I don’t have much right now

I am struggling with some things right now, so bear with me. I will be back in full force soon. Just a little up side down at the moment.

Tomorrow I am meeting up with my friends and their newborn (well, he’s one month old now!) to do a itty bitty baby session! I can’t wait to use my newfound knowledge to take some great pics.

Today I practiced on the only subject I had… the dogs!
Amanda would be proud… I took my pictures in RAW format and kept my camera in M or A. I didn’t use my flash and I didn’t take any in AUTO mode. I took about 20-25 and got 4 I liked. so that gives me an idea that I am going to need to take approximately 80000 pictures to get some good ones of a baby!!! Ha! Hey, I am learning!

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/882752767_eBwHW-L.jpg

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/882753008_wJtYa-L.jpg

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/882753280_LUVnh-L.jpg

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/882753474_c9Fzi-L.jpg

I am hoping for some good light tomorrow either inside or out. And if I am outside I will look for open shade! (see I did learn something, Amanda!)

-M

ta-da!

Ok. So here are the pictures I promised yesterday!

I got home tonight, after drinking a 4pm coffee, cooked dinner, watched last night’s American Idol and sat down at the computer to try my hand at my new knowledge.

I opened up Lightroom and tried to remember all the neat things Amanda showed me. Unfortunately the computer is a little slow to respond and my screen isn’t a huge awesome wide screen… but I made it work. At least as much as my frustration level would let me! I see a new computer in my future, strictly for photography fun!

Here are the few I loved (or Amanda loved because the lighting was great!)

Amanda, I didn’t include the ballerina pose… I seriously though about it though!

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/880269683_PPpKP-L.jpg

I love big tires… and there happened to be one near Amanda’s back yard

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/880269991_cWxax-L.jpg

Is that a bird, a plane…no… it’s Canon Girl!

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/880270433_oQe9a-L.jpg

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/880270868_EH4iA-L.jpg

I absolutely adore this girl’s laugh!

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/880271128_honpe-L.jpg

It was such a great afternoon and I am so thankful to Amanda for helping me out!

-m

#93… take a photography class… done!

Remember my 101 things to complete in 1001 days? I have been slacking a little in trying to complete items from it… life gets in the ways sometimes!

This one has been in the works for a while now, and after one cancellation and a reschedule it finally happened!

#93… Take a photography class. (or hit my cousin up for lessons!)

I spent this afternoon with the incredibly talented Amanda Pair… Ya’ll this girl is GOOD. (And she’s related to me!)

It is amazing the amount of info she crammed in my head and all the things she showed me. Though she is my cousin, I showed up a little nervous. I am always afraid I won’t catch on, or understand… but she had an incredible way of making me see what she was seeing! I loved it all except for the “leaning!”

I am amazed at the hard work she puts into each and every shot. watching her work her entire process was educational and fun! Who knew I would enjoy watching someone else post-process pictures for hours! (It helped that the pictures were of me!) It honestly was a blast and I am so glad I got to hang out with her this afternoon. I learned how to begin using the manual mode of my camera. Aperture and shutter speed began to make sense. Photography lingo seeped into my brain.

Hopefully tomorrow afternoon I will be able take the things I learn and begin to edit the pictures I took. (hopefully the knowledge is still there by tomorrow!) I will be back to show you some of them soon! I can’t wait to continue to learn and practice. I am so excited about the changes I am going to make to take, and edit, better pictures!

Thanks Cuz for being so awesome!

-m

it’s worth a shot right? Epiphanie contest

I was blog surfing again… (my new favorite pass time)

I found this one… Shutterboo
(and btw, love it)
Shutterboo told me bacon bandaids and showed me great pics. Then I found this contest to win a Canon 5D Mark II or $2500 in Southwest Airline tickets.
There are some rules and things about how to earn points to be included in the random drawing. This earns me 3 points. I am going to complete several more!
It’s a long shot, but.. hey… why not!

Here is the Epiphanie Bag site. I am going to check it out too. Cute stuff from what I see so far. Considering I just bought my 1st SLR, I will soon be in the market for cute bags to carry it in!

ok… Off to do my other points! Wish me luck.. ha!

-m

oh and….http://humansvszombies.org/

can we do this… we’re aren’t in college, or live on campus, but I say we find a way to do it!  how much fun would this be!?