amongst all the busy-ness of Christmas, all the shredded wrapping paper, all the extra pounds put on from “that-last-piece-of-pie-you-shouldn’t-have-eaten”, and all the new years resolutions we vow to keep…

i went for a walk to re-focus, to re-charge, and to think of some new years resolutions that are actually managable…. and between the people rushing, the cars beeping, and the dirty slush on the roads,

i saw the beauty of winter.

it was hidden, but it was there. beauty is all around you. this is one of my new years resolutions. to notice the beauty around me, wherever i am. it’s actually quite easy. yes, you do need to slow down when you’re walking… yes you do need to turn off your cell phone, your ipod, your pager, your blackberry… and whatever else you have attached to your hip… but you will feel full. you will feel as though you are connected to something larger… and in my opinion, that’s something worth slowing down for.

here are a few photos i took of beauty along the way…

…and my puppies… they deserve to be here too :) don’t you wish you could live as simply as a puppy?

May 2008 bring you much joy, and may you slow down when you’re walking so you can notice all the beauty that surrounds you, begging to be noticed.

Yup. Thats me. I am not ashamed!! :)

I’m reading a few good books right now that have some really easy things you can do (or not do) to be more environmentally friendly… so I thought I’d share some of my favorites…

The first tip comes from this book:

So here’s Tip #1:

Don’t ask for ATM receipts. If everyone refused their receipts, it would save a roll of paper more than two billion feet long, or enough to circle the equator fifteen times!

Stay tuned for more!

Okay everyone, I want to see you getting out there and experimenting with different settings on your camera!
Now don’t be shy… I know a lot of you have new SLR cameras that you’re not quite sure how to use. Now is a GREAT time to get them out and be creative!

Contest Rules:

1 – You must show me that you know how to achieve a short depth of field by using a low aperture! (See this post)

2 – Contest is open until Jan. 6th at midnight! Email all entries here!

3 – BE CREATIVE!!!

The winner will receive a $50 print credit to use towards either a past photo session or an upcoming photo session!

Post a comment if you have any questions!! Can’t wait to see all your entries!!

Good Luck!

For those of you who aren’t exactly sure what the word ’shutter speed’ means, it’s basically the length of time that your camera’s shutter is open from the time you press the button (shutter opens) to the time your camera finishes taking the picture (shutter closes).

So lets experiment using different shutter speeds… first, try turning your mode dial on your camera to Shutter Priorty. It will either say ‘TV’ or ‘S’:

This means you can set your shutter speed to whatever you want, and your camera will adjust your other settings accordingly.

For example: If you’re taking a picture of your child riding a bike, you could either use a slow shutter speed (1 second long), and it would look like they are actually moving:

Or you use a fast shutter speed (1/250 of a second), it will freeze their motion:

So the three things to remember when you’re testing out different settings on your camera are:

Aperture, ISO, and Shutterspeed.

By changing those three little things around, you can get very creative with your subjects and discover a whole new world of photography!

A few things to remember:

- When using a long shutter speed, use a tripod, or set your camera on something flat so your camera doesn’t shake.

- The longer your shutter speed is open, the higher your aperture will need to be. (Your shutter will be letting in a LOT of light if its open for few seconds, so you’ll want your aperture as small as possible, letting in the least amount of light, which means a higher number)

- When your indoors, you should be using a high ISO (ie: 800), and you’ll need to use a slower shutter speed and a low aperture, to let the most light in possible.

Best advice: Play, play, and play some more!!
I like the word play because it sounds more fun than the word practice :) So fiddle around with the settings on your camera, don’t be scared to mess things up.. and you will learn something everytime! I promise!!

Merry Christmas to you all!!

****All-New Photo Contest will be announced this Wednesday!****

what 3 little letters am i referring to, you ask?

I-S-O!

What is ISO? In plain terms, it makes your camera either really sensitive to light, or not sensitive to light at all.

For example, a low ISO (ie. 100) would make your camera not very sensitive to light. If you were outside on a bright sunny day, you wouldn’t want your camera to be very sensitive to light since it’s so bright and the sun is very powerful. So you could use an ISO of 100 or 200, and your photos would look crisp, clear, and bright!

[[ think: opposite of sunscreen. on a bright sunny day, you want a high SPF. but with cameras, its the opposite! on a bright sunny day you want a low ISO. but on a dark cloudy day, you want a high ISO ]]

Now, if you’re taking pictures on a dark cloudy day, or inside without very much light, you’re going to want your camera to be VERY sensitive to light. You want your camera to pick up any ounce of light it can get. So we use a high ISO because higher ISO’s are very sensitive to light. You can use anything from ISO 400 to 1600. Your camera might only go up to 800, or it might go right up to 3200.

This is when it gets fun, and you can use your knowledge about low apertures and mix it with your knowledge about ISO’s. If you’re inside in a dark place, you want to let as much light in as possible, so you’re going to use a low aperture (2.8), and high ISO (800), and your photos should *hopefully* be clear and sharp!

On most digital cameras, you can set your ISO to either auto or manual. If you’re feeling adventurous, play around with different apertures and ISO’s and see what you get!

Here is an image I took during Candy Cane Lane.. it was outdoors, in the dark, so I used an aperture of 1.8, and an ISO of 1600:

Hopefully that made some sense to you… remember to post comments if you have any questions!!

On Monday I will post Part 4, which will be about shutter speed… and then following that is an all-new contest!!

Stay tuned!

Merry Christmas!!

When using a low aperture, if you’re taking a picture with more than one person in it, it is sometimes difficult to have them all in focus. The only way you’re going to get them all in focus is if they are all on the same “plane of focus”. When you hear the phrase plane of focus, think “Imaginary Glass Wall” (Thanks to MeRa for this term!) If you can imagine a glass wall in front of your subjects, try to get all their noses to touch that same wall, and they will all be on the same plane! As long as your subjects are all on the same plane, you can use the lowest aperture you want (to achieve the blurry backround) and all of their faces will be in focus!

When you’re taking pictures of your own kids, this might be a little harder to do… here are a few tips that might help:

1. Get them all bundled up, and go out to a park, (or go tobogganning!).. just let them run around and take some fun candid shots!

2. When they’re starting to tire out, get them to plop down in the snow together (try to get all their noses touching that glass wall!). Laying on their tummies will also keep them still, and those make for fun photos too! :)

3.If you need to bribe them a little bit, bring little snacks that aren’t messy or sticky like gummi bears.

4. Don’t take it too seriously! If your kids are small and are acting goofy, don’t try to make them have perfect smiles on their faces all looking at the camera. I love capturing kids exactly how they are at that stage in their life. If one is daydreaming, and the other two are wrestling.. thats how they are! Take a picture, because that stage isn’t going to last for long!

Here is an example of everyone being on the same plane of focus:

The next image shows what happens when you’re not on the same plane of focus. The baby is in focus, but since the mom isn’t on the same plane of focus, she is blurred out:

Hopefully that helps a bit… just remember to have fun, experiment, and learn from your mistakes! Post a comment if you have any questions! Remember, if you’re thinking a question, there are guaranteed to be others thinking the same thing :)

Now go out with your kids and play in the snow!

******Stay tuned for an upcoming contest!!!******

Christmas is the time of the year that most people pull out their cameras to take a bunch snapshots of their family… whether it be for the family Christmas card, going tobogganing, making a snow man… the list goes on! I’ve had a bunch of clients emailing me asking for a few tips when taking pictures of their kids… so I figured I’d answer each question step by step, every few days, to keep things simple.

Q: How can I make my child in focus, but have the background blurry?

Great question! Here’s an example of what she’s asking about:

The way you only get a part of the image in focus is by using “short depth of field”. In this photo, we have short depth of field, because only she is in focus and everything else is out of focus. If the entire image was in focus, you would have a long depth of field.

Aperture is the word we use to describe how much light you’re letting into your lens. If your aperture is low, you will have achieve short depth of field. In the photo used above, I was using an aperture of 2.8. If I was using an aperture of 22, everything would be in focus.

For those of you who have SLR cameras and can change your camera settings, try setting your camera to “AV” or “A” which means you can set your aperture to whatever you want, and your camera will adjust your other settings accordingly:

Try setting it to the lowest number it will go to (probably will be 4 or 5.6) and see what kind of images you get. By using a low aperture, you will create a short depth of field… and because only some of the image will be in focus, try to focus on your subjects eyes.

Tomorrow I will be talking about “plane of focus”… which will help you to keep your subjects in focus when you’re using a low aperture!

If you have any questions, either type it into the comment box or email me and I’ll be happy to help!

Winter time in Kingston is great.. the skating rinks are open, and there is always something to do or see. We went on the Candy Cane Lane walk, and it was so neat! The walk was in a beautiful, old historic area that includes many of Kingston’s historic inns. Everything was brightly lit up with Christmas lights.. and afterwards we went for hot chocolate and skating on the Market Square!

Here are some pics…

woops i forgot to post this last week…
last sunday i went with the youth from our church to Altons Tree Farm to hunt for the perfect charlie brown christmas tree to put in the foyer of our church! It was so much fun! It was such a perfect day to go… nice and crisp and sunny :)
Here are a few pics:

for all you 2008 brides, wedding wire is the new way to find the perfect wedding vendors for your needs!

one of my fab 2008 brides gave me the link to the Style Me Pretty blog, which is the perfect site for all your blog-a-holics out there!! :)

envelopments is an awesome site for those who want a great invitation resource…

check out travel zoo for great deals on honeymoon vacationsl!

and last but not least.. if you’re trying to decide whether or not you want to do a trash the dress session after your wedding, check out this trash the dress blog!