Like, Totally Rad

I have been following The Pioneer Woman for quite some time, and thoroughly enjoy her photography section of her blog.

I found this site from a link on her site. And man, have my eyes been opened!

Totally Rad provides photo "recipes", advice, and Photoshop actions. And their actions are amazing!!

I am hoping to buy a set of their actions soon, to be able to process some of my photos in new ways. I am always looking for ways to grow in my photography/editing skills, and hopefully these actions will help in that matter! Here's a link to their blog.... http://www.gettotallyrad.com/blog

Check them out!

A Walk In The Woods

Tonight, my family took a walk back in the woods behind our house, where a company clear-cutted a few years ago. I have always wanted to take pictures back there of the sunset, but haven't ever taken the time to do it. Until tonight.

And Oh. My. Gosh.

I think I'm in love.

These were all shot with my Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens, and edited in various ways, all using Photoshop.

Photoshop and I are gradually becoming better friends.

This one bothers me a little. Part of the tree disappeared in the light, and so the top half of the trunk is just "floating" without being connect to the bottom half of the trunk.

Now, I know that in my last post, I talked about wanting to photograph people more. So that's just what I did. Once again, Josh was forced to be my model. He has finally decided to stop resisting me, and is instead just ignoring the camera. Works for me!

And by the way, this boy melts my heart. I caught him laughing, which makes for awesome pictures, because his real smile comes out. And that smile makes my day.

Now, this picture isn't from our trek into the woods. It's from our trip to Sequim. We parked alongside the private airstrip we were visiting, and I took pictures of airplanes. And Josh napped. I caught him sleeping.

So there! ANOTHER photography post this week! I'm on a roll!

Till next time,

Challenges

I follow several photography blogs, and am always awestruck at the photographers' ability to photograph people in amazing detail. The clarity, sharpness, color, and just general composition astounds me.

I want to be able to do that.

I feel like I am slowly learning more about how to utilize my camera and Photoshop, and am becoming more comfortable with sharing my photos. But most of my work is of stationary objects. Like still-life photos.

I know that learning takes time, but I am an impatient person. I want to force myself to step out of my comfort zone, and take pictures of PEOPLE. Things that MOVE, and require effort. Not something that will stay still and let me take hundreds of photos of it until I get it right. I have recently experimented with silhouette-type pictures of people, but I don't have to stress too much about the details of the person's face. I feel as though that's almost cheating.

That is my goal for right now and for the future; to take more pictures of people. Not benches in dugouts, or trees in a forest, or stalls in a barn. People. Kids. Couples. Groups. Everything. Except stationary objects.

Its time to challenge myself.

Just for fun...

Hunting season is quickly approaching, and so Josh has been shooting his bow a lot lately to prepare. Here are some photos I took the other night at our house as the sun was setting.



And one of Uncle Rick from our weekend of camping over the 4th of July weekend.

Adios amigos!