Friday Site fo the Week!

The site of the week for today is Canon's Explorers of Light Gallery. You can visit it here.

Obviously, there is a great deal of emphasis on use of light in these galleries. There are lots of amazing pictures from some of the greatest photographers in the world. It is a great place to go and browse around for inspiration.

There is also a tutorial section on the website, but in case you didn't already guess, it is all Canon specific information.

It's a busy weekend for me. I am off to the "Piney Awards" this evening. I think that it should be a fun time. It is 70's attire and the theme is the Gong Show so it should be interesting...On Saturday the JLMC is having our second annual Oyster Fest and then I have a family shoot on Sunday (Mother's Day! - and my mom's birthday) Lots to see. I will put up some pics for you guys next week.

Have a great weekend!

25 things

Okay, so this post is not incredibly instructive, but it is fun and who can't use a little fun, right?

It is called 25 things about me and it is, well exactly that. No subject, just the first 25 things about me that I feel like telling you. If you feel so inclined, post me something about you in the comments section (please don't feel obligated to do 25, one is fine). Here we go.

1. In my circle of friends I am known as the one who only bakes crazy over the top things. I like to cook, and I especially like to bake so I am always making things like triple chocolate mouse cake or chicken a la king.

2. On the subject of baking, I am still in search of the perfect recipe for chocolate cake and angel food cake. If you can pour some water and oil into a mix out of a box and it comes out great how can it be so hard to make from scratch? Makes no sense.

3. Sometimes I think that I talk about myself too much. Kinda ironic since I am admitting that on a blog where I talk about myself...but anyway, I have been actively trying to become a better listener.

4. I have an attention span of about 3.5 seconds and I almost never remember anyone's name the first time I meet them. I didn't even remember my husbands name when we first met, but that's another story.

5. I find ironing kinda therapeutic. It's not like I ever want to iron, but when I am doing it, I like it.

6. I sing along to the radio constantly, but I don't sing in the shower.

7. I have run two half marathons, but I will probably never be a fast runner. I am just stubborn and won't quit.

8. I am planning our next vacation to Glacier National Park at the end of the summer and I am SO excited. We are taking a week long backpacking trip. Our last vacation was Yosemite and it was awesome. I recommend it to anyone that likes hiking and the outdoors. We also happen to be overly ambitious vacationers. We hiked about 50 miles in three days and climbed the upper falls, clouds rest, and half dome.

9. I need a twitter tutor. I have an account, but I really just don't get how the whole thing works...I need "Twitter for dummies" or something. I'm very intimidated by it so I mostly just don't use it.

10. I am an only child, but after both of my parents remarried and I got married I now have about a dozen brothers and sisters.

11. I hate the cold. I especially hate being cold and wet and being cold in the rain in about the worst thing that I can imagine.

12. I went to the Savannah College of Art and Design and have a BFA with a major in interior design and a minor in architecture. Savannah might just be my favorite city ( I won't make it final because there are a lot of cities that I haven't been to yet)

13. I have only left the country once when we went on a cruise to Mexico and I don't really think that counts since I did not even get to use my passport, but I have a serious travel bug.

14. On of my many great grandparents on my paternal grandmother's side was aristocracy (a Viscount I believe) in Scotland way back in the day and the castle that they lived (Lumley Castle) in is still standing.

15. I have a library card (my friends think that I may be the only person under 50 besides Carrie Bradshaw who still does) and I like to walk in and pick something up of the new release cart and just start reading to see if I like it. If I start it and I don't I just go pick another one.

16. I am mildly obsessed with the Twilight series which is embarrassing considering my age.

17. I am a chronic list maker. I have to do lists for everyday of the week saved in my blackberry and if I am really busy one week I will go all out and write it out so that I can get the satisfaction of checking things off the list. I even had a count down list before my father in law visited that my friends found hilarious.

18. I am almost always optimistic and trying to find the positive spin on events. Like when I just found out that I needed a new engine cooling fan I told myself that at least they caught it before my water pump failed and my engine exploded. Things can pretty much always be worse than they are.

19. My cat, Lily, is incredibly evil and devious. I don't know how she turned out this way. I feel like a bad pet parent for raising something so mischievous.

20. I can't even imagine being a vegetarian. Or a vegan! (no cake or cookies!) Not that I have anything against them, but I just like food way too much to limit myself that way. Never have buffalo wings again? Unfathomable.

21. I grew up on a farm in Iowa in a town with 4,000 people and 2 stop lights. My graduating class was the largest in the history of the school at 120 people.

22. I graduated college Magna Cum Laude and didn't know it until about a year later because I did not attend graduation. Four and a half hours in the un-air conditioned civic center in Savannah? No, thank you.

23. I am on the board of the Junior League of Moore County, a charitable organization for women that focuses on helping women and children in the community as well as developing the leadership potential of our members. I am constantly trying to get people to join.

24. I used to shoot competitive shooting events with my husband all the time. I'm good with a long range rifle. I only had three rules for the competitions: don't shoot anyone, don't be last, and don't cry. I broke the last rule once when I got hit in the face with a shot gun, but the other two I have a clean record.

25. I think that I am much bigger and stronger than I really am. ( I think that I have short man syndrome). I once spent an hour trying to push a king size mattress up the stairs by myself before finally asking for help. I'm nothing if not determined.

Picture Monday!

So, last Thursday was my birthday! I am always excited about my birthday and generally remind everyone that it is coming for months in advance and then plan a big party. (Yes, I throw myself birthday parties and I'm okay with that) This year, though, I have been so busy that I did not go all out like usual with the menu planning and testing all the recipies and all that.

Instead, some friends and I went to dinner and then had some appletinis and (against our best judgement) sang some karaoke. Luckily for me, even though I did have my new camera with me, no photographic evidence exists of the evening...

So, to make up for it I have some pictures of the very pretty flowers that my ultra cool husband sent me. Enjoy!

(a little technical P.S. - the only difference between the last two photos is that for the first I had the drapes on the window behind me closed and in the second they were open. Yes the amount and quality of light does make that much of a difference!)

Friday Site of the Week!

The site for this week is www.dpreview.com. This site is all about gear. Reviews for lenses, cameras, statistics, tests, you name it - they got it here. A good resource for comparing products and getting ready to buy.

Off to spa day today to celebrate my birthday yesterday. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Canon PowerShot SD790IS Review!

So, like I said on Monday, I made the leap and got a point and shoot. One of the things that made this a practically agonizing decision is that I wanted everything that I got from my big camera in mini size. Well, that ain't gonna happen. If you want a 1.8 aperture and coverage from wide angle to telephoto with a complete range of settings - get a DSLR. So, what I had to decide was what my biggest priorities were. In this case I needed something small enough that I would actually carry it around with me. I know me, if it is almost the same size as my DSLR I will just carry my DSLR and this doesn't solve any problems. Second was it had to offer some flexibility but be easy to use.

Let's start with what I like:

You can adjust ISO from 80-1600 (though I warn you that 800 and 1600 are REALLY grainy) This does allow you to take natural light pictures in most indoor settings. This camera is much better suited to bright scenes than low light though.

You may not be able to focus manually (and it does not have focus points) but you can pick your focal plane from macro, regular, and infinity.

You have the option of turning the flash off.

Several shutter options including continuous and timers. This camera, however, is not great for candid photography due to some significant shutter lag.

You can adjust the exposure to an extent. I would have rather had Shutter and Aperture priority modes, but small size trumped that requirement.

You can set custom white balance (and it does a pretty good job) above is auto and below is custom. Another bonus, setting the custom white balance is SUPER easy as long as you have a grey cloth or card.

What I don't like so much:

FINGER PRINTS! The entire camera shows them like crazy. It doesn't affect the performance I realize but it makes me a little crazy. The plus of the screen is though that it is pretty large and you get live view that you don't get from most DSLR cameras.
This last thing is not something that happened to this camera, but my husband had a similar camera with this lens cover and it would get stuck half open or closed or just generally not work right. he also can destroy about anything on the planet though so I don't know if that is a fair to the camera...

There you have it. The newest addition to my camera family!

Picture Monday!

This is going to seem like a motley array of pictures today, but there is a theme...I finally made the leap and got a point-and-shoot camera. All of my friends thought it was really funny that I was the only one who did not have a "regular" camera and I had been wanting one for everyday sort of things. So, here is a taste of what it can do and I will have a review of it on Wednesday.
This is exactly the sort of thing that I wanted a carry camera for. Sometimes things like this show up and how can you not take a picture? But carrying around 30 pounds of camera gear is not so conveinient, low-key, or good for the back. I have had the most fun with the digital macro mode...

My most photogenic pet. I was having some fun with lens flare and the wide angle lens...

Check back on Wednesday for the details!

Friday Site of the Week!

Since I am on a vendor theme this week, I thought that I would point you to the blog of one of my vendors http://forbeyon.com/blog.php. You really get a good look at the products and they also feature photographers as well.

Fun stuff if you've got a few minutes.

Have a great weekend!