This weekend I was able to shoot a few shots of a friend’s niece who was going to the prom.  This was her first and my friend was so sweet to buy her dress, have her hair cut, fix her hair, paint her nails and have her looking overall FANTASTIC by prom time.  Here are a few of the shots I”ve processed so far.
Isn’t she beautiful???



Any of you photographers out there have some tips, criticism or helpful ideas I’m open!!
Have a great Tuesday…….

Hey.  It’s just me.  Sweet me.  Mean me.  Mommy.  Wife.  Daughter. Sister. Friend.  Enemy.  Child of God.

Child of God.

That’s the one I need to remember the most.  Especially on the yucky days.
The days when I want everyone to leave me alone for just 10 minutes of peace and quiet.  So I can do something really important like go to the bathroom without anyone yelling for me.  So I can sit and do my bible study or listen to something on the radio without someone screaming that they need their butt wiped.

Or me yelling back, “Give me just a minute, PLEASE!”

There is a resting in knowing who I belong to.  And a peace when I rest in the truth that he loves me no matter what.  Even on the yucky days. Even on the days when I’ve got nothing.  Nothing to give.  Nothing to use.  Nothing to say.  Nothing good.  Nothing wholesome.  Just blackness.  Just the same old same old same old sweeping floors, cleaning up candy wrappers, putting poopy toilet paper actually IN the toilet.

To know that my God looks down upon me with a smile, a shake of his head and a nod of compassion means the world to me.  He knows what it’s like to have a hard day……

………to tell people (kids) over and over and still they do not “see”.

“Lord, open their eyes to see you.”

“And while you are at it, I’m going to hang on your shirt tale until you give me the grace, the love and the compassion & strength to be what you’ve called me to be, to do what you’ve called me to do.”

“Nothing at all”

After a wonderful snow last Monday it’s 80 today, Monday, March 9th in sunny SC.
Can you believe it?
The kids are in bathing suits and the sprinkler has run almost all day.  The front yard is littered with toys, naked barbies and dump trucks.

I splurged 4.95 at the grocery store the other day to cheer my heart with some buttercups as we call them in the south.  They are one of my favorite flowers.  I tried to catch them opening one day after they had found a home on my kitchen table.

Here’s in the morning…

A couple hours later….


Then at it’s peak that day….

As my youngest son was watching me tweak some of my photos he wanted to try his hand at post processing so here’s what we got.

Plastic Wrap with the highlight strength, detail and smoothness adjusted until he liked it…

And then we moved on to Glowing EDGES which ended up really cool.  We adjusted the edge width, edge brightness and smoothness until we were both happy (although without mom it certainly would have been a lot funkier).

Fun, huh?  Go ahead and get your kids involved in some wild post processing!

Have you guys seen this nifty new toy?  I’m hoping to get one for my birthday in March, until then I just have to drool!!  This photo was taken from the Photojojo website.  Here’s what else they have to say!  Priced between $45-$65 it’s a great addition to any camera bag!!!

You may think automatic white balance is good enough. But if you’ve ever had to fix dozens (or even 100s) of photos with just slightly different colors, one-by-one, you know the true meaning of pain.

The White Balance Lens Cap leaves you no excuse for not properly white-balancing every situation you encounter.

Simply flip your camera into custom White Balance mode, snap a photo with your White Balance Lens Cap on, and your camera creates a perfect profile of the actual lighting in front of you.

Best of all, unlike a gray card, the White Balance Cap takes no extra room in your gear bag. Just replace your existing lens cap with this one and you’ll always be able to white balance with no additional equipment.

Squeeze the White Balance Lens Cap’s side tabs for easy attachment or removal, even with a lens hood in place. The center pinch-release mechanism prevents it from accidentally being bumped off, while in your bag or shooting in a crowd.

Each White Balance Lens Cap comes with both a neutral and a warm color dome. Pick whichever you prefer and give all your photos perfectly consistent white balance.

Available for lens thread sizes 52mm, 55mm, 58mm, 62mm, 67mm, 72mm and 77mm. (Don’t know your thread size? Just check the outer rim or bottom of your lens for one of these numbers.)

Note: You may look a little silly setting your white balance by taking a photo with your lens cap still on, but the results are worth it. We promise.

You can use this link to purchase your very own!
White Balance has never been so easy!!
Have fun!

Image number one
Nice shot by a friend of mine but what’s up with that ugly silver flag pole???
YUCK.

Image number two
A quick but effective job in Photoshop Elements using my clone tool.
There, that’s much better!!

Be creative today!
IN HIM,

Friday night we just happened to be on our way for pizza when we noticed the moon looked huge, just over the horizon.  We later found out it was because of this:

Each month the Moon orbits the Earth in an oval-shaped path, and on December 12 it will move past it around 28,000km closer than average.

The unusual feature is that this will coincide with a full moon, which will make it appear 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter than most full moons this year, on Friday night.

Astrologists say the next encounter with a moon this close and full will not be until November 14 2016.

Is that cool or what??

So when I got home I went outside until my toes were frozen trying to get a couple shots of the big ole moon.  So here they are!

And here’s a cool website where I got the info above:

Biggest and brightest full moon for 15 years will illuminate the night sky

And my favorite:
All I did was crop and sharpen for the web.  And they really are 5×5 photos but since my background is black as well as the night sky….well, ya know.  Borders are so overrated!

Pretty cool stuff, huh?  Did anyone else see the moon 14% larger than normal Friday night??

I got a chance to actually play around with Photoshop the other day and wanted to see which photo you liked best….

Here’s the original image:

Here’s one with contrast bumped and a little color adjustment:

And here it is in black and white.  I think I may like this one best.

Which one do you like best?
Happy day-after Hump Day!

Recently baby girl and I went outside so I could practice with my newest toy…the Canon 40D.  I’m enjoying learning how to use it and am itching to have a reason to get outside and shoot.  She’s slowly but surely getting to the “I have to bribe her” age of 4 (not my favorite age – what happened to my sweet baby girl – she’s been replaced by an alien).
I did manage to get a few neat shots in before she completely turned her lip up, then turned her back on me.  Here’s one…

We were shooting into the storm door and I ended up with the neatest reflection shot.  I love the sunlight playing on her hair and the curve of the door handle on the right.

Off to do life.
Have a great day in Jesus!!!
Only in Him…