Just a Swingin’ – The Edit

So last week, I posted some photos of my daughter, Kelsey, that I took at my photography class. I encouraged my readers to look through the unedited version of the photos and pick their favorite. And the winner was, this one:

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Here are the settings from the original photo: ISO 400, 200mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec

Then I pulled the photo into Lightroom 4 (which I am loving by the way!) and did a little bit of editing:

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In addition to these settings, I also did a skin softening on her face and a post-crop vignetting in the amount of –24. Now I am still learning the edit part of photos, because I really never thought it was necessary. Since taking these couple of classes, I am now able to see that even just a little bit of editing can make a big difference in my photos.

So again, here is the before:

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And here is the after:

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Now if someone had moved her hair away from across her eyes, that would have been helpful! But I am not by any means at expert at Photoshop Elements yet, so I am not even going to attempt to edit those away!

So what do you think? Does it help to see the screenshot of what I did in Lightroom?

Capture Your 365

Here are this past week’s photos on my Capture Your 365 adventure!

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ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.0, 1/60 sec

Day 58 – Essential Equipment: today I wanted to make some muffins, so I pulled out all the ingredients to make some pumpkin muffins. Yum!

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ISO 100, 50mm, f/2,8, 1/5 sec

Day 59 – Up Close and Personal: today’s prompt encouraged you to fill the frame. This little camera was the first camera I ever took pictures with a long time ago at outdoor ed. I found it at my parent’s house on a visit up there and brought it home. I like keeping it up on a shelf with some old books I have been collecting.

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ISO 100, 24mm, f/4.0, 1/800 sec

Day 60 – Sweet Rest: in the busyness of this life, we tend to neglect taking time to just rest. Last week we were blessed with a beautiful afternoon, so Kelsey and I had iced coffees out in the backyard. It was a nice time to enjoy the warmth of the sun and some sweet time with my daughter.

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ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.8, 1/250 sec

Day 61 – Whimsical: last spring, Kelsey and I put these together from an idea I found on Pinterest. They are a great way to add some spring color to our home.

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ISO 100, 32mm, f/25, 1/8 sec

Day 62 – Upside Down: Now I know this photo is not upside down. But what I loved was how filled the sky was with clouds. I was waiting for the sun to move past the clouds, but not quite behind the hills. Kevin and I were on our way home from a date afternoon and I had him stop quite a few times until I got the ‘perfect’ shot. It is all the interpretation of the prompt, right? (insert big smile here!)

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ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec

Day 63 – Two: So I have to admit, I actually took this photo on Day 62. Kevin and I went out on a date afternoon (which I will blog about soon), and we stopped for a treat. One Mocha Frappuccino and one Chai Tea Latte. Two Starbucks drink, but one fun afternoon!

Are you Capturing Your 365? Let me know if you are! I would love to see what you are capturing!

Simple Photo Book

A few weeks ago, I blogged about our trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and I knew I would want to send some pictures of our day to our Compassion kids. So a couple of weeks ago, I put together a simple photo book for each one of them and today, I am going to show you how simple these are to make.

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Gather your supplies: multiple sets of photos (depending on how many kids you are writing to), cardstock (this holds up better than construction paper), glue stick, stapler, and paper cutter

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Cut the sheets of cardstock in half and glue the photos to the paper. I attach them more to the right side to leave room for stapes on the left side.

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Add a description to your photo. I try not to be too wordy so the translator doesn’t have to spend too much time translating.

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Once you have added a description to each of the photos, stack the sheets of paper on top of each other and staple the sides together.

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On the back of each photo book, be sure to write your name and sponsor number, as well as the name and sponsor number of your Compassion child.

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We like to include stickers and activity booklets with our mailings. You can usually find these in the dollar spot at Target or JoAnn’s

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Be sure to include an encouraging note!

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A while back I bought a box of 6x9 envelopes to use for our mailings to our Compassion kids. We make sure that everything in the envelope has our name and sponsor number, as well as the name and sponsor number for our Compassion child. Then we place everything for that one child in the 6x9 envelope. On the outside of the envelope, we again write our name and sponsor number, and our sponsored child’s name and sponsor number. This way everything is clear and separated for the mailing center in Colorado Springs.

When we send larger items that we don’t want to fold, we have put these items in gallon size ziploc bags and that seems to work pretty well.

What have your sent to your Compassion child lately?

Just A Swingin’

It is much too beautiful of a pre-spring day here in California to stay cooped up in the house writing a blog post today. So today, I am going to share with you some pictures I took yesterday at my photography class. Kelsey came along with me since we were meeting the guys later, so she ended up becoming one of the subjects. Our project was to try to photograph her in our instructor’s backyard in the late afternoon while she was swinging on the swing. The pictures I am going to post today are straight out of the camera, no editing! I have to warn you, this is going to be a photo heavy post! But be sure to pay attention, because this is going to be a reader participation post! Be on the look out for your favorite…

Here are the photos I took yesterday:

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Did you find a favorite?

Great! Tell me which picture is your favorite (just count down from the top picture and give me which number it is in the comments) and next week, what ever picture gets the most votes, I will post the before and after photo and tell you what I end up doing in Lightroom to get the after picture (which I will edit before next week!) Sound like a deal?

What will you be photographing this weekend?

Capture Your 365

Time for another week of photos!

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ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.8, 1/6 sec

Day 52 – Performance: Kelsey working on her least favorite subject, math. At least she likes the program we use: Teaching Textbooks! I love that all, and I do mean all, of the problems have a solution that is explained in easy to understand terms. The curriculum has made my life easier as a homeschool mom!

13_Feb_sweet treats_001_edit

ISO 100, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/50 sec

Day 53 – Sweet Treats: I have to say I am loving these excuses to bake! Made up a batch of my favorite sugar cookies for this photo prompt. Kelsey helped me with the icing and the sprinkles. Even though the icing turned out a little too pink for my liking, it was the perfect color for the photo.

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ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.5, 1/13 sec

Day 54 – Framed: I am not one to usually take pictures tilted, but given the suggestion for this prompt, I thought I would give it a try on this photo. That wicked cough came back over the weekend, so hot tea with honey was my way to try to beat it, with one of my favorite mugs of course.

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ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.5, 1/13 sec

Day 55 – For the Love Of Music: Kelsey has been diligently practicing a song with the hopes of playing it at church soon.

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ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/60 sec

Day 56 – A Cup Of ____ : For me in the morning, it is always orange juice! My favorite go-to breakfast most often is a bowl of cheerios and a cup of orange juice. Yum!

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ISO 100, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/13 sec

Day 57 – From The Side: This Bible sits on a table in the entry way of our home. It belonged to a set of great grandparents who I don’t believe I ever met. But it was special to my grandmother, and she gave it to me to keep, which makes it a special heirloom for me to cherish.

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ISO 100, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/2000 sec

Bonus photo!: On my way home from photography class last week, I just had to pull over to take this picture. The sun was starting to set and I had noticed on the way to class that some of the almond trees were starting to blossom. Sure is nice having that big girl camera with me at times like this one!

What did you photograph this past week?

Want to join in the fun? Visit Capture Your 365 and sign up for her mailing list. You get a daily e-mail with the photo prompt for the day. As you may have noticed, there are days that I have missed, but it sure is fun adding a little creativity to what I am able to capture each day. Hope you join me on this photo adventure!