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Monday, March 29, 2010

Smushy Face

I heart faces is having a dramatic BW competition



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I always fuss at her to open her eyes more.  Close them tight then open wide, I tell her! I loved the face she made! I opened the raw file in lightroom and used the black and white preset, the editied in elements where i added a beveled chrome from the actions palleted. Lowered the opacity then used the elliptical marquee tool to cut out the center .

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Inspiring

It was very hard for me to write how I think I inspire people. I love photography, have for as long as I can remember.  Started in high school when my father bought me an Olympus film camera. I have always been avid about learning everything there is to know no matter what it is, the dish washer in my house, monogram machine, computer or camera.  I have watched dvd’s, youtube videos, read books, tutorials, etc… Anything I can get my hands on to learn everything there is to know about digital.  I even have and am watching the D700 video in hopes of upgrading from my D80 next year!  Sometimes I w0nder if maybe I’m too old, things sometimes just don’t want to stick in the brain! I feel I need more hands on classes, to be challenged more. 

My main goal is to be able to photograph events at our church.  The D80 has limits on ISO settings so I’m never really happy with how the pictures come out. I love this one from our sign team signing to Ten Thousand Angels.

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I have asked a few friends to write for me.

 

Claudia wrote:'

When I think of inspiration how can I not be inspired! Her mother died with leukemia when she was 32 years old.

At a time when she should start to be able to take it somewhat easy in this life, things change. Her children are older and almost out of school and she starts all over.  An acquaintance, with a history of drug addiction, is pregnant and comes to her wanting to giver her child to Melissa to raise.  She opens her heart and home to a new life.  This child was born premature and addicted to methadone.  Melissa had to deal with everything that goes along with that, which is alot.  Then in the mix of that she is now taking care of her sister who has down syndrome.  She is living in her home with them.  Just dealing with all that goes with her sister, would be more than the normal person could handle. 

So she has a 7 year old , a 39 year old sister with down syndrome, a 20 yr old daughter who has recently moved back home, a 25 yr old son that is in the Marines stationed in California with her first grandbaby!!, and a full time job! She finds the time to tend to everyone and give that special attention to all, with not alot of help.  So inspiring to others, she definitely is.  She makes others want to do more, and be a better person.

Chotsie wrote:

Melissa loves with all her heart.   

She serves God in church and in her daily actions.  She is a prayer warrior. Constantly thinking of and doing for others. Paying attention to other’s needs and desires and does special things for them that actually means something to them. Melissa lives her life in a caring and giving manner as to inspire others to do the same. She lives a life that praises  God, that is inspiring!

I believe her photography journey is her outlet, the one thing she does for herself, but shares it with others. She takes photos of people as a way to brighten their day by sharing those photos with them.

Having the opportunity to attend Amy Wenzel’s workshop would definitely  push my level of photography up to a whole new level!

Melissa

A Wife, Mother, Sister, Gama, Meme with a DSLR

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contest

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Sunday, March 7, 2010

Day 7

Back Focusing

I just knew my 85mm 1.4 was back focusing, so I printed out a chart to do a test.

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Dead on! No back focusing.  So I guess I’m the problem!lol

Day 6

What my camera cannot do!

*ISO anywhere over 600 is impossible

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Here is Ruthie(smallest on on back row) at Cheer Camp at SJWelch in Lake Charles.

I had to go to 1000 ISO so the picture therefore is grainy!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Tulip tree DAY 5

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Thursday, March 4, 2010

DAY 4

We went out today to try and find bugs. Ruthie told me she was sure she wouldn’t find any!

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We did find some white dried flowers on the weeds in the field.

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Ruthie searched and searched for bugs…

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The bug house even went for a swim!

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But alas, we just had to return home with an empty bug house!

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Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Day 3

4pm sun was shining bright for us today.  I just couldn’t pick just one picture today.

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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Maghin (DAY 3)

 

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Flash off camera about 6 feet away. It wasn’t pointed directly at her more over her bouncing

off the house which was at her back.  It wasn’t totally dark outside but after several tries

standing in different directions and moving the flash i was happy with this one. 

Monday, March 1, 2010

Monograming

Day 2 Such a rainy and dreary day. Hard to decide on what to photograph today. I knew I had some monograming to do so I figured why not practice on my machine? I it white, sorta off white, but I knew it would be a good starting point for me. Set ISO to 400, metered off of my gray card to set wb then metered on gray card to zero. Still felt I was underexposing after several tries. I decided to set ev to -7 and was happier with the histogram after that. I tried different types of porcessing to see which I would be happy with. I think one was way too bright. Will take a look at them again to see if maybe I should have tried a different route. 

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harley


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Originally uploaded by luvtknpics
Harley's picture made it to group 4 in pioneer womans contest!!!