I cannot it has been an entire year since my last post! *sigh* I need to do way better in 2014!!!
Here are a few photos from 2013:

Let it snow!!!

Christmas Tree 2013

New Toys from Pure & Coffee Shop Blog

Been waiting...

I have been waiting for two years to capture these huge bumble bees in my yard! The bushes they are attracted to apparently only bloom flowers every other year. The last time was in 2010 and I had just purchased a 55-200 lens and used it on my d40. I now have a D7000, learned how to shoot manually and studied photography and Photoshop and wanted to see if I could improve my shots- I think I did. Like the saying goes, "The only photographer you should compare yourself to, is the one you used to be."

Disney Animal Kingdom

This is one of my favorite photo of our trip to Disney Animal Kingdom:

Epcot Butterfly Garden

If you love butterflies, then, you will LOVE the Epcot Butterfly Garden. I try to go every time we go to Disney (not a prob when two of our favorite rides are there!) This time, my family went on a ride and let me stay in there as long as I wanted to. I wish I would have read a tutorial on photographing butterflies before I got in there, but then, I just relaxed and main thing- HOLD STILL! I was chasing them all over the place, but the key is to stand still and let them come to you. Once I did, I was able to get GREAT photos, I could be proud of! Someone was watching and asked me if the butterflies were posing for me. lol Hmmm, I don't know, but it worked. Let's just say, I took my camera down from my face only to be surrounded by a ton of other cameras. lol Whoa! Even someone with a tripod!
 Anyway here are some of the ones I liked the most:

Epcot Butterfly Garden Favorite

Last week, we were very blessed to take a great vacation to Florida. We flew out Monday and returned on Saturday. I was very excited about the whole Disney thing, but my favorite spot is Epcot's Butterfly Garden. My family went on a ride and let me just take my sweet time in there. I was a little disappointed because I had to leave my 70-200 2.8 lens back home due to it being in the shop to be fixed. But, now that I think about it, it would have been really heavy to carry around when I'm trying to have fun! These were taken with my 55-200 5.6 and I am really happy the way they came out: I will have another post following this one of all the butterflies photos I took. 

Blog Board Try- I like it!

Actually, no, I LOVE IT!!!

My Son and His Special Day

My Beautiful Daughter

My daughter was lounging around in the kitchen one day being a typical teen with her cell phone, ipod and whatever else they do now days...love it! Learning to capture the small things in life : )
Here it is in black and white:

Edit Me- Week 2

What a cutie to edit this week! I've been reading and looking into newborn photography to see if its something I would be interested in getting into and adding to my portfolio. Very timely image to edit.

What I did:

• Cropped in CS5
• Auto contrast
• Ran Pure's "Fix All That Red, Baby" & "Haze Baby" & "It's All About the Bling, Baby"
• Len's flare in the window
• MCP's "Resized and Sharpened" for the web

Here's another edit- just cropped differently

Edit Me- Week 1

This is my first post of the Edit Me Challenge. Perfect because I really wanted to work on my editing skills this year. Being a part of the Good to WOW challenge showed me how helpful the blog challenges can be! I look at my photos from a year ago and can see quite a bit of difference- but most importantly, learning to shoot in complete manual mode was the real turning point- even in manual white balance using the Kelvin settings! Love it. My goal this year is to take my photography even further by learning more and editing without over doing it and continue to build my portfolio to eventually open a business.
Here's my edit:

• Opened in CS5, cropped, ran "It's All About the Bling" from Pure Actions
• Then, ran "Mini Fusion" by MCP, bumped up the contrast in the action
• Used the cloning tool for the glare on his cute little face
• Opened in Lightroom to burn the edges and a little saturation on face

My Heart

2011 Year in Review of a few photos of my children- I just found a TON of free story boards and have been playing around with them- wow! I think I may post more!

Last Good to WOW for 2011

Email I wrote to Jill and Ashley: 
       I wanted to tell you and Ashley thank you so much for the weekly challenges! It was my first one and I learned so much! What I loved most was learning how to use my camera manually. Wow! What a difference it made-it took me exactly where I wanted to be with my photography and that was to be able to take great photos of my family and my children growing up. Now, it is very seldom my camera is in the auto setting- I mean, very, very seldom. I think learning about Kelvin really kicked things up another notch- that lesson made me actually see the light I was shooting in, not look at it, but really see it, made a big difference and helped me to see things from another perspective.  I was surprised at people wanting me to shoot their weddings, themselves and their children, and how much being part of the weekly challenges helped and the lessons learned came in handy. I read a proverb that made me think of both of you:

"A candle looses nothing of its light by lighting another candle"

- thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us when so many knowledgeable photographers won't because they are afraid of being "outdone". Thank you for lighting my photography candle and now, I plan to light someone else's. 

Collage of favorite Weddings SOOC 2011:

Free Story Boards from here

 

 

Again

Yes, I am once again in the mood to change the look of my blog- please be patient with me while I go thru yet another transition!

The real meaning of Christmas

I saw a photo on another site last year and thought I would give it a try- I love it! I'm excited because a year ago, I would have been able to do this, but after reading, learning, watching other photographers I admire and entering challenges, I feel I am on the right track to accomplishing the look and style I am trying to achieve! Yay!!!

Good to wow- Edit

I really was content with my SOOC, but I was interested to know what it would look like with the bokeh being white instead of off white. I tried to adjust the color in lightroom and PS- the lights would whiten up, but the candy canes would have a blue-ish tint. *Sigh* So, I tried an action called "Florida". I cannot remember who it is by right off hand, but it was perfect!

SOOC:

Edit:

Special Edit:

See more bokeh edits at Ashley's Blog.

Our Christmas Tree 2011

Settings: 15sec f/22 ISO 800

Tripod is greatly needed to get the light flare

Good to Wow-Bokeh & Holiday Bokeh Party

I LOVE bokeh! Holiday light bokeh is even better and more fun! Here's my first SOOC photo for the challenge:

I played around with my white balance in camera- makes a very big difference, rather than leaving it in auto- Taken with my 50mm 1.8 lens.

These are edited:
While I had my setup, I went ahead a did an impromptu shoot with my children (realized, I do have room for my own studio!!!). My youngest son:

Here's another one- I saw this on another site and it really got my attention, so I gave it a try- this one is edited.

The bokeh is from my Christmas Tree- here's a tutorial of how to do different shapes- very easy and fun: http://www.diyphotography.net/diy_create_your_own_bokeh

See more holiday light bokeh at Jill's blog