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By bethany (dreadlock girl), October 20, 2009 3:41 pm

He gave the best head-butts (almost giving his you a bloody nose if you weren’t expecting it). Max was a lover, he let the boys lay on him, pet him the wrong way it didn’t matter because he just wanted the lovin’. If anyone was crying he would come over and sit with you until you stopped, rubbing his head on your face the whole time. I really haven’t ever met a cat as friendly as Max.

This last week we had to put Max down, he was 12 and developed some major health problems, among them diabetes. We debated and knew that it just wasn’t right for him or for us to have to treat him for it.

We all imagine that Max has little wings and is flying above us in our dreams. I don’t care what anyone says, I think there will be animals in heaven. No question. I am

We miss you Max, XOXO. You have no idea.

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By bethany (dreadlock girl), September 24, 2009 9:36 pm

Do you ever do something in your little pond and think that maybe you have a gift? What if you do have a gift, but you let others judge you and make you think that you don’t? Yes, call me pensive. Those questions were popping repeatedly in my head yesterday after I got the message below of my denial for entering my photos on a stock images site. I thought I would make it, that I could earn some dough by just having my photos sit on there and lazily earn dough even while sleeping. I guess I should try a different get-rich -quick scheme? HA.

Anyway, what do you do when rejected? Do you consider yourself a failure, or do you toughen up and move on-learning from your mistakes. I guess I do both, maybe at the same time. I first opened the rejection letter below and then scoffed and deleted it. Luckily I have gmail and digging though your trash is one thing it is great at-so I dived the dumpster and re-read. The second time I read it I thought, well, I do agree with some things (although other comments are too vague) and really criticism is good. What is hard is that I shoot for fun, and if I like the shot that is all that matters. When I put my hobby up for people to judge and also to earn money then I no longer am doing it for fun. I am not sure what I think about that either.

Anyway, I wanted you to read my rejection. I may try again, but I still don’t really know if I want to.

Hi,

Thank you for your submission to Shutterstock.

In order for Shutterstock to maintain the high standard of our photography collection, new submitters must receive approval on at least seven (7) of their first ten (10) images to continue uploading. Unfortunately, while some of the images you submitted may meet our guidelines, we are unable to approve the requisite number and have temporarily disabled the uploading function on your account. This decision was based on concerns about quality, composition, lighting, or other features of your initial batch of images and we have listed the reasons below.

We invite you to resubmit in 30 days. In the meantime, you can still post banners, earn money from referring photographers, and participate in our forum discussions. Please do not create more than one account; doing so will result in permanent suspension.

Thank you for your interest in Shutterstock. We look forward to seeing you again in 30 days!

37594939		Not Approved	Model Release–Please re-upload with release. Poor Lighting–Poor or uneven lighting, or shadows. White balance may be incorrect. Focus–Your image is not in focus or focus is not located where we feel it works best. Noise–Noise, film grain, over-sharpening, or artifacts at full size. Composition–Limited commercial value due to framing, cropping, and/or composition.
37594942		Not Approved	Composition–Limited commercial value due to framing, cropping, and/or composition.
37594945		Not Approved	Composition–Limited commercial value due to framing, cropping, and/or composition. Model Release–Please re-upload with release. Poor Lighting–Poor or uneven lighting, or shadows. White balance may be incorrect. Focus–Your image is not in focus or focus is not located where we feel it works best.
37594948		Not Approved	Composition–Limited commercial value due to framing, cropping, and/or composition. Poor Lighting–Poor or uneven lighting, or shadows. White balance may be incorrect.
37594951		Not Approved	7 of 10 must be approved
37594954		Not Approved	Poor Lighting–Poor or uneven lighting, or shadows. White balance may be incorrect.
37594957		Not Approved	Model Release–Please re-upload with release. Focus–Your image is not in focus or focus is not located where we feel it works best. Noise–Noise, film grain, over-sharpening, or artifacts at full size.
37594960		Not Approved	Model Release–Please re-upload with release. Noise–Noise, film grain, over-sharpening, or artifacts at full size.
37594963		Not Approved	Model Release–Please re-upload with release. Focus–Your image is not in focus or focus is not located where we feel it works best.
37594966		Not Approved	Noise–Noise, film grain, over-sharpening, or artifacts at full size.

Regards,
Shutterstock Support

The Basics
Capture Real People, In Real Life Shots
Work That Thing! How to Get the Best Shots
Tips for Group Shots: How to Shoot a Group Session Like You Know What You’re Doing!
Photo Editing, Fixin’ Your Images
Taking the Best Black and White Photos: What to Look For
What does the ISO Do For You?: Learning more about the ISO

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By bethany (dreadlock girl), September 18, 2009 3:46 pm

Through the fine skill of archery, we have conquered little kid step at a time the northern mountains of Spain: Los Picos de Europa. Our journey has taken us from Soto de Sajambre to Oseja de Sajambre by use of our somewhat faithful feet and our trusted silver steed (a huge Ford van). The sights have been incredible-too much to see and enjoy. The boys are loving every new adventure and are very good at taking things as they come, it has been a very good trip so far!

Make sure to check back in soon for pictures of castles and aqueducts and the boys avidly eating it up!

Photo Spain Posts to Date:
Spain Through My Camera Lens

I will try to post pictures here again, but I will be uploading them all to my flickr album España.

If you want to see our pictures of Spain in your google (or selected) reader sign up for the RSS for the España flickr album.

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By bethany (dreadlock girl), September 15, 2009 3:05 am

We are in Spain for the next bit, some of you have begged for pictures, others have done nothing short of threatening me….either way I feel the love, thanks! We have loved every day so far, and we are headed to Segovia to see the sights there, the castle there is impressive and the aqueduct is insanely cool. Stay tuned, I hope to have pictures up of that soon….depending on internet connection. Until then, enjoy a little tidbit of our journey in photos.

I will try to post pictures here again, but I will be uploading them all to my flickr album España.

If you want to see our pictures of Spain in your google (or selected) reader sign up for the RSS for the España flickr album.

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By bethany (dreadlock girl), September 2, 2009 11:55 am

The boys love the summer, the heat, the long days and most of all that they can play non-stop outside. They have been on a mission run, play and dig enough to last them throughout the rainy season. I don’t quite think it will work, but I don’t tell them that!

T

What do you miss most about the summer after it is over?
I miss fresh tomatoes the most, and wearing sandals everyday.

For more pictures like this, check out my flickr album titled: My Boys

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By bethany (dreadlock girl), August 18, 2009 9:23 pm

Kissing, Image shot at ISO 1600.

To really understand what ISO is and what it does, and to really get it you need to know first what it was before digital cameras. After that I’ll try to get down to what it is and why it is important. This is a more technical photo post, I hope you follow. Please let me know if something I say is unclear, because I am sure someone else will have the same question.

What the ISO was: It was, in the era of non-digital cameras a number that was written on the individual film rolls that you purchased for your camera. When I was in photography class, we used ISO 400 to allow for more light and quicker shots, such as sporting events or low light situations, and ISO 200 for regular headshots or point and shoot people events. So the higher the ISO the film had, the more light it allowed in. In the past (when using film) you were stuck with one ISO setting for that entire roll, no adjustments.

What the ISO is now: Now that the world has skip, hopped and jumped forward to digital cameras the ISO means something similar, but without using film. It is another adjustment you can make when taking pictures and want to allow for more exposure (let in more light, make your shot brighter). You can fidget with the light meter, the shutter speed, and on a digital camera you can mess with the ISO as well. The higher the ISO, the more light that will be allowed in, the more light sensitive that that shot will be.

According to Ben Long in The Cannon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/440D Companion, “ISO is a standard for measuring the sensitivity of film. Digital vendors have adopted the standard for specifying the sensitivity of a digital image sensor. When you increase the ISO setting on the Rebel XSi, you’re essentially making the sensor more light sensitive. As the sensor becomes more sensitive, it will require shorter exposures to be able to “see” a scene” (p. 93)

The way digital cameras are set up now you can shoot at an ISO of 1600 which enables you to shoot with the image sensor, so sensitive that it allows you to take photos in a much lower light than was ever possible with film.

The benefits to a higher ISO are:

• Ability to shoot in a setting with much lower light and still capture a great shot.
• Enables you to take pictures of sporting events, stopping the action in time.
• Gives a shot a much greater depth of field.

Drawback to shooting with higher ISO: So why not always shoot allowing for the most light to enter the shot with the highest ISO possible? Well, there is a setback, that I didn’t really know about until doing my homework for this little photo post. Since I hate my flash, I have just been increasing the ISO all the way up to the max (on my camera it is 1600) which does make the sensor really sensitive, however, I have been noticing (lately) a little of what is known as “noise” by the pros. Noise is what happens when you increase and amplify any type of electrical signal, which is what you are doing when you increase the ISO. Along with the signal of data you want, you will increase the static or noise. Think old-school radio and then you’ll get it.

Noise is photo static, it looks grainy, not sharp, even sometimes can look blurry or distorted (in extreme cases of course). Most of the time you won’t even see it until you enlarge your pictures, then in the shadowy areas especially it is bumpy and grainy. That is noise.

My conclusion after doing my homework on the ISO ins and outs:

If you are interested in the best image quality and sharpness, here is the rule I’ll give you: Shoot at the lowest ISO possible to make the shot. To do this you can mess around with the light meter and shutter speed and try to get the ISO down. However, If it isn’t possible, than of course a photo with noise is better than no image at all, so just shoot away. Don’t stress it!

When using the camera that I have, the Cannon EOS XSi/450D My noise complaints are extremely low, even when shooting at an ISO 1600. I would rather increase the noise on my shot, which doesn’t really bother me a ton and get the shot without using the flash than turn the flash on.

Photo Examples of shooting at high ISO:

Bread Image shot at ISO 1600 If you click on it and you’ll see some noise. For me that adds to the effect of the depth of field, so it doesn’t bother me.

Boys, Image shot at ISO 1600, now that I look at this one there was no reason for it to be shot with an ISO that high since it was outside, and I do see the noise and don’t like how it fights with the sharpness in this shot. I am learning.

Converse, Image shot at ISO 1600 this shot too, it is just fine the way it is. I guess I’ll never know what it could have been, but really now, does that matter?

I always love answering questions for readers. I’d love ideas on future Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips sessions if you have them. Leave me a comment, I love hearing from you!

Previous Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips:

The Basics
Capture Real People, In Real Life Shots
Work That Thing! How to Get the Best Shots
Tips for Group Shots: How to Shoot a Group Session Like You Know What You’re Doing!
Photo Editing, Fixin’ Your Images
Taking the Best Black and White Photos: What to Look For
What does the ISO Do For You?: Learning more about the ISO

Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips: I am going to do several of these posts, I am not a professional photographer by a long shot, but I love taking pictures and seeing beautiful pictures so I want to share what I have learned with you.

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By bethany (dreadlock girl), August 12, 2009 6:35 am

1.) B&W Shots Are Forever. There is so much to love about shooting in black and white. It makes the people stand out- you aren’t distracted by the colours, so if the shot has a strong focal point your eyes will have no problem heading there. Black and white is more intimate, more whimsical, and much better at showing the on-looker the detailing in the shot. If you aren’t convinced that black and white photography is for you, read on my friend.

2.) Learning from Black and White. Shooting in B&W gives you more of an opportunity to see what is really good (or not good) about your shot. The detailing either will stand out or not depending on the contrast you have set up in the shot, sure you can edit and change some things, but you will be able to see more of the raw detailing and therefore learn to take better shots. Therefore learning from mistakes, the best of teachers.

3.) Beat The Gray! May your blacks be black and your whites, white. This was a tip from my old photo teacher in high school when we were developing our own photos from film in the toner and other smelly chemicals. I still remember the tip though. When you are shooting, your light meter is set right when there is a range of “colours” from the darkest of blacks to the whitest of whites. Also, as always try to use the lowest ISO possible to reduce what is known as noise.

4.) The Biggies in Black and White. What matters in black and white shots? Learning to shoot for texture and contrast. That is what makes an excellent shot stand out in black and white photography. You will start to know the amount of contrast you are looking for. When you are a well trained black and white photographer you will see contrasts, textures, and be able to ignore the distractions of colour and tone. The best way to do this is to practice!!

5.) Never Shoot in Black and White! Yeah, strange I know…but there are several reasons to shoot in colour and edit the images on your computer in a photo editing program. The first is that then you’ll have the image in colour if you ever need it that way, or happen to like it better. If you shoot in black and white you are limiting yourself and your options with that shot. The second reason is that when you tell your camera to shoot a digital image in black and white it shoots it in colour and then edits it into black and white inside the camera. Cameras don’t have as good of image converters as your regular computer photo editing, so it will be a lower quality image that you start out with.

There are exceptions: if you are shooting in the RAW format than just go for it, your camera will load the colour data on to your computer when uploading so switching to colour will be an option. The second (and last) exception that I can see is if you are really wanting to see how it will look and you want to see it in black and white on your LCD screen, then switch over to shooting in black and white.

I always love answering questions for readers. I’d love ideas on future Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips sessions if you have them. Leave me a comment, I love hearing from you!

Previous Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips:

The Basics
Capture Real People, In Real Life Shots
Work That Thing! How to Get the Best Shots
Tips for Group Shots: How to Shoot a Group Session Like You Know What You’re Doing!
Photo Editing, Fixin’ Your Images
Taking the Best Black and White Photos: What to Look For

Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips: I am going to do several of these posts, I am not a professional photographer by a long shot, but I love taking pictures and seeing beautiful pictures so I want to share what I have learned with you.

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By bethany (dreadlock girl), August 7, 2009 8:00 am

I haven’t even been to this store, but my sister and brother in-law live in Brooklyn New York and so family goes to visit them sometimes (not as often as we need to) so for different gift giving events we have gotten some of the benefits of their travels. We love these dishes, made by Fishs Eddy, designed by Jordan Awan, the set is called Brooklyn. Sketched after the ever-growing-in-popularity city, this design is so plain and pretty that when I drink from the stuff it makes me smile. Possibly too because it makes me think of my family over there when I use it, but still, I just had to share how cool these items are.

I love the lip, I love liped mugs, it makes my mouth happy when I am drinking some precous hot beverage, or just milk too. And the salt shakers are fab, at first the boys just could not keep their fingers off of them, they were sure that there was a castle in the drawing somewhere!

Other dish sets from Fishs Eddy that are excellent:

Nursery Set
Alice in Wonderland Dinnerware
Alphabet Mugs
Polka Dot Dinnerware

Do you have a favourite set of dishes or mugs? Do you find their value is more sentimental sometimes?

Disclaimer: I was not paid, bought or asked to do this post, and I will receive no benefit in return other than sharing a good place and product with some friends. I hope you love it!

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By bethany (dreadlock girl), August 4, 2009 10:50 pm

1.) Don’t Get Lazy and think you’ll fix it later. try to take the best images you can in the moment, not leaving the dirty work to do on the computer. I have a theory that no matter how amazing digital cameras are, they are breeding a generation of lazy and tech heavy photographers. Don’t trade good technique and hard work for technology.

2.) Free photo editing online. I have fallen deeply in love with Picnik, it is a photo editing program that I have used for many an image. I just use it online. I paid the extra enabeling me to edit and change all that I please, but before I paid for the Picnik Premimum the freebe served me well too.

Here is the image you may recognize as my header image for the Dreadlock Girl main blog, with some changes and fixin’s done. With photo editing, you can do so much, you can make your own header, work with your own images by putting text in them, or the year on your kids shots.

Below is a screenshot of the final Dreadlock Girl header image, I love playing with Picnik! Make sure you check it out, you surely don’t want to be in the dark any longer. And you no longer have the excuse that you don’t know where to find the software. Picnik is excellent and very much pop-up free. There are small adds up at the top if you have not purchased the Premium Picnik, but they are not annoying. Picnik on!

3.) Don’t toss your shots too soon! switch them to B&W or sepia and that really can hide many mistakes, saving some photos from the rubbish bin, maybe even having them end up some of your favourites. An error with the light meeter, bad colouring and so many more unpredictable blunders may be blended and made invisible in B&W, as long as the image is good and sharp…try it!

4.) The more you edit, the more your image quality decreases. Yes, sadly this is true, unless you are working in RAW. I don’t work with RAW because they take so much more space than any of the other formats, and because I don’t like to edit that much it really doesn’t matter. So with every colour change and edit, just beware of your image quality.

5.) Try not to mess. This last one is all personal opinion, maybe because I am a little old school, maybe because I like to try and get it right the first time, but it is how I feel. When I take a shot, if the sky is white, it is white, if I am lucky it will be blue, but I don’t input a blue sky into my picture to make it better. Maybe more than anything I don’t like messing around with those kinds of details. I like taking pictures, editing is probably my least favourite. I only try to fix my mistakes, salvage some shots…and besides that: nothing.

Make sure you check in next Wednesday for Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips!!

I always love answering questions for readers. I’d love ideas on future Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips sessions if you have them. Leave me a comment, I love hearing from you!

Previous Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips:
The Basics
Capture Real People, In Real Life Shots
Work That Thing! How to Get the Best Shots
Tips for Group Shots: How to Shoot a Group Session Like You Know What You’re Doing!

Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips: I am going to do several of these posts, I am not a professional photographer by a long shot, but I love taking pictures and seeing beautiful pictures so I want to share what I have learned with you.

Comments (0)

By bethany (dreadlock girl), August 3, 2009 6:11 am

How does your garden grow? Ours grows with water, weeding, and watching. The boys enjoy helping me with their red wagon, they pretend to “harvest” weeds, and then bake them in the sun to kill them.  These are all activities that I welcome, as they are becoming pretty rapidly semi-professional weeders. The progress the garden is making is good as well. There are currently TONS of green tomatoes just waiting to ripen up. I harvested variegated sage, pineapple sage and chamomile last week. I’ll be sure to put some pictures of up of that process.