Again, with the travel and photo blog. Hope you don't mind so much! I'll be back to my normal unpredictable whatever-comes-off-the-top-of-my-head blogging next week.
We're off to Michigan today! I have some shots to share of our family get-together on the 4th of July with my man's two brothers and their families...
Whew! We've traveled for a week now, and have a week to go. It's been such a great trip so far. We're in the Chicago area right now, and will be going downtown tomorrow morning to visit the skyscrapers and Lake Michigan.
Since I last wrote, we went up to Wisconsin, down here to the Chicago area, and then over to Rockford, Illinois for my man's high school reunion.
I'm a little too tired to have anything worth saying, so I'll leave you with a few shots of our trip.
Below is the view while watching a drive-in movie in St. Louis through a big rainstorm. Can you see Wall-E? Uh, yeah, me either. Still, it was an adventure and a memory.
Our drive through the Illinois countryside (see me?)
I love the many farmhouses in Illinois. They are so picturesque.
In Wisconsin, we shot off fireworks on the night of July 3rd. They were noisy and smoky but still awesome.
And on July 4th, we celebrated the day in Wisconsin for half the day, then in the Chicago, Illinois area for the rest of the day. This is our friend's baby in Wisconsin, decked out for the 4th...
I miss blogging regularly! Thanks for visiting even while I'm gone.
~ Lori
If you're a pregnant mama or the mama of a baby, I think you'll enjoy the site that my friend Maria Bailey created. She calls it NewBaby.com. Think YouTube with a freshly-scrubbed face and okay to show grandma.
A couple of my Disney pals videoblog on the site, along with Maria. But the coolest thing is that you can create your own videos to upload to the site (for public or private viewing). Oh, yeah, and it's free. Check it out and let me know what you think...
I love fabric. Don't you? I love the feel, the textures, and the designs. Everything about fabric, really. So when I saw the giraffes at the St. Louis Zoo yesterday, I thought of fabric. Just look at this. How is this not inspiring?
Even more inspiring was a sweet surprise we didn't expect to see. This little fella is only 17 days old. He's adorable. I want him.
Giraffes obviously think good posture is the first thing to teach a baby. You know, since they walk at birth, don't talk back and all that, the parents have to find something to teach the baby.
Personally, I think he looks a bit llama-ish, but whatever, he's very cute.
There are three females in the enclosure, so I can't be exactly sure, but I think this gal must be the little fella's mama, don't you think?
I can identify with her fatigue. Caring for a newborn is tough! Well, mine never stood straight still at 17 days, so I think she got off a bit easy, but, anyway, she doesn't have the perspective of having had a newborn human baby, so she's tired.
The pretty baby apparently got his good looks from his mother's side of the family.
Okay, that's just gross. But he's the only male in the bunch, so it's not like she could find another giraffe-husband.
He looks kind of ugly even without his tongue showing. The zookeeper said male giraffes grow more knots on their heads as they get older. Looks like this guy is ancient.
I'm not really into animals-in-captivity, even though I do enjoy seeing animals that I'd otherwise never see in real life. Or, realistically speaking, I probably never will. The giraffes seemed a bit bored but at least appeared sane. The polar bear and grizzly bear, however, seemed to have left sanity back in the wilds from whence their great-grandparents came.
Keeping that in mind, we decided to free a monkey on the way out...
This isn't a travel blog, but since I'm traveling and I like to blog, I guess this week will be a sort of traveling blog week, although I'll try not to bore you over the (boring) little details.
We're in St. Louis for a few days. We're on the Illinois side of the city, but drove over the Mississippi River (which was I guess higher than normal due to the recent flooding, but to a tourist looked like a great big river, nothing going over the banks) to Missouri.
I took a few shots of St. Louis, of course.
Here is where my lucky husband is this evening, with his high school buddy from ages a few years back.
I know, that's weird, it's crooked. Thing was, it was crooked, but just a bit, so I did a what-I-thought-was-cool Photoshop thing to make it exaggerated-crooked. It looked sort of cool on a grey background, but here? It just looks like a very crooked photo. Ah, well. Here's another hint where he is tonight...
I think they're playing (baseball) with the New York Mets. But I got that from a 12yo kid, so take it with a grain of salt. Kids these days are smart, though, so he's probably right.
We enjoyed the day at the St. Louis Zoo. I think I'll save that post for tomorrow, though, since I'm in a bit of a rush this evening, trying to fit blogging in between visiting.
~ Lori
We traveled from the Gulf Coast to St. Louis yesterday. (Uh, yep, that's a looooong way!)
Just thought I'd check in with you. We're heading to the St. Louis Zoo today and I'll be sure to take lots of photos of all the creepy crawly things and maybe a few cute things, too.
I'll carve out some blogging time tonight!
Lori
I'm so glad it's Friday because I really can't wait to see your photos! Oh, yes, especially if you're just showing your bad ones. They can't be as bad as this, can they? If so, good! That just means we're taking enough photos. We're supposed to have 100 throw-aways for every one good one, remember?
For today's link exchange, I thought I'd share a few photos I took Thursday of our little gal and her friend at the local splash pad.
Such cute models! I shot these on A for automatic (because I really, really need to learn what the other buttons mean. I'm going to read "What the Heck is An Aperature" this weekend). The photos were also shot in natural light, of course, under bright but cloudy skies. So, although the shots were taken midday, there isn't the harsh light/deep shadows of a full-sun day. The bright, overcast skies instead gave me good lighting for a softer effect.
Here are the week's posts:
Thursday: Get the Light Right
Wednesday: Be Odd
Tuesday: Get Cozy with Your Subject
Monday: Take Lots of Shots. Lots.
Yay! It's your turn now! Someone? Anyone? I want to see your shots, too, good or bad. Insert a direct link to your blog post into the Mr. Linky thing below. Don't have a blog? Then go to Flickr to upload your photo for free, and then insert the link to it below. See? No excuses. Show me what you shot.
On your site, please link back to this post or blog, if you would. Merci!
Lighting. Wow, that's the one thing that can make the difference between a great shot and a poor one. Unfortunately, I can't give you any tips on taking photos in the dark (ie. at night or indoors without windows), because I'm terrible at that. I was just at Barnes & Noble yesterday, reading for free perusing a possible buy, leafing through the book to find indoor photography tips. I have a lot to learn. The only time I take indoor shots in the evening is when I must, like for birthdays. Every birthday photo I have is ugly. Seriously. You'll never see them.
Oh, but natural lighting...I do love natural lighting. I've found that the best lighting is in the early part of the day or late in the day. There is just absolutely no point in trying to take nice photos on a sunny Summer day at 2pm when the sun is high up and the shadows are harsh. You can sometimes capture good lighting in the mid-day if the shade is right, or the weather brings in a storm, but for the best bet, shoot in the early morning or late afternoon.
Early Morning Light. I have, um, just 2 photos to show you of early morning. Still working on becoming a morning person. The below photos were taken around 5:30am in January, the day after I got my new camera lens. I was so excited to use it that I literally woke up before the sun and waited for the light. I was given the gift of capturing a few birds (on film):
We can even take pretty shots indoors by windows, if the lighting is right. You'll know when it's right. You're attracted to a certain rocking chair or a certain room at a certain time of each day, right? Why? Because the lighting is so pretty then. Just go with your instincts. They're right.
This one was taken indoors, by a window, around 2-3pm in February:
Afternoon Light. I thought I'd post some photos of a single photo session, taken in January on the American Gulf Coast (that matters, since our sun is probably brighter, and you may need to adjust somewhere else), around 1-2pm (which is not "late in the day," but then again, it is, since it's Winter in January here and the sun is down by 5pm). I took the shots within a span of probably an hour or less. They show you what happens as your subject moves into the sun or into the shade, and if the camera does the same.
Side Lighting. Here, you can see that our little gal is running out of the shade and into the sun. The sun is behind me (the camera), and is side-lighting her. This is the (sad) day I realized her legs had grown out of that dress. Sigh.
Shade on a Bright Day. This shot was taken right before or after the shot above, but was taken in the shade. I'm (the camera) still standing in the same spot. Oh, I really hope he didn't miss that ball.
Light coming into the Camera Lens. The below shots show what happens when the camera lens is collecting a lot of light coming into it.
In the shot on the left, the subject (my man) is the shade, but this time the sun is to the front-right of the camera, so it is able to collect quite a bit of light, washing the photo out much more than it did the photos above.
When my man moved in front of the sun, the camera lens collected a full barrel of sunlight, so I got the photo on the right. See how the background totally washes out?
That washed-out background wouldn't always be a good effect, but I love it for that shot. It frames him nicely, making him pop out. Which, of course, since it's my handsome man, I don't mind a bit.
Here is another photo taken in almost the same spot, also with a washed-out background.
In this photo, I loved that washed-out-background effect so much that I edited it (Photoshopped), putting a bit more saturation back into the photo. It is one of my favorites of our littles ones. For one thing, they're happy with each other and showing a bit of love for once, but also, the effect of the lighting makes their blue eyes pop and gives the little angels a bit of a halo effect.
Oh, great, I just said "edit." That opens another can of worms, and one that I really really know nothing about. I'm just playing, self teaching myself. Go to Pioneer Woman's Photography blog for some great down-to-earth advice from another self-learner.
Today: Get the Light Right
Yesterday's tip from the non-expert: Be Odd
Tuesday's tip: Get Cozy with Your Subject
Monday's tip: Take Lots of Shots. Lots.
Tomorrow we're sharing photos. Ready? I hope you'll share your good and bad shots with us, too! (and this time, I won't make you wait half the day to see the post. It will go up at about midnight CST tonight).
Hey, ya'll. I'll post today's photography non-tip tip around noon (CST). Noonish. I'm too wiped out to do it tonight. We spent the day at the delta, learning about .....oh, goodness, see? I can't remember. I'm too tired to think about anything that requires thinking. I think sleep doesn't require thinking, so sleep is what I'll do.
p.s. There is a new giveaway posted over at FreelyEducate.com, my pay-it-forward, a-high-quality-education-can-indeed-be-free-and-I'm-proving-it blog. It's for a Latin program for the young'uns. I like it.
