Meet Miss Elodie

Yesterday, you might have seen a preview of Elodie's photo session with my talented photographer friend Elyse of Ely Fair Photography. Last Friday, Elyse was kind enough to drop us a visit and shoot some precious shots of baby E despite a little meltdown by the little one. Baby does not like to be naked and will not stay asleep when I really want her to, so there was much more crying and screaming than sleeping like a peaceful newborn during the photo session. Another takeaway from this shoot: Do not feed a diaperless baby unless you don't mind being pooped and peed on...twice. Even with all these setbacks, Elyse was able to capture some priceless moments that we will cherish forever. Check out a preview of the photos on Elyse's blog. 

Baby Photography Workshop

creativeLIVE is at it again! If you've read any of my previous posts, then you probably know that I'm a huge CL fan. This workshop is perfectly timed and suited to what's going on in my life. They are offering a FREE, live, three-day workshop teaching newborn & baby photography February 24-26 from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. (PST). Sandy Puc will be the instructor for the class. Below is a video with more details.

Guest Post | Ely Fair Photography

Let's continue to talk photography, and who better than my dear, sweet friend Elyse Fair of Ely Fair Photography. Our friendship began several years ago when she was hired on as the other graphic designer at my previous job and became my fellow office mate and a fast friend. We had many "over-the-wall" conversations and have continued to remain friends and weekly lunch buddies. She is also a fellow blogger (times 2)...visit her professional blog to get your fill of pretty photos or her personal blog to learn more about the girl behind the big camera. 

Added bonus...Elyse is holding a contest right now on her professional blog! All you have to do is "like" Ely Fair Photography on Facebook and tell her by posting a comment here. For every 50 "likes", she's going to be giving away a free mini-session with a 16x20 canvas (total value of more than $300)! The contest closes on Tuesday, June 14, so be sure to enter before then. 

Now, let's get on to the good stuff. I've asked her do a guest post on here to give us a quick photography lesson. So, without further ado...

Well, lets take a minute for introductions. My name is Elyse Fair, and my husband Ryan and I are Wedding and Portrait Lifestyle photographers based out of Oklahoma City. After a 10-year love affair with photography, Ryan and I started Ely Fair Photography and are loving working together and capturing the joy in people's lives. And Teresa invited me here today to talk a little about photography. So I wanted to share with you something that I was scared of for a while when I got my first camera back in 2000...taking your camera off Automatic.

Get Off Your Automatic 

How many of you have a lovely SLR camera with lots of fancy pants capabilities....but have never taken it off of your automatic setting?? Don't be shy, I know you are out there. I'm here today to challenge you to get out of Auto, and explore a little on your camera!

Here are some basics (thank you wikipedia for the dial image): 

Most of you intuitively know what the little picture icons mean. They are presets that the camera company has put on your camera to help you when taking sports, portraits, etc.

But today I want to talk about the SCARY LETTERS (insert daunting music here). 

Let's do a quick overview, and then I will delve more into a couple of them.

Auto - like it says, Automatic. The camera will choose your aperature and shutter speed settings for you. For the most part does a great job, but basically is a big heavy point and shoot camera if you don't take the camera off this mode.

M - The dreaded Manual. Yes, it can be overwhelming when you first start

Tv or S - Shutter priority. This means that you tell the camera what shutter speed you want it to be and it will choose an aperture for you. 

Av or A - Aperture priority. This is where you choose your aperture, and your camera chooses the shutter speed to get a good exposure. 

The mode that I want to go further into today is the latter, Aperture priority. When we shoot, Ryan and I typically shoot in Manual, but when we are in situations that the light is constantly changing and we don't have time to mess with the settings on our cameras, we will move to aperture priority.

But let's back up just a tad and talk about what Aperture is in the first place. Aperture, in my non technical terms, is how much light is being let into the camera. It's a bit counterintuitive because the lower the number, the more light is being let in. So, an aperture of 2.8 lets in a lot more light than an aperture of 16.

This is good to know for two reasons: more light can allow you to take photos in low light situations with out the dreaded flash that makes all of our photos washed out and flat. And a low aperture can also give you the nice blurred, or bokah, effect in the background.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, let me show you a little about what I'm gabbing about. I grabbed some things off the shelf and put together a little mini set up. I put the camera on aperture priority and changed only the aperture and let my camera choose the shutter speed.

Here it is with a low aperture of f1.4. See how pretty much just the letters are in focus, and there is a blurred background.

Here it is with a high aperture of f16. Now much more of the picture is in focus. The moss and thread are more sharp, and even the chairs and curtains in the background are more understandable.

So, my challenge to you is to get our of your Auto mode for a month, and try Aperture priority and play!

After you've snapped

What happens to your photographs after you’ve pushed the button and captured all those images and memories? Do you pull them directly off the camera and slap them into a Facebook album within minutes? What if you learned how to edit photos like a pro and were able to make stunning and creative photography and art?

Ever since my first creativeLIVE photography class last month, I have become a huge fan of everything creativeLIVE. I want to take every class they offer and tell everyone about them. The best part about it is that all the classes are FREE if you watch them live!

This month, creativeLIVE is offering THREE free classes, all centered around the topic of post processing and editing. The “how-to” of using photo editing software and techniques to get professional results. Here is more information about the upcoming classes for June:

Beyond Photography – Artistic Post Production (Doug Landreth)

Friday, June 10 – Saturday, June 11

Noon – 5 p.m. (Pacific Time)

Photoshop Elements 9 for Photographers (Lesa Snider)

Tuesday, June 21 – Wednesday, June 22

Noon  – 5 p.m. (Central Time)

The Power of iPhoto ’11 (Lesa Snider)

Thursday, June 23

Noon  – 5 p.m. (Central Time)

Have some class

Are you looking for some FREE, online photography workshops and courses? I discovered a site a while ago that offers free online classes called creativeLIVE. The only catch is that you have to attend the live session in order for it to be free. Recordings of the courses are available for purchase after the live event has taken place.

The next upcoming class is this weekend - Friday, May 13, to Sunday, May 15, so you still have time to sign up to attend. The topic: Food + Culture Photography by award-winning photographer Penny De Los Santos. If you're interested, check out the schedule (note: these are Pacific Time) and sign up here. A little video preview of her class is below...


The Power of Food Photography from Penny De Los Santos on Vimeo.

Whenever I came across this Food & Culture Photography course, I began to consider the strong correlation between the two and how food really does influence society. Just think, how many parties have you attended with no food? Probably not many. Food is an integral component to relationships. It was even demonstrated during Jesus’ time with the breaking of bread at the Last Supper. Food can also define a culture for some people – what some people know about a certain culture is purely based on the food (Chinese, Mexican, Italian, etc.). Just take a look at some of these photos by Penny De Los Santos and be inspired...

This one was taken at Hamburger Inn in El Reno, Oklahoma

Judging a book by its cover

Yes, I'm guilty of judging a book by its cover. But can you blame me when the covers look like this? I've been eyeing this collection of Penguin Classics hardcovers ever since I saw them last year. I finally placed my Amazon order last week and they appeared at my doorstep today! Another bonus is that I got them for free from our credit card points...score!

I envision them beautifully accessorizing a bookshelf in my office area...well, once I purchase said bookshelf. In the meantime, I supposed these books will serve a greater purpose than merely being aesthetically-pleasing dust collectors. My goal before 30 is to read at least three classic literature novels I never read in school. The novels I've chosen (maybe a little for their covers): Emma, Little Women and Wuthering Heights. Hopefully, I'll be able to continue to add to this collection...isn't there a holiday or birthday or something (President's Day) coming up (hint, hint)?

My new lovelies and a pretty hourglass I bought this week

From sandy beaches to snowy plains

I'm baack! My husband and I returned on Sunday from our 7-day Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Spirit. We were blessed to enjoy the beautifully warm weather, clear turquoise waters and sandy white beaches. Meanwhile, the rest of Snowklahoma endured the blustery cold wind chills and were trapped in a foot of snow. Of course, a second storm hit just a few days after we returned home, but we hear it was nothing compared to last week.

Here are just a few photos to quickly recap some of our exciting adventures. Things I get to check off my list: scuba diving (now I have to get certified) and learning to play chess with my husband (I also beat him too). Plus, some of the other things I did were definitely list-worthy and may be replacing others. 

Cave tubing in Belize

Scuba diving for the first time in Cozumel

Feeding and swimming with manatees in Cozumel

Feeding iguanas in Roatan

Ziplining in Roatan

{ PHOTOGRAPHY }

Capturing memories and emotions in a point in time - that is what most fascinates me about photography. It is both an art, as well as a means to stop time in an instant. I can't help but marvel at beautiful and breathtaking photographs. It's almost as if it draws me into another time or another place. 

My challenge is to be able to take better photographs and to record and document those memorable moments that I want to cherish for a lifetime. These enduring images are something that surpass time, and I want to be able to leave these behind and pass them on for generations. 

For my wedding gift about two and half years ago, my husband gave me my first digital SLR camera, a Canon 40D. It gets the occasional use every so often, mostly on vacations, but I admit that the frequency of use has yet to justify the investment spent on the equipment. That is something that I would like to change, so I've been looking for a photography class to sharpen my skills and reinforce the basics that I've never been taught formally. 

I'm a sucker for free stuff, so of course, I scoped out the web for any free, online photography courses to take. No surprise, a whole slew of sites seem to offer free courses, online videos, seminars, and advice. Decision, decisions...Well, I'm sure it doesn't hurt to try several of these out, so I've compiled a list of the ones that most interested me. 

• TwoPeasInABucket.com offers an archived 12-week course, titled "12 Weeks to Better Photos". There are downloadable pdf lesson guides each week, as well as coursework and challenges. 
• Photographycourse.net does not have a structured class format, but does offer more advanced topics. It's more of a resource center rather than a course. 
• Poynter's News University, offers several online journalism courses and seminars, ranging in a variety of topics related to journalism, media training, and photojournalism. The class that most intrigued me is called Language of the Image. This is a self-directed course that teaches about visual language in the context of photo storytelling. 
• Digital-photography-school.com is another site that features an array of photography tips and tutorials.