Twins Preschool graduation

Today was Braxton and Jennica's last day of school. Their program was adorable. We have just loved the preschool at Legacy elementary this year. Miss Cheri is wonderful!

It was so good to see both of them sing their solo parts and not be afraid. Were a little shy in front of a crowd around here so it was nice to see them do it.

Braxton got to lead the group in. . . . which he absolutely loves. He is really in to being the leader.


A little dance that the parents got to participate in.


Jennica singing her solo part.



Braxton and Miss Cheri




This is Kevin. He was in my twins preschool class. He taught them both so much. They always talked about him. He has no legs or arms but he is just the happiest kid and was adorable at the graduation.



Afterwards Dad took them out to lunch and I took them to the park until we had to go and get Baylee at 3:30.




Braxton got a little nervous.

What's with the weather?

Is this really May 24th? I heard its going to be in the high 70's and sunny tomorrow. Wow.



This tree never hangs down in our sidewalk like this. Hopefully it doesn't break.

What we've been up to today.

It was raining when we got home from church so this is what the kid's did to entertain themselves. They made a hospital/house/doggy house. Each kid kinda had their own idea of what it was. It ended up having three seperate rooms and included most of my kitchen chairs. I wonder who gets to clean it up. . . . . . .

Kitties

We've got three baby kitties that need a good home. We used to have five but two are gone already.

Lilly's Bunnies

So a month ago Baylee and her friend took Lilly to visit a cute boy bunny. This is the result.

Baylee is such a little budding photographer. She took all these pictures herself with a cannon rebel.





The Mom

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.