LIfe with my Rebel XTi

Oh, I have found that getting to be a better photographer includes a period where your pictures start to SUCK before they get better!! Some of the first shots of mine are the best, but now I have so much "knowledge" in my head that I have to really work at getting my pictures taken now.

Here's one that I like that I took over at the park a week or so ago. Melissa was stopping for a breath and I loved the way the sun hit her face...



I also have a 50mm lens that is very finicky - you really do have to have everything work just right to get great pictures with it - and I usually fail in either aperture, distance away from the subject or focus! LOL!!

I am taking an online photography class that starts from scratch and I HOPE that this will help me start to just BE a photographer instead of trying to learn HOW to be one, ya know?

I'll be posting my assignment pictures here so that I have somewhat of a record of my progress.

Here's to being a better photographer!!!!

Wow - this tag takes a bit longer than the others!! Shabby Miss Jenn got me this time!!

A - Available or taken: I was taken when he said Hello and smiled under his cute little baseball cap!

B - Best friend: Jesus

C - Cake or pie: Oh boy.....cake if it's chocolate, pie if it's pumpkin!

D - Drink of choice: Pepsi baby - all the way!

E - Essential item you use everyday: My computer.

F - Favorite color: lavendar

G - Gummy bears or worms: Gummy bears

H - Hometown: Mission Viejo, CA

I - Indulgence: hot warm chocolate chip cookies

J - January or February: February - Valentine's day and both my daughter and my hubby's birthda are in February!

K - Kids and names: Melissa

L - Life in incomplete without: My faith in Jesus

M - Marriage date: October 4

N - Number of siblings: 2

O - Oranges or apples: Apple Computer...LMAO - Apples

P - Phobias or fears: watching a loved one get hurt

Q - Fave quote: "It's not a hill to die on"

R - Reason to smile: my baby girl, my loving husband, my family and my Mac

S - Season: Fall

T - Tag 3 people: Kim Hill photographer extraordinaire KimOliveJuice, I know, she's on my other blog too LOL! and Dianne Rigdon

U - Unknown fact about me: I sang in a nightclub and won a talent contest in a seedy dive country bar

V - Vegetable you don't like: Brussell Sprouts.

W - Worst habit: eating fried foods

X - X-rays: um yep! Dental, sinus' gall bladder, ribs - I should glow!

Y - Your fave food: The edible kind

Z - Zodiac sign: Gemini

Shabby Miss jenn!!!! I'm so proud and happy to call her friend, and she's just a DOLL!! A sweet friend, a wonderful Christian lady, great Mom and queen of all things Shabby!!!

Credits for birthday card: Gina Cabrera's Beach Cottage, from her CD virtual ink Volume 3

If you're looking for my free paper pack, click Here

My mom had always talked to me about her favorite time to take pictures and I have never really purposely done this. I was playing ball with Melissa outside yesterday and I saw one lone tree with the golden sun shining on it. So...being the photography freak I am, I ran in, grabbed my camera and put her right in front of that tree!

I actually used the kit lens (18-55mm) for this picture - 5.0 aperture and 1/60 shutter speed and 400 ISO. This is actually the untouched jpeg (with defog unsharp mask run). I can't wait to see what I can do with the RAW - I don't have access to the ProMac of my hubby's during the weekend and that's the only computer that can run Aperture and CS2 - it's his! LOL!!!

If you're looking for my free paper pack, click Here

Oh man do I love this lens!!!!!!!!! Click on the photo for a larger version!

I have been continuing to play and learn how to design digital papers and elements, along with learning my new camera - so I feel like a real school girl!!

Anyways, I wanted to share my newest creation with you...here it is...

Susan Pacillo's "A Taste of Christmas" paper pack, available for free download!! If you download, please comment to me and I would love to be linked back to any layouts you make with it - it would make my day!!

If you want to download it, click Here

and here's a layout I did with it - the santa is from Mary Fran's Holly Jolly Set, available at http://www.nitwitcollections.com



And here's one by my very sweet friend Shabby Miss Jenn She has always got the COOLEST pictures and the most clean, simple, sweet designs!! Love ya my friend!!!!

I've been playing with my camera and the new lens alot. It seems like it's getting easier, then I get a crop of bad pictures and realize I still need a lot to learn. I am trying to fix the bad ones in Aperture and I'm able to save a few...but I don't want to waste my learning time fixing bad pictures - so Im going to try to take more time to get my pictures right instead of playing so much in RAW, which I need to learn, but I need to shoot better pictures first I think!! Here's one I did right. This is taken at my mom and dad's house and it's the final result of the tree trimming party we had. I used an ISO of 200, F20 and a 20 second shutter speed on a tripod. I LOVE THIS SHOT! The wallpaper my mom chose is really quite gorgeous in person, but very distracting in this picture unfortunately. Click on the picture if you want to see the full sized version.



This next one was playing with manual and close up focus and the 50mm. I used the aperture at 5.6 and 200 ISO with a shutter speed of 1/60. It was outside but shady. I have found that outside pictures are really a crap shoot with me. It's weird - I thought it would be easier, but you turn 2 feet and need a whole new setting of aperture or shutter speed!!! Click on the picture if you want to see the full sized version.