The Perfect Pose

My nieces kitten Levi is growing up fast.He is such a comical cat,and he spends alot of time trying to make up to the new kitten in the house,my Lily. Here he was hanging out near her on the back of the couch and had his paws draped over the back of the wicker cair.It looked so perfect I had to grab the camera and external flash and grab it quick before he could move away.

Sunday's, Quiet Days of Relaxation

Today I saw a hard copy of the Welcome Centers rack card that features 5 of my covered bridge images. It looked pretty good,even if the photos were fairly small.

Around town we are starting to think about covered bridge days,so today I spent some time out in the garden trying to get things in better shape for the celebration and to get it ready for winter.

While out I found a few fall beauties starting to bloom,the new feverfew plant was covered in cheery white blossoms,the mum just beginning to bloom,and the aster that is covered in buds had just a couple flowers.

Learning Custom White Balance

This last week I met someone who has a little gadget that helps you set the WB in the camera by measuring the actual light for a given shot through the use of the custom WB feature of most DSLR cameras.Since I have struggled in overcast conditions to get a proper WB,I was intrigued so I went to my local camera store to see one and see what the difference was for myself.The item looks like a filter to be put at the end of your lens,and through special glass layers accurately gives the camera a 18% grey scale to set the WB off of.It is called the expodisc.I compared it to using a grey scale card that cost $7.The difference was noticable in the lighting of the store.Besides with a grey card you have to hold the card next to your subject and shoot the photo to set the WB,making it a bit difficult unless you have a helper.w The expodisc is held right up to your lens while focusing at your subject.

Since I could not afford the expodisc at the store, I went online to check out what was available.I found the same company made a expocap,wich is similar,only made of opaque white acrylic.It too is held to the front of the lens while setting a custom WB.(There were some cheap plastic knock offs too,but they looked too cheesy to really work the same)At half the stores price for the expodisc I decided to give expocap a try.

It arrived today,and I went out in the shade of the lilacs this afternoon to attempt to do custom WB settings on the sweet autumn clematis just starting to bloom as well as a pink single rose.I was amazed at how bright and crisp the pink came,and how closely it appeared to what I was seeing,I was equally surprised at the quality of the white in the clematis bloom. With the custum WB feature you have got to adjust to any different light making it something you have to change if you move locations or the ligt changes,But when I am doing macros on subjects that are not going anywhere time is not an issue, and I can't tell you how much time I have spent struggling to find a decent WB only to give up when I could not get what I thought was a decent color no matter how hard I tried. Under indoor conditions you should be able to set it once and have consistant results from that point forward unless someone turns off a light.

Portraits Of Tobias

Since Pete and Rosa stay home all the time I have gotten lots of opportunities to catch nice portraits outside this summer.Toby being a trucking dog (and preferring it that way) I have to catch it when I can.To further complicate things he has to be tied or in the play yard,since he has a penchant to roam the town if he gets a chance.Tonight we went out back and I tied him to the cable while I tried to get him to cooperate.He loves looking for kitties and birds,and who knows what else back there,so I had to chase around and wait out the perfect head tilt or stance.After 8-10 tries I got several I really liked.Here is his Furry Friday photoshoot.

Doggies & Babies

As My Grand Niece is still visiting I had the opportunity to capture her with Pete this morning.Pete is such a gentle giant with the baby,and also when snuggling with my other niece who is expecting.He seems to sense there is a little one on board.

It was a grey day,and I found it hard to get up the energy to do much. I have been thinking hard about a foot image for my dear friend Sheila at Hurricane Lane,so I had some fun getting artistic with this shot of my favorite flip flops out on the front porch lounge.Some photoshop effects added for more fun.