There is no better time for New Year’s resolutions than after spending a week with family. I won’t post all of mine… just some food for thought as I plan my new year:

reach for goals

stay curious

keep a sense of wonder

remember to laugh

One of my resolutions is to have a planned activity every day for my kids, to be sure they are growing, learning, and enjoying.

18 inches

When I began this process several weeks ago, I posted two parts (ISO and aperture) of the three-sided “exposure triangle” before moving on to other things. I dreaded the shutter speed post… but now I have a two-sided triangle on my blog. So last week I promised Christmas tree lights and hummingbird wings, hoping they would cover this topic.

What I discovered, though, was so much more fun than shutter speed!

In brief: To make Christmas tree lights sparkle or blur, aperture (not shutter speed) is the key.

I caught my daughter in a thoughtful moment, right before we had our family tree decorating party:

holiday peace

For bokeh (the background “circles”) the aperture is wide open (f/5.6 above, using what I have).

gift beneath the stars

For “sparkles,” the aperture is stopped way down (f/32, above). The starbursts are created by light leaking between the closed-down blades of the aperture.

I used a tripod for the above shot because of the slow shutter speed (2.5 seconds). A narrow aperture lets in little light, and the slow shutter speed compensates so the photo isn’t underexposed. Of course, while the shutter is open, every movement of camera or subject is recorded. These settings wouldn’t work well for portraits.

They would work, though, for “before” shots of the tree with presents, and then “after” shots of wrapping paper carnage!

Much as I love presents, I prefer – on Christmas morning – pictures with my family. I’ll take snapshots of people I love over starbursts any day. (We’re thinking of far-away family and friends… plus the loved ones we are missing.)

one for my niece - see you soon!

Before I move away from Christmas photos – a “self-portrait” from my parents’ house, for fun:

season's reflections

My other proposed nearby shutter speed opportunity (albeit in summertime) was hummingbirds. Come to find out, it really isn’t possible to get a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action of hummingbird wings. I would need an external flash to capture a much shorter instant.

What I liked about the above (linked) site was that the author ends by asking (in essence), “Do you really even want to freeze wings?” Natural is good. I, of course, prefer my hummingbirds with blurred wings. 😉

a case for contentment

So there you have it – my reasons for leaving a two-sided triangle on my blog a little longer. I was happy to read (David Busch) that I’m not alone in sticking with aperture priority mode. Next time I have a chance to shoot ribbons of traffic headlights, a waterfall, or fast-action sports, I’ll revisit shutter speed.

For now, I have presents to wrap before people arrive – tonight! Wishing my family and friends a very Merry Christmas!

A Merry Christmas to you!

Last week the kids and I made the ten-hour drive to “Nana and Papa’s farm.” I arrived late at night and slept in the next morning. When I got up, my three-year-old son glanced up from his fire truck and said, “Mom, there are some funny animals outside.” I looked out to see the neighbor’s cows grazing in the back field… “Buddy, did you really not know those were cows?!” He came over, saw that (of course) they were cows, and (attempting to recover) said, “Hmm. Well, cows are funny animals!” 🙂

Later, my two-year-old daughter asked to go see the “pigs” (grazing out in the field). After we had watched cows for a while, my other daughter piped up, “Now can we go see the elephants?!” Good grief! A country home does not a farm kid make. My husband is using this to justify raising a bucket calf when we move back. (And everyone who knows him knows what that means… cattle farming, here we come!)

I also came home with some hand-me-downs that my little sister passed along to me. This made me extremely happy. She has good taste, and I only venture out for clothes-shopping with four young kids if I’m really desperate. I’m sure the fashionistas out there will be shocked and dismayed that I turned down these, though:

safari camouflage

My daughter had so much fun with them that my mom kept them for her dress-up box.

dress up day

On to camera things… In the top shoe picture, the aperture is wide for a shallow depth of field, making much of the photo out of focus. I’m enjoying taking pictures that way, for people as well as objects. I discovered, though, that for sunny day shots of active kids, shallow depth of field is much less desirable! A narrower aperture for longer depth of field would have resulted in sharper focus for many shots on this trip. There are some keepers, though.

patiently posed

My son was a good sport, posing in front of my parents’ red barn. (He’s not a good sport with a comb.) Shots like these are nice… but when it comes to a memory, most of what he and I remember was, “Mom was bribing me to stand there.” Not much story behind that one.

Not so with this shot:

straight from the nest

Or this one:

oops

My dad’s comment: It often happens that one person’s tragedy is another’s triumph. My comment: It’s a dog-eat-egg world.

no crying over broken eggs

The trip was refreshing, full of old hand-me-downs, the comfort of my parents’ familiar hospitality, and new memories with the kids. Gifts come in many forms, and this week, it was little gestures that brought me joy. There is value in offering whatever we have, whether it’s a kind word, a new talent, or an old pair of jeans.

offering her favorite

shared interest

care for the smallest

This was the week for our family Christmas portrait sessions. I think the receptionist at the budget portrait studio swallowed her gum when I told her we’d be bringing in four children under age four. On the first try, my oldest son hid behind the props and wouldn’t come out. The only picture we have of him from that shoot was one where he was peeking out from behind the child-size sofa. That session ended in tears… On the second try, we got a super-goofy guy. The kids liked him, and combined with shameless bribery and lots of sweets, we do have a photo that has all of us in it. Next year I may sell a kidney and hire someone who will come to us. I can’t take professional photos of all of us, but this is all the more motivation to take better candids.

Last week I was brave enough to post my blog link to facebook for the first time. I’m grateful for the tips and feedback! (My husband especially thanks my cousin for adding external flash to my wish list… 🙂 )  There are good and bad parts about posting the learning process, for sure. It is discouraging to be only at the beginning point of a new hobby, but weekly posts mean I won’t drop it. The very best part of the past week has been finding out who else has done this, and picking up new approaches here and there.

While I was at the why-am-I-doing-this phase of last week, I went to my recent favorite site for inspiration. Shutter Sisters hosts a monthly One-Word Project challenge. Each month they choose a single word, and participants submit related photos (very loosely related…). Anyone can play by uploading photos to the OWP Flickr group. The site administrators choose a photo a day to highlight on their blog. Usually the featured photos are very reflective.

November’s word was focus. What makes me focus? Obviously, a camera… reading… But really, it’s connections with people that make my day (or don’t) – relationships with people close to me, family and friends, my kids.

The following pictures are ones that keep me focused. They remind me of the fun of granting someone else’s wish… and they help me remember the reasons I started doing all this in the first place. I want to be able to recognize the little things about my kids that make them who they are – just to see & validate, with nothing more needed.

my wish granted

your turn!

I’ll close with another angle on one of my kids. This one, today, helps me focus on the fact that this is just a hobby for me – I’ll keep at it as long as it’s lighthearted & fun! Parenting, though… that’s some serious business. I have my work cut out for me:

and... leaving one for you!

So last week in a dimly-lit restaurant, I gave it a try. This is the “before,” with on-camera flash uncovered. The washed-out look isn’t bothering me as much as the shadows behind his ears:

on-camera flash uncovered

And “after,” with the flash covered by a napkin, and my daughter a little further from the background than my son was:

flash covered with napkin

I was feeling a little like MacGyver, trying to hold a restaurant napkin over the flash while adjusting the focus and pressing the shutter release button. This is the first time I can remember wishing I carried a roll of duct tape in my purse. I’m not sure if the napkin or this gadget would look better!

Before long, we’ll be getting some real snowfall here in the mountains. In previous years, I’ve been snowed in for about three months, with one storm after another. I’d like to get some snowball fight and sledding shots this year. My photography books warn about white balance problems when shooting snow (the camera tries to make the snow look grey). I haven’t noticed it, and I hope that’s because the camera’s auto white balance is handling it well, rather than because I’m not recognizing the problem.

I have noticed the red/yellow cast in my indoor shots when I’m not using flash, though. This experiment was done hastily last night (busy week). But now I know what the settings do, and I have the “custom” white balance setting ready to go for shots in this part of the house.

auto to daylight to tungsten to custom

And… my daughter, with custom white balance plus edits – maybe overcorrected in the edits. Much better than the first picture from last week, though. My daughter will be happy to help if I need to try this again:

peppermint hot chocolate for the camera

Many of our family moments happen inside, which makes for a lighting challenge. Typically I set the camera to “auto” and let the flash do its work. Unfortunately, I’m seeing a lot of “washed-out” faces and shadows behind the ears. So I’m trying to turn off the flash and use available light indoors.

For proper exposure indoors, I can: 1) use a slower shutter speed, which creates blurry faces; 2) use a higher ISO, which creates graininess; or 3) use a wider aperture… which costs money! My “kit” lens (the one that came with the camera) usually doesn’t allow me to select an aperture wider than f/5.0. Indoors, the camera compensates mostly by choosing a slow shutter speed – not good for crisp shots of children.

Compensating with ISO

A couple months ago I bought Scott Kelby’s “The Digital Photography Book.” My Barnes & Noble copy came with a bonus instructional CD. In it, Kelby recommends boosting the ISO in situations where the camera wants to choose a shutter speed slower than 1/60.

Grainy is better than blurry, per Kelby.

So, Sunday night I experimented with shooting indoors at a higher ISO. I set the camera to aperture priority mode (Av on Canon’s big dial; select aperture by rotating the small vertical dial behind the shutter release button). I boosted the ISO to 800 (Canon’s ISO menu can be accessed with the up arrow).

I got ONE shot that evening that I like! But even with an aperture of f/5.6 and a “grainy” ISO of 800, the camera chose a too-slow shutter speed of 1/30. I was lucky my daughter & the camera both stayed relatively still for this one:

1/30th second

Since then, I’ve been perusing camera web sites, poring over reviews of wide-aperture lenses that “create” light where it hardly exists. Unfortunately, those magical lenses exceed the family Christmas budget just a wee bit…

Windows to Illuminate Indoor Shots

In her book “Photographing Children,” Ginny Felch recommends using windows for indoor portraits, letting the light wrap softly around one side of the face. Adding a white reflector (like a sheet) opposite the window can help fill in shadows on the other side of the face.

Monday I experimented with different setups in front of our French door.

Unfortunately… I didn’t notice until partway through that I hadn’t reset the ISO from Sunday night’s shots. Many of Monday’s shots were also at the “grainy” ISO of 800. That’s ok – I can make lemonade from lemons (aka post-process in Photoshop).

Also, the light from the south-facing door was too direct and harsh (not to mention that the mullions created funny shadows). That mistake was easy to fix with a different setup.

Below are my “harsh light” shots, with some edits to soften the light. (Top photo: f/5.0, very fast shutter speed of 1/3200, ISO 800. Bottom photo: f/5.0, shutter speed 1/500, ISO 800.)

harsh, uneven light

For the next several shots, I added a light cream tablecloth over the door to diffuse the light, plus a lamp to provide a little light from another direction – very DIY.

The following picture is much more evenly lit – no odd shadows or overexposed ears. I had corrected the ISO to 200 by the time I took this photo. Aperture f/5.0, normal shutter speed of 1/250:

diffused light

Against the Grain

Felch includes some examples, in her book, of photos taken intentionally at higher ISOs, to get an extra soft, grainy look. So, as on her front cover, I converted the photos to black and white (or added some sepia)

In the rest of the photos, notice that the higher the ISO, the faster the shutter speed, to avoid overexposure. For these shots, there really is no need to have a high ISO as long as the camera is choosing a shutter speed well above 1/60.

Unless, of course, you actually wanted the grainy look… like I obviously did. 😉

ISO 800, f/5.0, shutter speed 1/800:

pensive

ISO 800, f/5.0, shutter speed 1/500:

illuminate

ISO 400, f/5.6, shutter speed 1/125:

joy!

ISO 200, f/5.0, shutter speed 1/50:

see ya!