I still need to figure out how to make the text bigger and one hundred thousand other things.
2. I'm not planning to edit my photos very often. I just want to be able to do stuff like that, and like this.
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| Kudos to Cari Donaldson for talking me through my First Little Tikes Photoshop Collage. |
3. I was out until 10:30pm last night taking a 3 hour class called Making Sense of Your Camera.
mind. blown.
I feel like I should delete everything I've ever written about photography. Not that what I said isn't true, I just didn't have all of the facts.
I haven't posted an Architecture post for Theme Thursday this week, because every picture I took was super stinky. Let's see what I can do now that I know the secrets of the photography universe (level 1). I think I can do better.
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| This is like me with a camera. |
4. A few things I learned last night:
If your biggest print is going to be an 8x10, you only NEED 6 megapixels. Total.
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| I used to think megapixels looked like this. |
If you only need 6 megapixels, you never need to shoot in RAW. The file will be huuuge and you will need 50 computers plus extra conversion software to convert the files to images. Silly.
Sometimes, you can/should use a flash on a bright sunny day. It will illuminate shadows, under baseball caps etc, and create "catchlights" in the eyes of the photographed.
There is a magic formula called Sunny 16 that works on bright sunny days. It also works at night, when you're on the viewing deck of the Hancock shooting a city scape.
I NEED to buy some lens protector thingys for each of my lenses so I can throw away my lens caps and always be ready to take a photograph. Also, photography instructors will call you a dork if you show up with your lens caps on.
5. We Chicagoans are hard core. We haven't had a snow day in years. A few years ago, we got 11 inches in one night. Our school was open bright and early.
Last night Tom Skilling predicted 7 to 9 inches of snow. I passed many snow plows on my way home from camera class last night.
We got three inches. wah-wah.
Today, all three of our schools are open. No snow days for us warriors.
(I have to be all braggy swagger and bad a$$, because that's how I cope when I want to put my head down and weep.)
6. I have a compulsion wherein everything (or nearly everything) I pin on Pinterest must become a reality in the near future.
With the exception of my "Basement Re-do" board, but that's the money's fault, not mine.
So when I pinned the Moist Whole Wheat Banana Bread recipe, it was because I already had a bunch of super ripe bananas and a bag of Bob's Red Mill whole wheat (outdated by 2 months).
It was the greatest banana bread ever.
It was so delicious, I invested in the mega-bag of whole wheat flour from Costcos. Hit me with more awesome whole wheat recipes, preferably not the rising and kneading kind. Gracias!
7. I've got big plans for this ole blog. There's a new header waiting to be mounted, lots of book reviews simmering in the background, a couple of giveaways lined up, and more and better photography! Until then, I hope your weekend is a lot like this:
Go see Jen for more.
Whole wheat quick bread recipes? You MUST make this one today! If you don't have buttermilk, you can make your own soured milk.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally making this today! It will go very well with our Bob's Red Mill bag of Vegi Soup Mix (not outdated) that I am hoping turns itself into our meatless dinner this evening.
DeleteDid you like it? Just curious.
DeleteYes! We were all surprised by the sweetness. Very good. I ended up not making the Bob's Red Mill soup but an Italian white bean soup that no one was a fan of. At least there was bread!
DeleteWhoops. I should have told you it has a sweet taste to it, not savory.
DeleteBread sans kneeding and rising: it's the only way to live!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm so glad and actual professional said the megapixel thing because I had read it on forums but hadn't heard for SURE. I use the absolute smallest image quality for pics on the blog. Tiniest. And the image quality still turns out great. (actual photography still needs work, but baby steps). Take that, charging hundreds of dollars for a 12 mp camera dealer people!
Ka-Pow! or Ski-Doosh! Good for you for conserving pixels and memory. Smarty-smart-smart. He also said a lot things about how we used to take pictures in the film days and print them right away and physically hand them out and share them and now everyone just has files. Do we really think anyone from the *future* is going to want to find the archaic tools and software to see those bajillions of images? Jumping back on the old scrapbook album wagon ASAP. Kids need to see photos in book form and so do I. Less screens, more albums! Heigh Ho!
DeleteYou can always digital scrapbook and print the pages at Costco. Best of both worlds?? I'm so behind....
DeleteYes, totes! I bought a pink album and loads of stuff for Baby J, 21 months later, the girl is (ooh, hate this word) weaned! Sitting on a potty a couple of times a day, and still has no pictures to call her own! I bought PSE because I compared reviews of the CM digital album software and PSE, PSE won for easier, faster, and cheaper. Pink album for J, here we come!
DeletePretty pretty picture, lady!
ReplyDeleteUm, I refuse to believe you about the banana bread until you bring me a loaf. I will make you a pot of delicious tea, and share my many tricks for using up whole wheat flour (sheepish owner of the Costco bag of organic, stoneground whole wheat flour, raising her hand!). Ok, not MANY tricks, but a few.
Read carefully. Never once did I say I made the banana bread. Why did I birth all of these chilluns? Didn't you birth some chilluns would make it for you? Yes, you did! But if I do make it, it will be a double batch to share with you. Please share the mysteries of the whole wheat mega bag. Pretty please?
DeleteMy baker gave up baked goods for Lent! Looks like Sunday will be a happy day around here!
DeleteMy first secret is bechamel sauce. That flour makes theeeeee best bechamel! Also, great Alfredo sauce!
Guess what? We have a snow day. And frankly, I'm ticked about it. I had planned to go work out. Stuck at home with 5 kids and 3 inches. Not enough to even burn calories shoveling. Also, where did you find that class? I would like to go to one in Northern suburbs. Who runs it?
ReplyDeleteI got it through fake groupon, aka Amazon Local. The class was way out in Naperville at Studio W, taught by one awesome and funny Frank Jackowiak. www.yourcameravision.com
DeleteThere was somebody there last night from Detroit. Because the class is that good. Super down to earth. I am totally going to take Level 2.
So glad I found your blog through Quick Takes, Jessica! I've slowly been trying to learn more about photography, too--I don't know what you're talking about with "better pictures," because those first three up top are amazing =) Have a good weekend!
ReplyDeleteAw, shucks. Thanks Stephanie, but my spoose took the top one. It's unedited though, save for the text. I took the next two, but photoshopped some rosy-ness on those cheeks and fingers because I live in the Land of the Perpetually Gray February.
DeleteNever need to shoot in RAW? Really? My mind is blown. But what about the superior editing options you have when you shoot in that format? There's way more control I have over saturation/vibrance/fill light/etc. when I edit a file in RAW than if I just edit a jpeg. Did your class cover that? I need answers! The entire foundation of my photography has been shaken and you need to make it stop!
ReplyDeleteAye, there's the rub. The class was all about how if you get the right exposure (aperture (focus)+shutter speed (motion)), you don't need to edit. It was a very anti-editing class. Who has time to edit all of their photos/imagefiles anyway?
DeleteJealous jealous jealous of your class! Can't wait for you to teach me all of it. Take that, Amazon Local!
ReplyDeletePlease note that the first picture was taken BEFORE I took my bangs into my own hands. You can see that they barely qualify as bangs in the photo, more like "used to be bangs but trying to grown them out." What I did, I can live with.
DeleteKing Arthur Flour's website. They have awesome recipes.
ReplyDeleteOh my word! I just pinned a billion of them! Thank you!
DeleteMark has 24(!) megapixles, AND SHOOTS RAW. The computer had to be upgraded, and even then, Photoshop and his RAW editing stuff puke all over the place if you try to do more than a couple at a time. Maybe I should send him up the street to your class, since it's so close. I hate hearing the computer crash grumbles.
ReplyDeleteSave the megapixels! Conserve your RAM! Get him the class as a gift or something. There were some couples there.
DeleteI am SO impressed with your commitment to tackling the projects you see on Pinterest. I'm not sure I've undertaken (much less completed) a single thing I've pinned. You're awesome. :)
ReplyDelete