Lens and orchards

We went to the orchard after school today. The apple blossoms won't be in full bloom until next week. So we'll see. . . .

I had a lot of questions about the lens that I posted. So I'm going to give my advice again (take it for what it's worth . . believe me I still have lots to learn).

(1) If your short on cash - upgrade your lens before your camera. Lenses are so important.

(2) If your deciding between the 50 mm 1.8 or the 50 mm 1.4 go with the 1.4. I know it's like $300 more. But, I bought both. I thought I could live with the 1.8 ($150) and I couldn't. I love how much sharper my images are with the 1.4. It's not that the f-stop makes that much of a difference - it's just the quality of the lens. I promise you your images will be sharper.

(3) If you are going to buy a full frame camera or if you have a full frame camera skip the 50 mm all together and just buy the 85 mm. With a full frame camera you can shoot families with a 85 mm. You can also shoot portraits. You cannot shoot portraits very well with the 50 mm and a full frame camera. It will be like shooting with a wide angle lens. Great for groups and landscapes - bad for close ups.

(4) Because I already had the 50 mm 1.4 I just bought the 105 mm so I can do better portraits. Because I use a full frame camera I can still get more than one person in the picture. I just took pictures of my kids in an orchard and posted them on my photo blog. You can see that I got a few pictures with all three of them in there together. I did have to back up quite a ways - but not too bad.

Here's one I took today with the 105 mm lens. You can see more of the images that I took with the 105 mm lens on my photo blog. I just posted it today.

Photography Tip

I'm so excited to get this lens today. I've known I've needed it for awhile now. My oh my how equipment adds up fast.

This lens was around $900ish + at picturline. When I upgraded from my Nikon D200 to My Nikon D700 I purchased a 50 mm 1.4 lens ($450ish). Previously I had been using a 50 mm 1.8 ($150ish) Things changed a lot with that 50 mm lens. The Nikon D200 was not a full framed camera - meaning it didn't capture as much space (sorry I'm bad with words). Using the D700 with the same lens almost (50 mm) seemed like I was using a wide angled lens. I needed a lens that pulled the subject closer to me. So this is it. These are things I really would have loved to understand when I was purchasing some of my first equipment so that's why I'm sharing that information here.

Anyway, this lens allows me to stand farther away from my subjects which can actually make them more flattering. If you stand too close to your subject their nose can appear larger and their ears disappear. This is a great portrait lens which sharpness should exceed the 50 mm that I've previously been using. This lens is supposed to make beautiful bokehs when used at a low aperture (bokeh = means blurred backgrounds with amazing color). So fun, I can't wait to get out and shoot with it.

One more tip. Why not just purchase a lens that can scoot in and out depending if you want wider or shorter? Well, that type of lens is simply not as sharp as a solid lens. There is definitely a need and a place for them. I always borrow my sister's 70 mm to 200 mm for horse shows. It's like a spoting scope and will bring my subject close to me when I'm up in the stands. Love it. Need it. But, because it is a zoom lens I may loose just a little sharpness from the solid lenses.

Photography Tip

Textures. I actually love playing with textures in photoshop. It can dramatically change your photo. Here are a few examples. I simply plopped the texture on top of the photo and stretched it until it covered everything. Then I changed my texture layer to overlay and I'm done. I will sometimes erase the texture off of the skin or clothing at about 30% opacity.

Here are some examples.












Here is the texture I used on all of the pictures.

It's 60 degrees!

My kids think that the biggest heat wave they have ever felt has hit today. They are sooooo hot. They begged to run through the sprinklers. Instead I told them they could play with the hose. Lots of the neighborhood kids came over to help them with the hose.

Spring

My kids are loving it. We've had 70 degree weather lately and it has been wonderful. I heard a cold front is moving in tomorrow so were trying to enjoy the sun while we have it.



So this picture is definitely blown out. I took it in the shade with bright morning sunlight right behind Baylee. I wanted to blow out the background and expose Baylee correctly. I didn't quite land it. But, I still like the photo - because it is Baylee. It's interesting how much detail you loose when you overexpose. In reality there is a trampoline, trees, grass, bushes that are in the background.

Without a SLR camera the camera would have exposed the background correctly and Baylee would have been a dark shadow without much detail. One of the good reasons to be able to use your camera in manual is so you can expose your subject correctly and not the background.

Also, you can't pay attention to the metering line for exposure either. It's very important to check the back of your camera screen and make your own judgement - because sometimes your camera just doesn't know.

Volcano

My kids were so excited that they made their very own volcano. I had to take a quick snap shot of it. They thought they were so cool. It made me laugh.

Spring Break

Spring Break was so cold here in Utah. At least the first half of the week. I took the kids to see "How to train your Dragon". The kids loved it. I highly recommend it. I started getting the stomach flu during the movie - and I still liked it.

Baylee and I had the stomach flu for a couple of days. On Thursday we felt better and I squeezed in a photoshoot in the morning and then we headed out to St. George for a horse show. We stayed at a hotel but spent a lot of time with David's sister Shareen and her family. My kids loved playing out at their sod farm where there was a ton of grass to run on. But, mostly we enjoyed the warm weather.

Horse Show - watching Bucks N Moore win a heading class. Chris Hanks was roping on him. I posted a lot more pictures on my photography site. Check it out HERE.



Racing at the sod farm - Jennica had fallen asleep.






Jennica being hit by a dust devil. It was so wierd.


Playing at the pond at the sod farm.


Taken before we knew not to throw rocks in the pond. Oops.


David's sister has the cutest dog.


David's sister's back yard was so green - and my kid's loved her outdoor jetted tub in the gazebo.

Braxton's Batman photos

He is so excited for his batman party.

Braxton's Birthday Party

So I'm kinda recovered from Jennica's party. Now it's time for her twin brother's party. It's going to be a batman party and he's really excited.

I totally got the inspiration for this party from Jess Bishop. She is a photographer in Pleasant Grove.

She told me that you could google the batman font and download it for free. So awesome. Anyway, here we go again. Anyone want to help me cut out black bats for next week?

Happy Easter

I had a great time listening to the apostles and prophets at general conference. I love Easter and the beautiful message of hope that comes with it. Enjoy!

Jennica's Party

I traded my friend Megan Grover photography for party planning. Megan has done a few event's and would like to do more. She is amazing. The party turned out so great. To see more of Megan's creations check out my photography blog.

I also want to thank Cori, my sister, for helping me with the camera. Half of these pictures were taken by her and half by me. Both my Mom and Cori were a great help to me during the party.













Some of the guests. We had a few guests that were camera shy and we didn't get their pictures. Partly though I was distracted because of our horses. Jennica's party started at 4:00 PM all of our yearlings (ten of them) got out and were running down our street at 4:30 PM. Luckily, Dave Price, our neighbor got them back onto our property and contained them. My Dad also came and helped. David was out of town and I have been feeding for him. I think I didn't secure their gate right. So it was my fault. There is never a dull moment around here with all of the animals we have.




We made heart shaped purses. I got the inspiration for these purses from "One Charming Party".


Megan's cute little girl, Jane.











Cori's little girl Brielle and Sierra. Sierra fell down the stairs and ended up with a really bad swollen nose and black eye. The crazy thing is that last week our cousin Camiah had a party at Kangaroo Zoo and Brielle got a black eye there. So it looks like Cori's a kid beater. She just moved into a new home and when the neighbors meet her kids I'm sure they will be wondering. Well, maybe not. Maybe they will believe her that her kids both just happened to get hurt at their cousins birthday parties.


Photoshop helped Brielle's eye.

This is Sierra before the accident.





All of the little girls wanted Jennica to open their present first. It was such a frenzie. Jennica loved it though.


Now, I need to start on Braxton's party. Well, I've already got it going. I need to cut out about 20 bats this week. He's having a batman party. I was going to have his party this Friday but David just informed me tonight that our stallion Bucks N Moore has a show to go to in St. George and he wants to take all of us. I'm all for some warmer weather so I'm definitely outta here. We'll have Braxton's party the week after. I need the break anyway. He's such a patient cute little guy.