Take out!!
stayed at the office 2 hours later than usual. didn't make it home in time to make a decent dinner for the kids. KFC it is...gotta love it. Love thats there's even enough for lunch tomorrow!!
Not really a fan of fast food but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. So on nights likes today, take-out definitely tops my list of mommy friendly items!!
KFC slightly acid washed...
This is Tada (my then-1- year-old son's version of the word 'Teddy'). Tada was ds's 2nd word. Da-da 1st and then Ta-da. 'Mommy' finally rolled off his tongue just before he turned 2. This bear gave me many nights of rest and calmed my little one even when i couldn't. He's a little ratty looking now -- with 'barely there' eyes and 'flat as a pancake' body -- but he's my DS's best friend...and yes, he still calls him that....and secretly, i hope he never stops :)
Mother to a baller and a ballerina. These objects are the latest fad in our house. Every evening while i'm cooking dinner, i've got a ballerina doing pirouettes while holding onto the bottom fridge handle --- and in the background there is the sound of this basketball banging against our tv armoire.
I think this is all you're going to get from me this week!! This is as creative as i can get without going outside with my camera - although now would be the perfect time - the city has come out of its' deep freeze spell. Temperature has been a high of minus 2 for the last 2 days. Wooooohooooooooo!!!!! Maybe i should venture outside. Hmmmm....i think i'm in a slump.
Back to the apples. I'm actually not too fond of this view. Maybe it's just me...
First off --- I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU for to everyone who has found the time to visit my blog the last few days. I think i've been slowing down because i'm just sooooo exhausted. I'm haven't been able to leave comments on other's blogs for the last few days so i'm trying to catch up and visit everyone and leave some comments/cc. Believe me --- i know how much time the commenting and 'cc'ing can take so please, pleasssssssssse know that i appreciate each and everyone of y'all --- all your comments make me smile =)
Apples - Side view...
(I think i'm getting flashbacks of that purple flower i used numerous times last week :)!!!)
Another photo of my crazy aloe....you know me...i couldn't resist converting it to b&w!!
This is my aloe plant. for the longest time (about 2 years) this thing was in my office....and didn't grow. i kid you not - it had 2 stalks for about 2 years. When i left the office to go on mat leave before my dd was born i took it home cause i felt guilty asking someone to look after it for a year and a half while i was gone. Now, it sits in our home beside our sliding door so it gets tons of light. I have to say that i think it likes it there because it has turned into this crazy wild uncontrollable plant!! My kids call it the 'funny hair plant'!!
I just took this photo at 9:00 p.m tonight so i had to use my external flash. It still has some shadows in the background but i think i like it...
Bwahahaha!! can you tell i'm struggling for botanicals?!?!? You might have seen this on 2peas, I posted it as part of a layout before. I tried a different conversion this time....HHCC please!!
SOOC. Just converted to b&w, added border and watermark.
Of course i had to post one of this little man and my flowers....
What do you think? Do you prefer the 'all color' or 'selective color' (from yesterday's post) photo? You know which way i lean....if i can't have full b&w then i'll take partial ;)...
Yup...-18 today and i went out to the grocery store tonight to buy some Dairy Queen (ice cream) for the kids (okay, and for me too =) ) and some of these for me....
I don't have a macro lens and i was trying to get pretty close to the flower. My lens just kept hunting. So i put it on the 'Macro' setting and didn't like how i couldn't control ss or f stop so i switched it back to manual, stepped back and got these. Does the green stem distract you in either of the photos? What do you think of the focus considering i didn't use any sort of 'Macro' help?
Cropped, ran Noiseware, resized for web and added border & watermark.
Settings for both photos:
Manual | ISO800 | SS1/20 | f3.5 | external bounce flash
This kid is ready...
My ds was infront of a window and the sun was just pouring in. It looks a little blown out to his right. I've never tried backlighting before. Any suggestions?
I'm so glad MichyM wanted to see yesterday's POTD in b&w --- so that's what today's photo is!! What do you think? Color or b&w? I'm partial to b&w so i think i like it better converted.
Also..............
I've been TAGGED by Cristina (Christina4K). So here are my 6 Weird Things About Me....
1. I only drink Pepsi - with ice - MUST be with ice.
2. When i was pregnant with my son all the meat (yes... raw) in the freezer section of the grocery stores used to make my mouth water. If that isn't weird, then i don't know what is!!
3. It scares me....really scares me that one day i could lose ALL my teeth.
4. I can be having a conversation and immediately forget what i'm talking about, yes, sometimes even in mid-sentence.
5. I am clueless when it comes to the 'famous people world' - i only know a handful of actor and actresses. Otherwise, i'm like, 'what?!?!? who's that ?!?!?! they were in which movie?!?!?'
6. I was more afraid of the needles, the epidural, all the poking and things that happen before labor than i was of actually giving birth.
Phewwwwwwwwww.....that's it!!....that was hard!!!!
And now i'm tagging...Andree, Yvonne, Dar (Dar Kaso), and Noell. I really hope you ladies haven't been tagged already =).
My little guy at one of his 1st hockey practices. I didn't think this was too bad for being indoors and pretty far away. Here he is all geared up...
Manual | ISO400 | SS1/20 | f2.5
So i kinda cheated again - i took this photo when it was **hometown** week. This is outside the Hockey Hall of Fame downtown. I thought the 1st photo was kinda funny and would look cool in b&w...
Manual | ISO400 | SS1/400 | f2.8 | natural light
This 2nd one has a lot of glare off of the windows. Does the glare bother you? i always tend to get glare - with eyeglasses too. Gotta work on eliminating that...
Manual | ISO320 | SS1/4000 | f2.8 | natural light
I snapped this while my ds just got off the rink. Ankle burner?!?!?...is that what they call it? He's just too cute. My 4 y.o on skates. What's even funnier is my 2 y.ol daughter on skates...and let me tell you, she has better balance than i do =).
I love the composition of this photo even though it's really soft. I tried to save it and ran USM...
Any HHCC appreciated and welcome!!
Manual | ISO400 | SS1/6 | f2.5
...yes i hand held this...should have bumped up that ISO!!
This is our little athlete of the house - you'll be seeing him a lot this week ;) . Ever since he was 9 months he has been infatuated with balls. This was taken in the summer but thought i'd convert it to b&w.
Both are the same photo - cropped, resized for web and added border. One i applied Noiseware, the other i didn't. Did i need to? Do you see a difference? I think maybe there wasn't any noise at that ISO - could that be why i don't noitce a difference?
They both have a different b&w tint to them (remember, ....i save before writing things down {{ughhhh}}). Both are the same photo, slightly different crop, slightly different b&w conversion.
Manual | ISO100 | SS1/400 | f2.8 | natural light | No Noiseware
....equals snow. Does that count as a form of water? Our first real snowfall so we thought we'd take the kids toboganning...
They looked so funny...they wanted to wear our snowboarding 'Gobbles' which were obviously way TOOOO big on them...but they didn't care - it made the snow orange for her and purple for him....they LOVED it. The last pic is too funny...you can't even see her eys but everytime i tried to fix those goggles she'd scream, 'No mommy...NO!!...MY gobbles!!'.
I think when i tried to convert some of the photos to b&w the white got all blown out. Any suggestions on the best way to convert snow to b&w? HHCC always appreciated and welcome =).
All shots were:
Manual | 85mm | ISO100 | SS 1/6400 | f1.8 | natural light
This is from last year when we went down south to the Dominican with the kiddos. I was digging around for a water photo to post and this is what i found. I love this shot - i like the wind blowing in my little E's hair and how she's holding her hand out and reaching for mommy =). We took a family vacation just before i went back to work...she just turned 1 here. Can't believe how much she's grown....
Don't have the settings - taken with my p&s before my DSLR. Trying out a conversion i found on 2peas for a soft light/color effect.
I normally don't venture off of the Weekly Challenge topic and I know this has nothing to do with water but i saw my ds playing with his planes (...such a boy thing) and had to take pictures!! This is my first attempt at some sort of story board - i think the pictures just called out, 'group us together!!'
Manual | 85mm | ISO250 | SS1/20| f1.8 | external flash
So i guess you can tell i didn't take this today- but it has water!! Taken with my p&s - before i got my DSLR so i won't write the settings down. This is a photo of my goddaughter from the summer that i thought i'd try and convert it. Whenever i do a conversion i just play with all the sliders until i get something i like. That's my problem...i can never do the same conversion over!! I really like the conversion on the faucet water i posted from a few days ago but i can't remember the numbers that i used for it....AND i flatten all my photos before saving so i don't even have the .PSD files to go back and check. So, now i'm trying to write things down. Yesterday's conversion seemed like it didn't have enough tones in it. I don't know...what do you prefer? monday, tues, wed or this?
Tried it again...with a flash. I think the pictures came out better than yesterday's post. HHCC always appreciated!!
Manual | ISO250 | SS1/160| f1.8 | external flash 1/3
Manual | ISO250 | SS1/160| f1.8 | external flash 1/3
Manual | ISO250 | SS1/160| f1.8 | external flash 1/3
Manual | ISO250 | SS1/160| f1.8 | external flash 1/3
we love bathtime in this house!! Had the kids pour water all over each other while they were taking a bath. By the time they were done everything in the bathroom was soaked. I kept encouraging them, 'pour it higher! splash harder! '. They were probably wondering why mommy didn't care they were making a huge mess and getting everything wet. Funny how they noticed that everytime i saw a big wave coming, mommy backed off with her camera -- 'NO...no!! not the camera!!'. lol!!!
The kids' bathroom has the worst light in the house - it's the only room that doesn't have a window...and to top it off, i didn't use a flash. I think i'm gonna have to try these shots again later on this week.
Manual | ISO800 | ss1/250 | f1.8 | tungsten
Manual | ISO800 | ss1/250 | f1.8 | tungsten
Nothing exciting today - just my kitchen faucet and trying to catch some droplets.
Resized, sharpened and converted to b&w - again....yup, still working away at those conversions!!
Manual | ISO800 | SS1/250 | f2.2 | tungsten
This is the last of the **hometown** photos. I must admit - it was fun being a tourist in my own city. Hope you enjoyed the photos. I usually don't shoot places and things - up until 2 weeks ago all i shot were pictures of my kids. I'm actually having a lot of fun with it and it seems like my photos are turning out better than my portraitures!!...but then again, unlike my kids, these objects stay still for me!!
Wanted to try the Orton like many of you peas have...not the best photo to use it on but we don't have much greenery around here this time of year...
This is the original...
Manual | ISO200 | SS1/2800 | f2.8 | natural light
Manual | ISO200 | SS1/200 | f2.8 | natural light
AKA...the 'Red Rockets'. Such a sign of the city. Now that i live in the suburbs i really miss hearing the sound of the streetcars early in the morning...
....but i sure thought it was!! Here i was snapping away thinking, 'Cool, i can post a photo of where my parents used to take us when i was a baby'. I took the pictures and walked up between these buildings getting closer and closer to 'St. Michael's Cathedral'...or so i thought. As i got closer and closer....i read, 'St. James' -----ooops!!! My church was 2 streets over. St. Mike's is not our regular church and i have not been there in years (30 to be exact) ...does it justify my mistake?...probably not...but i was still intrigued by how beautiful St. James was too.
At this point my legs and fingers were tingling from the cold (not a good sign!!) so 2 streets over i didn't go. Here ya have it...Not my church...telephone and power lines and all....
Resized and ran USM on both photos (which i'm just learning)...
HHCC as always please =)....what do you think of the USM?
Manual | ISO200 | SS 1/3200 | f2.8 | natural light
Manual | ISO200 | SS 1/4000 | f2.8 | natural light
I know there's some story behind this building and i'd love to tell it to you but unfortunately, i don't know it !! I know it's called 'the Skinny Building' or something like that and it's photographed by a lot of pro photographers. I'm sure, none of whom got a dump truck smack dab in the middle of the shot!!!!! lol!! -- i had to stand in the middle of the street for this and i still couldn't get a decent shot. So....no history lesson here...just a skinny building and a dump truck in the heart of Toronto.
Don't mind the really bad 'eraser' job on the plates. Forgot last minute to scrub it out....so you get the rush job. Besides, that would also mean i would have to read up on erasing in PSE4. Anyone know how to do it neatly? I just clicked on the eraser and rubbed away.
Resized both and ran USM on 1st photo.
Manual | ISO320 | SS 1/4000| f2.8 | natural light
The back of the building....
Manual | ISO320 | SS 1/4000| f2.8 | natural light
I really just liked the neat trolley in the back. I had to crop out part of the phone on the left (there was a person standing there - don't think they'd appreciate being on my blog!! lol!!) - so that's why part of the 1st phone got cut. Think i should have totally removed it? I also think the photo's not as crisp as it should be. HHCC please!!!
Manual | ISO200 | SS 1/1000| f2.8
Before i start this post, can i just say that 'OMG did i ever feel like a tourist today!!' Brought my camera into work (which i've NEVER done), took touristy pictures (which i've NEVER done) of touristy places and things (c'mon who takes a picture of their train!?!?!). Froze my hands off, my legs AND cheeks --yah, okay, maybe both cheeks =) -- the things we'll do for a shot!! lol!!
Every morning i drive to the station and this awaits me....
...a GO train. It takes me and thousands of others downtown to the office - into the city of Toronto. This is where i grew up and that's what you'll be seeing this week from me.
So back to my train. It's a really nice ride - i get to TOTALLY pass out for 40 minutes in warmth and comfort all while someone else is doing the driving =).
When it's time to go home, Union Station is our central hub. Trains go in and out of the city and it is absolute chaos (seriously...CHAOS!!) during rush hour with getting people to and from the suburbs on these commuter trains. I sometimes feel sorry for travellers walking around the station and are trying to go against the traffic - 'Go with the herd' or you'll get trampled on!! This station is also where the VIA trains pass through when travelling cross country.
Union Station....
So feeling a little locked in the house/office - freezing rain and in the minus 10's (minus 20's if you wanna count wind chill)...brrrr. I was planning on going out to snap some city shots but i didn't want to expose my camera to such foul weather!! lol!!
So this is what i could come up with ....(you can click on it for a larger view)...
Canada...That's where i'm from. Messy arrow is pointing at Toronto (aka 'T' Dot), my hometown...but it's not where i live now. I'm gonna have to cheat a little this week - i'm hoping to bring my camera downtown (hopefully tomorrow!!) and snap some shots of the city during my lunchhour...i'll just post one a day. Hope ya'll won't mind!
Thought i'd end off 'Introduction week' with a photo of me...y'know..the one where i thought i'd be smart and take a photo of a photo?
350 more days together?....we might as well get cozy with one another and finally meet.
I won't write down specs...this was taken by my 4 y.o....and i even gave him credit... =)
...every morning is caffeine. I usually have 2 cups of coffee a day - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. If it's the weekend i like to indulge in these....Latte's....3 different compositions...
And this is my family...(okay, i cheated...sorry peas --- this wasn't taken today but i'm not feeling well and i don't have the energy to whip out my camera =( )...
In the spirit of 'Week One - Introductions' i have decided to join my fellow peas on the '100 things about me'.
Here goes...(i may have to come back to finish this list!! lol!!)
2 of my favourite things: chocolate & pepsi. I don't think i could EVER give up either....if i ABSOLUTELY had too? ...the chocolate would definatley gotta go - i need my agua!!
When i was growing up, I lived in a house where COKE was the cola of choice - for my parents. I used to always go to the corner store with my grandmother and she'd give me some change to buy something. 'Go ahead, get yourself something'. She would be in the fruit/vegetable market and i'd say, 'can i go next door?'. Next door was this fish & chip place that had one of those old school freezers. I'd insert my change and this little tiny Pepsi bottle would come out. The owner would open it for me with a bottle opener, pass me a straw and i'd sip it and savour every drop. I would do this a couple of times a week. I always looked forward to these outings with my grandmother. My money would be used not for candy (like any other normal kid) but for Pepsi. I look back on this and think, that would make an awesome commercial. That is the story behind my addiction....and I was only 7.
Today the cola of choice in our house is my choice!! We always have at least 2 bottles and 1 box of cans. If the reserves (yes, reserves) get any lower than that, i always know. My DH thinks it's funny and will announce, 'Oh no...emergency, emergency...we've got a crisis situation, please head to your closest Pepsi supplier!!'. who is he kidding?...he loves it too...
...and no...my kids have never touched the stuff.
On a photography note: 2 days ago i discovered that i had ISO 3200, so after dinner the kids and i went outside & i of course got snap happy. Came inside to do my POTD and only after i finished taking the pictures i realized that i forgot to readjust my ISO....just got too lazy to retake the shots. Does anyone know if there's anything i could do to reduce the grain?
The 2nd photo looked kinda 'blah' to me on my screen so i thought i'd do an image effect on it leaving the color in the center. I also know i should have used my speedlite - again--- i was too lazy. Shame on me.
M Mode | ISO 3200 (by accident) | SS1/50| f3.5
M Mode | ISO 3200 (by accident) | SS1/15 | f3.5
...sewing. It's my other passion that i've had since i was young. So amidst my camera equipment you'll find yards of fabric, thread, ribbon, beads and 4 beautiful sewing machines. I haven't had much time for it lately but i looooove to sew - making one of a kind dresses and accessories for my little E. However....if you were to ask me to make a dress for myself i'd be completly lost (even with a pattern)!!
Adjusted white balance in the 1st photo(with a grey card!!!!), defog, sharpen, resized and added border.
This is what i call, 'My Beautiful Mess '.
M mode | ISO 800 SS 1/13| f5.0| external flash
M mode | ISO 800 SS 1/13| f5.0| external flash
Nice to meet'cha!! Couldn't bring myself to post up an actual photo of me....so....an image of an image!! LOL!! Me...after a long day of work with no makeup (i don't ever blow dry or 'fix' my hair). I take a whole 5 mins to get ready when i get out of the shower in the mornings and then i'm out the door. oh yah, this was taken after cooking dinner soooo.... i acutally smell of fried filipino food!!! hahaha!!
This photo was taken by my ds...not bad for a 4 year old. He's so funny, the way he was photographing me was hiliarious! - he kept telling me, 'Move this way....noooo move that way....Mommmmmmm.....i can't see your eyes!!'. I put my camera on a tripod, set it to AV and let him shoot! When i saw 'me' on the back of the LCD i thought, 'Hey...that's a first - i've never seen myself on there all by my lonesome!!!'. So i thought, that in itself was an appropriate 'moment to be captured'!! I took this picture with my good ol'trusty Canon G3 (4.0 megapixel!!) ....set to Auto. So i don't know if this actually qualifies as a POTD since part of it wasn't taken by me =). The second picture doesn't seem as dark and i think i like the composition of it better...
Defogged, sharpened, resized for web, converted to b&w and added the border. A little dark for my liking (can't seem to get the conversion thing right!!)...but neverthless, here i am.... =)
AV mode |ISO 400 | SS 1/1000| f1.8 | tungsten light
AV mode |ISO 400 | SS 1/1000| f1.8 | tungsten light
Thought i'd try to try and capture the kids bouncing on the sofa. I'm usally really bad with blur so this was a real challenge for me to get the proper settings. Taken in the evening when there was no light at all (8:30 p.m.). I used my strobe flash powered all the way down, had the room's ceiling lights on (i forgot to turn off the table lamp on the left side of my son - incase you're wondering what that bright light is!!). The images are not as sharp as i would like them to be. Any suggestions? These images are SOOC.
M Mode | ISO400 | f2.5 | tungsten & strobe flash
M Mode | ISO400 | f2.5 | tungsten & strobe flash
...for the first time. I got this as a present from my DH and i haven't been able to set it up and play until today. I finally was able to take some pictures with it and test it out with the kids tonight....also tried to see if i'd have better luck with conversion to B & W from raw. I think i prefer the top conversion - the bottom one looks too dark...what do you think?
Manual | ISO 640 | SS 1/160 | f2.2 | strobe flash
Manual | ISO500 | SS 1/160 | f2.5 | strobe flash
Thought i'd take these last shots since the tree is coming down this weekend. Only 361 days left till Christmas?!?!?
Tried to get the lights to 'sparkle' using a super slow f-stop....I think the last picture is out of focus...and oops...i didn't get the tree topper in the shot...arghhhhhhh.
any HHCC's welcome!!
Manual | ISO800 | SS 0.80 | f13 | stabilized with tripod
Manual | ISO 800 | ss 1.3 | f/20 | stabilized with tripod
This is my first raw image...so cool to able to modify tone, color saturation, sharpness and RGB's after the shot's been taken...took up a lot of space on my memory card but i think i like it and will do it more often!!
Manual| ISO 400 | SS 1/80 | f1.8 | tungsten light
Manual | ISO 400 | SS 1/80 | f1.8 | tungsten light
Was so excited when i saw my package finally came in the mail but....then i opened it up and i was so confused.
I've been waiting for this umbrella for a few days and now that i have it i have no idea how to attach it onto the flash!! I've got a 7 " reflector but it looks like the sock won't fit around it...if i remove the reflector i think the bulb and the flashtube will come in contact with the sock (...i'm afraid i may singe the material on the umbrella).....AND...(as if i don't have enough questions!!)... do i place the sock over the whole unit itself??? i hate it when things look complicated!! {{{sigh}}}............
Manual | ISO1600 | SS 1/20 | f4.0 | SOOC | tungsten light
ETA....By George!!...i think i've got it!!!....when you think you can't figure something out...walk away...browse other peoople's blogs =D ....THEN go back and try and tackle your problem again!!
now to take some test pics...but that's another day and another photo =)...have a great night...
