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I've been a busy girl this week!!! It was my first week back to classes and externship (that's what we call our weekly field placements), and I would have MUCH rather been home with the babies! Our youngest two are also a bit under the weather. Needless to say, I've devoted less than my typical amount of time in photography.

So, what did I do this week??? I still fired the rapid clicks of my camera as I took over 1,000 shots this week! LOL!!! Most of them actually turned out in focus, thanks to my new understanding of shutter speed. I've set it to never go below 1/125, and I usually have it at 1/250. I did read the manual mode information, and I looked briefly at articles about what the number on my lens means, focal length, depth of field, aperture, focal lock, and exposure. Some of them I'm "good" with, and some will definitely need a week devoted just to them. LOL!! So, my pictures from this week are a hodgepodge of my many camera clicks, with a little bit of my understanding for why the exposure came out the way it did! For any more experienced photogs, did I use that term correctly???


Focusing on the correct point is so critical. I was focused on that sweet, chubby hand, causing his face to be blurred out. Lesson learned :)!

These two taught me another valuable lesson. Looking through the lens, I thought I was doing "okay" in manual mode. Once on the computer I realized that the poor gymnasium lighting greatly impacted the images and discolored them all. These are two GREAT shots of the kids...of Kathryn saying "cheese" and of Joseph struggling to carry his "baby seester". Kathryn was waayy too dark, and the one of them together was so yellow. Uck!

These two highlight the difference lighting can make indoors. The one of Kathryn was taken in the playroom at MeMe and Papa's house, where the natural lighting is quite poor, while the one of her daddy was taken in the family room, where there's great window lighting. Huge, difference, right??? And, as a side note, I did good. My man is hot, hot, hot ;)!!!

I knew this one was going to be a poor shot, but I also thought it'd be a great "showcase" of what I've learned in just three short weeks! So, Joe's facing the son, which is just fine. There are, however, two problems. First, he's standing in dappled light (read more about that here). That's what is causing all those spots of light and shade in the picture. He's also looking into the sun, which is causing him to squint. He needs to be facing the light, but far enough into the open shade to not be squinting :)!


The rest of the shots were from my experimenting today. I am SO happy with them!!! I had my shutter speed set to 1/250, with the aperture set on the lowest setting for my lens. The ISO was on automatic. I haven't mastered playing with that one just yet. I love how crisp these images turned out, and most of them are SOOMC (Straight Out Of My Camera)!!