Category: around the house

In response to today’s challenge. . .

Here is a very small part of my “stash”, what knitters call the mountain of yarn we accumulate as a result of our obsession with yarn.  My photography obsession has overtaken my knitting obsession, but lately I am finding my fingers itching to knit again.  This photograph was taken in response to today’s theme, over and under– and features this beautiful Senegalese basket given to me by a student a few years ago.

Yes, I did move the yarn into the sun for the photo- and out of the sun afterward, in case you were wondering.

Today’s topic is negative space. I didn’t really nail the topic here, because there could potentially be more negative space here.  I do like the composition however- and the subject, a lovely reed diffuser given to me by my friend, Darlene.

I’m still babying the knee today, which is much better- so I am  b a r e l y  working, kind of coasting, with my photography today. . .

I just used Kelvin WB today, which works well in my kitchen- aperture priority, AUTO ISO. In Lightroom, I had to straighten (oops) and adjust exposure a bit. Thanks to the free Jared Platt video I’m watching on creativelive.com, I think I understand the LR sliders better. At least half of what he has taught is over my head, but some of the basics are sinking in- finally!

Second day of using Lightroom and really no clue what I’m doing. . .

To make things easy on myself, I went with one of the themes- peek-a-boo (wish I had Miles or Henry here for that one). I finally gave up on sharp focus and concentrated on the editing.  The black and white part was easy- desaturate, adjust tones, and then add a bit of warmth in split toning (just saw that on a video. . .).  But sharpening? Noise reduction? That’s where the no clue part came in. I also don’t get how to add my watermark for Flickr.

I announced on Clickin Moms that I was making the switch to Lightroom, and quite a few CM-ers reported that they just made the switch too- including one of the diehards, who had been the guiding force of Aperture advice on the forum.  I was a bit surprised.  The biggest issue now is how and how much to import photos from Aperture. Right now I’m just sticking with the new photos.

My Flickr groups have been given short shrift (is that really a word?) by me lately, so today I am going with a topic suggested this week- hanging.  Besides, my current favorite model flew back to San Diego today, so I am back to mostly inanimate objects.

So here is one of my straw hats hanging on our antique hat rack by the front door.

This was edited (not much) in Adobe Lightroom 4, which I downloaded again today (earlier this year I played with the Beta).  This time I have made a commitment to learn it, because there is so much more support out there for this program compared to Apple Aperture 3. I’m tired of being in an “elite” minority, no matter how much I love Apple products.  Adobe products for photography are here to stay; I’m not so sure about Aperture.  And besides- Lightroom is currently so much better than Aperture.

My husband has very few items saved from his childhood, but his Hopalong Cassidy mug and Captain Kangaroo cup are prized possessions.  Like most of our family memorabilia, they are housed in the antique dental cabinet in our foyer.  The theme today is history, and these cups are definitely part of our family history.

Almost 5:00 and no photo yet- am I getting burned out? I hope not! I took a bit of time to follow the light around my house (always my last ditch effort) and came up with some interesting shots of light and lines.

Here is the ceiling above my stairs- turned into a black and white to emphasize the lines:

And here is the afternoon light coming through the blinds and hitting a spider plant:

6PM and totally at a loss at what to photograph, I looked at my Flickr group topic.

SCALE.  I already (of course) had photographed my bathroom scale, and I recently gave my Weight Watchers scale to Goodwill as part of my decluttering efforts.  But then I thought of another meaning of scale- as in size.

Looking around the room, the answer was obvious- Frankenstein!  Frank has unfortunately not survived my decluttering project and is currently sitting in my family room waiting to be taken to Goodwill, since none of my teacher friends want him.  He is an outsized Halloween decoration made by my friend, Lynne, who gave him to me when she moved away.  I used him to decorate my classroom a few times at Halloween, but he has lived most of his life at our house stuffed into a closet.  I’m hoping he will find a good home.

Although he would be classified in my photography class as a cooperative subject, this photo would not pass the scrutiny of the instructor.  Although it was properly exposed and white balanced, it had distracting elements in the background (shadows and electrical outlet).  I was too lazy too move him around to find the correct composition, so I lightened and blurred the background in Photoshop. I’m thinking now, I should have darkened it instead.

GLASS! I went with the topic today- starts with G.  I have had this glass birdie in my greenhouse window for years; I think it is from Bodega or Mendocino. Since the subject and background are both glass (starting with G)- I think I should get extra credit!