Passions and White Lies
by FoxxyLadie on Aug.18, 2009, under IRL
For those of you lucky enough to know my husband you are probably aware that his passion is and always has been computers. He might not have a romantic or creative bone in his body, but at least I will never be television or internet deprived until the day we undergo some kind of apocalypse. But we can talk about the end of the world another time, the purpose of this post is to talk about MY passion or lack there of. Wish I could say I have that one thing I am great at or that one thing I live for (outside of my family), but I am still trying to figure all that out. I have tried a few different things throughout the years -- ceramics, painting, drawing, and a few other artsy type hobbies -- and even though I might be fairly good at all... in no way can I say that I am great.
My preferred hobby at the moment is photography. I still haven't completely figured everything out and I obviously need a better camera, but I would still like to say that I'm a pretty decent photographer. Here is where I am hoping you will come into play. If you are interested you can click on our PhotoBucket link on the right of the page and then go to the album cleverly labeled Photography by Erika (or click here) and feel free to get back to me with some pointers or some honest criticism (negative or positive). As long as you're not a complete ass, I can handle it. I would rather hear some negative feedback than some silly "white lie" (Eric).
Some advice while we are on the topic of white lies -- If your girl looks like SHIT, tell her she looks like SHIT! Don't let her walk around town looking like Dr. Frank-N-Furter from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. (Editor note: Erika has never looked anything like Dr. Frank-N-Futer. She is always pleasant looking at the very least 
)
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August 18th, 2009 on 4:35 pm
Several cool shots there! Awesome! I like the fence post and the brown rocks in the water. I'd love to discuss this with you, as I'm a self-professed wannabe shutter-fly too. I don't have a lot of my "work" up at the moment so I can't show you much but I have a few recommendations.
Firstly, as awesome as selective colorization is don't overdo it!
Great with what you've got though, babies and selective color always work well together.
Now, what software are you using? I recommend several things, all of which are free! Firstly, Picasa (http://picasa.google.com/) if you don't have it already is exceptional for organizing photos and quick, light fixes (adjusting lighting, dodging blemishes, etc). If you want to really get creative, you need The GIMP (www.gimp.org/). Excellent tool and not too tough to use.
Finally, what camera are you using? You can do several tricks with even point and clicks, much more of course with digital SLRs. Get a tripod and try some long exposure shots. Mix that with the water (especially streams) for several neat shots. I'll be happy to send you links to more stuff if you're interested.
August 18th, 2009 on 4:57 pm
I've used GIMP before so I can probably show her around a bit but I'm definitely not good at this stuff. It doesn't help I'm pretty colorblind!
We have a Fujifilm FinePix S5200 (5MP, 10x optical), and a cheap-o GE pocket camera (7MP, 3x optical). The Fujifilm takes real nice pictures outdoors but indoors its hard to get the lighting right. The GE is a bit better indoors but overall isn't quite as crisp. Both would probably work better if we knew what we were doing. We're going to start looking at digital SLRs.
Going to look at Picasa. I have an account there but that was so early when there were no features at all. Considering its from Google, its worth a second look
August 18th, 2009 on 5:40 pm
Alright "Smurph" you remember the guy who mentioned something about a battle of the spouses?....pretty sure Im gonna have to kick you in the teeth if you dont let me speak for myself. Why dont you go type up some codes for your cheese and let me be!
Anyways, James
Thanks for the advice! I will definitely check out Picasa. These links your talking about are they to sites that will help me understand how to use lighting to my advantage or help me to find my way around my camera because I can use some help with both.
August 18th, 2009 on 6:52 pm
A bit of both, Ms. Ladie! Tips and everything. Certainly look at Picasa, if nothing else it will be easier to upload images to albums, organize them, make slide shows, a ton of things.
http://www.gimpguru.org/Tutorials/SelectiveColorization/ links to several other tips and hits with The GIMP. Highly recommended, check it out.
The other one I was going to send you is now a pay site. D'oh! It was good too, hate that its not free anymore. I have a few others I use for lighting tips but they're on glamor sites which tend to include "artistic nudes." I hesitate to share these since the line between artistic and pornographic is sometimes too close, and I'd hate to seemingly condone the latter. Anyway I'm looking for a few more sites to update my own links, so when I find them I'll share them. http://www.photonhead.com/ looks good but I haven't thoroughly explored the site yet.
Oh, my number one tip: KNEEL when shooting kids! I hate pix from up above of toddlers and babies. Get down on their level. Some of my best pix of my girls are from me on my stomach! Makes a huge difference, you'll see it too.