Canning tomatoes is one of my favourite fall things to do. I don’t really absolutely love the whole canning process, but I love to crack open the delights one at a time throughout the year until next fall comes. I also enjoy knowing what is in them, and that they are better by far than the ones processed by the thousands on a production line.

This year was the first year when I actually was able to tell the difference. Before that I had gone with all store bought canned tomatoes, but this year since we finished ours up that I canned last fall early I had to buy some. It isn’t that the store ones aren’t good, because I know I ate them my whole life and never complained-it is just that there is no comparison to the home canned ones. None.

I canned about 40 quarts of roma tomatoes this year. I did 27 last year and that wasn’t enough to get us through, this year we’ll keep our fingers crossed. And yes, I do hoard tomatoes!

Have you canned anything lately? If you could can one thing what would it be? For me it would be certainly tomatoes- and I would store TONS of strawberry, marion berry, and black berry freezer jam! YUM!

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.

Thinking about running again and about sore muscles. It has been a long time.

Life has calmed down a little, the boys are older, they sleep through most nights and I need to take time to do something I haven’t done for 10 years: exercise. Yeah, that does sound bad, and it is bad to not be active at least for 30 minutes every day. In high school I ran like lions were chasing me, sometimes three times a day and it did pay off at state, but since then I was so burnt out on running that I swore (not literally) that I would rather do anything than go running.

The other day though, I was looking into the nike + ipod deal, where you can track your runs, your miles, your mph, time spent running, your highs and lows throughout your run and even the calories you burn! I am on my way today to pick up the nike+ ipod sports kit, which since we already have the ipod, will only be $29. I won’t splurge for the nike + equipped shoes, especially since I have never really been a nike believer, but there are options as to how to attach the little sensor to regular shoes, via pouch, incisions, or duck tape.

I have decided to do this running thing, not race, not compete, just run. Just for me. Skinny people can be completely out of shape too, I think that is a huge misconception in our culture, and yes I am skinny and I know that I am horridly out of shape. This whole running thing is going to hurt, and because I have known that for 10 years, that is why I haven’t done it.

Do you exercise? What is your favourite thing about exercising? what do you hate about it?

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

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.

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.

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

The Visitor Directed by Tom McCarthy Indie Drama PG 13 (for brief strong language) 103 Min. April, 2007

Awards: Best Music – 2008 St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Associat Best Original Screenplay – Tom McCarthy – 2008 San Diego Film Critics Association Best Independent Film – 2008 National Board of Review Best Director – 2008 Independent Spirit Awards

Go to The New York Times for the whole list of (tons) of awards The Visitor was nominated for as well as those which it received.

A grieving and bored-with-life professor (Richard Jenkins) is just getting by in life. He survives committing himself to nothing more than the minimum effort required to make it day by day- he eats, sleeps and works. When his boss sends him to represent a paper he co-authored he finds something waiting for him in his apartment. Unsure and very cautious he takes a full step forward, it is by mistake that he finds himself with the hope of human relationships. The need for family, for a human bond will make the widowed professor Walter Vale assess the real value of all that he has and has lost- and needs to get back.

This flick is the type where while (and after) you watch it you just can’t imagine how it could have not been brought to your attention before. I only have the Netflix automated suggestions computer to thank that I have even seen it now. For me there are films, flicks and movies…those which you choose because you just want to veg and sit and watch- they aren’t really worth the time, but they are just filler in a busy day. And then there are movies like The Visitor, which I watched almost two weeks ago and still I am thinking about it, chewing it, loving it. The actors, (Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira and Hiam Abbass) although not really bigwigs, they did some of the best acting I have seen in a long time. Plot, acting and cinematography all work together to make The Visitor a flick worth its weight in books. Yes, this is a must see, period.

The Visitor is a story of grief, of relationship, of family and the loss that is felt when people leave. Holes which we think can never be filled again. In truth that exact place cannot be perfectly matched. But because we fear moving on it is easy to be trapped in a place where our joy is limited- by no one else but ourselves. Choosing to live in the past so as not to forget, so as not to move on. Fear and love hold tight, only to be broken open when the grieving person allows for joy to come back in.

When life takes turns to drastically satisfy are we ready to jump with it, or is the choice of ‘moving on’ just as hard as living a life in mourning?

I have a new award, I think you will like it and I am honoured to give it to this flick before any other one, yes this movie is to cluck about!

This is The Visitor trailer, however I will caution you that if you already want to see it after the review that you NOT watch it….I wish I had expereienced the film for the first time while watching it. I feel like too much is given away in the trailer. But if you aren’t convinced yet, after my review….check out the trailer, then you will be won over completely. Promise.

If you are a Netflix customer, you can view The Visitor as a “watch instantly” flick, and really you should head over and do that right now.

Check out The Visitor links:

The Visitor on Rotten Tomatoes. com
The Visitor: Netflix
New York Times Critics’ Pick: The Visitor Review

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.

For more pictures like this and others shot this summer check out my Summer Bliss flickr album.