.

Even though this was a frustrating shoot, I can look at my photos and deduct what I did wrong.  Today I can practice those things, like proper exposure, composition, interesting angles and backgrounds.  It is a learning experience.  Good think it is so fun!

If you are located in the Utah Valley area you may be interested in a great tip I just saw over at Make and Takes.  Located in American Fork, Tilt Photography is sponsoring a portrait session for all your costumed kids.  Bring your kids on Wednesday, October 29th between 4-8 pm and for only $10 you can have a portrait taken, which includes one 5×7 print and a one high resolution copy of your photo emailed to you.