Good News!!!

So, I don't have much time to spend on blogging-- but I have been wanting to share some good news. Well, it's kind of good news- I felt like it was, anyway.  How many times have you seen something beautiful, grabbed your camera, snapped a shot, and then didn't like what you saw in the viewfinder? It happens to me all of the time, and was partly my motivation to take the photography class. I am reading a great book that I am loving about digital photography. I love the tone, pace, style of the author and I am learning a lot. So, what I have recently learned is... if you think of a scene, say a sunrise/horizon, and you think of that in terms of highlight and shadows- the human eye can take in 11 stops of variance. (stops is just the unit of measurement used in photography- remember me mentioning "f-stops?") Slide film in a camera can take in 5 stops. A digital SLR- can only take in 3-4 stops!! So no wonder you aren't seeing in the viewfinder what you can see with your eye!!  First of all, consider how amazingly we are created! Second, photographers must manipulate the input in order to  produce a photo that correctly imitates the original and that is where all the learning, skill, and talent come together.  And on the same note, I am about 90% sure now that because of these facts, my Knight's Ferry bridge attempt was impossible. I think I needed a flash unit with adjustable light for the interior of the bridge-- or.... a fun project would be to merge 2 shots together in photoshop. One perfectly exposed of the road/fence and one perfectly exposed of the interior of the covered bridge and then overlay the two using "Layers." I would love to try it, but I am fairly sure most of those pictures were ruined by R..... 's photo processor. :(  So now, take a deep breath... and exhale sweet relief. The bad pictures-- not your fault. It's your really expensive camera's limited ability. :) 

Maternity

I had the honor of doing a maternity "photoshoot" with my little sister yesterday. It was a fun learning experience. I am very thankful she was a guinea pig for me. Here's a couple of shots that I like, but I am learning so much about PhotoShop and want to try some of what I am learning on touching up these shots-- but I have more reading to do! These are not in their final stage yet! :)