Picture Perfect ... Almost!

One of the hardest things about having 2 kids is spending one-on-one time with them.  I try my best to give each their own time during the week.  The last few weeks have been some tough ones on this front.  I know the summer will be difficult for dedicated time with S.  But I also know he will get time when D starts school again in the Fall. Today D and I had some fun time together while S napped.  It was important for both of us since S is sick and very much a mommy's boy when he doesn't feel good.  This makes it hard for D to get much of my attention.  So while he slept we painted eggs from her Kiwi Crate, played in the sand table, and had a great time! Painting cardboard eggs  Movie star Fun with portraits and background blur D loves to use the hose So happy

I got a new toy today!  (Yes, me - not the kids.) It's a 50 MM lens for my camera that lets me lower the aperture to 1.8!  Three weeks ago this would have meant nothing to me.  In fact I would have been upset because I couldn't zoom in and out.  But after starting Momtographie class this lens is AWESOME!!  I was able to take some great pictures of D and S in action at our picnic today.  I can get in close and achieve the blurry background.  I love it!  I do need to practice some so I can figure out what settings work for what situation, but at least I know how to do this. Happy Memorial Day!

I've finished my third week of Momtographie class.  This week I learned about the third ingredient for creating pictures of out AUTO - aperture.  This is part of the camera lens that lets light in.  When you use a low aperture you can achieve bokeh.  That's the blur in the background of photos.  This week our task was to try to take pictures to get that artistic blur.  In these pictures you can see a bit of blur in the background.  Some are better than others in that respect. I only have the lens that came with my camera and cannot achieve a very low aperture with it.  It's also difficult for me to think about shutter speed, ISO, and aperture all at the same time to get focused subjects and blurry background.  I've always taken photos in AUTO, so being in charge of settings is overwhelming.  When the picture doesn't come out how I want I have to stop and think - is it the light? the ISO? the aperture?  By th...

D recently got a bike with training wheels and we've been practicing riding it with the spring weather.  Today we took it to our favorite open lot and took off.  She was doing great ... until going down a slight hill.  She got going fast, panicked, and hit the brakes.  You can imagine what came next - tipping and falling.  B and I waited to see her reaction before acting.  She was upset with some tears.  But she got back on her bike and kept going!  I'm sure this is the first of many spills in our future. Here's some pictures showing the evolution of wheels in our house. D's first trike S's first trike ride while D rides on her own At the pumpkin patch getting pulled Rides around the house S pushing the wagon    D at the ice rink Big Girl Bike    Riding with Mommy Mommy giving a kiss to the first bike boo-boo

Why are kids so entranced by bubbles?  D and S, like all kids, are fascinated by bubbles.  They will blow, chase, pop, and laugh hysterically whenever bubbles are brought out.  At the preschool picnic today there were lots and lots and lots of bubbles.  Both D and S were in heaven.  They smiled at them.  They blew them.  They jumped to pop them.  It was pure joy to watch them engage with something so simple.  There will be lots of bubbles in our future.

Today was D's last day of preschool for the year.  (And my wonderful husband's birthday!)  She LOVES school and had the most wonderful, patient, and caring teachers.  She has learned so many things this year - academic and social.  I can't believe my baby girl is growing up so quickly.  Here are some of things she learned and practiced in school this year ... Count to at least 50, probably higher Recognize numbers to 20 and write up to 10 Write her name and read it in any situation Recognize all of the letters and most of the sounds (SHE informed me she wants to learn to read this summer ... we'll see how that goes) Cut straight lines and working on curves Recognize shapes and draw many of them (Proud teacher moment was when she informed her teacher that the shape on the wall should be labeled rhombus, not diamond.) Getting along with others by sharing, taking turns, and listening So many other things I can't think of right now D amazes me everyda...

So one of the things I'm supposed to be doing in my photography class this week is create portraits with  bokeh.  That's the artistic blur in the background of photos.  It's achieved by lowering you aperture on the camera.  If that sounds like a foreign language to you, don't worry it does to me too.  And I'm taking the class.  My attempts today were done while D and S played outside in the water.  I got some fun motion pictures ... nice and clear.  But I had trouble getting the blur - of course because of that's my goal for the week.  Oh well ... I'll keep trying! Clear Clear Artistic blur Clear Artistic blur Artistic blur

So I've come to realize I am not the greatest blogger!  I seem to forget to put anything down about our day or what we've been up to.  I'm new to this blog thing and let's face it I have 2 kids!  Some nights all I want to do after bedtime is sit on the couch and do nothing!  That's how the past few evenings have been.  But I'm going to try to do better! On the photography front, I'm learning about aperture this week.  That's the part of the camera lens that lets light in.  It's another aspect that I can control (when not in my favorite AUTO mode).  For me it's a little tricky to manage.  Why you ask?  Because as the number get BIGGER the amount of light let in gets SMALLER.  For my math based, teacher brain this is hard to process.  So you may see some not so good pictures over the next week or so as I try to remember this important piece of new info.  But, I'm going to try not to get frustrated and learn some more about...

This week in my Momtographie class I've been working on taking pictures in AV mode instead of AUTO.  For me this was the first time doing anything to my camera other than pushing the button to take the picture.  We focused on shutter speed and changing the ISO (a kind of light boost).  By getting a higher shutter speed, by better light or ISO increase, I was challenged to take pictures of my kids in motion.  Finding D and S in motion is not a problem by the way!   I quickly discovered it is much easier to get clear, crisp pictures of movement outside rather than inside. My pictures are routinely blurry inside regardless of where I stand or the ISO I use.  As I increased the ISO the pictures were too bright and I started to notice the noise we talked about in class.  Now, this is good and bad - good because I noticed the noise and bad because it's there.  Here are some pictures from inside.  They go from early in the week where I was just le...