The Joy of Love: Day 3

Then and Now

How long have you known your loved one? What has changed since you first met him or her? Try to capture this change in photos. it would be even cooler if you can show a photo from the time you first met him and put it side by side with a now photo. Or have your loved one hold the “Then” photo and snap the camera!

I've known Luke for over 3 years, and it's been 2.5 since he actually arrived.

I painted a picture for his room right before he was born. He was only a few weeks old in this photo, and I was excited that he was already "enjoying" my art.

What has changed? Well, just look at the two pictures!

The Joy of Love: Day 2

How They Look

Capture your loved one at their best (or at their worst). Or both. What you’re trying to capture is the TRUE essence/expression/attitude/posture that SCREAMS your loved one!

To be honest, I took this picture when I was practicing with my external flash on manual. I wasn't purposefully doing it for this project...but I think it fits regardless :).

Luke on the Bed

Sometimes when I don't have a "project" I start to feel frantic. I love taking photos of Luke, of course, but it does get rather repetitive. There's only so much I can do. Last weekend I was dying for a project of some sorts, so decided to do photos of Luke on our bed. I used it as an opportunity to get in some practice with my new flash! I didn't quite get what I was looking for, so I may try again on some future weekend. I wanted more action shots, and Luke was only interested in trying to climb off the bed. But here are my favorites:






Daddy brought the Alligator from New Orleans, as a gift for Luke. He loves it!




He loves talking on the phone...

Prime Lens Practice Time!

It figures that the weekend after I get a new lens, my little guy is sick. I didn't get much of an opportunity to have fun with the lens. Luke wasn't feeling all that smiley or energetic.

I'm glad I had what little chance I did, though, because this lens will take a little getting used to! Upon reviewing my shots later, I realized that the depth of field at a f/1.8 is really, really shallow! Obviously I was expecting this to an extent, but...wow. Just wow. Clearly (or not so clearly, haha) I cannot do a closeup of Luke's face at a 1.8. That is, unless I only want his right eye in focus or something. I guess I need to go back to a 2.8 or a 4, or back up a bit! Or make sure he stays absolutely still while I focus, lol. Good luck with that.

Otherwise I love the lens and the bokeh is really, really nice.











This weekend will be exciting. I'm going to be almost permanently glued to my camera! Yay!

Fall Leaves & Luke

Sunday the weather was really quite lovely, so Luke and I spent some time outside. I sat him in a giant pile of leaves and had fun snapping a bunch of pictures! He was a little unsure about the leaves as first, but eventually decided he liked to swish them around under his hands. It was so cute!

I decided to try shooting in RAW this time, and I have to say, I love it! The files take up much more space than regular JPGs, but I think its worth the difference in quality. It took me a little time to figure out how to bring the files into Photoshop as well.

I also discovered that shooting on shutter speed priority is kinda nice. I usually shoot on aperture priority, but Luke moves so fast that things often get a little blurry. So, I decided to try something a little different, and was quite pleased!
















(this one above is my favorite, btw)

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Over the weekend, Rob, Luke and I made a trip to Keller's farmstand in Oswego to pick out pumpkins! Keller's has a 30 acre pumpkin patch. We rolled a wheelbarrow out to the field and Rob scampered about, turning over pumpkins in search of what he considers to be the "perfect" specimen. I let him pick out my pumpkin: I was more interested in taking photos of Luke! It was a beautiful day, not too cold, clear skies, bright sun... Actually, the sun was rather aggravating. There are a lot of large circular lens flares smack dab in the middle of my shots. Plus it's not easy to get a proper exposure. But, I figure it is good experience! Thus, several of these I am sharing today are rather dissapointing to me. I am not going to put off the purchase of a lens hood any longer!


Luke had no idea what we were doing to him.




He warmed up after a few minutes, though.

When we wanted to explore a different part of the patch, we put Luke and our pumpkins in the wheelbarrow. It was too cute!




Watching Daddy




Ah, yes, I'd like to purchase these 7 pumpkins...

And for some general pumpkin-y pictures:









Happy fall!

Summer Evening Luke

I like taking Luke outdoors. Especially in the grass. Yesterday I laid out a blanket and set him on it. He was a little weirded out by the grass (see the 4th photo down!), so stayed on the blanket! It's rare I can keep him in one place very long, so this was a perfect photo opportunity.